Patrick's Diary - 11/29/2015

Damnit! It's already 5:21 in the morning on Monday, Thanksgiving long weekend became a history so quickly. I will be on road to work in an hour. Ok, let me wrap up my diary for Sunday to keep some relaxed memories on my blog. 

I watched dozens minutes of a BPL match Liverpool playing Swansea, the former had dominated the match and the latter was only able to defend in and out of the big box. Then, I started solving the problems given at the end of the first chapter of my son's Precalculus textbook he used in winter quarter at the beginning of the year of 2015. My plan is to review all the concepts and formulas and solve all the problems in this book quickly, then move to his single variable calculus textbook he will bring back home after this quarter ends in mid-December. As I shared, I want to become a mathematical economist in the next 15 years, to be proficient in calculus again is very critical. I learned calculus and differential equation at college and hundreds applications in financial world, it is just how much time I need to retrieve all the knowledge from the back of my memories. It's not so easy to solve all the problems, I actually was stuck on one in the morning until thoroughly understood the given conditions late in the evening. 

Driving my son back to his dorm, I advised him to focus on final exam of Integral in the next three weeks by utilizing all the resources. At least, he should wrap it up without contingency carried over to later quarters. It's not difficult to get 5 credits but a reasonable grade is still a challenge. When I dropped him off, I saw a bunch of students coming back school as well. I hope my son will enjoy his academic studies from next quarter in addition to the restaurants on campus and around University District because he is going to take whatever he is interested in or he considers critical for himself as he told me. He selected heavy courses in his first quarter of freshmen's year totally on his own because of overconfidence, which probably killed his appetites at the very beginning. In the following three quarters, he has been struggling with calculus I encouraged him to take. It doesn't matter if I wanted to review with him to help, he is just not interested, so doesn't have will to get help from anyone. It's understandable because we all went through this in different degrees when we were young.

I decided to stop by Northgate Mall on my way home to buy three shirts because I hadn't found the right size at Alderwood Mall on Friday. Hesitating a second, I missed the exit on I-5. While I was thinking about to go to Alderwood to try other stores than JC Penny, I glanced Barnes & Noble bookstore standing behind the parking lots attached to Northgate Mall, I had thought about to go to one of their stores to find some books, so took the exit further north to drive back to the mall. 

Searching on the shelves in the area of men's shirts at JC Penny, I finally found a plenty of them at the size of 17 32-33 and happily grabbed four with different colors. Then, I picked a pack of five pairs of socks, shoe laces for my black shoes and two shoes creme for polishing my shoes. It's so fulfilling that I got everything I needed here in 10 minutes.

I forgot if Barnes & Noble had an entrance with the mall or not but walked toward its location inside the mall. However, It apparently didn't have but was a part of the entire complex. I walked out of the mall, then entered it at its own entrance facing to the parking lots and freeway. 

While I was looking at the books on the presenting table right inside the entrance, it's a surprise that a friend whom I hadn't seen for at least 5 years walked toward me and called my name. Unfortunately she had to run to catch her husband and kid, so we didn't talk much. I heard she gave birth to a baby two or three years ago, but she looked still in a very good shape, young and pretty. 

I glanced through the economic books in business section and found several I had found on Amazon in last week. I hesitated for a second if I should buy Economic Rules but gave the idea up. I still had so many books I needed to finish at home. Probably, I will come back during Christmas break to enjoy reading some of them while having a cup of coffee. I most likely will buy one or two in the store for immediate reading, then order more through Amazon. 

I told my mom not to cook for lunch because I wanted to eat outside. In food court, I found a Taco Bell stand, then ordered chalupa meal. I felt so relaxed to sit there alone to enjoy my last lunch for this long weekend.

Driving back to our area, I found it still very foggy. Stopping by the gym, I started on treadmill for half an hour while watching Seahawks' game. It's a slow start, both Seahawks and Steelers didn't score much in the first half until Seahawks made a TD while I was on bike. Coming back home, I kept watching and witnessed Baldwin making three TDs, oh, Wilson made record five TD passes. 

After dinner, I kept solving the problems in my son's textbook and had a discussion with my dad for some of the problems. He started bragging his greatness as a civil engineer at work a half century ago. It's him who recommended me to pursue a civil engineering major at CUMT and it's me who recommended my son to pursue a BS in Economics at UW 30 years later. Eventually, sons probably would all go different directions. 

Ok, I am ready to leave in the next 10 minutes. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/28/2015

I didn't write the diary for Saturday after coming back home from Seattle Repertory Theater. Baking the meatloaf bought at Costco in the morning, I was so exhausted, then fell into sleep on the couch in the living room until midnight, then I moved up to my bedroom to keep sleeping. Now, it is already almost 4 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, the 4 days Thanksgiving long weekend almost comes to the end.

On Friday night, my dorm buddy at CUMT back in 30 years ago asked me why I hadn't chatted in the group on WeChat for a week, I replied that I was about to say something to them. I shared what I did with my son during the first two days of this long weekend, then he asked me if I got any good deal on Black Friday. They know this tradition as well. 

As a routine once in three weeks, our family went out to buy groceries: my parents at Ranch 99 Chinese supermarket and I at Costco. My son wanted to eat at Szechuan Chef in Bellevue where we hadn't gone for probably a year. Instead of getting onto the freeway, I decided to take a shortcut to drive through local routes in Kenmore, then got onto Juanita Drive to go through Lake Washington Blvd in Kirkland to go to Bellevue. It's a long way and took much longer time than on I-405 in a traffic-relaxed Saturday, but I showed beautiful views of the lake and neighborhoods to my parents. 

The foods at the restaurant were the same delicious as they had been and we ate everything, so didn't need to box at the end. While eating, we chatted about Chinese history, especially about Qing Dynasty. There wasn't a reason of having this conversation but just because my son initiated a question. 

The weather during this long weekend had been so sunny and even relatively warm. I could sense it while driving toward the restaurant to pick up my family after the lunch. My mom got chronicle pains on her legs and waist, so I asked them to wait for me instead of walking to the van with me.

Taking naps from time to time while glancing the college football games on TV, I decided to leave home at 5:30 pm to drive my son to go watching "Come From Away". The road was congested a little bit when we approached the exit of UW, but after passing Ship Canal Bridge, the traffic became pretty wide open. We took the exit of Mercer Street. While waiting for the traffic lights, I was amazed by the lightings along the streets, Downtown Seattle had started embracing the holidays. 

A much bigger event seemed being held at Keyarena, many people and cars were in this area. We eventually parked in a central parking garage between Roy and Mercer, then walked over skybridge to McCaw Hall. Every time we went to big metropolitan like New York City, Chicago, Paris, etc. we went to watch shows but rarely did it at home. Though last time I went to McCaw was only two years ago, I still hadn't realized it was it until asking the lady guarded the entrance. She pointed to a red color coated building towards Queen Anne Street to tell me where Rep was. It looked like McCaw might host a show tonight as well, might be an opera. 

This was our first time to coming to Seattle Repertory Theater, so after picking up the tickets at Will Call, we went out and my son asked me to take a photo in front of the building for him.

The theater eventually was fully filled, I guess many audiences got cheaper prices for the tickets right before the show kicked off. It's the rule for the shows in general, you wait until within one hour before the show starts, you may get a very steep discounted price to fill an unsold seat. Though I paid a full price for my seat online but my son's student discounted price was only 16 bucks. Drinking a glass of wine in the lobby, I asked my son to snap a shot for me. 

The musical play was well directed and performed. The actors were very enthusiastic. Everyone enjoyed it because you could tell from the applauding at the end. Oh, by the way, I hadn't known my employer actually is one of the major sponsors of the projects at this theater until I read our name on the wall. Right before the play started, it was mentioned as well. 

We probably will come to this area to watch more shows during Christmas break if there is any. Actors might take a break then as well. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/27/2015

I know it may not be healthy to have a glass of merlot at 1:30 in the morning on Saturday, but the taste is so inducing. 

As planned, my son and I went watching Spectre on Black Friday morning at AMC Lowes. I hadn't thought about it an early morning show, so the price for the tickets was the lowest of the whole day. It's another great episode of 007 series. A several minutes ago, I just realized that on the bottle of Heineken I have been drinking recently, Bonds' image in Spectre is presented. 

Before the show started, my son and I walked in Alderwood Mall for several minutes. I planned to buy 3 shirts but wasn't able to find the size of 17 & 32-33 for me at JC Penny. I will try Macy's or Nordstrom on Sunday after I drop my son back to his dorm. I bet many Black Friday enthusiasts had lined up in front doors last night. During that period of time while we were in the mall, it wasn't very crowded but normal. 

My son asked me to take a photo outside AMC before we came back into it again. 

Coming back home to catch Apple Cup, I surprisingly found Cougars' QB didn't start but learned later that he had a head injury. This granted an easy opportunity for Huskies to win big at the end. I know many Cougs but sorry, had to support my son's Huskies. They won the cup again and become eligible for a bowl game. Anyway, Cougs have a good year with a 8-4 record and had been ranked 20th in national poll before this game. 

Going to gym to work out for an hour, I left home for dinner. Oh, stopping by Fred Meyer, I bought this melot. 

Sleeping until almost midnight, I got up to wrap up my review of Macroeconomics on Long Run Economic Growth and posted it on my Linkedin Pages. 

I forgot to post the video I snapped at Regal Cinemas in Everett after we watched equally fantastic movie of "The Martian" on Thursday. 

I bought the tickets to the show of "Coming From Away" at Seattle Repertory Theater on Saturday night. As I shared, my son is required to watch two shows for his drama class but he missed one of the two at school, so will have to watch this one as alternative. I need to drop him off there, so would like to watch it myself as well. It seems fascinating anyway. We are going to dress as business casual though I don't think dress code being required. 

It's been an entertaining long weekend for us that we have watched two movies and will appreciate one musical play. However, we missed "Mockingjay II" on Friday night as planned but I was too tired to go. Let's see if we can catch it up on Sunday morning before I drop my son back to his dorm at UW.

My business partner back in 90s shared a piece of music performed by Jacqueline Du Pre on WeChat. Because his posting was in Chinese, I had to figure out the information on Baidu first, then searched more in English on Google. Though her whole life was full of sadness, her music is beautiful forever.

Patrick's Diary - 11/26/2015

Looking out of the window from my bedroom, I could view the roof of Dennis' house covered by a thin layer of frost. On my way to gym on Filbert, I enjoyed the early morning sunshine but could sense the coldness outside. 

As usual, stopping by McDonald's, I had big breakfast with hotcakes. Large coffee always helps kill the sleeping bugs. 

On this Thanksgiving morning, the gym was still pretty busy. I walked on treadmill for half an hour, then lift weight 150 times, finally got onto the bike for 20 minutes. 

On my way home, the sunshine became more penetrating, the sky was so navy blue without clouds and the temperature was much higher than earlier. 

Taking a nap, I drove my son to Regal Cinemas in Everett to catch Martian, which was released almost one month ago. When we sat in the auditorium, we were the only two, so I filmed a clip and named it "Kings in the Auditorium for Martian". Later on, dozens audiences came in, they probably were the same as we were to catch this highly rated movie before it would be removed finally.

It's a great movie to teaching us how to survive in a hopeless situation and you must keep the faith. It's interesting in seeing Chinese to provide the assistance for the final success of rescue in this fictional story. One reason may be that they do earn some respects in aerospace development, another may be that they might invest into the production of this movie. As my son commented after watching the movie, superpowers nowadays attempt to influence the world with soft powers as well. 

I didn't plan to make Turkey dinner this year though it wasn't because I was powerful enough to forgive a turkey. My mom wanted to eat Big Mac, so we drove through another McDonald's to buy four Big Mac Meals before going home. My mom loves Big Mac, for her, it's a big dinner.

I did propose to go watching Spectre at late night but became exhausted after the dinner. Falling into sleep until 10:00 pm, then disappointed my son not to go catch the one to start at 10:40 pm at AMC at Alderwood Mall. However, we will do it tomorrow morning at 10:10. Hopefully, it won't be a traffic disaster around the mall on Black Friday. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/25/2015

It's already in very early morning on Thanksgiving now. I am wrapping up my diary for Wednesday.

The morning traffic was very light because many workers took off today, some of them had already been on road to visit their families out of the city or even out of the State. Not having slept enough through the night, I even had a chance to take a nap for 20 minutes in my van before going into the office building.

Going to UW dorm to pick up my son, I went through an equally light traffic in this Thanksgiving Eve, though this isn't a term as frequently used as for the day prior to Christmas and New Year. My son told me that he wanted to make his own decision of academic studies going forward after taking my advice for so many years. I totally agreed with him. He was going to watch a play at one of theaters in downtown Seattle during this thanksgiving long weekend as a requirement by the lecturer at drama class. I will need to drop him off there possibly on Saturday night. However, he doesn't have a plan to pursue an actor's career. He told me after taking Statistics 311 in winter quarter, he may come up with an idea what major he is going to pursue. At this moment, he is more interested in Psychology. 

I checked out that Martian is still available in one of the cinemas close to our house, we may go to watch it tomorrow because it seems the last day for its presentation. We may catch Mockingjay II and Spectre later. 

Ok, I am so excited to pursue a formal economist's career by myself. It's been my dream since 1992. At age of almost 50, it's about the time for a new career because the life expectancy has last to 85 to 90 for our generation. My plan is to build up a solid foundation before the retirement at 60, then focus on high level of economics researches including publishing my own theories and applications in the following 15 years. It's not really a new career for me because I have earned undergraduate and graduate credits in Economics since late 80s and my career has been in international businesses and finance in the past 25 years. Becoming a fully recognized mathematical economist is just the extension of my current profession. My interest is in the influences of public policy in macroeconomics both domestically and globally, it sounds Keynesians but I plan to develop a new system on my own - Heconism. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/24/2015

Looking at the message board over I-405, I was shocked by the charge of toll lanes in this busy Tuesday morning. It was 8 bucks. Wow, I don't exaggerate that I couldn't afford it. People seemed very enthusiastic to go to work two days before Thanksgiving. Many of them would be on the road to go to different cities even States to have family reunions. 

Before approaching the bridge above I-90 interchange, I had listened to traffic report on Spirit that it was being highly congested at southend on I-405. As soon as I arrived there, I could feel the pain. Message board told the drivers that a collision had caused long delay. Had I spent 8 bucks earlier, it wouldn't have done anything better for me. 

Getting out of the exit to Coal Creek, I went through narrow roads to get onto Lake Washington Blvd at the eastside of the freeway, then passed Seahawks facility to go through downtown Renton to arrive at the parking lot. 

I planned to go to work early tomorrow and would pick up my son at UW dorm early in the afternoon. However, calling him on my way home after work, I learned that he wanted me to come to his dorm around 6pm because he would have rehearsal with his partner in drama class. Wow, Thanksgiving's Eve, these kids would work until late evening. Anyway, it would be for drama class, so might be a lot of fun. 

Eating the dinner, I came up to my reading room to keep reading Krugman and Wells' Macroeconomics. My goal is to thoroughly finish it before Christmas Break, then lay out my comprehensive National Economic Plan. I will start reviewing Single Variable Calculus at the beginning of the new year for the preparation of more advanced research in Macroeconomics while taking an online class of World Economy. 

Going to the gym at almost 10:30 pm, I hadn't known the schedule had been changed that it would be closed at 11:00 pm. However, I walked on treadmill for half an hour at least. 

Coming back home, I posted my review of the concepts of Unemployment and the national economic plan associated with those concepts on my Linkedin page. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/23/2015

Starting early today, I left work for refilling my parent's medications at Safeway. It's raining, so the sky was already very dark even at 4:00 pm. While waiting for the refill, I wandered around to appreciate all the cookies and cakes because I was a bit hungry but eventually only grabbed a bottle of drink. Seeing a lady who was very alike a former neighbor. I nodded to her and even asked her if she was that lady. She replied with smile politely that she didn't think so. Trust me, I didn't try to use a trick to pick up a woman but did think she was one of my former neighbors.

Not having planned to go to gym tonight, I parked the van in the garage. After dinner, I had been falling into sleep until midnight. Now, it's already almost 2 in the morning. As I shared, my son will come back home during Thanksgiving break starting this Thursday. He already asked me to drive him to go watching new 007. He has been struggling with his Integral Calculus this quarter, though, at the beginning, he told me his was fine. The problem for him, just like he told me on the phone last week, is that he didn't want to make extra effort. He knows the issue but can't change the attitude. As I shared before, most of the students in the class are pursuing Engineering majors, he probably feels this class is not for him. However, he would like to discuss with me during the break what he really wants to study. I told him the reason I encouraged him to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Economics was to get a social science degree with rigorous college level mathematics trainings. I never pressured him to follow my advice. Now, if he has already figured out his truly loved subject, I am more than happy for him to change. I always believe only the passion and interest can have a college student studying hard. What he has learned including Differentiation, Integrals and three Economics courses aren't waste, they will help him in future he may not realize at this moment. 

I guess he had also learned a lot of things and got advice by himself at school and believe he knows himself the best. I am not sure if his true passion is in drama. He has selected Drama 252 in next quarter. Meanwhile he did select Statistic 311 as well, which is one of the prerequisites for Economics major. He does want to take a break from Multivariate Calculus. He seems still not decisive. The reason he didn't select Intermediate Macroeconomics was that it was restricted to the students who have already been admitted to the major. Alternatively, he selected another higher level Psychology class. 

My son told me that people considered him pretty talented after having conversations with him, he just can't study hard to become an excellent student in difficult subjects. Our education system gives students a lot of options, so I don't worry. However, I told him that I would help him review Integrals during this break.

Ok, it's already 2:21 am, let me find a pleasant song to kick me back to bed. Yeah, Yanni's In the Morning Light...

Patrick's Diary - 11/22/2015

Getting up at 8 am, I drove out to go to McDonald's to have my breakfast first. After eating, I kept watching and listening Nessun Dorma performed by Bocelli, Evancho and Pavarotti on Youtube for a quarter of hour. It's a beautiful song I had loved to listen since my childhood. Watching Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation several months ago triggered me to resume listening to it periodically again. 

Coming back to gym after a week, I only walked on treadmill for an hour cautiously because I felt almost to pass out on it at a point of time last weekend. Feel great after leaving the gym anyway, I drove back home in this chilly but sunny Sunday late morning. 

I chatted with my dad yesterday and we planned to start solving problems of calculus together after my son would finish his Autumn Quarter in mid-December because we would need his textbook to do it. My dad was a great civil engineer and was good at mathematics as he bragged. I would like to pick it up for my advanced research in Economics as well because my son seems not very interested in this field after taking three classes three quarters in row. I may do it by myself because my original plan was to help him grow into an economist by sharing my knowledge, experience and thoughts. Going forward, I am going to post my academic researches on my Linkedin pages and keep this blog more entertaining. While writing a new post of my national economy plan by applying the concepts of GDP & CPI, I watched Evancho's performances two months ago from time to time. She has grown into a great singer. 

Seahawks dominated 49ers at home this afternoon. Wilson threw a perfect ball into the red zone at one point of a time to lead one more TD in first half.

Rawls replaced injured Lynch today to run very well. He becomes a legitimate running back. Seahawks is 5-5 now and in the hunt of wildcards. 

My son will come back home during Thanksgiving break and we plan to go watching Spectre and Mockingjay II. I am wondering if we still can catch Martian. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/21/2015

Getting up pretty early, I watched the first half of Watford hosting Manchester United. Later on, I went up to my reading room to clean up until almost 10:30 am to come down to family room to watch Liverpool playing Manchester City at the moment they had led 3 to 1. 

My son had called me yesterday to ask me to bring him the pair of sneakers left at home because the ones he had worn was very dirty as he told me. After lunch, I drove to his dorm to drop the shoes off, then came back home.

Earlier, my neighbor next to us on the right, Joanne had come over to our backyard with a contractor to measure the fences because she would need to have hers replaced. Fences in her backyard were blown down by windstorm last week while she was out of town. Her fences dividing her yard and another neighbor's extend to my yard, naturally, that portion would have to be replaced too. Then, she raised another question if I would need to have the rest of the fences dividing mine with another neighbor's replaced to keep the same look. Of course, from scale of economy's perspective, it would be a better option as well. Though I don't really want to put any more money on this house, I will go talking to my neighbor in the next street to find out if they allow us to do it. According to Dennis, it shouldn't be an issue because he had talked to that neighbor for the replacement of his fences dividing his yard and theirs'. See, It's not a clear-cut situation because three of our property lines in this side overlap with the other two's in the other side. 

When I turned TV to watch UW visiting OSU in Corvallis, they had led 20+ to nil. I had been in and out of naps until almost the end of the game. Huskies dominated Beavers in this one. If they win the Apple Cup, they should qualify a bowl game in December. 

I don't know why I suddenly feel the life becomes so tasteless today. It might be driven by two things: One is that I finally went back to Sweden again after 19 years, which I had planned for at least 9 years since 2006, so it seems like a big plan eventually written off;  Another is that I recently was connected with my college buddies and have had many enthusiastic chats in our group. However, this also brings me back to 30 years ago as if I was watching my life from that point of time up to date and realized everything I had experienced could be totally erased. 

This time I didn't get a Swedish Stamp on my passport because I entered EU at Amsterdam airport. 

I am watching Bocelli version of Nessun Dorma while finishing today's diary...

Patrick's Diary - 11/20/2015

Dropping the check for November Due for my rental townhouse, I went through I-5 to go to work. Since I left home at 6:30 am, I had tons of time to have breakfast at Burger King today. Towards to the end of my breakfast, I saw the gent who talked to me one or two months ago on a Friday morning there ordered his breakfast and picked it up when his name was called. So I know his name now. However, I was about to leave and he didn't look at the direction of where I sat, why bother? By the way, I checked out on Zillow the current Zstimated price of my rental townhouse drops to 238K. 

My business partner back in 90s whom I mentioned yesterday in my diary is actually 16 years senior if I remember correctly, maybe 15. He has retired and focuses on looking after his daughter whom is in high school because his wife, whom actually is my schoolmate in high school but not in the same class, is still working. He probably enjoys his life very much and sends me several jokes today through WeChat. One of them was pretty funny. The title of it in English may be: Don't treat these porn but philosophy of life:

Miss Zhao became General's Zhang's mistress at the age of 16. If the relationship only last several years, it could have been just a cheat but they lived together for 72 years, it became a great love. The conclusion is no matter what you do, how long you keep doing it does matter.

If famous prostitute Feng Xian in 100 years ago in China had fallen into love with a migrant worker, she would have been treated as a criminal; But she got into a relationship with General Cai, her name has been remembered gracefully; If she had been tied with Sun Yat-Sen, she would have become the First Lady. The conclusion is no matter what you do, for whom you do does matter.

A public women bathhouse got into fire, every naked woman rushed out to the street. A senior gent shouted: "Cover yourself by hands!" All naked women were just embarrassed. Everyone only had two hands to cover three private parts. No one was able to do it. The senior shouted again:"Covering your faces is enough cause underneath is all the same!" The conclusion is that it is impossible to cover everything in many special circumstances, you should focus on important things. However, I just tested that those ladies could use one entire arm to cover breasts and another hand to cover down below.

A girl reported to police that a handsome boy stole her wallet hidden in her bra in a subway train. The cop was confused to ask: "Did you feel it on such a sensitive part of your body?" The girl became so shy to answer: "How could I know he was pulling the wallet?" The conclusion is that it is the best business model to steal customers' money while having them enjoying the experiences of the transactions without knowing your intentions.

Gathering several rogues to collect protection fees is a leading gangster; Zhu Yuanzhang organized several millions people to take over the country to make him the first Emperor of Ming Dynasty; Queen Wu slept with her Father-in-Law and then her stepson, which were incests. However, because what she did were so significant and impactful, she became the first Empress in Chinese History. The conclusion is no matter what evil you are, being the worst one does matter.

A note was posted above the urinals in men's room at a corporation: "Step up a little, Civilization a lot." Employees still pissed on the floor a lot. The management learned the lesson and rephrased: "Not being able to reach the urinal presents your shortness; Pissing out of the urinal presents your softness." Then the floor became crashingly clean. The conclusion is that advice given to your investment clients must be detailed, precise and relevant. 

One day, a woman said very imposingly: "President Wang, I am pregnant." President Wang kept reviewing the reports while saying with slightly smile:"I am ligated." The woman paused a second, then flatteringly smiled: "I was joking." President Wang raised his head to glance her a second, sipped the tea, then closed the conversation: "Me too." The conclusion is that encountering the chaos in a complicated, colorful world requires you being calm and cool. You must be patient to wait to the end. 

Men went to a woman's home to ask the permission for marriage. Her parents asked them to introduce themselves first. Man A bragged: "I have 10 million yuans." Man B bragged: "I have a luxury mansion worth 20 million yuans." Parents were very satisfied, then asked Man C:"What do you own?" Man C replied: "I have nothing but my child in your daughter's womb."The other two men were silent to leave. The conclusion is core competitiveness is not money and house but your own buddy in core position. 

A man didn't want to go to Tibet to support the development due to poor living standards, so he lied that he was blind. Management heard it, then presented a naked beauty to stand in front of him and asked:"Can you see anything?" The man replied:"No." The management kicked his ass immediately: "Son of a bitch, Dick already erected, can't you still see? Go packing today, then going to Tibet tomorrow." The conclusions are: You can't hide from human nature; Organizations are smarter than you; Your basic instinct can sell you out。

Others may not understand these because many of these are deeply rooted with Chinese cultures, good or bad. Another factor can be my translations being dry. 

However, Tibet is no longer a poor place to live as I heard, so this is a joke. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/19/2015

My business partner in 90s who resides in Southern California contacted me through WeChat this morning. He was recently connected with his employees through a Chat Group. Actually, those people were also my co-workers for a year right before I resettled in States 19 years ago. My partner's parents were lifelong friends of my parents. I worked with him briefly in 1987 while I was waiting for my visa to US, eventually I went to Bahamas first and started doing businesses with him from 1990 when I went back to China on and off until 1997. His family has been in Los Angeles for almost 30 years, so his base is always there. However, my focus moved into Europe in early 90s due to other reasons until I decided to move back to States. That's why I became his employee for a year because I wanted to refresh my familiarities of US markets. No matter what and when, we are always very close friends though I haven't seen him for years. 

I didn't get onto toll lane today when I noticed the charge of 7 bucks on message board across over the freeway. It was too expensive. Taking a break, I checked on Amazon for my holiday books' purchases. I planed to buy some most current economic books and found several interesting ones.

Economic Rules by Dani Rodrik, published in October, 2015. This book seems fitting my taste very well because it may focus on the applications of mathematical modelings in economics to make it a science as far as I can tell from Table of Contents. 

The Economics of Inequality by Thomas Piketty, published in September, 2015. This is another must-read one after his famous Capital in Twenty-First Century. I am particularly interested in his analysis of the relationship between Labor and Capital compared to Marx's Das Kapital. 

The Courage to Act: A Memoir of A Crisis and Its Aftermath by Ben Bernanke, published in October, 2015.  I had read several books portraying 2008 financial crisis, such as Too Big To Fail, On the Brink and The Quants, but I am eager to learn the aftermath, especially the impact and effect of a series of QE in this book. 

I probably will buy these three during Thanksgivings and lock several others during big break next month. 

I have a goal to writing two formal books in my life: One is a novel of fictionalizing my lifetime experience to cover from late 80s through probably 2030 when I retire at the latest, which will cover Caribbean, North America, Northern & Western Europe and of course, Great China Area; Another is an academic book of detailing every aspect of my political economic theory of HECONMISM. The summary of it is just as I summarized on my Linkedin Account:

As a dream, I would like to promote my Heconism, which can be outlined as:

Vision: Universal Integration without Boundaries;

Mission: Creation & Development of a comprehensive economic theory to have all global issues fixed;

Goal: Winner of Nobel Economics Prize in 2041;

Theory: Integration of Dynamic in Capitalism and Stability in Socialism to have the whole world growing perpetually at the condition of equality. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/18/2015

Piper Jaffray cut the price target on GPRO from 20 bucks to 15 bucks. I considered it was a help to Hedge Funds to gain in December. Meanwhile, GPRO has become a very attractive acquisition target at current price. Funds' managers, including traditional mutual funds' ones, generally buy puts to protect their stock portfolios, it doesn't mean they won't use the hedging to profit. During Q3 earning releases, I believe they had gained a lot from their own hedgings. 

I learned a Chinese hostage from Beijing was brutally executed. If I am not wrong, it's the first Chinese hostage killed by radical extremist in Middle East. According to an analysis I heard on CNN the other day, the massacre in Paris might indicate that they did lose grounds in their core and had to show their existence out of the region. Now, they spread the hate to Chinese. A Norwegian hostage was also killed the same time. 

Due to our geographical position, we may still feel relatively safe. However, I just noticed a piece of news that five Syrians used stolen passports in Greece to attempt to enter Honduras. We are lucky that they were caught at the border. Their intent is very obvious: Getting into middle America where the security procedure might be loose, then going through Mexico to across the border illegally to enter US. 

The world hasn't been peaceful for quite a long time. During Cold War, it was still legitimate governments' games, everyone still followed humanitarian rules. Now, it is a different picture. We must be cautious. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/17/2015

I went to take health screen at 5:30 am and had a pleasant conversation with the care management personnel. The results were pretty good and nothing was a surprise to me.

Though I recovered very well on Monday, still wanted to take rest for one more day, so I left at noon for home. Stopping by 7/11 to buy a cheeseburger, I didn't plan to have my mom cooking anything for my lunch without any advance notice. 

Lying in bed to eat microwaved burger, I turned TV on and surprisingly caught the last 2 minutes of Euro16 qualification match being held in Copenhagen. Sweden overcame Denmark to proceed. They are going to be in France in June next year, hopefully July as well. The top four prospects are France, Germany, Spain and Belgium for that tournament. 

I learned US Men's National Team would play some crucial matches but haven't had chance to find out the dates and rivals. I did notice the reports of their crashing the weak rival in St. Louis last week. It's not a big problem for US to qualify 2018 World Cup but they need to perform better in the final. 

Keeping watching CNN in Paris, I learned a lot of updated information. The ultimate victims will include refugees from Middle East because people started questioning if the arms should be opened to them. The open policy shouldn't be changed according to our democratic and humanitarian value. The security procedures have to be even tighter and seamless. 

I kept cleaning up my study room and slept early as I had done the night before. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/16/2015

As I had shared, I hadn't felt well through the weekend and didn't go to gym. In this first morning of the new week, I continued to feel dizzy, so decided to take the rest of the day off. I wanted to be precautious because of the surgery I had almost 3 years ago. 

Having my mom cooking two big bowls of noodles and eating them all, I lied in bed for the entire afternoon until dinner time while watching CNN news from time to time. It looked like half of the program hosts were in Paris. 

At night, I even thought about to go to gym to work out a little bit but erased that stupid idea on my mind. However, I started reshuffling the books on the bookshelves to make them more organized. I didn't complete it but would keep doing on Tuesday night. 

I would have to sleep early though might not be able to fall into sleep. I would have a health screen in one of our facilities in Renton at 5:30 am. Taking it would save me 100 bucks, this incentive had engaged many people to go for it, so the only time slot I could catch was such an early one. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/15/2015

My original plan was to go to gym to work my weekend routine out, but decided to take rest for another day because I didn't feel well yesterday when I was there. 

Seahawks hadn't played a competitive game in the first half but caught up at the end of it. In second half, they sacked Palmer twice in Cardinals' red zone and capitalized by two touchdowns. 

However, they lost at the end, which wasn't a surprise to me. It's a typical result of a NFL game. 

Well, everyone will start another new week before Thanksgiving comes over. Let me wrap Sunday up with my Presidential Campaign by getting into Macroeconomics.

Macroeconomics examines the overall behavior of the economy. Before Great Depression, economy was in a self-regulating economy, so Macroeconomic theories barely existed. After it, Keynesian economics was invented, which led to government interventions through managing Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy. 

Business Cycle is a process from the peak of Expansion to drop down to the trough of Recession to come back to the peak of Expansion through recovery. 

Though Business Cycle has been recurring all the time and very painful because of the decrease of productions and severe unemployment, Long-Run Economic Growth has pushed living standards higher gradually. 

Inflation and deflation both cause the problems for overall economy, so price stability is the goal. 

International Trade Surplus and Deficit are not necessarily good or bad. The countries with deficit generally are more investing-driven, on the flip side, the countries with surplus are more savings-driven. 

After going through these theories, my conclusions of our National Economy Plan from Macroeconomic perspective are:

• Encourage private sectors to compete freely;
• Keep current Monetary Policy unchanged;
• Adjust Fiscal Policy to reform tax system and boost government spendings;
• Minimize the impact of the next business cycle by controlling inflation within 1.5%;
• Shrink Trade Deficits to a reasonable level. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/14/2015

Reading my classmates' chats on WeChat the first thing in the morning when I woke up, I learned one of the alums majoring in Mining Technology who was enrolled the same year as we were in 1984 but I don't know would build up a hedge fund, so he met one of our classmates who is an entrepreneur. It sounded like this guy had some moments with another classmate, so I read some arguments as well. 

Going to McDonald's to have a big breakfast including smashed eggs, sausage, biscuit, hotcakes and hashbrown. I posted a photo with a joke: "It's luxury." However, everyone had fallen into sleep, so no one responded. 

It's a little bit scary that I felt I was about to pass out after getting onto the treadmill, so I stopped immediately and got back to my van. I had felt one blood tube on my back might not circulate very smoothly recently.

I glanced at WeChat and found my soccer buddy at CUMT posted a chat to another classmate there, so kept chatting with him for a while. Afterwards, I drove to the saloon I almost always go to get my hair cut. It's still 15 minutes earlier before it would open though the door had been unlocked and the gal told me she would have three appointments so wouldn't have time to do it for me until 11am. I had to drive to another one to get it done this time. 

Lying in bed after the lunch, I switched the channels from CNN to Pac-12 from time to time. I supported Huskies at Tempe definitely, but I cared about the news on CNN more today because of Paris's shootings and bombings. Huskies were leading at the end of 1st Quarter but they lost at the end of entire game to Sundevils. 

An argument for setting up Saturday for Democratic Presidential Candidacy was the viewers wouldn't be as many as during the weekdays, which implied Clinton would be granted a favor given her current relatively dominant leading position. I don't agree to it because people like me work 8 hours in the office and spend almost 3 hours on road everyday during weekdays, we are not energetic to watch the debate over the course, we even aren't able to arrive at home to catch the beginning on time and keep watching to the end before falling into sleep. Debate on weekends works for us better, at least, for me.

Because of Paris, the debate started with Foreign Policy but was switched to National Economy pretty quickly. To pay for more powerful social programs, Taxes are the only sources per all three candidates' proposals. I can't think about anything else either. I advocate that the first day the next President in the Oval Office, she should start pushing a thorough analysis of current tax system including all types of taxes, then lay out a comprehensive reformation. Yes, I meant "She" because I am pretty positive Clinton to be the next President and Americans owe her the Presidency if no one else seems apparently more competitive. I don't necessarily agree with what he proposed but the Nobel Laureate brought us some intellectual insights. 

Patrick's Diary - 11/13/2015

It's Friday, 13th. Leaving home at 6:30 am, I stopped by Burger King to have breakfast. Keep chatting with my classmates at CUMT, I posted a photo of my almost finished meal to them. My dormmate whose last name the same as mine asked if it was delicious, I said it didn't really matter because the purpose was to have stomach filled, then I wouldn't feel hungry while sitting at my desk at work for the next eight hours. At that point of time, I had decided not to eat lunch. 

Another classmate reminded me to watch France hosting Germany in a soccer match, at that moment, I didn't know it would be in Paris and just an international friendly. I told him that I hadn't been able to watch the matches played during weekdays in Europe because they were generally played in the morning. He teased me that I should go home now to catch that match. It's already almost 8:30 am then, I decided to slowly sip the cup of coffee while keeping chatting with them for another 20 minutes before going to work. My dormmate made the comment that drinking coffee was a good habit for Westerners. 

Several hours later at work, I learned the series of shooting and suicide bombings in Paris. 

It was such a tragedy and many reports have been released in the last 30 hours through all medias. I don't need to elaborate more. It is a brutal crime to humanity. Paris is one of the most wonderful cities in the world. I will come back there the fourth time in one of the next several years to show my respect. 

The last time I visited Paris was in August, 2012. As we all know, it became European cultural center in Early Modern Ages. Versailles is such a magnificent heritage. 

Paris became European center of Christianity in Middle Ages, Notre Dame has been covered by romantic and mystery after Hugo's Notre Dame De Paris. My son was lighting the candle in it during that trip.

French Revolution set up a role model for the pursuit of freedom. Bastille is always the symbol of depicting French's bravery. 

I wouldn't be bored of visiting Louvre forever and always have a plan of staying in a hotel near it, then thoroughly appreciate every piece of artworks for a week. Sure, it has to be post-retirement.

Parc Des Princes is one of the greatest sports temples in my mind. We watched PSG's home opening match of 2012-2013 season. 

Of course, you don't want to miss Arc De Triomphe on Champs-Elysees every time you are in Paris too.

Tour Eiffel actually is the arguable symbol of City of Paris, yes, there are so many great architectures. 

Seine probably brings a lot of beautiful dreams at nights to the people like me when we were kids.

These are all because I was influenced by French literatures in Chinese Translations so much when I was a teen. Flaubert's Madame Bovary; Balzac's Les Illusions Perdues; Maupassant's Bel Ami; Montesquieu's Lettres Persanes; Zola's L'Argent; Stendhal's La Chartreuse De Parme.

Definitely, Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame De Paris.

I read almost all of Dumas' novels and was influenced by the knight spirits of the heros in these books. 

My prayer goes to the victims, actually, including an American girl coming from Long Beach, California where I worked for a pretty big company for almost a year in 2005.