marco baylon

It’s springtime again in Sapporo!

Winter is nice with the snow and the thick coats and all that. I definitely look forward to it, especially around August when it gets realllly hot and humid in Japan. But winter gets tiring after the first few months. And during the last part of winter, the snow is just icky and slimey, and really slippery. Well, it’s no fun (it snow fun?).

And the short days can get tough after a while. It messes up the body clock a bit. At the peak of winter, it can be pitch black as early as 4pm!

So was pretty stoked when I left the dungeon* the office and I saw this:

It’s like the whole city is covered in a blanket of blue! ^_^

Man, my walk to the subway just got a lot better – a little light, a nice cool breeze, a delicious meal (and my beautiful wife) waiting for me at home – who can ask for more?

It’s easy to not see the blessings that we have. Problems and worries are just easier to see. But sometimes we need to look around us and realize that hey, there are a lot of things we should be thankful for!

So yeah, thanks Dad! Your grace just amazes me!

oh and also, Thank God It’s Friday!

–

*dungeon, in the sense that i’m disconnected from the outside world. and that i don’t see sun until i leave the building. not like, im being tortured or anything. and no, there are no dragons. you know, just to make things clear : )

Because everyone and their dog has their own predictions on AI.

Marco and Nicole’s Bottom 3:

Anoop, Scott and Lil

A couple of links today, Enjoy!

• Bahay Tsinoy: The Chinese of Old Manila – Jerome details his journey to Bahay Tsinoy, “a square, palatial three-storey beige architecture which, true to its name, houses a historical and cultural collection of all things Chinese-Filipino,” and discovers some interesting things about his heritage and about himself.
• My Life In A Cube – April 7, 2009 – Do you know someone like this in the office? Gah, annoying! But wait, guess who I am among the two characters! (Hint: Gah, I’m annoying!)
• Senseware – Mikko used to say that the reason to everything ultra high tech is “Nanotechnology!”. Well bro here you go – a bunch of stuff that people are creating using… say it with me… NANO TECHNOLOGY!
• Who told you that? – ” I wonder how many times God has the same objection when He hears the lies we believe: Who told you that? “
• Difficult Email Addresses – Email addresses it would be really annoying to give out over the phone.

Maybe it was the coffee I had after dinner.

I had a *slight* quarter-life crisis / identity crisis last night. Although I was able to talk it over with my lovely wife (who patiently endured my emo moment) and we were able to come up with practical and realistic answers, I didn’t have complete peace.

Until my Quiet Time.

A hard worker has plenty of food,
but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.

Proverbs 12:11 (NLT)

O_O

I quickly asked Nicole for her NIV Bible

He who works his land will have abundant food,
but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.

Proverbs 12:11 (NIV)

Wow.

***

Here’s Proverbs 12:11 in other versions:

He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. (KJV)

He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,  But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense. (NASB)

Coming Soon at St. Francis Square!

A research team gave the public a glimpse of the future Tuesday as it demonstrated technology allowing a person to move Honda’s Asimo robot simply by thinking about it.

via New technology translates human thought into robot action – The Mainichi Daily News.

The future just got cooler, again. Or scarier.

Imagine, being able to control machines with just your thoughts? This has mecha anime written all over it. Go Japan!