Matching Connections Between People Get Along With Each Other

I dreamed last night I played softball at a privately owned softball park. The softball park consisted of many softball fields, batting cages, a soccer field, and a central building for administrative, operations, and cafeteria.

The first part of the dream I played in the left outfield. Each team required four outfields. I played between the true left fielder and center fielder. No balls went my way. The left fielder was a grade school child. He caught all the fly balls hit his way. He fielded all the ground balls hit his way. The game ended. The grade school child was recruited for another softball team.

The second part of the dream I wondered around looking for a team who needed an outfielder. I found another team. There was a two minute interview. The team accepted me. The weirdness was the second game I played was inside the narrow rectangular office suites of an industrial building. The entrance of the office suite or the reception was the infield. The first office suite with no windows was the shallow outfield. The second office suite with windows at the back was the deep outfield. The captain, vice-captain, and I played the outfield at the second office suite. There was a fourth outfield who didn't appear in my dream.

The game started. The team played poorly. All three of us couldn't catch fly balls defensively. The team couldn't get on base offensively. It was three batters up and three batters down. The opposition scored runs without problems. There was in-team fighting and arguing. I asked the umpire named Mr. RR about the maximum seven runs scored per inning rule in the middle of the game. The umpire acknowledged the rule. The opposition scored seven runs in their inning. The umpire told the captain of the opposing team to switch sides. The captain was angry.

There was enough time in the one hour of gameplay for the final four batters to step up to the plate. I was batter number ten. I hoped at least of the three reached base for me to bat. The opposition didn't send a pitcher. Mr. RR pitched for the opposition. One of the three batters reached second base on a double. I approached the batter's box. Mr. RR gave me a wink. The first pitch was in the middle of the plate. I hit the ball deep to the outfield or the second office suite for a two run inside the park home run. The team celebrated at home plate and at the dugout like we won the championship. The game ended. I woke up.

I finished the dream consciously lying on my bed. The team went to the central building cafeteria. We ate pizza. We drank beer. There were smiles. There was socializing; although, some of the conversations was drunk talk. There was singing. There was joy. Everyone connected. I established the connections. It took one action to combine a group of people. It took one event to bring togetherness. It took one moment to be together. It took one person to spark a group of people to become together.

Rename Past Blogs Titles Because The Original Title Are Incorrect Or Misleading

I rename 26 past blogs because the title is deceptive. The title doesn't explain the blog content. The title relating to the text makes no sense. 15 of the 26 or 58.70% blogs are between 2007 and 2009. 18 of the 26 or 69.2% blogs are between 2007 and 2010. Four blogs reference cooking. Three blogs reference taking life for granted. Technically speaking, these past blogs are updates on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

Original Title: Free Bird
Date Written: Apr 15, 2007
Renamed Title: Cooking Solves The Problem Being Stressed And Do Something Solves The Problem Being Bored
Explanation: I posted two life tips still valid today. The first tip is cooking destresses a person. Cooking is an activity to take a break. Cooking minimizes eating processed foods. The second tip is avoid being bored doing something out of the ordinary. For instance, I became sick in Apr 2022. I relaxed such as catching up writing blogs, watching old DVDs, and listening to old CDs to recover.

Further, I wrote, "Do something, anything, . . ." which became a life motto when I realized I must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008.

Original Title: A Lesson On Life Yesterday
Date Written: May 5, 2007
Renamed Title: Practice Personal Responsibility
Explanation: I learned personal responsibility on my second month working at Cisco. Nobody was going to help me with my assignments. I was responsible to learn what I didn't know. Asking for help was the last resort.

Original Title: A Moment Being Selfish
Date Written: Jul 12, 2007
Renamed Title: My Dream Home
Explanation: I thought how I live life owning a home. I cook my meals, park my car in the garage, and invite friends and family for social activities. The last paragraph is true today: . . . I think about the millions of people who can't afford a home. It's sad, yet life is unfair.

Original Title: Something New To Me
Date Written: Aug 6, 2007
Renamed Title: People Thanking Me Is New To Me
Explanation: The first time in my life people thanked me. The first time in my life people helped me. The first time in my life people appreciated my presence. Beforehand, I thank other people, I helped other people, and I appreciated other people.

Original Title: One Lunch Day In 2000
Date Written: Aug 9, 2007
Renamed Title: I Saw A Homeless Person One Lunch Day In 2000
Explanation: The specific lunch day I saw a homeless person with a sign saying all hope is loss. I should have purchased a sandwich for the homeless person.

Original Title: A 12 Year Mistake
Date Written: Aug 12, 2007
Renamed Title: Making No New Friends Was A 12 Year Mistake
Explanation: The renamed title is self-explanatory. I failed to make new friends from college to beginning cosplaying at anime conventions.

Original Title: I Wake Up, Now What
Date Written: Jan 5, 2008
Renamed Title: What Am I Doing In My Life?
Explanation: The renamed title is self-explanatory. I questioned how I lived my present life. I worked at Cisco, I lived at home with my parents, I watched anime, I worked out at the gym, and I read books. Marriage and moving out of the house were afterthoughts.

Original Title: Runners Stop And Walk
Date Written: May 31, 2008
Renamed Title: Run To Get One Done Or Walk To Get Them All Done
Explanation: Physical fitness is irrelevant. I paraphrase the last paragraph: Two choices. The first choice is run completing tasks hastily increasing the chances for errors. The second choice is walk completing tasks one at a time decreasing the chances for errors.

Original Title: Straight From My Gut
Date Written: Oct 18, 2008
Renamed Title: Straight From My Gut Trust Intuition
Explanation: I realized my intuition helped me through fearful moments. I realized my intuition saved me from tough situations.

Original Title: Point A to Point B. Where's Point C, D, E, F, G, . . .
Date Written: Oct 26, 2008
Renamed Title: Don't Take Life For Granted
Explanation: I shared past moments I took life for granted. Never stop improving. Never stop learning. Never stop innovating. Innovate infinitely.

Original Title: How Do They Do It? How Do They Do It?
Date Written: Jun 4, 2009
Renamed Title: Some People Have The Charisma, Good Vibes, And Good Looks
Explanation: There are people who attracts other people to them. I questioned my charisma, good vibes, and good looks.

In particular, one friend attracts people at anime conventions. High school educated, worked in retail, overweight, talked slowly, learns slowly, and a standard geek. I saw him conversing with new groups of people most of the time I saw him. The same friend watched an anime convention masquerade from the side stage because he got a press pass.

Original Title: My Solution To Solve Problems
Date Written: Jun 20, 2009
Renamed Title: Cooking Skill Can Solve Some Problems
Explanation: Cooking may not solve world problems. Cooking can solve some personal problems. One less personal problem is one less problem the world deals with.

Original Title: I'm Keeping The Door Closed
Date Written: Dec 27, 2009
Renamed Title: I Say No To Death
Explanation: I'm not ready to die.

Original Title: Gratitude
Date Written: Dec 28, 2009
Renamed Title: No More Taking Life For Granted
Explanation: Another reminder don't take life for granted.

Original Title: Riding On Bad Luck
Date Written: Dec 31, 2009
Renamed Title: Riding My Car's Tire On Bad Luck
Explanation: I shared past moments I had a flat tire.

Original Title: A Lesson Learned Tonight
Date Written: Feb 2, 2010
Renamed Title: There Are No Guarantees In Life
Explanation: I learned the life lesson when Conan O'Brien agreed to a $45 million settlement to leave "The Tonight Show," with $33 million to O'Brien and the staff receiving $12 million from NBC. The Jay Leno Show and O'Brien hosting The Tonight Show were failures.

Original Title: Dumb and Dumber
Date Written: Mar 28, 2010
Renamed Title: Don't Spend Time With Dumb People
Explanation: You may become dumb if you spend time with dumb people. I repeat, "[Don't] lower yourself to get along with the friend or group. Whether you continue to spend time with the friend or group is another discussion.

Original Title: A Frozen Dinner
Date Written: Jul 9, 2010
Renamed Title: Try Eating New Foods
Explanation: Eating new foods can add a little excitement. Eating a new junk food is approved.

Original Title: 23 Is Too Short
Date Written: Jan 28, 2011
Renamed Title: A Friend Died At Age 23. 23 Is Too Short.
Explanation: A friend died from sickness complications at age 23. I blogged what my life was at age 23.

Original Title: I Know It Lifestyle
Date Written: Dec 9, 2011
Renamed Title: A Dynamic Life Or A Predictable Life
Explanation: There's no right way or wrong way to live life. Either choose a predictable and routine life or a dynamic and "on the fly" life.

Original Title: Ice, Ice, And More Ice, Baby
Date Written: Mar 13, 2013
Renamed Title: Ice Is Important In A Residence
Explanation: Every freezer must have ice.

Original Title: What Is Wrong With This Picture?
Date Written: Apr 4, 2013
Renamed Title: What Is Wrong With The 2003 Raymond Mar In This Picture?
Explanation: This picture refers to me. I critically analyzed my appearance in 2003. The short answer is I looked pathetic.

Original Title: What Happened?
Date Written: Jul 28, 2013
Renamed Title: Connect The Dots Backwards Life From Mar 2007 To Jul 2013
Explanation: I looked back at in my life from Mar 2007 to Jul 2013. There were mistakes including taking life for granted, failing to earn my successes, and being weak. I corrected a few. The mistakes I failed to correct continued to affect me.

Original Title: Frustrating, Adjusting, Taking Action, Changing
Date Written: Aug 13, 2013
Renamed Title: The 2013 San Francisco Giants Adjustments
Explanation: I wrote my opinions how the Giants took action to adjust and to change.

Original Title: Bringing Home Meals
Date Written: Oct 30, 2014
Renamed Title: Meal Preparation Describes A Person Or Family
Explanation: Pay attention to the meals when people meet other people for the first time and families meet other families for the first time inside their residence. The meals are signs how the person or people live their daily lives. People or families who cook are more happier. People or families who don't cook are less happier.

Original Title: There's An A In Overachieving
Date Written: Oct 11, 2020
Renamed Title: The Oakland A's Are Overachievers
Explanation: The professional baseball team lost 10 of its past 11 postseason series on Oct 2020 when the A's lost to the Houston Astros. Management trades its star players at the prime of their careers; in other words, sell high, buy low for which buy low is acquire young baseball talent at low salaries or old veterans at the end of their careers. Ownership is cheap.

I also wrote 1+1+1=3 which is one superstar plus good coaching plus good management or good ownership equals a championship.

I Worked At Bad Companies

Luck is part of the reason people have good careers and people have bad careers. Anyone who says luck is not a factor knows nothing. I worked at five companies after I graduated at San Jose State University. The first two companies were in the commercial real estate industry. The first company went bankrupt which was bought out by a competitor. The second company went corporate for better or for worse. I say better because there was a chance a corporate manager solved their problems optimistically speaking. The third company was Cisco. Cisco was Cisco. Cisco is Cisco. Cisco is an old dinosaur company people still want to work. The fourth company was a retail start-up which went out of business six years later. The fifth company was a growing company with too much politics. My department was one of the worse departments.

Where are the good companies? Companies cared in past generations. Management cared. The workers stayed in one company throughout their careers. They retired in the same company. Companies cared about their workers during retirement. There was professional nurturing. Openness was natural. Employees and management encouraged each other. Wealth spread out. There was support. I got your back. You got my back. Opportunities were plentiful. Today's companies consist of politics, complaining, people care about themselves attitude, and personal shields on the defensive every minute. People who hate their jobs leave the company instead of helping management solve problems. Google or Alphabet is not a good company. The outside public believes Google is a good company. The inside workers tell the contrary stories.

It's A Fair Question

Good questions. Bad questions. Either way they can be fair questions. Nothing wrong. They are honest questions at the appropriate time and place. The person asking can't be attacked.

Are you honest?

Did you earn it? What did you do to earn it? Did you deserve it?

Are you entitled?

Are you a grade A person or a grade C person?

Is it your fault?

Why did you include him, her, it, or them? Why did you exclude him, her, it, or them?

Are you paying your share?

How much time did you apply?

Disclose your advantages. Disclose your disadvantages.

Is the answer correct? Are you correct?

What are the rules?

Happy Living An Alternate Life

My current life is the George Costanza from Seinfeld when he was unemployed and lived with his parents. I can live a life working in a crappy dead-end job while spending my free time watching TV and playing video games. Unacceptable. The life is a loser. I can upgrade somewhat. I live a life working in a white collar and dead-end job, struggle financially, spend time with weak friends, practice unhealthy habits, find little time to learn life skills, and spend little time job self-training. The idea adults must move out of their parent house just to move out of their parent house is questioned. The global pandemic exposes the truth independence can be overrated. Living independently may be deceptive independence is the way to live an adult life.

If anyone asks me if I'm happy, then my answer is I'm working on it. If anyone asks me if I'm happy yes or no, then my answer is yes. I accept my alternate life hoping its temporary.

Forget the average life. Forget the B's, C's, and D's graded life. Grade A life or grade F life. Success or failure. There is nothing between success and failure. I have nothing to lose. I'm fortunate I still have a choice how to live my life. I don't take the choice for granted.

Update On A Past Blog

The world is happy when I'm happy. I reference the last paragraph in Happy Life on Dec 21, 2010. Happy life is for everyone. Happy life must be earned and worked on. Happy life never comes to you and me on a silver platter. Go out and get happy--a happy life.

Point Blank Movie 5,464 Days Later

I can't explain why I watched the movie decades later. I watched Point Blank (1967) starring Lee Marvin tonight. The movie is part of a three DVD box set I purchased at the Chronicles Of Crime store in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on Nov 18, 2008. The other two DVDs are The Departed (2006) and Bullitt.

The Departed (2006) starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg. The movie won four Oscars including Best Picture at the 79th Academy Awards on Feb 25, 2007. Bullitt stared Steve McQueen. The movie included one of the best car chase scenes in movie history. The two cars were Bullitt's 1968 Ford Mustang 390 GT and the bad guys' 1968 Dodger Charger 400 Magnum in San Francisco, CA.

Update On A Past Blog

The Point Blank movie reminded me of another decades old purchase. I wrote The Big Book Of Beatrix Potter 5,902 Days Later on Nov 16, 2021. I purchased the book on Sep 2, 2005 at Half Price Books in Washington state. I finished the book on Oct 30, 2021.

Top Ten Plus Ten Equals Top Twenty All-Time Favorite Movies

There are 32 movies in my all-time favorite list from my About Me at my personal webpage Innovate Infinitely. I reduced the list to 20. It's time to rank my all-time favorites because I wrote The Shawshank Redemption is my new number one movie on the Update On A Past Blog on Apr 12, 2022 I've Been Doing Everything Correct Mostly replacing Good Will Hunting.

Here are my top ten plus ten equals top twenty all-time favorite movies.

20. Wall Street. A favorite for investors and salespeople. Michael Douglas won Best Actor for portraying Gordon Gekko. "The most valuable commodity I know of is information," said Gekko.

19. Office Space. The cult classic is a must watch for all white collar workers. Aged well.

18. Clerks. The cult classic is a must watch for all retail workers. Aged well.

Side story: I worked at Blockbuster Video in college. The store manager kept Clerks in the new releases section years after the movie was released on VHS.

17. Hot Fuzz. A comedy, action, mystery, and plot twist combined. I laughed for a long time during the beginning.

16. UP! An underrated Disney and Pixar movie. The people who say UP! is an all-time favorite other people gives them shocked looks. The movie needs more love.

15. Parasite (2019). The rock is just a rock at the end of any day. The first foreign language movie to win Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars.

14. A Few Good Men. I watched the movie for the first time in May 2017. Beforehand, I watched the famous Jack Nicholson "You can't handle the truth" scene every time I see A Few Good Men. I understand the quote. Tom Cruise is a good actor.

13. Stand By Me. Four kids with too much time in their hands took a weekend trip to find a dead body. I realized Stand By Me was my first coming of age movie as an adult. I wished I had their life wisdom when I was a child because they were wiser than my childhood.

12. Aliens. My personal four star science fiction movie. A 100 out of 100.

11. Toy Story. The only movie I watched in the theater nobody stopped laughing. A movie experience is positively strengthen when audience members react with everyone else.

10. Black Hawk Down. The movie producers did a good job adapting the book. I read the book. If the producers followed the book, then the movie was too complicated. Too much flow interruption. Too much politics. Too many characters to remember.

9. Titanic. The only movie I watched three times in movie theaters. I watched the movie twice in 1997. The third time was IMAX 3D on Apr 2012.

8. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. A family classic for all ages. Watch the original version.

7. Casablanca. Schedule a night with your significant other to watch the romantic drama with the most quoted movie lines in history. I'm sad to say I watched the movie once.

6. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The movie should have won Best Picture instead of Annie Hall.

5. Saving Private Ryan. My personal all-time favorite war movie. The movie should have won Best Picture instead of Shakespeare In Love.

4. The Dark Knight. The movie was all Heath Ledger. A 100 out of 100. If I name my favorite evil character, Heath Ledger's Joker comes to my mind first.

3. The Godfather. I include The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. Organized crime, drugs, power, greed, revenge, and the past. The Godfather Part II takes the upper hand because we see Vito Corleone in his early years.

2. Good Will Hunting. I watched the movie for the first time in Feb 2014. I believe if I watched the movie between 1997-2000, I could have experienced my grow up moment then instead of Sat Oct 4, 2008. "It's not your fault," said Sean Maguire.

The 12 remaining movies for honorable mention: 12 Angry Men, A League Of Their Own, All The President's Men, Ben Hur, Breaking Away, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, La La Land, Little Miss Sunshine, Mary Poppins, The Lion King, The Princess Bride, and The Sound Of Music.

1. The Shawshank Redemption. A friend in college watched The Shawshank Redemption in the theater. He told me the movie was boring. I watched the movie 9,108 days later from the date of release Oct 14, 1994 on Sep 21, 2019. No spoilers. There is a reason the movie is number one in iMDB's Top Rated 250 Movies.

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog October 2023

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. There were fewer COVID-19 headlines. COVID-19 positive rates leveled after a summer spike. More mask mandates are coming back. The month went by slow; however, the more I think about Oct, the more I convince myself the month went by fast. The end of the day Oct went by slow.

Mon Oct 2. Shopped at Smart & Final first thing in the morning.

Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the 2023 Nobel Prize in medicine for developing the mRNA vaccine. The mRNA vaccine technology is used to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The letter m stands for Messenger. mRNA tells the cells to produce antibodies.

Tue Oct 3. The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for people ages 12 and older. The vaccine is protein based which targets the EG.5 strain and XBB omicron subvariant. Protein based vaccines gets the body's immune system to recognize small modified pieces of the virus it's targeting.

The Center For Disease Control (CDC) is no longer distributing the white vaccine cards. Recipients should contact their state health department's immunization information system to keep track of their COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Thur Oct 5. My morning errands were smog check for my car, AAA, and Safeway.

Fri Oct 6. A study published in the Lancete's EClinicalMedicine journal stated a person who feels sick long term and tested negative for COVID-19 may have long-cold. There are other respiratory infections related to the common cold and not related to COVID-19. It's too soon to determine the number of days defining long in long-cold. The symptoms include the common respiratory virus and the flu.

Four family members found guilty of conspiracy to defraud people by selling a COVID-19 miracle cure containing a toxic bleach. The product was called Miracle Mineral Solution under the guise of the Genesis II Church Of Health And Healing.

The CDC published a study 63% of hospitalizations Jan-Aug 2023 were people ages 65 and older. All other age groups admissions declined. 24% of all hospitalized patients were up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations. 90% of COVID-19 related deaths were people ages 65 and older. 155 people died due to COVID-19 on average per day. The majority were over 70 and/or immunocompromised. 43% of people ages 65 and older received the previous bivalent booster shot available from Sep 2022 to May 2023. 1.14 million people in the US died due to COVID-19. 52,000 people died in 2023 as of today.

Sun Oct 8. Watched the Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers Sunday Night Football 1st quarter, 3rd quarter, and 4th quarter.

Mon Oct 9. Shopped at Lucky's first thing in the morning.

Thur Oct 12. Went to a satellite Kaiser Hospital campus in the afternoon. There was no vaccine because supply ran out.

The Department Of Health And Human Services said 7 million Americans received the latest COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccines available are Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Novavax. Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech are recommended for people ages 6 months and older. Novavax is recommended for people ages 12 and over. 18 million people received the 2022 bivalent booster at the same time last year. 56.5 million people received the bivalent booster as of May 2023 which is 17% of the US population.

A concern is the latest vaccine unavailable to children. One problem is distribution delays. People reported trouble finding doses or problems with their insurance.

Fri Oct 13. Arrived at the same satellite Kaiser Hospital campus at 8:20am. There was a line in front of the entrance. Vaccinations opened at 9am. I waited 20 minutes for my vaccine shot.

Wed Oct 18. Pfizer increased the price for a five day treatment Paxlovid at $1,390 for the commercial market. The federal government paid $529. Paxlovid is the COVID-19 antiviral drug which has been free since Dec 2021 when the FDA authorized the drug. Pfizer sells Paxlovid to health insurers in 2024. Pfizer plans to subsidize copays for commercially insured people from 2024 to 2028.

Tue Oct 24. Bank Of America, Costco Business Center, and helped my dad run an errand.

Wed Oct 25. Cruise operator Carnival was found negligent in an Australian class action lawsuit. The Ruby Princess liner departed from Sydney on Mar 8, 2020 for a 13-day cruise to New Zealand. The liner returned to Sydney 11 days later. 663 passengers were infected with COVID-19. 28 people died.

The lead plaintiff Susan Karpik sued for $230,000 in damages. Karpik was awarded the cost of her medical expenses because she didn't experience long COVID-19. Carnival refunded all passengers on the Ruby Princess. Carnival offered free cancellations for cruises on Mar 9, 2020. All cruises were suspended on Mar 13, 2020.

Thur Oct 26. The CDC reported from a survey of thousands of Americans 2% of children and 7% of adults got the latest version of the COVID-19 vaccine. The latest version targets the XBB.1.5 omicron variant. The government transitioned distribution from the federal government to commercial. Case numbers are low; however, 18,000 are hospitalized and 1,200 people die on average per week.

Mon Oct 30. Went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and Toyota.

Tue Oct 31. Bay Area counties Santa Clara, Marin, Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Sonoma hospitals, clinics, and long term care facilities must follow county mask mandates. The counties fear an increase in COVID-19 and RSV cases. The mask mandates begins on Nov 1, 2023 and ends on Mar 31, 2024.

The CA state positivity rate was 6% in mid Oct. Santa Clara County wastewater transmission data indicated medium levels at the end of Oct.

Update On A Past Blog

I'm living my last hours of borrowed time being unemployed from the blog Unemployed Borrowed Time I wrote on Apr 27, 2018. The borrowed time has been lasting at least five years with a COVID-19 global pandemic delay. I don't know what happens when time is up. I don't know my actions when time is up. Death is at the bottom of the outcomes list. I continue doing the best I can staying sharp.

The Times Are Changing continues. I wrote 2020 was a year of significant changes including government shelters in-place, black lives matter, modified professional sports seasons, and online school learning. I wrote the blog on Sep 17, 2020. Some 2023 significant changes are inflation, Ukraine war, climate changes, former President Donald Trump's criminal charges, and the Gaza Strip war.

I also wrote Beelzebub collected the bills past due during the 2009-2010 global recession. Beelzebub collects today. There are more people he made deals before the global pandemic. There are more bills past due.

The times are changing.