I have been a New York Yankees fan for a long time. I grew up in NYC and so it was naturally either the Yankees or the Mets. I picked the winning team as my fav (no brainer). Over the years, I’ve heard various arguments on why the Yankees is evil with Steinbrenner “buying” the players being the final blow.

If you are a member of that camp, I would like you to answer the following questions truthfully…

• Do you think it’s acceptable for a business to hire talented individuals with substantial financial offer?
• Have you ever considered working for a different company (or even changing line of work) because they (it) offer a high pay?
• If a competing business gives you a job offer with a big paycheck, would you join them?
• Do you feel talented individuals (you included) should be paid what they’re worth?
• Do you believe in supply and demand?

If you answer yes to all five, you my friend, might be evil as well.

In short, the Yankees haven’t done anything that you and I wouldn’t do in a heartbeat. So if you still feel strongly that because “buying” to win is wrong, then I say you’re just bitter your favorite team(s) couldn’t pony up the dough.

Congrats to the NYY for their 27th World Series Championship!

The recipe is based on “parts” so your batch can be almost any size.

8 part green tea.
1 part vodka (I use regular Smirnoff)
1 part Irish whiskey (I use Jameson)
1 part sugar (I use Splendar)

Go easy with the whiskey if your drinkers are not big whiskey/bourbon fan because it is pretty strong on the nose. You will have to experiment a bit to get the right green tea strength.

Refrigerate and enjoy!

1 part Grape-flavored vodka (I use Three Olives Grape Vodka)
1 part sour mix
1 part Spirit/7-up

Chill in an ice shaker and serve over ice.

Enjoy!

1 part Suntory ZEN Green Tea Liqueur
2 part Citrus Vodka. Skyy Citrus Vodka seems fine
1 part Sour mix. Use 2 part if you prefer a sweeter drink
4 part soda. I used Perrier with good result

Enjoy!

Upon calling Samsung, our case was dispatched to a local repair shop. Just keep in mind, my beef is not with the local repair shop but rather with Samsung’s ability to help diagnose problems and the subsequent process involved. Each time the local repair technician came out to the house he would call Samsung tech support to assist with the diagnostic. And each time Samsung would pin-point to issue to a different part of the fridge. The process when something like this:

Visit 1: Called Samsung and was told to order 2 parts ($85)
Visit 2: Installed Defrost Thermistor and Main Control Board ($248.63)
Visit 3: New parts didn’t do anything. Called Samsung and order 2 more parts ($0)
Visit 4: Installed Thermal fuse and Evaporator fan motor ($117.83)
Visit 5: New parts didn’t do anything. Called Samsung and was told to order yet another part ($0)

WTF??

Visit 6: Tech came out with new parts but did not install because he didn’t think it will work. Called Samsung and was told to order yet a different part. ($0)
Visit 7: New parts came in. Senior tech was not convinced it will do anything because he believed the issue is with the sealed system.

Apparently, the symptom is pretty normal by Samsung’s standard. The prescribed route is to replace parts in certain order until the problem goes away. In my case, the problem never went away and the local repair shop gave up. As a result, the unit is reported as “unrepairable” due to issues with the sealed system. The good news is the sealed system is warranted for 5 years and any issues due to sealed system to receive a prorated refund on the original cost based on a 10-years ownership. Since we’ve own the fridge around 2 years, we will be getting 80% of the original cost as a refund. The bad news, we’ve spent 4 months without a working fridge and put out over to $400 to reach “unrepairable” status, and ultimately have to go buy a new fridge.

Note to self, don’t ever get another Samsung Refrigerator. And if I am dumb enough to do it again, make sure to have extended product warranty in some shape or form.

Update: I’ve been thinking about this a bit more this last few days, and I want to make sure my feeling is clear — I have been very impressed with the way Samsung customer support been handling the case with professionalism and care. So I would buy other Samsung products in the future. However, I just don’t have the guts to buy another Samsung fridge from them in the near future in fear of the same outcome.

Anyone that know me well will know that I “like my coffee like I like my women.” Okay, not entirely true but I still use the statement whenever I can because I enjoy strong, dark, bitter coffee.

In any case, back to the point of this post. I saw a bag of Starbucks Morning Blend at the office this morning and can’t understand why anyone would bother with a coffee that is said to be “mild”. Wouldn’t you drink the strongest cup of java money can buy in the morning?

I found this great Sangria recipe on About.com. I used Pineapple Rum instead of gin with good result.

Prep Time: 0 hours, 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 Bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
• 1 Lemon cut into wedges
• 1 Orange cut into wedges
• 1 Lime cut into wedges
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• Splash of orange juice
• 2 Shots of gin
• 1 Cup of sliced strawberries or raspberries (may use thawed or frozen)
• 1 Small can of diced pineapples (with juice)
• 4 Cups ginger ale

Preparation:

• Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon, orange and lime into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and pineapple then add sugar, orange juice and gin. Chill overnight. 
• Add ginger ale, berries and ice just before serving. 
• If you’d like to serve right away, use chilled red wine and serve over lots of ice.  However, remember that the best Sangrias are chilled around 24 hours in the frig. – allowing the flavors to really marinate into each other.

The first year, especially the first month, was tough for all of us. My parents had a total of $1000 USD to start, and $600 went straight to paying rent on a dingy finished-basement-apartment in Elmhurst, NY (Queens). So that left $400 to feed two hungry boys and everything else in between. My folks only knew enough English to not get lost and with plenty of common sense they set out to find jobs. My Mom was a teacher, she became a seamstress at a factory in Chinatown earning $0.02 per piece. My Dad was a family driver for a rich family, he became a bus boy in a Chinese restaurant in NJ earning minimum wage and whatever tips the waiters care to share.

As for me, let just say being different and couldn’t spell pass a 1st grade spelling-bee competition during the late 80s in NYC was not cool. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been egged on my way home or have my backpack stolen only to be returned a day or two later.

My parents told me not to pick any fights since we’re new, but she never quite told me what to do should the fights come to me. Nevertheless, I learned to internalized every bit of the agony knowing my parents were not having a very good time either.

Fast forward 20 years…

I am now 33 and can probably beat a first grader at a spelling bee. My parents have more than a $1000 to their name and have time to enjoy life like they should. All in all, we’re doing fine and are glad we’ve taken the journey. According to my mom, given the chance and knowing what they do now, they probably wouldn’t do it all over again. It is not because they’re not happy with the result, it is because they can’t stomach all the sufferings along the way.

Would I do again? I will have say yes. The first few years were not easy, but I wouldn’t be who I am if not for everything else along the way. It has opened my eyes to things I would have never experienced and know that I can handle almost any adversity thrown at me.

Happy 20th anniversary to the journey across the world!