Curling

Photo Credit: Yahoo

I am not talking vector calculus here, where the curl is a vector operator. I am not also talking about curling hair or curling iron. The guy in this picture is an excellent example to vouch for me.

Curling is a sports event in the Winter Olympics. I did not know this until this morning when I was watching the 2010 Winter Olympics now being held in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

It is a team sport. Two teams compete against each other. Each team has four players. Each player slides heavy polished granite stones down the ice. There is a circle marked at the far end called the house.

The purpose for each team is to slide 16 stones. Whichever team’s stones are closer to the center of the house is the winner. When the stones are sliding in the ice, there are 2 players broom or brushes the ice to direct the movement of these stones.

This has some similarities to lawn bowling or shuffleboard. The commentator was telling that this game was invented in Scotland. It became an official sport in the Winter Olympic games since 1998. Canada won the Gold in the 2006 Olympics.

My impression of this sport? It was as thrilling and exciting as watching grass grow or watching paint dry.

I think Figure Skating and Slalom are very exciting and interesting to watch in Winter Olympics. What do you think? Please don't say the Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony. They are always very exciting and interesting to watch in any Olympics.

Whodunit

Four months ago, one day I was going on Interstate-80 Freeway to San Francisco. I have to cross the Bay Bridge. There was a long line of cars waiting to pay for the toll charge. Very slowly the cars moved toward the toll booths. The drivers paid the toll charge and drove in the Bay Bridge.

When my turn came to pay the toll charge, the guy who was taking the money in the booth said that the driver in front of me paid for my car also. I was stunned. I had no idea why a complete stranger would pay for my toll charge.

This was on my mind for couple of days. I was talking to some friends. They said some people surprise fellow human beings like this. They think giving a surprise gift to an unknown person is therapeutic. It is one of the best things we can do. It is the thought that counts. Money value does not. The toll charge was only $4.00. I would remember this incident until the day I die.

I am not talking here about helping poor people or handicapped people. I am also not talking about a passenger in train sharing whatever he bought at the station with fellow passengers. I am talking here about surprising an unknown fellow human being and making that person happy. The recipient will not know he received this gift until the giver has gone.

I learned something new that day.

Last week we were having dinner in a restaurant. There was an elderly couple dining in that restaurant. They were two tables away from our table. When our bill came we paid our bill and also that couple’s bill. This included their drinks, dinner, and tips. We quietly left the restaurant. We were very happy.

We all have read stories about how Elvis Presley liked to surprise his friends and strangers by presenting them with brand new cars. I am sure it will be a wonderful feeling for me if I am also able to leave a brand new BMW (with keys and ownership documents) in front of someone’s house and quietly leave.

We can start with doing something good to someone when they are least expecting. At least we can start with a friend before moving on to strangers.

If you have any similar incident, please share.

Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is February 14, Valentine’s Day. I like the following quotes. I thought I would share with you.

Ann Landers (Famous Newspaper Columnist):

“The poor wish to be rich, the rich wish to be happy, the single wish to be married, and the married wish to be dead.”

David Bissonnette (Author):

"I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste."

Laurance J. Peter (Educator and Hierarchiologist):

"It's better to have loved and lost than to do forty pounds of laundry a week."

Rosanne Barr (Actress, Comedian, and Writer):

"Women are cursed, and men are the proof."

Groucho Marx (Comedian and Film Star):

"Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and give her a house.”

Tracy Smith (Comedian):

“I wanted to make it really special on Valentine's day, so I tied my boyfriend up. And for three solid hours I watched whatever I wanted on TV.”

Jules Renard (French Author):

“Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.”

Plato (Greek Philosopher):

“Love is a grave mental disease.”

Frank Zappa (American Composer):

“I detest 'love lyrics.' I think one of the causes of bad mental health in the United States is that people have been raised on 'love lyrics.”

Mae West (American Actress and Sex Symbol):

“Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.”

Happy Valentine’s Day.