The Brainiest Cities in US

The brainiest cities in the United States

Top 25 cities with more than 250,000 population, ranked by percentage of bachelor’s degrees among residents 25 and older

City                  State      Percent
Seattle               WA         52.7
San Francisco      CA          50.1
Raleigh              NC          50.1
Washington        DC          45.3
Austin                TX          44.1
Minneapolis        MN          43.2
Atlanta               GA          42.4
Boston               MA         40.9
San Diego          CA          40.4
Lexington-Fayette    KY     39.5
Denver     CO     39.0
Charlotte     NC     38.8
Portland     OR     38.8
St. Paul     MN     36.5
San Jose     CA     36.1
Colorado Springs     CO     34.9
Honolulu     HI     34.7
Oakland     CA     33.8
Pittsburgh     PA     32.3
New York     NY     32.2
Albuquerque     NM     32.2
Anchorage     AK     32.2
Omaha     NE     31.9
Nashville-Davidson     TN     31.7
Columbus     OH     31.4
New Orleans     LA     31.4

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Interesting… and surprised that Houston’s not in it?! Oh well… not surprised that Boston and Austin are in there…

Please help save Ana!

No, this is NOT my daughter Anna!    But rather, Ana is a daughter of a guy named Pete who is a forum worker.  Do not worry about spam… this is for real and legit.  JP, the guy who runs sharkyforums, posted it to start…

Being a father myself, it tears me inside to think of what I’d do if my daughter had brain tumor!     So I wanted to do what I can and get the word out… Imagine a TWELVE year old girl going through such devastating experience…  Now, add on top of that a $26,000 bill that Pete has to pick up as he has no insurance (self-employed). 

Please if you have compassion, help out with whatever amount you can via PayPal…  The story/blog as well as button to donate is here…

Save Ana

And also, please pray for Ana and the parents to pull through…  sniff…

Two Woes in (less than) Two Days!

Woe #1

NTB is da suck!    My wife’s beloved Lincoln Continental has been worsening in the alignment arena.  With Houston’s roads being one of the worst in the country, it’s no surprise, and as an “investment”, I got the 3-year-warranty version of NTB’s wheel alignment.  I was with kids near church then (two weeks ago or so) and decided to pop in by the NTB at I-610 and Richmond.  After nearly 2 hours of wait, it’s done.

However, on my drive home, I noticed it’s the same!  So I got annoyed and told my wife to take it to NTB near our home (nearHwy 3 and on Bay Area Blvd).  They say they found few more issues so after another freakin’ $124, they STILL couldn’t fix it and said that it’s likely a frame damage!   

My beloved regular mechanic, Ash (of Ash Automotive on Hwy 3 near Pineloch) has been very popular lately so it’s been very hard to get him to see our cars.  Which is why I took it to NTB in the first place!  I tell Ash the story.  He’s very nice and knowledgeable Indian mechanic, by the way, and has never wronged me!  I had to schedule around HIS schedule but no matter, as I was now desperate!  After few hours, I asked him if it was frame or air suspension (Lincolns still use air suspension).  Neither.  He just redid the alignment and it was fixed!     Why am I mad, you ask?!  ‘Cause that meant that my $250+ I spent at the stupid national chain of NTB did squat!  That’s why!  Those people don’t know how to align wheels evidently!   Now, I am going to have to try to get my money back on their worthless service!!

Woe #2

It started again last night as my data HDD started to act up.  It made my CS:S sessions near to crawl!  I left it defragging the HDD last night only to wake up to frozne computer!  So I restart and noticed the same SATA HDD acting up and freezing again!    So I started to back up all the data (incl. the unedited movies of Pathways New Orleans mission trip!!).  After hours of backing up data, I turned the computer off, disconnected the problematic drive and turned it back on but now video is acting up!    Oh, I am mad!  This is not a good week thus far!!

End Result

So what do we learn?  NTB is da suck!  And HDD is da suck!! 

I am no artist!

It’s no secret… I’m not an artist nor am I gifted in arts.  So whenever Anna asks me to draw for her, I get stressed.  Today, she asked me, of all things, to draw panties!  And then ribbons!

There are two things she loves:  clothing and accessories!  😀  And she doesn’t just want one either!  She then wants me to draw several!   In this case, 16 panties, and about 50 or more ribbons!  😮  Yikes… But she loves to color them in!  So I have draw over and over, in different colors, the things she wants!  C’est la vie, n’est-ce pas?  I try to remind myself that these are the moments to cherish… and that she just loves it when I do this for her!  It’s one of her love languages!  🙂

Moderating the Mob Online

I have been rather busy lately with online responsibilities…
You see, starting with Sharkyforums.com, I have become a moderator for 3 sites.

Sharkyforums.com
the Gamer Planet (tGP)
Coolest Gadets

The first one, my first “love”, is a computer-orieted forum site.  I’ve learned and helped loads of people via that site.  tGP is a site I found as I began playing Counter-Strike: Source.  Good team-oriented action brought me back again and again… and then they just asked me to be one of the 7 core members to help guide in the direction of the site!  😮  And then I stumbled across the Coolest Gadgets via Gizmodo, the gadget blog.

It’s been quite an experience becoming a moderator and all on these tech forums and sites.  But it’s also quite an experience… the biggest problem with big sites like Sharkyforums.com is that it also attracts tons of spam!  😡  In the end, it’s very exciting in this world of geekiness…  Hee…

Shanna’s Pizza Parlor

We go to the county library nearby about once a week…
There, the kids, mostly Anna, pick out books to read.  Well, somehow, she discovered Shanna, a very outspoken and creative girl. The book character, not a real person!    In this particular book, Shanna offers all kinds of strange combinations of toppings for the pizza… it’s actually quite gross combo… even Anna agreed! 

When I asked her what she wanted on her pizza, she went on all over in terms of the toppings.  On top of that, she started asking if you could put non-food stuff on the pizza!!    In the end, I loved the book for encouraging the kids like Anna to think beyond the typical… beyond the average, and teaching her to think outside the box.

You see, when I was in my 20s thinking of what I wanted my kids to learn, I wanted one of those to be for my kids to be able to learn to be both expressive and creative.  I didn’t want my kids to grow up stuck inside the box, per se.  I’m glad she’s way out of the box!    She’s so imaginative… makes me proud.