Rescuing ducks

This happened at lunch... Kathy (my coworker) wrote an excellent piece on the events, so instead of duplicating that effort, here is Kathy's original piece.


Derek

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Once upon a time, in sunny Cupertino, four ClearCase TSEs (JP, Derek, Ricky and Kathy) went out to lunch. As they drove by the corner of Swallow and Homestead they noticed Mama Duck trying to get her seven ducklings across the street.

"We should help her if she is still here when we get back", someone said.

After a yummy lunch, the four TSEs were heading back. But this time, there was no Mama Duck or ducklings to be seen. Only an elderly man on a cell phone staring down the storm drain. Fearing the worst, JP immediately pulled into the nearest parking space and out jumped the four TSEs. Sure enough, there were several ducklings down the drain.

The elderly man had seen Mama Duck trying to herd three ducklings across the busy roadway. He stopped her and put the three ducklings in his car, intending to get them across the road. Then he heard the quiet peeping of other ducklings. At this point, he was on the phone trying to get someone, anyone, to come and help. The Sheriff said they would send Animal Control. Animal Control said there wasn't much they could do. The Fire Department had yet to respond.

The four TSEs decided to help! As Derek and JP tried to pry off the grate of the storm drain, Kathy and Ricky gave helpful suggestions. They decided that the tools at hand were not enough and JP left to ask Facilities for a crowbar. Meanwhile, Derek noticed that the grate was beginning to budge; but it was still too heavy. Kathy suggested that perhaps the combined strength of two TSEs would do it. Together, Ricky and Derek heaved mightily and pulled the grate slowly away.

It was a deep, dank abyss in which the ducklings were huddled in. What now? How could we reach them? We must go into the storm drain! Derek bravely volunteered and lowered himself into the mire. He passed ducklings to Ricky, who passed them to Kathy who carefully placed them with their siblings in the elderly man's car. One, two, three...they kept coming....four, five, six, and finally, seven. Ten ducklings in total. Mama Duck was going crazy, flying this way and that, with worry.

Soon after JP returned with Isias. They were able to assist with replacing the grate. Now we were faced with what to do with the ducklings. A city worker showed up, concerned by our close proximity to the drain. "Never go in there!" he warned. "There are deadly gasses that could kill you instantly!" Hmm....this gave us some sinister ideas.....but never mind that now! The nice city worker called Animal Control for us and requested a pickup. It was a good thing, because the elderly man was not going to let us release the ducklings in the nearby creek to their mother.

The moral of the story? There is more than meets the eyes when it comes to ClearCase TSEs. They are not only smart and good with customers, they are smart and good with animals, too!

What I learned...

I had the pleasure and honor of working out with this guy Xavier from the Oakland (or was it Alameda?) area. Xavier's style is a mix between muay thai, western boxing and maybe some jujitsu. Or so it seemed to me.

It was very nice to exchange techniques with a fellow martial artist, and I believe that both of us came away with new ideas. I think I had the better deal though ;)

I learned two kicks from Xavier. First, the thai-style low roundhouse kick to the opponent's outer lead leg. It doesn't look like much. I mean, you're kicking a guy's LEG for cryin' out loud. But it hurts like hell. I think my legs are fairly well conditioned. Not as tough as a muay thai fighter, but certainly much tougher than your average Joe on the street. I had Xavier give me a half-strength kick, and well, it still hurts today, 24 hours after the kick landed. Very fast, very deceiving (esp in conjunction with a face jab or two), very effective.

The second kick was the rear leg stomp to the opponent's lead leg knee. No, I didn't ask for a half strength kick to my knee, but I can say it's very fast and effective as well. I think it works better as a counter because of the way your body leans backwards when you deliver the kick. Great kick for street combat, but not for sparring cos it'll mess up your sparring partner's knee if it lands.

On the giving end of things, I taught Xavier how to use the back thrust kick as a counter attack, where you spin, use your opposite side hand as a block to a roundhouse kick, and kick as a counter. Pretty common TKD technique, and scores lots of hits in sparring.

I also taught Xavier how to deliver a heel front push kick in response to an opponent's raised knee defence. So it goes like this. I move in for a kick/punch. Opponent reacts automatically by raising his knee as a deterrent and closing his guard (hands) around his body. If I continue with my kick, he can counter with a side or front kick after I have committed my kick. Not good for me. So instead of kicking at his head/body, I use a front push kick to push at the opponent's knee/hip. First, it hurts the opponent. Secondly, and more importantly, it pushes the opponent hard enough to throw him off balance, so that I can follow up with a step-in side kick or something.

Xavier also started picking up my (bad?) habit of spinning in close to the outside and using a spinning back elbow. For example, he charges at me with a punch combination. I spin away to the side and throw a blind spinning back elbow high at his face. Nice deterrent against someone who wants to get in too close.

All in all, it was a great workout. Thank you Xavier!

Playing with snakes

Last night, I had my usual email exchange with Lois (ok, I changed the name). She sounded really upset, upset with HIM.

So I called her. The short version is that something transpired between them, and she feels used and abused and violated and what's that she said... got short changed cos now it seems like there really wasn't any friendship or feeling behind whatever happened. Basically, she got played.

I feel sad for her. She seems to blame herself for what happened, and she seems to feel that somehow, I am disappointed by her. I'm not.

Lois... It's not your fault! Things happen. Shit happens. Live, and learn from it. Nobody's perfect, and well, nice as you are, neither are you. Please don't let this get to you. Heal, live, learn.

A quote from Kathy... If you play with snakes, learn to stay far away.

Random, really random

I was kinda bored, so I typed in my name "Derek Lau" into Yahoo. You know, ego surfing.

The 8th match was titled "I love you, Ah Ma". Alwyn wrote this almost a year ago. I've read it a million times I think. Or maybe it just seems like a million times. But I read it again anyway.

And it feels like the hurt is still so fresh. Just started crying again. I still miss her...

Me happy :)

J and I are off to a good start. I think. :)

I feel happy with her. Even when she's checking email and I'm lying on the bed half asleep. Even when she's doing her photos and I'm just watching her do it. Even when we're doing nothing. Especially when we're doing nothing.

A little scared... She's never said how she feels, and I'm too afraid to trust what I see or what I think. I'm hoping time and patience will coax her to share her feelings.

Also afraid that this happiness could be so short-lived. She doesn't have a job. If she doesn't find a job pronto, she will lose her H1 status. And then what? She'll have to leave and return to Singapore. I don't want that. I don't know what to do if that happens. But I'll take it one step at a time. There are several ideas that I can pursue to solve those problems. One thing at a time.

For now, me very happy. 'nuff said. :)