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If you go all the way to the east of LA, you'll reach the Coachella Valley, where all the cities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio, Coachella, and Thousand Springs belong to.  While most people from the coast would tune to FM103.5 to listen to the major soft rock station, the people in Coachella Valley can't receive the radio signals due to geographical limitations.  So, instead of tuning to KOST 103.5, they listen to KEZN 103.1.  Their motto line is "Soft Rock for the Coachella Valley!".  The station is accessible via winamp's AOL radio (click Palm Springs, CA by Location) or directly from its website www.ez103.com.

I just find it funny to listen to this channel because I get to feel the desert.  Between songs, I listened to the ads about the businesses in the desert.  Of course... you have to have visited the Palm Desert some time of your life in order to feel the desert through listening to its local radio channel.

10am --- I was struggling to wake up.  I have tons of reasons just to sleep in, but I have 1 reason to wake up: go to Tsuen Wan to upgrade the firmware of my TV Set Top Box.  I could actually do it by myself using a USB flash drive, but last time I screwed and ended up going to Tsuen Wan (the Box's after-sale servicing place) to fix it.  The new firmware has improved the stability of the Box software, thus making the everything a bit faster (e.g. changing channels faster, going through the EPG faster..etc).

Then at 1pm, I had lunch with the (still) sicky cat.  We went to the nearby Taste to get some over-the-counter drugs and some food for her to survive at home.  I'm heading home afterwards --- no use staying around.

I watched Untraceable (2008).  Not so gross, but exciting enough.  I have never thought the bad guy would end up dying this way;  I thought the bad guy would just get caught or something alike.

My California fever is back...

I just watched The Grapes of Wrath (1940), talking about an Oklahoma farmer-family migrating to California.  Back then, people thought California must be a promising place for wealth.  This is half-yes and half-no.  The movies shows a huge cultural difference between the Oklahoma and California people.

There's really a California dream out there.  People can come here freely, but they might not find themselves belonging to the place.

Tonight is winter solstice's dinner. We didn't have anything spectacular. Mom cooked udon with some smoked ham + turkey ham + some oyster + vegetable.

Then I watched this movie with dad --- Best Motion Picture of the Year.

I went up to see Meow and Fung after church. Hope Meow will get well soon. We watched this comedy. After that, I kinda opened up Fung's computer. I found out that he bought wrong ram, and the video card he bought can't be fully compatible because his mainboard isn't PCIe 2.0. Before upgrading computers, one should recite his/her mainboard manual to make sure whatever purchased is compatible wit the mainboard...

I was thinking whether there will be any newly weds in the world who wish to go to Hong Kong for their honeymoon.  Hehe...come here for dust.

In the Valley of Elah (2007) is quite an inspiring film to me.  What happened in Iraq is still a mystery for many.  As families of the US soldiers in Iraq learned more about what they do there, the people start losing their faith in the US Gov't.  This is not news, but the movie has quite correctly depicted it.

Recommended to watch.

Disney's Camp Rock (2008) --- I like this teenage courageous movie.  It's all about "be yourself". Don't have to pretend so that you can get access to a specific group.  Just be yourself!

I'm very sorry about the family in this movie, Junebug (2006).  The characters are very stereotypical to an undereducated family with some underlying violence.  One snapshot I noted was the urban girl's ruthless ignorance to family emergency --- business weighs heavier than family.  This is bad bad.

Watched this Friday night after work and after fellowship.  Really need some entertainment after a week of hectic work, be it value-added or not.

This movie is partly about unfailthful/adulterous relationships and a sex offender.  I think the central thought of the film is about crossing the lines --- be content with whatever you have now and don't cross the lines to ruin the current life...etc.

This movie has a sex offender.  After his relase from jail, he moved into a tranquil community, where everybody hates him to live there.  The sex offender lives with his mom.  His mom is frail.  When his mom passed away, this guy is lonely.  Although he can take care of himself in basic household routine, he will no longer receive any love from nobody --- the only one person who loves him is his mom.  What a pity.