Learn about US Airports

I'm sure we all have our picks for the worst airports, and worst airlines, so what does it mean for when you're traveling for the coming holidays? These are diagrams for the 25 busiest airports throughout the year, 10 busiest during the Holidays (Thanksgiving), and a combination of the worst airports with the worst airlines. I have to say, I hate DELTA the most even though in the ranking they were 5th worst. It so happens that Delta's home base is Atlanta, which is also in the list for worst delays. Combine both, and you have the worst travel experience! I had to go through such an experience on a trip to Korea, where Delta lost our bags, delayed our flights so we missed our connections, and left us hanging. Thank God for foreign airlines!

Learn about "Murses"

You may have heard this term before, but let's analyze what it means. So far, I've identified two uses of the term, both terms equally useful as they are funny. Here's the breakdown:

Learn to Fold Clothing

I try to keep my clothing organized, and folded neatly. Shirts are easy, but what do you do with smaller items? Specifically socks, should they be folded or rolled? I always choose to fold them together. I know that by rolling them together you keep the pair in check, but folding them actually saves more time and doesn't ruin the elasticity of the socks. I've always been very paranoid about what happens to the elastic of that one sock that is doing all the work of keeping them together. So here's how I fold:

Learn about the cost of skipping school

I'll admit that I've never skipped a class in my life. Not because I'm a nerd, but because the implications of skipping a class are too costly, literally. Have you ever thought of how much a class is worth per day? If you went to a private school it'll be around $70 per hour of class. ($70 an hour is equivalent to a salary of $145,600 a year by the way) This is why Higher Education Institutions make such a great business. You pay in advance for a service in education, but there's no refunds when you skip. It would be nice if you could pay per day. That way it wouldn't matter economically if you miss the class or not for any reason. If you miss a class because your sick and have to go to the doctor, you're basically paying for the class you missed and for the doctors visit. Shouldn't you be able to get a note for a refund? Anyway, being sick is one thing, but think about what you can do with that money next time you consciously decide to skip.

Learn how to dress for the winter

Summer came and went, and Halloween marks the end of the season and the beginning of winter. So how to dress up for these coming cold days? Well, check it out:

Learn about an Alternative Source of Clean Energy

I had posted before about how eating less might help save the planet. But maybe there's an alternative approach so solving the energy crisis, and we might be sitting literally on a source of clean energy! Have you ever visited a children's museum or a museum of science? They always have an exhibit of a stationary bike connected to a generator powering a light bulb. Why hasn't anybody looked into this?!! The trick is to make this a collective effort. A single bike might power a laptop, but collectively we could power some homes. If all the gyms would connect all of their aerobic machines to a generator, they could produce a significant amount of energy. We could fill two birds with one stone: fight obesity in America by making people exercise at the generator gyms. This would mean that America would be #1 in Energy Source from its obese population. So next time you're eating a chocolate bar, remember that you might help solving the energy crisis one day.

Learn about the evolution of Halloween

Halloween evolved from it's Celtic origins of celebrating the Harvest to becoming a fun excuse for dressing  up. I never really went "trick or Treating" during Halloween, but I do dress up and eat lots of chocolates. So even though people grow up, let's keep Halloween going cause there's always a reason for dressing up. Let's see how this girl managed the transition of Halloween as a girl to Halloween as a woman.

Learn how to give a Hand Shake

Living in different countries, I've found myself in some weird situations while greeting where I didn't know if to give a hug, a kiss on the cheek, or hand shake with pat on the back. You can never go wrong with a solid, firm, international hand shake. Have you ever given a hand shake where the other person sneaks in too early and it feel like you're shaking a fish? Or when they get deep in there and your thumb gets all tied up? A proper hand shake goes a long way in most cultures, so learn the way.

Learn from the best

Learn some dance moves: The Superman

I guess this week I just felt like dancing, and what better way to finish this week than to "Superman that hoe!" If you don't know what I'm talking about you can check it here: http://youtu.be/8UFIYGkROII  I know that this now a classic since it's so last decade (2007-2009) but it's never too late to pull a superman.

Learn some Cellphone Etiquette!

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you agree with someone to meet up but they wont pick up the phone, even though they know that you should be meeting soon? It is incredibly frustrating! What's the point of carrying a cellphone if you're not gonna pick it up! Now, most of the times this has happened to me it has been a girl that doesn't answer. Mostly because girls carry tons of useless crap in their oversize purses where the cellphone just gets lost in there. This is my pet peeve, but there are other situations that are highly annoying as well; like picking up at the movies, or having a loud conversation at a restaurant, or using the phone while driving.  I know the cellphone technology has advanced faster than we have, but let's try to evolve as well.

Learn about "The Shrinkage Solution" to save the world

So, I may be touching on this environmental topic because of the duel I had with the Greenpeace activist last week. I still think that there are more efficient ways of helping the environment, so I wanted to illustrate one possibility.
Recently in the Tech Review there was an article about how in 1967 two MIT civil-engineers professors proposed the idea of shrinking humans in order to use less resources. Even though genetic engineering has advanced since the 60's, I'm not sure this is still possible. What I propose is shrinking our consumption rate. If food manufacturers would produce smaller sizes, people would eat less, wasting less resources, and producing less wasted materials. You can also choose to eat less yourself! You can still eat the same crap, just less of it! I'm doing my part by cutting back on only one dessert a day! SO there you go Greenpeace!

Learn about the Lady Power-walk

Boston is known as a walking city, so everyday I see these women walking to work in a full suit and white sneakers with tube socks. This is known as the Lady Power-walk! High power executive ladies, strolling with confidence, and comfort, down the sidewalks, like they're on a mission. You may have noticed them too, since sneakers and a suit are quite a striking combo. My wife spotted this one walking down the Boston Commons, so if this happens to be you that I'm drawing...I thank you for the inspiration.

Learn how to properly Tip

So tipping can be quite confusing sometimes when you're visiting a new place. Usually, can you can do 10% to 20% of a bill depending on how good the service was. But what about at a bar, or a coffee shop, or a hotel? And more importantly, does it count if no one is looking? You might have to pull a George Costanza on this one and make sure that your tip gets noticed.

Learn how to avoid Sidewalk Activists

It seems like there's more and more sidewalk activists, that somehow feel like they are better than everyone. The most common ones are: Greenpeace, Red Cross, Planned Parenthood, etc. Today I got harassed by a Greenpeace activist for like 30 mins, letting me know how much of an asshole I was being for not signing up, and giving my credit card number to a stranger on the street! I'm not against helping the environment, and homeless people, and all of that, but these organizations have to come up with a more efficient way of spreading their message, than having annoying hippies stopping people on the sidewalk. Anyway, these are some of my moves to avoid them. Although my favorite move has been to harass them back with my own business cards to see if they want to join my cause.

Learn how to fight like a gentleman

So I've never been in an actual fight, but I have had some training. My brother and I were enrolled in Jujitsu for a while. I obviously quit, but my brother continued with Ninjitsu, and is now a Ninja! Anyway, some basic rules, always keep your fists up, protect your chin, and take any chance you get to sneak in that sucker punch! I've diagrammed this one using some old-school boxers who knew a bit about fighting with a fashionable sense of style. You might want to always have those ping-pong shorts ready for your next fisticuffs!

Learn about facial hair styling

So as much as I try, I can not grow any facial hair, at least any decent facial hair style. My brother, on the other side, looks like a lumberjack. Ladies, if you're into that, he's a Doctor in Alaska (hence the lumberjack beard). So for the purpose of this guide, we'll use his face to showcase some of the classics.

Learn to Piss into the Toilet! (Toilet Usage PART 1)

It's pretty annoying when you have to use the toilet and there's piss all around the floor, or even the walls. This is specially gross if it's not a bar but in your own apartment. (Also I hear that usually girl's bathrooms are dirtier than guys bathrooms! What's up with that?) Anyway, this one is pretty simple unless you have some sort of blockage in your urethra that will cause two streams to come out at once, it's a pretty standard procedure. And also, very important, the sign in public restrooms that usually says, "Employees must wash hands," does not only apply to employees! Wash your hands!

Learn about geography PART 1

So the United States is considered "the melting pot," the place where all cultures are welcomed. Yet it seems like nobody knows where these "cultures" are really coming from. This ends up in some uncomfortable conversations with borderline racists remarks. I've been asked if I'm Spanish, Italian, Mediterranean, Punjabi, Part Japanese, Part Chinese, Jewish, Mexican, South American, European, Puerto Rican, Colombian, American. Sometimes it's easier to just let people assume what country I'm from than to explain where El Salvador, Costa Rica, Central America, and Latin America are. So here's the first part of my geography lesson.

Learn how to do a handstand

So when I was about 8 or 9, my mother signed my brother and I into the gym program at my school. And I mean gym as in gymnastics, with spandex and all. Ever seen an eight year old with a six-pack?! The reason was cause she wanted us to grow tall, and apparently hanging from bars and jumping around helps. Yet, I'm still 5'4". Neither gymnastics nor drinking lots of milk helped (I'll get into the milk business in another posting, but in short, you should drink some of that hormone milk from CVS, not that organic Whole Foods crap if you want to grow!) Anyway, I learnt a bunch of tricks, and this was the crowd's favorite while in high-school (ten years ago). I'm keeping it cool and casual in this diagram, but you can go all pro by extending your body fully and pointing your toes. Enjoy, and amaze your friends at your next cocktail party!