Never Stop Innovating Life . . . Innovate Infinitely

My name is Raymond Mar. Welcome to Innovate Infinitely . . . the web site where innovation never stops. Are you ready to innovate infinitely?

Update June 28, 2009:

Fanime Con 2009. Cosplay pics are uploaded. Click 2009 Fanime Con Cosplay Pics.

Update May 6, 2009:

Let's start with the continuing bad news. I'm still unemployed. I've been sending resumes to positions I'm qualified, underqualified, and overqualified. I've been getting spam email for positions I'm not interested such as sales. Ignore the emails *__* From my experience, an employer calls you when you're a good candidate for the job.

I want to congratulate Innovate Infinitely for being on the web for five years. May 1, 2009 was the 5th anniversary. Congrats!!! I continue to improve the website big and small XD

The new clothes include new underwear. I purchased new boxers from The Gap and Calvin Klein ^__^ I stop purchasing packaged boxers. And I started my new spring and summer clothes. No more polo shirts and plain white t-shirts. The new me continues to be developed =)

Spring '09 classes at De Anza. I'm taking Strength Development and Social Dance at De Anza college. I have all the time in the world. The classes are going good. I learned a new warmup workout and trying a new weight workout from www.bodybuilding.com. I dropped Beginning Japanese. The class was too fast. I'm self studying and I retake the class in Fall '09.

Dancing. At De Anza, I learned the Cha Cha Cha. My sister taught me the Fox Trot and Waltz. She's teaching me the Tango. I'm learning the West Coast Swing now at De Anza.

Movies in theatres and at home. In 2008, I watched Jumper, the only movie I saw in theatres. I saw Coraline 3D in theatres. I'm thinking about watching more 2009 summer movies that look really good. I watched Hellboy II, Transformers, Mememto, and Black Hawk Down in Blu Ray. I watched Slumdog Millionaire and The Rocky Horror Picture Show in DVD. I'm considering reading the Slumdog Millionaire book.

Speaking of books, I read "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman. Great book! Grown-ups must consider reading young adult books, lol. My wish list includes young adult books ;) And I read "Love Walked In" by Marisa De Los Santos. I'm currently not reading books at the moment because . . .

. . . I'm making another costume. I'm making another cosplay who is Haku from Spirited Away. My Mom is giving me sewing lessons. In June, I'm going to make a baby dress for my niece. The baby dress is an easy project for a beginner. My Mom continues to teach me. I'm considering sewing a higher priority than Japanese =)

Wearing my cosplay. I attended the Nor Cal cosplay photoshoot gathering in Hakone Japanese Garden in Saratoga, CA. I cosplayed Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. And I attended the 2009 Northern California Cherry Blossoms Festival in San Francisco, CA. I cosplayed Toushiro Hitsugaya from Bleach. For my Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicles cosplay, I purchased new boots. No more military boots :D

Anime. I finished Toradora and Clannad: After Story. Clannad is on my all time favorite anime series list. I'm currently watching Fullmetal Alchemist 2, White Album, Tears to Tiara, and K-ON. I like to have more time to watch more series. I started to read Black Cat. And I'm catching up on the Fullmetal Alchemist, Tsubasa Chronicles, and Bleach comics (manga).

Getting handsome. I continue taking accutane for my acne and blackheads. The treatment seems to be working. The last checkup my dermatologist says I have just over 50% my treatment is successful the first round. And I continue to wear braces. I've worn my braces since Jan 2007 :-{}

Hiking. I went hiking at Uvas Canyon County Park in Morgan Hill, CA. The last time I hiked was Yosemite in 1995 XD The trail is easy. I plan to visit many times and walk the additional trails.

Facebook. I created a Facebook (FB) account. I have mixed feeling. FB is great to keep in touch with family and friends I don't see often. Many people treat FB as a twitter. I try to update my FB once a week. Unfortunately, the last time I logged on to FB was Fri Apr 24. I update my status ASAP including posting what I have done since Fri Apr 24, upload more pics, and confirm more family and friends. I confirm family and friends at least I fairly know well.

Finally, the webpage updates:

• Family Photo Album Uploaded pic me hiking at Uvas Canyon County Park for the first time.
• My Cosplay More pics at the 2009 Cherry Blossoms Festival, Nor Cal Spring Gathering, and 2008 Halloween.
• 2009 Cherry Blossom Festival Cosplay Uploaded the cosplay pics from the festival.
• Other Anime Pics Posted pics of my phone charm and a Hitsugaya hand warmer.

Update March 11, 2009:

Starting with the bad news. I already told my friends and family. Now I tell the world. I'm unemployed. My contract at Cisco was terminated due to budget cuts in Nov 2008. My attitude is "maybe it's for the best." The job market is terrible. I want to earn a second degree. I don't know what. I'm thinking nursing to be a hospice (I think a nursing degree is required to be a hospice), accounting, or finance.

The second bad news is I got sick in Jan 2009. I got the superbug, the sickness that no antibiotics work against. I was sick for about four weeks. I got the superbug in 2008 that lasted much longer. I feel better today.

Now let's get to the good news and good stuff. I have plenty to share ^__^ The webpage updates are mentioned last XD

Music. I became interested in classic jazz such as Louie Armstrong, Bill Evans, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Stan Getz, and Charles Mingus. I'm looking forward to my first jazz festival whether it's today's jazz and/or classic jazz :D I also purchased Porcelain by Helen Jane Long. Highly recommended! I'm still listening to classic rock and classical music. And I purchased my first Frank Sinatra CD "Seduction, Sinatra Sings of Love." I purchased the CD to help me self-practice ballroom dancing.

Ballroom dancing? Yup, ballroom dancing. My sister moved back home to go back to school. One of her hobbies is she dances competitively. During her spare time, she teaches me ballroom dancing. I'm learning the fox trot and the waltz. I want to learn more including the tango and cha cha cha.

Anime. The latest anime from Japan overall stinks. I finished Gai-Rei Zero, Akane iro Ni Somaru Saka, Natsume Yuujin Chou, Nogizaku Haruka no Himitsu, and ToLove RU. I'm still watching Bleach, Clannad: After Story, and Toradora. I stopped watching Chaos Head and Earl and Fairy. From my DVD collection, I watched The Place Promised In Our Early Days and Voices Of A Distant Star. Voices Of A Distant Star joined my all-time favorite anime list.

I caught up with the Tsubasa Chronicles comic (manga). Lots of questions answered and plenty of action. I now catch up with Full Metal Alchemist. Bleach and Nana follow next.

I participated in three costume (cosplay) events. The first was at the Winchester Mystery House and at my workplace on Halloween. The second was Anime Palace's Xmas party 20% off everything in the store. The third was Christmas In the Park in Downtown San Jose.

Movies. I took advantage of $4 and $5 DVDs at Fry's Electronics and Best Buy between Oct'08 and Dec'08. I watched Goodfellas, Hot Fuzz (an all-time favorite), The 40 Year Old Virgin, Transporter 2, and Ben Hur. I also watched The Godfather trilogy (an all-time favorite), A View To A Kill, and The Departed. The Summer'08 movies I watched The Dark Knight (an all-time favorite) and Hancock in DVD. I didn't watch the summer movies in the theatres. I purchased X-Men II, Die Hard, Mr. Mom, and Revenge Of The Nerds DVDs for $4. And I purchased Disney/Pixar Cars which became an all-time favorite after I watched for the second time.

TV. Very little to mention regarding television. I rarely watch primetime TV. I watch an occasion Seinfeld rerun. I watch much more sports than primetime. I purchased Simpsons Season 8 and Family Guy Volume 5 DVD sets. Overall, I watch little television.

Why do I spend little time watching TV? I read books. I started getting into fiction in Oct'08 because the business books I read recently discussed similar concepts from books I read earlier. I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. I also read Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, a book I always wanted to read when I was little. I continue to read non fiction. I read Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Readers' Institute and Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson (an all-time favorite). I continue to read more fiction than non-fiction indefinitely.

Outside of the house with family and friends :3

• I hang out with my friends Friday night and a few weekends. We play board games, talk about the latest anime and video games, and discuss anything random from current events to our families.
• I visited my friend Steve who lives in Washington Nov 15-20, 2008. We went to Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The highlights included visiting Hurricane Ridge, playing Betrayal At the House On The Hill, The Underground Tour in Downtown Seattle, and shopping for books. I also climbed the indoor wall at REI in Downtown Seattle.
• My friend Arashii visited the Bay Area during the Thanksgiving holiday. We ate breakfast in Campbell and went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and pier on Fri. We talked about how life treated us, random philosophy, and how our 2008 year went.
• Appu, gmontem, and I visited The Buttery Bakery in Santa Cruz on Dec 6, 2008. The Buttery is one of the last true bakeries in the Bay Area. After The Buttery, we shopped around for tech goodies and visited Barnes & Noble.
• I mentioned the Anime Palace Xmas party. After the party, I hung out with Chun, Spiritsnare, and Tsubasa.
• On Dec 22, 2008, my Dad, Uncle, Aunt, and I visited the California Academy of Science Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The museum was packed with families and their kids on winter vacation. The museum opened in late Sep 2008. We were lucky to get tickets for a 3D bug show. The tickets for the planetarium were gone in just two hours. Worth going big time ^__^
• Thanksgiving and Christmas 2008 holidays with family were the best in a long, long time for me =) For example, I brought back the traditional movies Planes, Trains & Automobiles for Thanksgiving and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for Christmas. The emotion, the happy feelings, the togetherness were present. I really couldn't explain why. My family and I spent the holidays at my brother's house.
• After Christmas, one of my Uncle's family visited from Los Angeles. We toured Stanford University and UC Berkeley. I played Settlers of Catan with my two cousins. We ended the after Xmas vacation at my brother's house.
• New Year's Eve 2009 Appu and I went to San Francisco to watch the fireworks at Pier 2. New Year's Eve 2010 we invite all of our friends to join us, and we correct the mistakes we did including parking and better location to watch the fireworks.
• For Chinese New Year, one of my Uncle's family living in the Bay Area and my brother and his son visited our house. We had a big meal and I played Settlers of Catan with my three cousins. The second game was exciting and we were into it ^O^

Family has a new PC. On Dec 29, 2008, my Dad helped me build a new PC for me and the family. I named the new PC the Gaming PC because I wanted a new PC to play video games. I only have time to play Team Fortress 2 (TF2). I purchased Crysis just to test out the system. The graphics are amazing! My first hardware was the power supply on Oct 27. My last hardware were the flat panel, optical drive, RAM, case, and hard drive on Dec 29. Thank you Dad for your assistance. Thank you gmontem and Appu for the gaming keyboard as a Christmas gift.

The PC was completed with all software installed and moved to my room the last week of Jan'09. Here are the Gaming PC specs: Intel Q9300 2.5 GHz CPU, ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3, Crucial Ballistix RAM (DDR2 2X2GB PC6400 800 MHz CL 4-4-4-12), Western Digital 640GB SATA 7200 RPM 16MB buffer, ASUS P5Q Deluxe DDR2 1200 FSB 1600, and Samsung T260 25.5 inch LCD.

Building the Gaming PC was good experience for me learning more about computers. I rate my PC skills as average. I know enough PC knowledge to troubleshoot most basic problems. I was given another opportunity to gain more computer experience. I converted my cousin's new laptop from Vista to XP. It took me an entire day. I was successful ^__^

As for TF2 and Crysis, I played Crysis here and there in late Jan-Feb and I started playing TF2 again since Mar 1. I didn't play video games between Xmas and late Jan ;)

Clean up the house. I mentioned my sister moved back home. The entire house went through a cleaning and reorganization. My room, that is also a second family room, got the best cleaning and reorganization. I got rid of junk, donated useless items, and recycled old PC hardware.

A whole lotta me being new. Lots of new experiences and new items for a new me.

• New clothes. Out with the old and in with the new. I donated all my old casual shirts, old ties, and hooded sweatshirts I worn since, damn, 1998. My old jacket is in my car for emergency clothes. I kept my dress shirts, dress slacks, and casual slacks that are still good. I purchased new sport shirts, jacket, two pairs of casual boots, leather jacket, top coat, and scarf. The new clothing I purchased between Oct-Dec'08 taking advantage of sales and coupons during the recession $-) I still have my spring and summer clothing that I donate when the spring clothing are available.
• New watch. A man must own a stainless steel watch. I now have one. I purchased a Citizen watch in early Dec'08. I wear my digital watch when working out at the gym.
• New workout. Speaking of gym, I'm following a new beginning weight workout from bodybuilding.com. Two days of weights and one day cardio consisting of treadmill and stationary cycle. I stretch out before I go to the gym. My weight dropped from 175 pounds to 168 pounds as of Mar 3, 2009. Also, no more white t-shirts I have worn since 1998. I'm wearing new gym workout shirts to keep my dry. I wore new gym shorts and new cross trainer shoes since mid 2008.
• New mattress. I purchased a new mattress on Dec 26, 2008. It's a Sealy Posturepedic Reserve "Glen Marie" plush. I purchased three new 400 thread count bed sheets in Oct-Nov'08. I slept in my old mattress since junior high school. I also purchased a new down pillow on Feb 28, 2009. New sheets, new pillow, new mattress equals no tossing and no turning. I use my old pillow and my new pillow to sleep with two pillows that I heard improves sleep (-,-)
• New face. In time, I'm going to have a new face. A new face gives me more confidence, a new outlook on life, and assists me in meeting new people. First, my braces are almost done. If everything goes well, my braces are removed as late as May'09. I plan to use white stripes to whiten my teeth. Second, I began treatment for my acne and blackheads. I'm taking accutane prescribed by my dermatologist since Feb 6, 2009. And third, I started shaving with an electric razor on Jan 21, 2009. No more electric shavers. I recently learn how to shave my face for a close shave ~~ I use the Gillette Fusion Power. I want to try the Gillette Fusion without the power.

I'm elsewhere on the web. The following are websites I post blogs or have accounts open for everyone to view :D

• Innovating Common Knowledge My first blog. I post ideas and thoughts to innovate your life and daily happenings.
• Finding Raymond Mar My second blog. I'm growing up. Most of the posts I share positives everyday. I ask myself questions and answer them to find more about myself.
• My Steam My Steam account to play Team Fortress 2 (TF2). I don't have time playing other games T__T
• My Yelp Read my reviews including restaurants, beauty, and major events.
• My cosplay.com Another site to view my cosplay pics.
• My cosplaylab.com Less popular, but still well known cosplay website.
• My YouTube Watch my uploaded videos.
• My half.com I'm currently selling no books and DVDs.

Finally, the webpage updates:

• Family Photo Album More pics of me. Lots more ^__^ Washington Canada'08, family, and myself.
• Police Car Photo Album New police cars from Seattle, Washington, Washington State Police, and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
• My Cosplay More pics again this time in costume. Halloween and Christmas gatherings.
• About Me I rewrote the entire About Me. I elaborated the current me and shared in more detail my interests and hobbies. I removed the schools I attended and goals. The reason I removed the goals is I don't know what I'm doing now and what I want to do in the future. I live the present, live one day at a time. I create goals when I find my desire and future path to success.

  However, I want to close full circle some open goals. I completed the following goals started on Aug 3, 2008: read three books, exercise, and build a new PC. I'm going to close my five year goal being technology competent started on Aug 3, 2004 because I built a new PC and converted my cousin's laptop from Vista to XP. I know my tech skills are average. I feel it's the time to close the goal.

• Top Ten I added my Innovating Common Knowledge 300th blog highlighting my top 30 blogs. I removed the top ten favorite classic rock songs and top 31 personal values. The top 30 blogs are more powerful than my top 31 personal values for the lessons in life I learned.
• About ININ I rewrote the entire About Innovate Infinitely. It's condensed and to the point !(^^)!
• Economics 101 OMG, I updated Economics 101! I helped a friend with supply and demand. I drew charts for my friend. I added supply and demand concepts including the charts.
• Favorite Quotes Removed some quotes.
• Anime Page Removed Anime CD, Anime DVD, and Anime Fan.
• Links I added a few new links in eCommerce, Entertainment, Information, Miscellaneous, and Technology.

Click Update Archives to view past updates.

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