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I have decided to write a series of thoughts on Happiness. This being the first official one, otherwise known as Happiness through TV viewing.

Many of us like to "unwind" by watching some TV. And somehow most of us migrate from this little occasional unwinding, to being addicted to yet another weekly TV series. So what went wrong?

The main cause is corporate greed, of course. TV Networks and the show writers perfected the formula for show creation overtime, and their goal is Clearly to Suck you In and get you addicted and watching All The Episodes!

Yes, it is a simple formula! Here’s the executive summary: Create a master plot, which through small clues evolves from episode to episode. Create a master sub-plot, which often must have start and end within each individual episode. Sometimes shows have two such sub-plots in each episode, running side by side, to ensure viewer is glued to TV enough.

Add to this some important visual/auditory elements, with plenty of natural beauty. This important ingredient includes water/metropolis/sunset/sunrise, and city lights, maybe some luxury, etc. Top it of with Plenty of beautiful people, as much as the studio can afford, usually. LOST maybe a small exception here on the people part, but take CSI Miami, complete formula, right there! Did you notice how most of the episodes start? With plenty of girls in bikini having beach or pool or otherwise fun?

I am not laying blame here, not yet. But, think about it, "She came to Me" rarely works as an infidelity defense for husbands!

You need to take control and understand what’s behind your TV watching habits. Better yet, take it one step further and try to see what you were trying to achieve. Most of us, after tough long day, want to relax in front of TV, with expectation of feeling replenished and Happier afterward!

So choose appropriate programming! It’s your spare time and I am sure it is limited! If the quest for knowledge is something that is your long term goal in life, switch to some Discover or History programming. Scout the net for Nova and other relaxing yet educational material.

If that isn’t your cup-of-tea, use the good old "occasional sit-com" pill. This is quality TV right there, and if used in moderation, good laugh and relaxation is your quickest route to feeling rejuvenated and Happy. Well, a little happier, at least, its a solid start.

Hey, I Love Lucy too!

I was going to write some cheesy commentary about how nVidia should branch into making computer CPUs, and finally be bought by Intel, or die out altogether. Coupled with some analysis into the future of multi-core systems and the many cores it takes to run today’s 3D applications, games, OS, and what not.

But seriously, would most of you care? I guess this is one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging. It felt like nothing is really big enough, important enough, interesting enough, etc.

But, Today is that Day. I am quitting, changing, destroying, rebuilding, rethinking, re-everything. Teen rebellion finally caught up with me? Perhaps, but I think not! Then maybe its the 15 years of marriage that I just celebrated, that hit me like a brick wall. Nah, that’s not what I feel. Mid-life crisis? Too early, really!

I feel that change is overdue. Things need to happen, I need to make things happen. I just have been too lazy and too not-caring to make things happen. And mostly, I’d like to blame it on World of Warcraft. Too often I, granted tired and all, stared at the computer and said too myself – Take the Easy Way Out. Just play a little, do something small. You will feel accomplishment almost right away, 10, 15 minutes later you would have earned some more virtual money, gotten closer to that distant level 70 goal or something else virtual like that.

Yes! I am finally ready to admit it — It’s all been virtual, also known as Not Real. Sure, some of it is real achievement. Something you can boast about, something you can help your friend with (yes, it’s easy to help people who just starting to play, while you arrive with you 100 times more powerful character than the starting zone intended).

But, I am putting a serious stop to this! Yes, I am going into full remission. My own initiatives were the first casualty of WoW, along with many cases where quality family time, or other truly important things suffered.

Yes, I will come back to writing here! It is something I enjoy, and I can’t really deprive myself of all things fun, all at once, now can I? I was going to add some cheesy picture to this post, but I am too emotional at the moment. Today is the day, and Now it happens!

Welcome, Neo, To The Real World.

I want to apologize for light blogging this past week.

Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say that our Plasma TV of long had some troubles that could not be repaired. Thanks to Costco and their Concierge Service, we now have brand new TV that everyone loves.

Now that this crisis is resolved, I promise to go back to regularly scheduled blogging!

My family is happy again, so here is one more time: Thanks Costco!

Welcome to 2008!

I am not into putting together "year end review" of 2007, like some other bloggers, and I especially don’t like all the posts on New Year Resolutions for 2008. One of the late lessons you learn in life is that when you Talk about doing something in the future, and you keep talking about it, chances are you will not do it. The more you discuss doing something (instead of actually going for it!), the more you realize that it probably isn’t all that great, or something could go wrong, or just loose interest in general…

So instead of some empty resolutions, I took some affirmative action today, some first major steps, if you will, with more to follow:

• First, I am adding Watch page to my blog. It’s right up there on the header, next to About Me and other pages. The idea is to aggregate some of my favorite videos in one categorized page. Right now it’s mostly videos I blogged about already, that I enjoy, but I will be adding some other fun videos as I come encounter them. Hopefully you will return to that page often (Bookmark it!) and I trust you will enjoy them as well.
• Second, I am announcing launch of another blog called EconoVille that I will moderate (but guest posters are welcome). As you probably figured, it will focus on all things related to Economy and Economics. I have been fascinated by Economics as a science for a while now, and I find it especially amazing that even in this day and age with all the research that was done, Reality often drifts away from our Economist predictions.
• I am also taking affirmative action on few other project of mine, but I am not prepared to talk about those just yet. Details sure to follow, I promise.

So, have a great new year! I will continue to update my Shared Deals & Blogs (on the right column here) multiple times each day with the latest bargains and major tech developments and news. I also hope to bring you more tips about technology and, of course, life in general.

PS: Do yourself a favor this year and start using Web Readers (Google Reader or Bloglines), it makes it so much easier to keep up with your favorite blogs and web sites! And, once you sign up for free account there, don’t forget to Subscribe to this Blog!

Season Greetings! This post is probably a bit overdue, but maybe you’re still planning a big bash for New Year’s and this is definitely something useful for the new year!

KraftFoods.com has become my primary portal for favorite recipes this year. It has wonderful photos, showing you what you’re making, something many other sites out there lack. Plus, Kraft folks seem to keep manageable repertoire of recipes, most of which are easy and quick, instead of mishmash of thousands or millions, like some other sites contain.

You can easily sign up for a free online account and mark your favorite recipes, and then sort them into custom categories, though web interface for organizing recipes needs some work! And, to top off the beautiful recipe photos off, they just started to add some nice how-to videos recently!

I have linked to some of my favorite recipes here, but there is yet another excellent aspect to Kraft Foods (can you tell I am a shareholder, well, Duhh!!) If you live in US, you can sign up for Free printed Magazine called Food & Family! We have been enjoying it for over a year now and it’s highly recommended.

Yea, Yea, I know Kraft is bound to be pushing their own products in the Magazine and in the online recipes. But I didn’t find it to be obvious at all, plus it’s Free and ultimately, no-one is preventing you from substituting the ingredients, if you are so inclined, for some unknown reason. "Recipe Box" Web Sites is another wave of the future, and with proliferation of cheap wireless web devices, it is easier than ever to get to your recipes right from on your kitchen table. I am also pretty certain there are other wonderful Recipe sites out there, so share away in Comments below!