January 2023 Visit to New York

January 4, 2023

It’s the first week of 2023, just after New Year's Day, I made a trip to New York City between Jan 2-4 to run some errands. Along the way, I stopped at a few places of interest, of a few hiking trails near Lehigh River and Paterson Great Falls, which would be the focus of this post.

View from Tank Hollow
View from Tank Hollow

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Failed Hiking to Pinnacle Shelter via Tuscarora trail

December 17, 2022

After a minor winter storm, I decided on a final hike of the year of following Tuscarora Trail to Pinnacle Shelter. Unfortunately, the storm created more ice than snow on the trail, with a high number of fallen trees that I had to bail out half way.

Frozen Flowers
Frozen Flowers

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On Bias in Sports

December 10, 2022

If there’s one event to capture the world's attention towards the end of 2022, it should be the ongoing FIFA World Cup, the second most watched sporting event that's held only quadrennially. Besides the deafening roar of fan-packed stadiums and its far-reaching fanfares, there are facets of this world cup that are oftentimes overlooked, like Qatar's heinous human rights records that built the stadiums with something comparable to modern day slavery.

One of such issues is gender equality, that recently made headlines with Iranian protestors, a close ally of Qatar. And if one compares the popularity of this (male) world cup to its female counterpart, it's not hard to realize the latter had been dwarfed by the former pretty much since their inception. On the sidelines, I had some online discussions on this subject, which quickly deteriorated into a debate, first heated, then ugly.

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Day 1 of 2022 Big Bend National Park Trip, Driving

November 20, 2022

First day of my 2022 Thanksgiving trip to Big Bend National Park as I drove from Odessa, TX to the park.

Distant Cliffs
Distant Cliffs
The cliffs that gloriously reflected the setting sun. To me it felt like a shimmering welcome after driving under gloomy clouds for the entire day. It ended up that those cliffs were actually Sierra del Carmen Mountains in Mexico.

 

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