"Super Size Me"

My confession... I feel a little guilty feeding LBJ with a cricket 1/5 the size of itself. But watching it chowing down the prey and getting high from this delicious meal, I have that instinct of caveman being fulfilled, how strange!

At the same time, I began to relate LBJ's feast to Americans diet – high sugar, high protein, high fat, high calories. Excuse me, the way they eat is not indulgence, it is negligence for the lack of a better word.



I didn't have to see the movie "Super Size Me," a 2004 comedic documentary on the influence of fast food industry on Americans diet, and I already know the consequence of the guy who fed himself with McDonald everyday for a month. A land of free has also become a land of excess and then turned into a land of abuse, in food sense. No matter what health care system we have and how good they are, it's doomed to fail.

Now going back to LBJ. Can I feed it with grass or vegetables? Not likely. He'll be dead like a dead branch. But what can I do to keep it healthy? I can only try balance of diet, which means feeding crickets with veggies and fruits, hopefully, it will do the trick. But for Americans, what options do they have? Many. Are they willing to change? Good question. I think I'm too cynical and skeptical on that.

LBJ just moved into his "McMansion"

The conventional wisdom of buying a house is a good investment. Not anymore!

The collapse of U.S. housing market during the last three years has been tremendously painful to a lot of homeowners. They traded up houses without paying a dime for down payment, wishing to make a quick buck when their houses were sold. Or those who cashed in from their home equities for luxurious lifestyles. Have I mentioned the unsophisticated buyers who were told they could be homeowners too when their incomes could barely make the ends meet? The result, unfortunately, is endless regrets in foreclosures and bankruptcy filings. As we all know, the party is over.

Even now, some economists and investment analysts are still not optimistic on the recovery of the housing market. Some continue to throw stone without mercy. Not surprisingly, the headlines on newspapers and TV news are blowing their horns, claiming prices will continue to fall, and house sizes will continue to shrink.

While "McMansion" may have been a thing in the past, there's always somebody who wants to join the club. Let's just take LBJ as an example.

LBJ is not rich and has never been rich. Money is never a concern, don't you love that? It has inherited a huge estate from Ray, my next door neighbor who lost his wife a year ago. No, Ray is not dead and he has no plan to give his hard-earned wealth to a frog, even if it were Prince Charming.

In fact, Ray is still healthy though he smokes quite a bit. Whenever I need to enter his home to help him out for something, I have to take a deep, very deep, breathe before knocking on his door. It is as if breathing his second handed smoke for a minute or two would kill me instantly. The fact is that Ray's fish died, all of them, and he doesn't want to keep the aquarium anymore. He's just nice to ask me if I want the tank for LBJ.

The windfall couldn't come at a better time when I have been thinking how to improve LBJ's quality of life in the last few days. Just imagine somebody gives you a house that is 10 times bigger than your existing one! As for LBJ, that means it'll move from a 1 gallon fish bowl to a 10 gallon "McMansion," which has an elegant courtyard for an afternoon nap, an indoor pool with sandy beach for sunbathing, three towers for food surveillance and endless hiding places for retreats, plus many more upgrades like floor to high ceiling glass walls, etc. Not to mention the unlimited supply of live insects as its edible buddies, all is free! I believe this new home will absolutely blow its mind.

In contrary to those who were the victims of the downturn of the housing market, no matter what their circumstances were, LBJ's windfall is here to stay. For now, I'm afraid its plan of searching its dad may have to be put on hold for a little while. But who could blame this little frog when a fortune just dropped over its head overnight!

Food for frog? Bon appetit!

What will a woman associate a frog with? Prince Charming?

And what will a man think of a frog? A bait for fishing!

See the difference? The image of Prince Charming didn't pop up in a four-year-old girl's mind by chance, it's taught. Catching a trophy fish with a frog is a boy's dream when a fishing rod is in his hands, but it's also taught.

What's my point? Nothing new... Girls growing up are protected from the exposure to violence of mother nature while boys are, on the opposite, allowed to learn from it. Having said that, I cannot deny the fact that genetic makeup plays a major role in the differences.

As a grown up, I like frog because it is one of those amphibians that existed in the dinosaur period, but it doesn't have the chainsaw-like teeth to bite while I'm gaming at it through the lens of my camera. I can also use it to catch a fatty bass to indulge my caveman instinct. However, I'm not a big fan of using frog as bait for some reason. May be it's too cruel, I don't know. But here comes the dilemma, I do enjoy deep fried frog legs. I guess you can make a point that any wildlife could be a friend of yours in one country but a delicacy in another.

One other thing I couldn't resist is to take videos and photographs of LBJ, that really arouse my... no, it's not that... I mean my creativity and fulfill my curiosity. It's like watching an episode of National Geographic live.

Next time, when you wonder why I'm so obsessed? Just remember one thing, researchers do spend hours observing the behavior of a frog. I'm no researcher, and I could be just like other guys keeping their fingers busy on video games in iPhone, Wii, and DS, but I would rather keep my eyes on a frog for leisure. Perhaps I'm old-school.

Throw me a short comment, would you?

Now watch LBJ catching its prey in lightning speed. Bon appetite!

Tree frog shoes

Who doesn't want to be a celebrity and become famous and rich?

Just ask some of the people in LA who are taking up odd jobs to subsidize their livings in order to fulfill their dreams – the dream that one day, they will have the opportunity to perform in front of a movie camera, to be somebody in Hollywood.

Even animals couldn't resist that temptation. Or should I say the owners of the animals couldn't? Just watch the TV commercials with animals, mostly humorous, being used to sell products.

Pigeons? Check!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycvf9E2cjRs&feature=player_embedded

What about a dog and a horse? Yes, together. Don't worry, it's not an animal porn clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj-sT_hmZtg

Have you forgotten the cowboy monkey? Well, you better not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXVK3hTRxlY

All of these ads were very successfully recalled by audience and generated handsome profits for not only the advertisers, but also the owners of the animals.

For that matter, I want to be one of those animal owners who don't have the talent to act or sing, let alone my look, to have a chance under the spotlight. The problem is, I don't have ANY animals! All I have is a little tree frog named LBJ (LoBo Jr.). Well then, maybe LBJ can pull off a serious commercial to sell an advertiser, who knows.

For one thing, I don't want to be a celebrity and I don't want to be famous. But I can live with having a small fortune out of my hobby. Watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ydhaTVDW4

And a poster too.

Meet The Frog

LoBo Jr.!

What? LoBo Jr., a green tree frog?

That's right. You didn't mis-read.

Actually, it was David, my high school classmate whom I grew up playing soccer with, who suggested the name on a Facebook posting. And then another friend claimed that the name did infringe her son's and asked for loyalty fee, or else she threatened to sue. She was only kidding of course.

In fact, lawsuits are quite trendy in the U.S. these days. You sue me, I sue him, and the next thing you know, he sues you, like a love triangle.

So, what I concern more is to avoid being sued by the band Los Lobos. No sweat, I've added Jr. after Lobo just in case... Oh, he has a Chinese name too, 小綠寶, (Little Green Precious from word to word translation) how about that, huh? To make things easier, let's just call him LBJ (don't be mistaken, it's not that U.S. vice president in mid 60s).

LBJ is not much different from his cousin Shrek, a northern leopard frog that I released back to a conservation area last summer, except it's a shorter guy that max out at 2 inches long from nose to... ah, its ass. And it has bigger toes with suctions that stick on anything it jumps onto. Yep, just like Spiderman, no kidding. Shrek, like the Ogre, could be twice or even more the size of LBJ and more of a swimmer and long jumper. (You can go back a few postings to see his photos and videos)

What is more profound about LBJ is that he could camouflage itself very well in its surroundings, just try to find it in the picture.

Nevertheless, if you happen to have a tree frog and you hear something is quacking loudly inside your house in the middle of the night, stay calm, no duck is on the loose. It's just your tree frog croaking "quack, quack, quack" like a duck... now go back to your bed and dream about eating a roast duck.

Another newcomer

It's been more than a year since Shrek was released back to nature, hope he's doing ok.

I've been wondering for a while why there isn't any leopard frog setting up summer camp in my pond this year. But guess what? There is...

I was sipping my coffee in the breezeway, enjoying the cool breeze and the soft morning sun, but something caught my attention... something was moving along the bottom of the backyard door. Oh my, it's a tiny frog, about one and a half inch long. It was quite clumsy while jumping. Thanks for the dusty and dirty carpet, that hasn't been cleaned since, oh well, a month ago... that got stuck on its limps.

Don't ask me why I'm attracted to frogs... actually not just frogs, but all kinds of little critters. It's something that I grew up with, I guess. And I'm still wondering why I didn't become an entomologist if I like it so much...

Anyway, going back to the frog. It's not a leopard frog, nor a toad. It's a tree frog with tremendous jumping capability. It's even better than the leopard frog. Why? His padded hands have suctions to stick on walls and glass. Cool huh!

More later... meanwhile check out his look.

Oh his name? I'll tell you next time.

FAREWELL

"Free the Frog! Free the Frog!! Amphibians around the world unite!!!!!" Dee, my co-worker, made this petition to let Shrek go free in an e-mail. "How dare you? Dee!" Just kidding...

Actually I really do think this is time. Tomorrow will be a good day to do so because the forecast said it'll be a rainy day, an amphibian day.

Funny thing is I didn't make much connection with fish in my two aquariums, but somehow letting Shrek go seems to trigger some uneasiness. I guess we call this attachment. Eight months is long enough to create a bonding. Or perhaps it's the fact that I'll be going to Hong Kong with my kids for three weeks next Tuesday, YEEEEEEEHA, so I can certainly relate how Shrek feels about being with its species, should I say "the other frog is calling!"

Before we go, Shrek wants to show off his worm-eating skill. Enjoy! And by the way, I think Shrek is actually a female because he didn't do any callings at all.

Ahem... remember Andy William? "B-O-R-N F-R-E-E, AS FREE AS THE WIND BLOWS...."