Thanksgiving

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(I Thessalonians 5:18)

Last weekend was Thanksgiving, which is my favorite time of the year. Aside from the time off, shopping craze (pre- and post-holiday), insane traffic congestion, and other known characteristics of the holiday seasons, it's also the time to be with friends and family and be thankful for everything. Yes, I know, we should always be thankful, but in our busy lives, sometimes this thought can be forgotten. We've become slaves to our lives, working countless and restless hours. We sleep less, we eat less or even change to unhealthy diets. These "unnatural" lifestyles tend to make us grumpy, bitter, and overall, less happy.

It seems like this world is feasting on these negative emotions, willingly or unwillingly. Often times, we watch/hear the news, and it's bombarded with shootings, crimes, and bad publicity. We hear complaints against someone or something, being tired, being bored, feeling upset, etc. And pessimism seems to be the way of the world. It's easy to feel discontent, but does that mean it's how we should feel?

I believe not. But do I feel that way sometimes? Yeahhh...

Since Thanksgiving has just passed, I feel that I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Here are a few:

• Career. I'm thankful that I (and others) can put the Nortel bankruptcy situation behind and work in a more financially-stable environment at Avaya. It's been almost a year since I've moved over from the acquisition, and so far, it's been a good experience.
• Education. I was accepted into Rutgers Business School in pursuits of my MBA degree. I didn't think I had the qualifications to get in, and there was a lot I had to do to ensure that I did. I hadn't taken tests, written applications and applied to schools since junior and senior years in high school, but God guided me through the process. And so I started my first semester in September, taking Accounting and Marketing courses.
• Taiwan. I thank God that I was able to take time off from work to go to Taiwan. It's been 5 years since I went back, so I was very stoked to go. I forgot how much I miss my relatives - they're always so caring - and of course, how much fun I have with them. I always feel indebted to them for their love, and I hope one day I will be able to repay them. I also had the opportunity to meet some business partners over there and give a presentation to them; I was even recognized for that by my management!
• Family. I think this is what I'm most thankful for. They're the ones that will always be there to celebrate when I am joyful. They're also the ones that will be always by my side when I have fallen into what seems to be the darkest hour, to bring me back up and help me move on. I'm thankful that God has given me this support system of a family.

I'm hoping that after all these reflections, I can be less bitter and more grateful. Life needs more of these thoughts. I probably should write more posts like these more often. There are so many more than the above, but I will leave those for another time.

Good night!

Sitting May Kill You

I've been reading articles about the potential hazards of sitting for prolonged periods of time. MSNBC (URL http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34956099/) writes that:

Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be bad for your health. And it doesn't matter where the sitting takes place — at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV — just the overall number of hours it occurs.

How they explain this "phenomena" is by the following:

"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down.

Of course this is all preliminary research, but there is some sense to the madness. I would think that sitting for too long is almost like taking a nap or sleeping. The body starts to relax and shut down, thinking that it's resting. The more sitting, the more resting... it's almost like hibernating!

I guess it's comparing the number of hours of activity vs inactivity. If inactivity >> activity, then there could be a problem. Even worse, sometimes we may not even notice that we've been sitting down for such a long time, especially at work (for those of us who have desk jobs). Obviously, one will not be exercising 16 hours a day, but it's good to be aware of how much time is spent sitting and being idle.

Possible solutions? For the exercising type (I don't know if I can do this):

... people who exercise every day — but still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.

And for those who are stuck at the desk in their office:

"... they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," she said. "Don't just send your colleague an e-mail. Walk over and talk to him. Standing up."

I agree with the one above - sometimes I tell myself to get up and to walk around the room, or do assisted dips on my chair during conference calls. Or do my work standing or while in a squat position. Anything to keep my body from falling asleep.

I remember going to many Student Spiritual Convocations (SSC), and the coordinators and counselors told us that we need to break the spirituality cycle that we would get ourselves into. This cycle consisted of reaching a high after major church convocations/seminars like SSC; but after some time we start to go back to our old ways, and that high begins to become a low. Then another SSC comes, and we hit a high again, and the cycle continues.

Why is that? I think of it now as what the aforementioned article discusses - prolonged period of sitting, inactivity, idle. In our spirituality, we may hit periods of time where our faith becomes dormant or asleep. If we don't keep a constantly active and live faith, we may fall into this category of risk. And even if we attend SSC or NYTS or any other church seminars and reach a super high "high" point, all the days before and after that we spend in idle can possibly harm us. It could even kill our faith/spirituality.

So, what's a possible solution? Like the article states, constant movement/activity or spreading out exercise/activities. Our faith needs to be always active, or at least more active than not. I would think that would mean not to just do everything faith-related in one bout each day, but maybe split them up throughout the day - for example, praying in the morning, reading Bible in the afternoon, praying at night. That way, we can think about God throughout the day, and not just in the morning or at night.

I sometimes (more often than not) find myself in this situation. I wait til evening to do my Bible reading and prayer, in one sitting. I do get something out of it, but I'm sure I reap more benefit if I spread them out. Maybe I'll start out with this method, and I hope to gain much more from my faith if I can maintain this!

If you have any other ideas, please feel free to share!

Is Exercise More Than Just Burning Calories?

Lately, to keep active while staying off my feet and and from running, I've been riding on my stationary bike. You know, the bike with mechanical/magnetic resistance and LCD display of resistance levels, heart rate, calories burned, and other metrics.

What I've noticed these last few weeks of sitting on the bike that my level of focus on my exercise regime has dropped dramatically. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm not doing what I want to do (in other words, running outside than stationary biking indoors, though I could ride a bike outside) or something else, but either way, something's different.

So you ask, what's different? Here are a few things.

1. On run days, I would discipline myself in terms of food intake - what I could eat and when I can eat. In terms of "what," I wouldn't eat something that would be hard to digest, oily, greasy, etc. - such things could cause my sensitive stomach to turn against me during runs. In terms of "when," I would not eat (or drink) anything three hours prior to my run, to allow ample time for digestion, to avoid a similar fate mention before.
   
   Now, I find myself eating whatever and whenever I want because biking doesn't have that effect on me. No feeling of vomiting or side stitches during a bike workout, as of yet. It's not necessarily a bad thing, per se, because I can stay hydrated and energized throughout the workout. And for that reason, I should do it. But something that has been loose is the foods that I eat. On run days, I would never eat ice cream or pizza because it would kill me on runs. Now I eat these things because I can bike and not kill myself. I've given myself an excuse to eat these things, and incorporate them into my diet without feeling bad about it.
   
   
2. I notice that I'm watching the calories burn metric a lot when I'm on the bike. Don't get me wrong, burning calories is good! But am I just sitting on the bike, burning calories, just for the sake of burning calories? Is it because I had a slice of cheesecake for lunch, and I felt bad for eating it, so I forced myself to bike for 30 minutes to cancel it out?

#1 shouldn't be a major concern for me because once I start running, I'll be back in my normal eating routine... that is, if and when I can start running. And I'm pretty good about what I eat - there's just some days where I lose it and crave something, which is fine once in a while. I just need to make sure it doesn't become a daily habit, especially the unhealthy food!

#2 got me thinking. I mean, I have no problem with watching my calorie burn - it's a good thing. I'm all for a more active lifestyle, burning calories, and being fit. That's how one loses weight and lives better. But what I'm more concerned about is the trend that I noticed in my own lifestyle - eating something that I shouldn't or too much of, and then exercising to burn it off. What is my end result? I guess I may have increased my fitness a little or something just by exercising, but at the same time, I feel that I've put myself in a cycle of complacency.

What do I mean by "cycle of complacency?" It means that I can eat all the junk that I want, and then all I have to do is exercise to burn it off. But you say, "That's a good thing!"

It is, no doubt, but another question to ask is: Where does that leave me? What progress is made from that cycle? In my opinion, not much, if any.

Think of it this way. If I eat something unhealthy, it's like taking a few tiny steps back in my health. If I exercise, it takes me a few steps forward. If this is done every day, depending on how much I eat and exercise, the graph can look like the stock market. It may have an overall upward progression, but there are so many fluctuations in the process. It could even be an overall downward progression!

Is the point of exercising so that I can eat whatever junk food I want, and then burn it off, just to be at the same level of fitness I was at the day before? I would think not. I would rather see my health be a steady climb with no drops, or even an exponential increase! There has to be more to exercise than just to "get even." We all know of the benefits that exercising can bring and how it can positively impact other aspects of our lives, and it's true. But when we put ourselves in a cycle of the same things or going through the motions, sometimes we may not be mindful about other things, thinking that it'll be okay because we can just "burn it off." Although it can feel satisfying at that moment, but it may not be beneficial in the long run.

I guess the same goes with life, spirituality and everything else. Am I just going through the motions from day to day? Am I just doing some good things to right the few wrongs so I can be even? Is doing something "good enough" good enough?

Life isn't just about living. There's more to it. It's about making progress, continuously doing the right things, making the right decisions for ourselves. It means constantly improving ourselves in our health, relationships, careers, spirituality, faith, self-esteem, and everything that plays a role in the essence of life. Being even, or mediocre for that matter, in anything is not good enough.

What am I going to do and How are questions that I can't answer yet. That's something I can only figure out for myself because I control my own thoughts, feelings, attitude, actions, and ultimately, my destiny. I know I can't change everything in one day, and it's a life-long process. I'm going to give it a shot, and to see what differences I can make. It starts out with doing the little things right first, such as fixing my slightly cyclical bad eating habits.

Sore Achilles Tendon, a Warning?

Recently, I've been plagued with a sore Achilles tendon. For your reference, the Achilles tendon is the ligament that connects your heel to the calf muscle. It's considered as one of the strongest tendons in the human body, and rightfully so because it plays an important role for propulsion of the body while walking and running. Here's a diagram:

When this tendon becomes sore, it can be very crippling. For the last few days, I've been hobbling around as if I had a sprained ankle, overcompensating my strong side for the weak side. It reminded me of little 巧巧 (my cousin's daughter) when she said in Taiwanese, "馬馬 ㄅㄞˋ ㄎㄚ" as she twisted her toy pony's legs in some deformed way. As cute as her reaction is, a sore Achilles tendon is a matter to be taken seriously and with caution.

I am not too sure how I ended up with a sore Achilles. I have a few hypotheses: 1) running that one morning during the week, shortly after I woke up = sleepy and slow body with stiff muscles/tendons; and/or 2) lift session in the evening on the same day where I may have overdone it. It was either (1) or (1)+(2). Nevertheless, I ended up with this undesired result of discomfort and temporary disability.

Since then, I've been researching and reading on causes of a sore Achilles tendon, treatment, prevention, etc. As an individual with athletic interests and habits, I didn't want this to end the freedom of motion and active lifestyle of sports that I enjoy doing. I wanted to make sure I treated this injury correctly and properly, giving my body enough time to recover and taking the proper precautions to not make it worse. Even if it is 100% recovered, I need to also set up preventative measures to strengthen the area of concern so the injury does not return. I probably need to also be aware of my shoes, my running form, the time of day I run, my physical condition, etc., as these are all factors that can cause such pain to return.

Likewise, I related this to our spiritual lives. When things are going well in life, it has to be some kind of indication that our spirituality is "pretty good," which means that we are doing something right and under God's protection and blessings. On the other hand, if something goes wrong in our lives, I would have to guess that there's a reason for that. Then is when we need to think about what's going on in our lives, why it is happening, how we can overcome/handle/treat it, and what we can do to prevent this from happening again. We need to spend time to think and reflect, just like doing research when we get injured and want to get back on our feet, to start playing again.

Looking back, I don't think I've done enough of that. I don't learn from my mistakes so I end up being re-injured. This applies in both my physical and spiritual lives. It can be very frustrating, and it will continue to be until I make a change. Even after changing, we need to make sure we don't ease up, and fall back into our old habits, and re-injuring ourselves. We need to be cautious about everything we do, just like walking on thin ice.

My Achilles tendon is getting better, but that doesn't mean that I can go back to the way I handled myself. I'm going to have to change something in my exercise regime, or do something extra to ensure I don't encounter this sore Achilles again. I can't guarantee that I'll be pain-free (unfortunately, I'm past the years of my prime), but I'm going to make sure that I give all that I've got to keep it that way.

Are You a Victim of Life?

First off, Happy Fourth of July! It's a blessing to remember this day, 234 years ago, when this country fought for and gained its independence to become the United States of America. Hope everyone in the states is enjoying the festivities and the fireworks. And I salute to those who are fighting for us overseas - may you be remembered for your service.

I recently read an article from SUCCESS magazine titled "Tough Love," which talked about Jillian Michaels' (yes, the brutal and tough co-star trainer on NBC's The Biggest Loser) views on fitness and personal development. She made a statement which summed up her philosophy:

"I don't allow people to be victims, because if they're victims, they're not in control of their own destiny."

This sentence got me thinking quite a bit. There may be times where we (including myself) face situations in which we feel that we are victims of life. Sometimes things happen that are out of our control, that we did not cause, or for whatever other reasons, and we've become the victims. Maybe it is rightfully so that we feel that way. We didn't do anything wrong, and misfortune has decided to tag us.

But if we let ourselves become victims, life will treat us like victims. This was a realization that Jillian had when she was training with her instructor at the age of 13:

"And so I realized that if I behave like a victim, life was going to treat me like a victim..."

And it's true. When we have the mentality that we are the victims, it impacts other parts of our lives. This self-pity virus starts to infect our emotions, mental strength, physical abilities, career advancements, etc. It's almost a chain reaction with a potential to deal significant damage to our lives. We may ask "Why me?" and dwell on the past, moping and complaining about life's unfairness. As a result, we may lose the energy to exercise or to excel in our careers. And in the end, we have become victims of life.

The only way to resolve this is to do something about it. Fight back. Be tough. Turn the misfortune to an opportunity and learn something from it. Press forward. Only when we do something about it do we have the chance to change our lives, to have control of our lives and destinies. And if we don't, life will not change for us, and we remain as victims.

Relating this to the special day, did the 13 colonies behave like victims when under the reign of England? Not when they decided to fight for their freedom. Going to war wasn't an easy fix for them - the American Revolutionary War lasted 8 years (1775 - 1783). But in the end, they won and gained independence. Now we can live in this land of the free and the home of the brave.

As I look back on my life, there were times when I became a victim of life, sitting in a dark corner, and wondering what I could have done in those situations and why I did what I did. I was going through life emotionless, lacking enthusiasm, feeling numb. No energy to do anything, even activities which I love to participate in. All to gain what? Nothing. I had to get out of this "slump." I had to fight my way back to normalcy. Of course, I couldn't pretend that the events never happened, but instead of dwelling on them and feeling sorry for myself, I had to go on with life. I have to note down the lessons learned and apply them to my life. And once it's done and done, I have become stronger than I was before.

I'm glad I read this article, because it gave me a different perspective on a person's mentality (thank you, Jillian Michaels!). Yes, life can be tough and unfair. Yes, there are things out of our control that happen to us. And unfortunately, we cannot turn back time and alter the course of time (perhaps maybe in the future). It's all part of life. But we can change the future, and it begins with this "I am not a victim of life" mentality.

I will end with two quotes, which I found encouraging:

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

- Maria Robinson

"... But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."

- Phillipians 4:13

And here's to her motto: "Inspired by Jillian, empowered by YOU!"

Just For Today, I will...

Just for today, I will...
choose and display the right attitudes.
determine and act on important priorities.
know and follow healthy guidelines.
communicate with and care for my family.
practice and develop good thinking.
make and keep proper commitments.
earn and properly manage finances.
deepen and live out my faith.
initiate and invest in solid relationships.
plan for and model generosity.
embrace and practice good values.
seek and experience improvements.
act on these decisions and practice these disciplines.

Then one day...
I will see the compounding results of a day lived well.

--"Making Good Decisions Better" by John C. Maxwell

Here's to the decisions I've made, and the discipline to finish them.

Peaceful, Genuine Thankfulness (From The Daily Motivator)

A difficult situation is challenging enough on its own. Don't make it worse by adding your own anxiety to it.

Instead, be peacefully and genuinely thankful. Whatever the circumstances are, choose to be thankful for the moment and for your opportunity to experience it.

Sincere, heartfelt thankfulness will calm your spirit and open your eyes to the positive possibilities. Instead of being intimidated by the challenges, you'll become inspired by the opportunities.

Be thankful for what has happened to bring you to where you are. After all, what has happened, has happened, and your best response is to find the value in it.

That value is most definitely there. By choosing to recognize it, you can make any moment, and any situation, into a powerful opportunity for making real progress.

When you feel anxiety creeping into your awareness, overwhelm it with peaceful, genuine thankfulness. And fill the moment with the power of your best possibilities.

-- Ralph Marston, http://greatday.com

No Electricity? No problem...

There was a huge storm system that passed through the region last weekend, which blew down a neighbor's tree and knocked out the power to the entire neighborhood. We were without power from Saturday night (around 8 PM) until Wednesday morning (around 11 AM) - that's a good 87 hours or so without electricity! Yes, I know there have been worse power outage situations, but this is the first time I've experienced one for an extended period of time.

Here's a pic of the aftermath:

It's sad how we all now depend heavily on technology and electricity to live. If we lose one of them, life becomes an "inconvenience." No power = no lights, no heating, no computer, no TV, no internet, etc. Actually, the only thing I had that I could use to communicate with the outside world without having to go outside was my iPhone; even then, I had to use it sparingly to avoid total battery discharge.

We learned to make the most out of it. Since my brothers and I were unable to use our computers and the internet, we weren't isolated in our own rooms, doing our own things; instead, we sat at the kitchen table and talked on Saturday. Good times. We also spent other days at the mall or at Ray's apartment at school with other church brothers. Props and thanks to them for letting Ant and me stay at their place!

One thing that I noticed during this time was a change in living and lifestyle. Once it got dark, there wasn't much I did at home except sleep. That, in turn, allowed me to wake up early with the sunrise. The outage also emphasized a more conservative mentality - definitely conserving electricity, hot water (not sure if this was a problem or not), food storage (eat what you make the day of), etc.

On late Wednesday morning, we saw a caravan of power company vehicles driving through our neighborhood, and we knew that day was the day that our power would be restored. Yep, that was it. Minutes later, the lights, refrigerator, microwave, internet, etc. all came back on. There was so much excitement in the air. Hope has returned!

I guess we could've stayed at a hotel or other temporary housing options, but such a so-called inconvenience was more of a worthwhile experience. It's good to jump out of the comfortable lifestyle and adapt to a less-comfortable one. Would I welcome another power outage? Probably not. But if I had to deal with it, I would have no (or very little) problems/concerns.

Designing Your Financial Roadmap

Being at the point in my life where I can turn "old" any minute now (ha ha), I jumped on a webinar by Fidelity titled "Designing Your Financial Roadmap." I mean, it's never too late to think about retirement, right? ;-)

The presenter went over a ton of useful tips that I hope to utilize (most of them, if not all, are not new but always worth sharing):

Budget (yes, the word that many people dread doing)

• Start or maintain a habit of listing expenses, from the large purchases to small ones (i.e., daily coffee). Write down every penny!
• Categorize each purchase into ESSENTIAL and NON-ESSENTIAL
• Create a budget. Where can I cut back?

Retirement FIRST!

• START EARLY! It's a simple concept: the earlier you start saving for retirement, the more you'll have later.
• Save 10-15% of annual income towards retirement. Take advantage of your employer's 401k matching options.

Pay down debt

• Pay off credit card bills in full.
• Stop charging to credit card, which means paying up front.
• All that interest could be used for other things - saving for retirement, for a down payment on house, etc.

Emergency fund

• Short-term funds should be used for emergencies like car breaking down, washer/dryer malfunction/replacement, necessary house repairs.
• Long-term funds should be used in case of unemployment. 
• Fidelity recommends saving these funds somewhat liquid accounts, i.e., checking, savings, CDs, or money market accounts.

There were also other suggestions during the webinar like investing in 401k, Roth and Traditional IRAs, etc. A lot of good information, in my opinion. The details could be tweaked for each individual, but the general concept should still apply. Yeah, sounds like general knowledge, but taking action is the challenge.

And I thought life was going to get easier after college and finding a job, haha :-) It has only begun!

Verified by Visa and SecureSuite: Legit or Phish?

Introduction

This blogger's post (link unavailable) in 2008 pretty much summed up what happened to me today:

I’m not the kind of guy who falls for those super-obvious identity theft scams. I live online, I work in IT and I don’t really like sports. I’m pretty careful when it comes plugging my credit card into the internet.

But last month, when I was stuck for rail tickets in Europe, I thought I’d slipped up. Turns out, it was just a “security feature.”

I don't live online or work in IT (though I do love sports), but everything else pretty much describes me when it comes to identity theft scams and credit card purchases on the internet. There were times when I thought twice about making online purchases due to my concern of identity theft and transmitting credit card information over the internet. But now, I've seem to let up a bit, which led me to today's scare.

I encountered the same scenario that the author did. I was purchasing something online, and after I checked out and submitted the order, a pop-up window appear, asking me to sign up for "Verified by Visa." It looked something like below:

I didn't really think much about it and proceeded to enter in the required information. It wasn't until after I had submitted the form, and saw the URL that I began to second guess if what I did was a good thing.

Symptoms

First, the URL domain was "securesuite.net" - My head started to ring PHISHING ALERT out of instinct. I didn't think Visa would've used a third party site for a security service?

Second, this was the website I was redirected to (this was the account management page). In my opinion, I was expecting something more professionally done (sorry!) or at least more consistent with Visa.com's website - it is a Visa feature, right?

To top it off, I received an email from the domain @securesuite.net... This was very fishy.

Out of panic, I called my credit card company to confirm if there was anything suspicious about my credit card. I mean, I wasn't concerned about the charge for the purchase because it was what I expected and wanted. I was more concerned about the site I had just submitted my info to. So the end result from calling was that I was offered some identity theft protection feature for a monthly fee, which I quickly accepted. Not sure why, but I did it.

Findings

After some googling around (so much for a lunch break), I found the blog post that I mentioned in the beginning, mentioning that it's legit. I was a little more at ease.

I did some more digging, and discovered that Verified by Visa was a solution by Cyota, which was purchased by RSA Security in 2005. SecureSuite is actually the name of the Cyota solution, an online payment security platform.

If you do a WHOIS domain lookup, the domain "securesuite.net" is owned by Cyota RSA Security, Inc. (checked on Nov 2011)

I also had a few friends who confirmed that it is a legitimate security service.

Lessons Learned

So, what did I get out of all of this?

• Just because you've never ran into a phishing scam in the past doesn't mean you won't in the future. I guess I am fortunate that it wasn't. But it does reinforce the need for us to be very cautious when we are making purchases online. This pertains to emails, web forms, URLs, etc. that may look legitimate. 
• It's good to know that some part of my mind was alert during the process, though it would not have been any use because it was after the fact. I need to start thinking twice and being more cautious again - I've been letting up too easily. Always think twice about pressing the submit button, and if it doesn't feel right, don't take the risk. It's better to be safe than sorry.
• Verified by Visa (and what was previously known as SecureSuite.net) is legitimate. It's basically a feature that adds an extra password to authorize online transactions with Visa cards, which the company claims to improve/enhance account security.

Visa sure gave me (and I'm sure others as well) a scare there. Why are they using a third-party for this solution? Why was I, a Visa customer, redirected to a site that was not owned by Visa? More importantly, why didn't they tell their customers about it or at least give a warning when purchasing online? Did Visa drop the ball on this? The author thought so, and I agree with him.

Of course, it is up to you (the reader) to determine whether or not you trust the site and the form. My experience with this incident turned out to be just a false alarm, but it doesn't mean that everyone else's will be the same result. As others have mentioned, the forms can be easily created by anyone who wants to steal personal information, so we need to be aware and alert when submitting information to merchants. So we'll leave it at that.

Now I am feeling much better.

My last order of business: Call credit card company and opt-out of the identity theft protection feature.

UPDATE (2/4/12)

Here's some additional information that I found around Verified by Visa. You can check out this URL for merchants that participate in the Verified by Visa program:

https://usa.visa.com/personal/security/vbv/index.jsp

One tip that I can suggest, which I am doing now, is to set up alert notifications of charges on your account (if your card provider has that feature), just so you know immediately when a card charge is happening. That way, you can keep a watch on any suspicious activity if you're still uncertain about Verified by Visa's validity.