The Sox-Cubs game yesterday was ok. It's too bad Sox lost, but overall in the two crosstown series of the last couple weeks, they got back in their division race, beat the Cubs 4 out of 6, and got me excited about baseball again this season. I still hope Jerry Womanuel gets fired before the break, and there are still too many guys batting under .230, but at least the team is somewhat worth cheering for now.

In the section where me and Olivia were sitting, there were about 10 fights that happened throughout the game. We couldn't see what was going on, other than an occasional shoe that would go flying over our heads into the lower deck. I used to be all for having beer at the ballpark, but now my opinion is changing. They should consider banning sale of alcohol. Stupid drunk people at the game are funny sometimes, but after a while it just gets annoying. Maybe I'm just getting old, or maybe I'm getting sick of paying 5 bucks for a little cup of beer.

I think I'm a couple years behind the rest of the world, but only in the last few days have I discovered the fun of mobile text messaging. Short 2-word phrases sent to my phone prove to be some of the most entertaining moments of my day. The only bad thing is, my phone doesn't tell me who sent me the message, but usually I can narrow it down to 1 or 2 possible senders, based on the content.

Blogger has a new interface. It looks quite luxurious. Well, time to try it out. "I'll give it a whirl" (quote from...?)

*****

Date: Sunday, June 29, 2003
Time: 1:05 pm
Location: US Cellular Field
Matchup: Kerry Wood (2.94) at Esteban Loaiza (1.99)

I'm excited about baseball again. A chance to watch the Sox light up the current Chinese Taipei archenemy #1, Kerry Wood. And maybe I'll even bring some tomatoes to throw at Billy Krotch. 'Twould suck if rain messed up the matchup or postponed the game though.

*****

An potentially hilarious scenario brought up by P as he defeated me yet again in World Series Baseball - White Sox fire Jerry Manuel before the All Star Break. So Jerry, picked earlier by Mike Scioscia as one of the coaches for the All Star Game, has to show up in a T-Shirt to his home field, since he is no longer allowed to wear a Sox uniform. Oh man, too bad I could only wish for such a thing to happen. Not only would it be funny, but also an excellent way to pay him back for years of mishandling our pitchers.

*****

White Castle really is "What I Crave"

*****

How did I know the Bulls were gonna take a skinny white kid from Kansas/Iowa? Oh well, hopefully he doesn't ride motorcycles.

Meanwhile, the Lakers scoop up Luke Walton and Brian Cook. Interesting... But despite the Illini factor, I think I will still have to root against them.

- I have a major craving for Bob Chinn's. The strange thing is, I think it is because I saw a commercial for Joe's Crab Shack yesterday. That's almost like saying that I feel like crafting after watching someone play Solitaire. Which does happen from time to time, but a lot of things make me feel like crafting.

- Microsoft just released the latest version of their Pocket PC OS (called Windows Mobile). Toshiba is offering the upgrade for my model (e755) for $19, but only if you bought the thing between May 18th and now. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I got it before that date. And I will NOT pay $50 to upgrade a model I paid over $500 for only a couple months ago. It's not so much the $31 difference, it's the pure principle of it all. So, I'm gonna have to figure out if there's a "cheaper" means of obtaining this upgrade. (Stork and Goods, I'm looking in your direction)

- One thing I forgot to complain about in last Friday's Hulk experience was crying babies in theaters. Why would you bring your baby to a movie? Especially the opening night of the Hulk? Maybe if it was Finding Nemo or some other G-rated cartoon, I would kind of understand, and that's still a big maybe. There's no way your baby's gonna enjoy any movie, let alone a crappy one with a big scary green monster that looks like Jose Canseco. I mean, as a 23 year old grown man, even I was scared. Okay, so I wasn't, but still.

Parents need to be taking care of their babies at home, not in a crowded, loud theater where they are gonna probably traumatize their little infant, and disturb everyone else in the process. If you really want to watch a movie, why not rent one? And if you really, REALLY have to watch the Hulk the first night it comes out, get a damn babysitter. But I would like to think that if I had a baby of my own to take care of, I would be willing to forego watching any movie until a better time was available. I don't care if it's Matrix Revolution, Return of the King, Star Wars Episode III, Austin Powers 4, or Jeepers Creepers 2, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Yes, I'd like to think that if anything is worth missing a movie for, taking care of your baby child would qualify. But for a lot of people last Friday, I guess they don't think the same.

Layoffs

One thing I've started to notice lately is that I am a little too popular. Most people think that you can never have too many friends, but actually, over-popularity can be problematic. It's like the episode of Simpsons when they get a pool and Lisa becomes popular. Then Martin (the nerdy kid) gets a better pool and ends up with so many friends that his pool bursts. It's a lot like that, yah.

So, I have decided to start laying off friends. This means you would be removed from my Pocket PC list of contacts, your phone number would be erased from my cell phone, and if you have a blog/xanga page, I'd have to delete my bookmark to it and stop checking for updates. Of course, you would still be allowed to contact me by phone or email, and I would be happy to be a reference or write a recommendation for you to get a new friend to replace me. However, the layoff process requires that we no longer hang out together in person.

If you happen to be among the laid-off, please don't take it too hard. It's nothing personal, the decisions on who to cut were purely practical and professional, rest assured. Among the major factors I considered:

- Distance: Logically, people who live/work closer to me have the advantage over those who are far. It's only reasonable. Those of you close to me in P-town, consider yourselves fortunate.

- Race: Taiwanese friends obviously have the edge over non-Taiwanese. In general, the yellower you are, the better chance you have of avoiding this wave of layoffs.

- Common Interests: For example, if we can craft together, work out together, or are in the same fantasy baseball league, those kinds of things are considered.

- Benefits: Things like getting me a discount at Best Buy or hooking me up with pirated movies/software count for significant plus points.

- Contact History: If you have been keeping up with me regularly by email/phone calls/IM/etc., your efforts have not gone unnoticed! Now is the time when you finally reap the fruits of your labor.

- Social Status: You don't have to be super rich to hang with me, but let's face it: nobody likes to be friends with someone who's really poor. If you don't have any money, then sorry, I guess you're out of luck.

Other than that, official policy also exempts immediate family members from being laid off. So if you happen to be my mom, dad, or sister, then you don't have to worry about this.

Again, if you get a layoff notification from me in the coming days, don't be too down. It's tough for me to let go, but the circumstances really force me to cut personnel, as hard as it may be. But, if more friendship positions open up in the future, you will definitely be among the first to be considered.

Best,

Joe

* The preceding blog was a joke. I know a lot of you reading were getting worried about losing me, but I'm not really gonna lay off anyone. Yes, each and every one of you are my friend for life! I just felt like writing something different in my blog. And the idea of laying off friends amuses me.

So yeah, I do think the more friends, the better. I don't go out of my way to meet new people anymore, but that's one thing I miss most about college - being able to meet new friends on a regular basis, without ever having to put effort into it.

"More friends! More allies! More, I say!"

Somebody's Got A Case Of The Mondays

I saw the Hulk on Friday, and man, it was a pretty forgettable experience. It's not like I was even expecting an awesome movie, but about halfway through, I really wanted to just leave. Maybe I just don't understand the comic enough to appreciate the movie. Still, I think I would've been much better off watching 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Got my car tinted early Saturday morning. Did "light" in the front, "medium" in the back and rear (50%/38% for people who like percentages better), and I'm pretty happy with the results. Dark enough to block some sunlight and make the car a little cooler, but not so dark that I look like a crack dealer. So hopefully it won't attract cops.

Watched Austin Powers 3 at night, and realized that it loses a lot the second time around. Even though Britney is in it, the movie overall doesn't have nearly the staying power of the first two. Still entertaining, and I thought it was good seeing it at the theater last year, but not something I would watch over and over.

Watched the Sox game after church on Sunday. After beating the Cubs in the first 2 games of the series, I found myself starting to be interested in watching them again. This interest was quickly lost when we blew the game late in familiar fashion. Bartolo Colon shuts down the Cubs for 7 innings, giving up zero runs. Jerry Womanuel pulls him, puts in Dumbasso Marte with a 1-0 lead, who manages to retire 1 out of 5 batters faced and leaves with the Sox trailing 2-1. Of course, a 1 run deficit is too much for the Sox to come back from, so it's pretty much over after that. Seriously, GET RID OF JERRY MANUEL NOW. Not saying it's entirely his fault the Sox are underachieving, but it's obvious the guy has no sense of how to handle his pitchers, and that's one of the most important duties of the manager. Your supposed ace pitcher goes 7 without giving up a run. He's known for getting stronger as the game goes on, and he's under 100 pitches. Leave him in, that's what you are paying him the big bucks for!! On the other hand, Cubs leave in Zambrano, their 4th or 5th starter, for 8 innings, and come away with the win. I really want to root for the Sox but it's hard when it seems like they don't want to win.

To relieve stress from watching the game, I decided to wash my car. Washing my car takes a while, and it makes me tired, but I always love doing it. Clears my head and gets me in touch with all the little nicks and scratches of the car. Not that I like scratches and dents, but I take the imperfections as they come, and I don't sweat it too much because it adds some personality and history to my car. It's like life, it wouldn't be interesting if everything worked out perfectly all the time. It would be boring, and maybe even unhealthy, if you always had a perfect clear coat finish, even after years of driving. As long as the "rock chips" or "swirl marks" aren't too big, I guess it's part of experience that you should just accept and learn to appreciate. Anyways, the best part of car washing is at the end, my baby looks pretty. And it always seems to drive smoother when it's pretty.

Now it's back to work.

Blog #2 ... woo-hoo

- Yesterday while cooking a burger at the townhouse, I set off the smoke alarm. Oh man, that is the loudest, most piercing, annoying, make your brain explode sound I have ever heard in my life. And the only way to stop it is to let the smoke dissipate and air out with time. Of course, I didn't figure out this fact until after I spent a good 10 minutes of eardrum-throbbing fun, trying to push the one button there on the detector (which I guess is only for you to test if it works, not to shut it off). Finally, Jason (one of my roommates) opened all the windows and fanned the detector until it stopped. But my ears were still ringing for a couple hours afterwards. Also, the episode prevented me from working out. >:-O

- I've been reading some interesting articles about spam. It seems there is a battle going on between spammers and anti-spammers, with each one trying to outdo the other in creativity. Some of the methods are kind of amusing (at least to me). For example, most spammers rely on hijacking other people's unprotected email servers to send out mass mailings, so they can hide their own address. Well, now there is an anti-spam campaign to flood the internet with "honeypots", which are basically fake unprotected email servers that fool spammers into thinking their mass mailings are sent, when they actually go nowhere. The hope is that spammers will realize they are wasting their time, give up and find a real job. (It's similar to record companies flooding Kazaa with fake songs to frustrate users into just buying the CD)

Then there is this "challenge-response" idea that some ISPs are adopting. It blocks all emails from being sent to your inbox, making the sender first prove that they are human by clicking on a link and typing the answer to a simple question like "What is the 2nd month of the year?" or something. So this would deter spammers because it's impractical to have to do something like that for every message you send out in mass. I thought this idea was guaranteed to be effective, but I guess many experts don't. Apparently, it will clog up server space with all these challenge-response emails bouncing back and forth, while also blocking some legitimate messages, like auto-generated receipts from ordering off Amazon.com for example. Also, they say spammers will be able to find ways around the system, and then the whole thing will be even worse because they can make their emails look like these challenge response emails. Then when you click on the link to prove you're human, it takes you to their porn site instead. When I read that, I was like wow, they are so clever. If only they used their ingenuity for a good cause.

It amazes me how much effort is being put into this spam war on both sides. There must be a lot of money at stake here. Personally, I think the best way to stop spam is if everybody would just decide to never click on any of the ads under any circumstances. But obviously, some stupid people still are, and that is why spammers still do what they do. So I guess the only way to stop them now is to hunt down each spammer, go to his house and kick him in the nuts.

- The White Sox are quietly having one of the most underachieving years ever, making me a very miserable fan. Our division is probably the weakest in baseball, yet we are sitting in 3rd place with a record under .500. We got supposedly two ace pitchers on our staff in Buerhle and Colon, but they are both being outperformed by our #3 pitcher. And even despite the huge gift from heaven that was Esteban Loaiza, our team is a joke. I looked at the hitting stats a couple days ago and I don't think anyone in the lineup is batting over .280. Instead we have Konerko flirting with .200, Valentin, Crede not much better. Magglio is way below All-Star level production, to say the least, and Frank Thomas had to go on a "hot streak" to get the decent stats he has. >:-O

- I just read the latest Sports Guy column on ESPN Page 2, and he pointed out that Simon from the Real World looks like Keith Van Horn. That had me laughing at my desk for a long time, can't believe I didn't pick up on that one earlier.

Education Fair

Coming next week to our site here in NG-Rolling Meadows will be an "Education Fair", where a bunch of local schools will show up with information on their graduate programs. Places like Purdue, Northwestern, DePaul, and IIT are gonna be there to talk to us about opportunities for continuing education.

For the past 3 or 4 years, I've gone to nothing but job fairs, looking for a place to start my career. I've gotten used to handing out resumes and trying to explain to HR reps or interviewers what I have to offer to their company and why they should hire me. Now, I'm less than a year into career life, and already I'm being pointed back to school. A weird feeling.

I think I'm gonna pass on this education fair thing for now, but maybe next year I'll go. It might be nice for once to be the one asking the question: "What do you have to offer me?". "Why should I choose your program?"

Blogorrhea

- It's been a while since I watched a movie, the last one was Matrix Reloaded I think. People have told me that Bruce Almighty, Finding Nemo, Italian Job, and 2 Fast 2 Furious are all good, and I haven't seen any of them. Also, the Hulk is coming out this weekend, but I was never really a fan so it doesn't excite me. So, either I will go on a movie-watching spree in the next couple weeks, or I could just wait and in a few months I will be able to have a movie-renting spree. Sometimes it's good to "invest" by not watching movies in the theater when they come out, so that I'll have something to rent in the future.

- I think I could watch any of the Austin Powers movies over and over without getting sick of them. Although I have only seen the 3rd one once, I'm sure I wouldn't mind seeing it many times, especially since Britney is in it. The original AP is my favorite though. "My name is Richie Cunningham and this is my wife, Oprah"... hahahha. Too bad I think only a few people I know of (other than myself) truly enjoy parts like those.

- I don't really use cash anymore, other than at fast food restaurants. It's a good thing in that I don't have to deal with coins and stuff as much, and I can track my spending on my credit card bill and bank statement. But the downside is that I never get to use "benjamins" or "c-notes". Which sucks, because I'm trying to talk and be more ghetto. I mean, what's cooler, writing a check for $500, or pulling out a wad of bills and counting out the money yourself? You ever hear rappers talk about "swiping my debit card at Jewel"? Doubt it.

- I've been trying to figure out a cheap, easy way to play DVDs from my computer to my TV. I thought it would just be a cable with a VGA connector on one end and S-Video on the other. But after looking and asking around, I don't think it's that simple. I think I would need a converter thing, and those all cost around a hundred bucks from what I've seen online. Which is stupid, because in that case I might as well just spend the benjamin on a cheap DVD player anyways. And I think that is what I will do.

- This is an exciting year, because it is the year in which 2Pac is supposed to return. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up "2Pac" and "7 year theory" on Google and you will probably find some very convincing explanations. Me and Chras have been believers since freshman year of college.

- I played one game of craft yesterday, and for the first time in a long time, felt like I was awesome. A 3v3 with randoms, the other team was a clan, one of my partners left for no reason in the first 5 minutes, and the other partner sucked. So I took over and dominated. Maybe it's cause I was playing at around 5pm and only high school kids play at that time after school, but still, I was proud of myself.

- One thing that sucks about work is that I have to remember too many passwords, and then they make you change them every month or two. I always used the same password for everything, but now I have to be creative and sheezy, because you can't repeat any of your passwords in the past 5 cycles or something. Then, I end up forgetting what it was, and I gotta go through all this trouble just to reconfigure my login.

- I like the Michelle Branch song "Are You Happy Now", maybe so much that I will leave a comment on her Xanga site. The only thing is, her voice reminds me a little too much of Alanis Morrissette. It's more noticeable in the song "All You Wanted", but sometimes I swear she must be related to Alanis or something.

- Puff Daddy is getting creative with his sampling. It seems to me that the Bad Boy/Nelly song they are playing right now blatantly rips off its beat from the "Tomahawk Chop". You know, the one Atlanta Braves fans used to do at games, with the ax motion and everything. "OHHH-OH-OH-OHHHHH..... OHHHH-OH-OH-OHHHHHH...."

Stagga Lee

Based on Dan's recommendation, I downloaded the song "Roll With MVP" by Stagga Lee. It's a pretty good song actually, good beat and rap. Plus, the distinguishing feature of the song is the girl in the background going "lalalalala... lalalalala". It reminds me of this Visa NFL commercial from a couple years ago, where the guy in charge of music at the football stadium cant buy a "Jock Jams" CD or whatever with a check, and the fans and Jerome Bettis end up having to listen to this flamish song "looooo--ving you is easy cause you're beautiful... lalalalala.... lalalalala.... aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh". Chras does it better in person.

Anyways, since I was curious to see who this Stagga Lee character is, so I looked him up on Google. It asked me "Did you mean: stagger lee?", but still linked me to the official site run by his record company. Boy, was I surprised to see what he looked like. I thought he was on the St. Lunatics, but I think I was thinking of Murphy Lee. But yeah, if anyone has a few minutes, I highly recommend you read through his bio on the official site:

http://stagga-lee.com/whosstaggalee.html

I found it to be very, VERY entertaining. It reminds me of the articles P writes about Stork, kind of the same style. Except the people writing this article are serious, so it ends up being what Sports Guy would call "Unintentional Comedy". Either way, it made me laugh pretty hard to read it. My favorite part was when he was talking about changing "forget the bullsh*t" in his lyrics to "forget the bull, kid".

Traitors

So Jason Kidd loses in the NBA Finals to the Spurs, and now everyone expects him to leave New Jersey and sign with the Spurs so he can win a championship next season. Nothing personal against Jason Kidd, and I know he hasn't left yet, but it bothers me that this kind of thing happens so much in the sports world today, and seems like it's widely accepted.

Karl Malone might do the same thing this year. Charles Barkley did it twice in his career, first from Philly to Phoenix (where he failed haha), then from Phoenix to Houston. Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, and many others have bolted for the Yankees in recent years. Ray Bourque got traded to the Avalanche a few years back from Boston, just so he could win a Stanley Cup. A good story, but big deal. Every season, Deion Sanders wants to sign with any team that looks like it will win the Superbowl. Phil Jackson refused to coach once the Bulls were broken up, until he got a team with Shaq and Kobe, almost a guaranteed championship.

What's so special about ditching your teammates so you can win a championship with a team that's already good? I don't respect that, and it cheapens the value of a "championship" too. Jordan and the Bulls sucked for many years in the 80s, but they got progressively better as a team. Eventually, they won 6 NBA titles as one of the greatest sports dynasties ever. That's the way it should be done.

Friday the 13th

I'm not really superstitious and I don't believe in Friday the 13th, but I might as well talk about it. For some reason I was listening to Carlos Mencia (comedian) and he was talking about different people having bad days. Like if you sold fishing equipment for a living, and you had a REALLY bad day, it would be like teaching someone to use a fishing pole and then accidentally gouging someone's eye out with a hook. On the other hand, if you were the President of the United States, and you had a REALLY bad day, everybody dies.

So I was thinking about how my idea of a "REALLY bad day" has changed throughout life. Like when I was 5 years old, a really bad day was probably wetting my pants while not wearing diapers. 10 years old, probably something like forgetting my lunch, missing the bus, getting into a fight with other kids, etc. High school/college, things like failing a final, getting into an accident on the road, or arguing with your girlfriend.

As expected, the concept of a "really bad day" gets more serious and affects more people around you as you get older and more "important". Right now, I have a relatively little role at my job, so if I pork up, probably not a lot of people will suffer. Also, if I happened to be laid off, it wouldn't be the end of the world, at least I don't have to support a family and stuff.

But still, compared to life before graduation/working, I'm feeling more like something is actually at stake if I screw up or have a really bad day. Like if I forgot to pay taxes, bad stuff will happen. If I decided to drive drunk, I could end up with a DUI, thousands of dollars in court fees, and a mark on my record for many many years to come. Worse yet, I could hit and kill someone because of my recklessness (including myself). A far cry from the old days, when the worst thing that would happen was a detention or getting suspended from school.

Years from now, say I get married, have 3 kids, and become the CEO of a large company. If I seriously mess up then, hundreds or thousands of people could lose their jobs. My wife might leave me, and my children would be psychologically messed up for life, then go on to have kids of their own who will be messed up too. That's a lot of people riding on you, some big time pressure to say the least.

Well, I guess one good thing I could always hold onto is that I'm not Neo. It would suck to be "The One" because if you have a bad day, machines will take over the human race. Not to mention, you got a bunch of Mr. Smiths after you, and your girl Trinity is ugly.

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

Long Week

This has felt like the longest week ever. I haven't even been working overtime hours, but it seems like I am. Then I think about what I've accomplished work-wise so far this week, and it really doesn't seem like I have anything much to show for it either. After work, I can't really think of anything I've been doing that's worth noting. And this has showed blog-wise, as some of you may have noticed, I haven't been writing as much this week like I'm used to.

Maybe I haven't been doing anything because I've done a lot of "spacing out" instead. At my desk, on my bed, while eating, while driving, just about any situation, my head just wanders off to nowhere. My brain is really cluttered these days, but instead of trying to sort out thoughts, I end up just listening to music and letting the time pass until it's time to sleep. Not good.

Oh well, at least one thing I did accomplish this week was to sign up with Dennis at Bally's yesterday. Even though my membership at Powerhouse (or X-Sport Fitness) lasts till September or October, the "2 for 1" deal was too good to pass up. Now I'm set for 3 years. Anyways, I was basically only going to P-house on weekends in Darien, and I'll still probably do that thru the remainder of my membership.

*****

I just got a email from my mom to see if I had any ideas for Father's Day. She wants us to do something "memorable" as a family, but I have no idea what a family like us can do together. Both me and my sister are 20-something now, and other than having dinner with mommy and daddy, what kinds of things are there to do? It's already hard enough thinking of stuff to do with friends. Well, I guess I'm gonna try to think of a gift first, and then hopefully my trusty sister will have some ideas on what to do.

*****

Here is an interesting article on rebates that I read yesterday. I always wondered how and why manufacturers or stores would give rebates that made their products effectively free. Seemed like something shady was going on in that world.

Well, I guess it is a combination of these companies being shady but also people being lazy. And by "people", I guess it means "men". I figured a small percentage of people would always forget or be lazy, but not enough for the store/manufacturer to recoup significant profits. But if read the article right, the numbers suggest that usually at least 10% fail to collect their rebates for one reason or another, and 90% failure is not uncommon. If that's true, there's significant profit right there.

So the lesson to be learned is, be careful and vigilant about rebates, cause it's easy to get screwed out of your money and it happens more than you think. Sales are always better.

*****

Anyone know of a good place to buy checks? I've still been using the temporary ones Anuj gave me when I opened the account, but I'm gonna run out soon. I figure most people just get them from their bank, but Bank One charges too much I think. Plus I wanna see if there are cool designs out there. I'd pay more for those. Email/IM/Post Comment if you have any input, thanks.

(p.s. Josh if u read this, can u send me the name of that tint place again, I accidentally closed my IM without writing it down yesterday and now I forgot the info. thanks much appreciated)

Random Notes

- The "one-year reflection" blog is taking a lot of time. I think I will still do it, but not as in-depth as I planned.

- Happy Birthday to Caddy

- It is too cold to be June. I remember last year even in March/April/May we would be outside all the time, either on the Quad, or playing tennis, or BBQ-ing at the lake. This year, I still haven't put away my winter coat yet.

- Nothing is more frustrating in baseball than when a manager handles his pitchers like a reject and the team pays for it. It hurts even more in the fantasy world when my team pays for it.

- Running is boring, but I think I am gonna do more of it

- I'm going to tint the windows to my car sometime soon. If anyone has done this recently, and/or has any places to recommend, let me know.

- For some reason I really like the Ashanti song they are playing on the radio. I think it's called "Rock Wit U", but anyways it's the one where she goes "oh baby" after almost every line. I have had it stuck in my head hardcore for the past couple days.

- They have been playing "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" a lot on USA lately. I thought this movie was pretty well done, maybe except for a few things. But the reason I'm writing about it is because of the theme music. I am pretty sure I have heard it from at least one other movie too, if not more. Don't know which movie it is originally from. If anyone has time to download it, listen, and see if you recognize it from any movie you know, please tell me because it has been bothering me.

- It also got me thinking about the best movie songs ever. Of course, I am not qualified to do a complete list because there are so many movies I haven't seen, but there are a few that come to mind. The Dragon theme is good, except for a part around the 3 minute mark when they add a cheesy drum beat. Definitely there would be a ton of John Williams stuff on my list, like the Original Star Wars Theme, the Imperial March from Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones, E.T., Home Alone (seriously, he did that one), Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, on and on. Also, I like "Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile, which I noticed was pretty high up on VH1's list of top 100 songs in the past 25 years too. I haven't seen the Godfather movies, but even so, that song gives me chills when I hear it. And of course, who can forget the all time classic, "Part Of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. Certainly not I.

One Year

Believe it or not, as of today, I will have been writing in this blog for exactly one year. I think about everything that happened in my life during this past year, and I'm really glad I started this blog and wrote my thoughts down along the way. While I don't know if future years will be as eventful or thought provoking, I guess I'll keep writing as long as I have the urge to write. And hopefully my blog will be interesting enough for people to keep reading.

One thing I remember from the very early days of starting my blog was a friend telling me "oh yeah, you're in the 'honeymoon stage' of blogging". Basically he was saying that I was writing a lot in the beginning, but eventually I'd get sick of it and stop updating as much, or even updating at all. After all, that's what happened to him and most other people who had been blogging before me.

But my response was, I don't believe in the "honeymoon stage" theory - not for blogs, not for relationships, not for my religious beliefs, not for anything. In fact, I hate the very idea of a "honeymoon stage". My philosophy in life is, why go nuts for a short while in the beginning, and then let yourself burn out after that? If you have a great relationship, it shouldn't only be good in the first few months, it should be good throughout. If you want to be a good Christian, don't count on "revivals" and "retreats" to fire you up for a few weeks and then let your passion die after that. Same goes, albeit to a less serious extent, for blogging.

And as I write here and now, one year later, I think I can be proud to say that I avoided that honeymoon trap, at least up to this point. I'm also really happy to see that so many of my friends who have started their own pages manage to write regularly too.

Anyways, there isn't much more to this entry, other than wishing a Happy 1st Birthday to Dudo509 Blogspot. Last week, I planned to go through my archives and highlight the "noteworthy" entries of this blog, but I just haven't had the time. So hopefully if I get the chance in the next few days, I'll be able to post something like that as a "one-year reflection" in blog-world.

- A summer intern started working in our department this week and I got to meet and talk him this morning. The guy seems so young and little, even though he is probably only a couple years younger than me. Fresh-faced, full of enthusiasm, eager to learn, and a positive attitude. Compare this to the older engineers here, seasoned veterans who have seen and done it all, often cynical about the corporation, but usually happy to teach and pass on their knowledge to the next generation (me). I wonder if 2 years ago, I was like this kid intern, but now it seems like I am in a different world than him. I feel almost like the seasoned veterans.

- Went to the Cubs game yesterday. Congrats to P on snapping his losing streak and Dennis on extending his win streak of Chicago sporting events attended.

I didn't have any winning/losing streak myself, I think I'm about .500 in that area. Plus I don't consider myself a big "Cubs fan". You might even call me a "Sox fan". I definitely don't care about the Devil Gays. So mostly I was there to check out Wrigley. The place was pretty nice, more friendly than Comiskey/US Cellular for sure. Too bad it was freezing last night and now I have a headache from the wind blowing on me for 3 hours. I still want to go to a day game sometime this summer when the weather is nice.

A highlight of the night was getting to pee in the legendary troughs of the men's bathroom. Also, we were treated to yet another one of Piya's quality jokes: "What's the difference between Neil Armstrong and Michael Jackson?" The answer to come at a later time... or you could just ask one of us who was there.

Even though I don't have a win/loss streak, I am now 2 for 2 in "weird things happening" at baseball games I go to this season. The Sox game was when all the guys ran on the field and one of them tried to tackle the ump. Yesterday, it was Sammy Sosa getting busted for a corked bat. What a chump. I've always hated Sammy.

So he claims it was just his batting practice bat, but even if it was, that's still retarded that he corks his bat just to look good in BP for the fans. They took all his other bats off for inspection though, so we'll find out soon enough how big of a cheater he is (in addition to being on steroids).

- Some quality songs that I forgot about but heard again in the past few weeks:

N Sync - It's Gonna Be Me
Bone Thugs N Harmony - Mo Murda
98 Degrees - I Do (Cherish You)
Britney Spears - Sometimes
Radiohead - Paranoid Android
DJ Encore - I See Right Through To You
Jars of Clay - Love Song For A Savior
Dave Matthews Band - Dancing Nancies
Nas - The Message
Smashing Pumpkins - Rocket
Eels - Novacaine For The Soul

*****

Could I have been... a parking lot attendant?
Could I have been... a millionaire in Bel Air?
Could I have been... lost somewhere in Paris?
Could I have been... your little brother?
Could I have been... anyone other than me?

He stands touch his hair shoes untied tongue gaping stare
Could I have been a magnet for money?
Could I have been anyone other than me?

Twenty-three and so tired of life
such a shame to throw it all away
the images grow darker still
Could I have been anyone other than me?

Then I look up in the sky
my mouth is open wide
lick and taste
what's the use in worrying
what's the use in hurrying
turn turn we almost become dizzy

I am who I am
who I am
well who am I?
Requesting some enlightenment
Could I have been anyone other than me?

And then I'll sing and dance
I'll play for you tonight
the thrill of it all
dark clouds may hang on me sometimes
but I'll work it out

And then I'll look up in the sky
my mouth is open wide
lick and taste
what's the use in worrying
what's the use in hurrying
turn turn we almost become dizzy

Falling out of a world of lies
Could I have been a dancing nancy
a dancing nancy
Could I have been anyone other than me?

- This morning I woke up with the feeling that this week was gonna suck. We'll have to see what happens.

- Saturday was "Car Day" held by some people at my church. Basically everyone just brought their cars and did car stuff. "Car stuff" ranging from changing light bulbs in the sidemarkers, to putting in a cold-air intake, and changing out headers. As for me, I just changed my oil and rotated my tires. Man, it's such a pain to rotate tires, even with my hydraulic jack and stands. My hands still hurt from trying to loosen all those lugs with the iron.

But just watching and helping people work on their cars for a day managed to awaken the part of me that has been sleeping for the past couple years. Maybe it was because I was too busy with school, job interviews, girlfriend, etc. Maybe it was because I didn't have as much money to spend. Or maybe it was the last of 3 speeding tickets (39 in a 30 zone on Green St. in Champaign yes I'm bitter) that put my car enthusiasm to rest. But that part of me never died, that's for sure.

You know the stereotype of all guys loving cars? Well, it's true. No point in denying it. Don't matter if you're white, black, or yellow. Find me a white guy who doesn't like a Mustang Cobra, a black guy who doesn't like a Cadillac Escalade, or an Asian guy who doesn't like the Nissan Skyline GT-R. I challenge you. Okay, they have to be straight too. Now I'm not saying girls can't like cars too, cause I know plenty who do. But not every girl appreciates them like every guy does.

So anyways, the wheels are turning quickly in my head about what to do with my baby. I think the first things will be cosmetic, including tint and clear corners. Yes, this goes against my typical philosophy of "brawn before beauty", but I don't think I want to mess with performance upgrades this early in the warranty period.

Eventually, the performance stuff will have to follow. I know the only main difference between the 280 hp coupe and my 260 hp sedan is the exhaust system, so I'll have to see about changing that out. But the big bopper I'm eyeing is the twin-turbo system that's coming out for the 350Z. I think I'll have to set aside a couple bucks out of each paycheck and save for a year or two to get that one. And if I actually get the turbo, that opens up a whole new world of mods. I'm gonna stop writing about this for now because I'm drooling on my desk.

Then again, maybe I should give it a rest. The last thing I want is more speeding tickets. And I'm getting old too... I'm probably better off just letting those rich suburban high school kids pass me on the highway in their M3 convertibles.

- The "M" key of my keyboard at home is sticky. I think it's from spilling a couple drops of Sprite in there. If anyone knows how to clean the inside of a keyboard, please share your wisdom. Also, if you talk to me on IM or get a email from me with many typos involving words with the letter "m" in it, you know why.

- Don't know why I remember this story now, but I thought it would be worth writing about. A few weeks ago before going to Champaign, I was stopped at a light and there were these girls holding a sign for "Car Wash - Glenbrook North Softball" or something. As they looked my way, I almost crapped my pants. Fortunately, the light turned green and I peeled out. In my best Chris Rock voice, I was like, "ya'll ain't gettin me!". I can't imagine too many people stopped that day to get their car washed by those psychos. Maybe if they threw in a free offer like "We'll wash your car, wax it, AND rub animal feces in your face", then it would be more attractive. But I dunno.