Vhat to do, Vhat to do
I decided not to start Moose today, despite being dared to do so. I think he ended up getting a win, but it wasn't a great outing, so no big deal. The fans of Taipei are on the edge of their seats with the possibility of their first Dizudo League Championship alive with a month left in the season. Now if only those pesky Kansas Whiteys would go away.
I was a little puzzled by the White Sox decision to start Neil Cotts today. Apparently, the plan was to start Buerhle, if they lost last night. Now, I know the goal is to "win series", and it's nice that they locked that up already, but if your good pitcher is ready, why not put him out? Hindsight is 20/20, but you ended up sending a rookie out to get shelled by one of the best teams in the major leagues. That can't be good for his confidence, which means a lot to a young pitcher. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure Buerhle wouldn't have given up 5 runs in the 1st inning, and had he been out there, we might be looking at a Sox sweep of the Skankees in New York. Maybe they just respect Detroit so much more, knowing that we have gotten hardcore owned by the Tigers this year. So it could be that Jerry Manuel is saving his best guys to be geared up for this upcoming series. Hmmm....
Something that sucks - It's possible I will have to come in to work for part of the day on Saturday. Not sure yet, but that would kind of negate Labor Day for me. SWEET
If one of my coworkers didn't mention it today, I wouldn't have known that tonight was the MTV Video Music Awards. I guess I haven't been paying attention to the commercials. The VMA's used to hold a special place in my heart, especially because of Britney. But now I don't seem to be as interested in that stuff. I'm not really a big fan of any of today's hot stars. I didn't even know who Hillary Duff was until very recently, and now she is everywhere. Still, I think I will try to catch some of the show tonight, mostly because Chras Rock is hosting, and I consider him to be one of the funniest people ever.
Speaking of which, a couple days ago I was going through my old files on my computer and I ended up watching a bunch of the videos I used to download. One of which was "No Sex In The Champagne Room" by Chris Rock, his parody of that one video, "Wear Sunscreen". My favorite line is "Why spend the next 20 years in jail because somebody smudged your Puma?"
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Wednesday Morning: The Week is Half-Over or Half-Left?
- Labor Day can't get here soon enough. I don't really have plans to go anywhere, but that's maybe a good thing. I think I've said it before, but working a Mon-Fri schedule really makes me appreciate the weekends and holidays that much more. I'm looking forward to lots of sitting around and sleeping. Too bad it will only be 1 extra day off, but I'll take it.
- Yesterday I was at Marshall Fields looking for a gift for my dad's birthday. That Jennifer Lopez song with LL Cool J came on, and then I suddenly noticed that I was walking along to the beat. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I don't know. But the more I tried to change my step to unmatch the beat, it seemed like the more in step I became. I could've sworn that the beat was actually following me. People around me were probably thinking that I was trying to do some sort of retarded dance, speeding up and slowing down and pausing in midair. Oh well.
- I caught up on Real World last night. Whenever CT is involved, the situation is always hilarious. Also, poor Ace. I kind of feel for the guy, except I'm sure he won't have any problem recovering from girl issues. The next episode looks promising, there hasn't been enough Adam drama lately. I miss his songs, they make for quality entertainment.
- With them being in 1st place this late in the season, the "Sox factor" is alive and kicking this year. It's good but brings about tough decisions fantasy-wise, especially as I'm still locked in a tight race there too. A conference with Chras on Sunday afternoon convinced me to bench Clemens against the Sox last night. He ended up getting rocked for the worst start of his season. Hopefully, they didn't shatter his confidence too much and it won't affect his following starts, but I don't think it will. After all, it's Roger Clemens. Now I have another decision on hand. Start Mussina against the Sox tomorrow? Hmmmm....
- Labor Day can't get here soon enough. I don't really have plans to go anywhere, but that's maybe a good thing. I think I've said it before, but working a Mon-Fri schedule really makes me appreciate the weekends and holidays that much more. I'm looking forward to lots of sitting around and sleeping. Too bad it will only be 1 extra day off, but I'll take it.
- Yesterday I was at Marshall Fields looking for a gift for my dad's birthday. That Jennifer Lopez song with LL Cool J came on, and then I suddenly noticed that I was walking along to the beat. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I don't know. But the more I tried to change my step to unmatch the beat, it seemed like the more in step I became. I could've sworn that the beat was actually following me. People around me were probably thinking that I was trying to do some sort of retarded dance, speeding up and slowing down and pausing in midair. Oh well.
- I caught up on Real World last night. Whenever CT is involved, the situation is always hilarious. Also, poor Ace. I kind of feel for the guy, except I'm sure he won't have any problem recovering from girl issues. The next episode looks promising, there hasn't been enough Adam drama lately. I miss his songs, they make for quality entertainment.
- With them being in 1st place this late in the season, the "Sox factor" is alive and kicking this year. It's good but brings about tough decisions fantasy-wise, especially as I'm still locked in a tight race there too. A conference with Chras on Sunday afternoon convinced me to bench Clemens against the Sox last night. He ended up getting rocked for the worst start of his season. Hopefully, they didn't shatter his confidence too much and it won't affect his following starts, but I don't think it will. After all, it's Roger Clemens. Now I have another decision on hand. Start Mussina against the Sox tomorrow? Hmmmm....
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Movies
Some thoughts on movies I watched over the weekend:
The Medallion - Seriously, one of the most awful movies I have seen in a long time. I don't really know why I decided to watch it, I was never really a big fan of Jackie Chan, and the previews for it looked kind of dumb. But despite going into the theater with low expectations, the movie managed to somehow ____ my expectations. (The ____ represents an antonym for "exceed", which I can't come up with. Try it, I challenge you to find a good antonym for "exceed", I bet you can't either). I knew it wasn't a good sign when that guy from "There's Something About Mary" was one of the main characters (the one who pretended to be a handicapped architect). As the movie dragged on, I stayed hoping that it would get better, but it only got worse. The eventual climax was one of the most awkward on-screen kisses I have ever seen in my life, between Jackie Chan and Claire Forlani. Afterwards, I decided that if I ever meet Jackie Chan in real life, I will give him a kick in the nuts and only then will we be even.
Bowling For Columbine - I originally wanted to see this movie because I thought "Roger and Me" was really good, but after Michael Moore lost my respect with his outburst at the Oscars, my eagerness to watch it significantly waned. But Olivia still wanted to watch it, so we gave it a rental. After all, nothing could be worse than The Medallion experience of the night before.
Anyways, if people haven't heard of Michael Moore, he makes these documentaries by going around with a camera crew and interviewing people, confronting people, and narrating throughout the movie with his own commentary. "Roger and Me" was about the GM layoffs in Flint, Michigan (his hometown), while "Bowling For Columbine" addressed the school shootings at Columbine High School. His style is kind of sarcastic, part "Tom Green", and his movies usually end up being pretty funny in a biting sort of way.
Well, the negative thing about this movie is that it doesn't really have a clear sense of direction or purpose. The main premise was to discuss the reasons for the Columbine tragedy and who was to blame, but it ended up being kind of all over the place. Most of the time it seemed like he was just out to make certain people look bad. So he went after Charlton Heston and the NRA for opposing gun control. He harrassed K-Mart for selling bullets. He criticized the media for hyping up violent crimes and perpetuating a society living in fear. He attacked the US government for getting involved in Bosnia and the Middle East, and targeted Lockheed Martin for its influence as a big defense contractor in the area.
Basically, I got the sense that Michael Moore is one of those guys who is always against the government, large corporations, and powerful organizations. At times it makes him seem cool to a lot of people, because he's on the side of the "little guy". But on the other hand, it does become a tired act when he's just attacking all these establishments for the sake of attacking establishment.
The positive thing about the movie is that it makes you think. Whether or not you agree with his points or his methods is another story, but at least he is bringing a lot of issues to light. So I do recommend this movie to anyone who is interested.
* A side note - I have newfound respect for Hollywood Video. I've always gone to Blockbuster, but now I might have to get a membership at Hollywood after discovering the fact that they give you a dollar credit back if you return the movie within a day. The rental fee is pretty cheap to begin with, and I return movies early most of the time anyways. What an excellent idea, I must say.
Rounders - My latest DVD purchase, $15 at Best Buy. No special features, but that's ok because this movie is definitely a quality classic. I know this because it has recently joined my list of movies that I like to quote a lot, mostly because of John Malkovich (Teddy KGB). It helps that I've been playing more poker lately and we always overuse those quotes when we play. "khanging aghround.... khanging aghround... kid's got allighator blood" "he beaiit me straaiiiight up" "i'll splash the pot whenever the ____ I want"
This movie gets better everytime I watch it, and it also makes me wish I was Johnny Chan. He is my new idol, what a true thug.
Some thoughts on movies I watched over the weekend:
The Medallion - Seriously, one of the most awful movies I have seen in a long time. I don't really know why I decided to watch it, I was never really a big fan of Jackie Chan, and the previews for it looked kind of dumb. But despite going into the theater with low expectations, the movie managed to somehow ____ my expectations. (The ____ represents an antonym for "exceed", which I can't come up with. Try it, I challenge you to find a good antonym for "exceed", I bet you can't either). I knew it wasn't a good sign when that guy from "There's Something About Mary" was one of the main characters (the one who pretended to be a handicapped architect). As the movie dragged on, I stayed hoping that it would get better, but it only got worse. The eventual climax was one of the most awkward on-screen kisses I have ever seen in my life, between Jackie Chan and Claire Forlani. Afterwards, I decided that if I ever meet Jackie Chan in real life, I will give him a kick in the nuts and only then will we be even.
Bowling For Columbine - I originally wanted to see this movie because I thought "Roger and Me" was really good, but after Michael Moore lost my respect with his outburst at the Oscars, my eagerness to watch it significantly waned. But Olivia still wanted to watch it, so we gave it a rental. After all, nothing could be worse than The Medallion experience of the night before.
Anyways, if people haven't heard of Michael Moore, he makes these documentaries by going around with a camera crew and interviewing people, confronting people, and narrating throughout the movie with his own commentary. "Roger and Me" was about the GM layoffs in Flint, Michigan (his hometown), while "Bowling For Columbine" addressed the school shootings at Columbine High School. His style is kind of sarcastic, part "Tom Green", and his movies usually end up being pretty funny in a biting sort of way.
Well, the negative thing about this movie is that it doesn't really have a clear sense of direction or purpose. The main premise was to discuss the reasons for the Columbine tragedy and who was to blame, but it ended up being kind of all over the place. Most of the time it seemed like he was just out to make certain people look bad. So he went after Charlton Heston and the NRA for opposing gun control. He harrassed K-Mart for selling bullets. He criticized the media for hyping up violent crimes and perpetuating a society living in fear. He attacked the US government for getting involved in Bosnia and the Middle East, and targeted Lockheed Martin for its influence as a big defense contractor in the area.
Basically, I got the sense that Michael Moore is one of those guys who is always against the government, large corporations, and powerful organizations. At times it makes him seem cool to a lot of people, because he's on the side of the "little guy". But on the other hand, it does become a tired act when he's just attacking all these establishments for the sake of attacking establishment.
The positive thing about the movie is that it makes you think. Whether or not you agree with his points or his methods is another story, but at least he is bringing a lot of issues to light. So I do recommend this movie to anyone who is interested.
* A side note - I have newfound respect for Hollywood Video. I've always gone to Blockbuster, but now I might have to get a membership at Hollywood after discovering the fact that they give you a dollar credit back if you return the movie within a day. The rental fee is pretty cheap to begin with, and I return movies early most of the time anyways. What an excellent idea, I must say.
Rounders - My latest DVD purchase, $15 at Best Buy. No special features, but that's ok because this movie is definitely a quality classic. I know this because it has recently joined my list of movies that I like to quote a lot, mostly because of John Malkovich (Teddy KGB). It helps that I've been playing more poker lately and we always overuse those quotes when we play. "khanging aghround.... khanging aghround... kid's got allighator blood" "he beaiit me straaiiiight up" "i'll splash the pot whenever the ____ I want"
This movie gets better everytime I watch it, and it also makes me wish I was Johnny Chan. He is my new idol, what a true thug.
Monday, August 25, 2003
Back 2 School
On Saturday, my mom and I drove my sister down to Champaign to help her move into her apartment. The campus looks basically the same, except a bunch of new apartment buildings popped up all over the place. Also, there's some new/different stores on Green Street. Remember when that area used to have a Yen-Ching Buffet and the Co-Ed theater? I already forgot what all of that looked like. Other than driving around and moving stuff for my sis, I didn't have a chance to visit any buildings, like Grainger or the Union, and I didn't check to see if R&R's really turned into a gay bar, as rumored.
I did drive by ISR to see all the students moving in, and it revived memories of me and Anuj packing all our stuff into his little Corolla and caravan-ing down to school with P, Vic, Chras, and Rod that day. I especially remember watching some daring passing maneuvers by P in his van on IL-47, a 2 lane highway. Anyways, I could write more nostalgic stuff about college memories, but this blog has seen too much of that already.
Another thing the trip revived was my doubts about whether or not there is an Old Country Buffet in the Champaign-Urbana area. Previously, people had informed me with great confidence that there definitely was, and since they insisted it was true, I just accepted it, even though I had never seen one in 4 years of being at school. Well, when we were down there on Saturday, we ended up having lunch at Hometown Buffet (on Prospect by Outback Steakhouse and across from Meijer). Since the place was so similar to OCB, I started thinking that maybe everyone who told me there was an Old Country Buffet before actually got it mixed up with Hometown Buffet instead.
So this bothered me so much to the point that eventually, I did what any self-respecting nerd would do and just looked it up on the Internet. Google pointed me to Buffet.com or something, where I learned that there were in fact NO locations of Old Country Buffet in the Champaign-Urbana region. However, the kicker is that OCB and HTB are run by the same people so it's pretty much the same thing. Thus in a way, everyone was right and everyone was wrong.
The drive to and from school used to be pretty much a weekly thing for me, one that I must have done close to a hundred times, if not more. I kind of miss driving on the relatively open highway for a couple hours at a time. It's really a relaxing experience, other than the million bugs that die on your windshield, and the occasional possum you run over that gives you a chilling look before the thump comes. One thing I have come to enjoy about the trip is analyzing other people's license plates. On the way back Saturday afternoon, my favorite was "JESUS 85". It made me wonder whether or not there were actually 84 other Jesuses (or is it plural "Jesii"? hmmm...), who wanted that license plate, so this guy ended up getting the 85th. Otherwise, why "85"? I was intrigued.
Well, I guess as all the school people start a new year, us working people simply start a new week. Have a happy Monday everyone.
On Saturday, my mom and I drove my sister down to Champaign to help her move into her apartment. The campus looks basically the same, except a bunch of new apartment buildings popped up all over the place. Also, there's some new/different stores on Green Street. Remember when that area used to have a Yen-Ching Buffet and the Co-Ed theater? I already forgot what all of that looked like. Other than driving around and moving stuff for my sis, I didn't have a chance to visit any buildings, like Grainger or the Union, and I didn't check to see if R&R's really turned into a gay bar, as rumored.
I did drive by ISR to see all the students moving in, and it revived memories of me and Anuj packing all our stuff into his little Corolla and caravan-ing down to school with P, Vic, Chras, and Rod that day. I especially remember watching some daring passing maneuvers by P in his van on IL-47, a 2 lane highway. Anyways, I could write more nostalgic stuff about college memories, but this blog has seen too much of that already.
Another thing the trip revived was my doubts about whether or not there is an Old Country Buffet in the Champaign-Urbana area. Previously, people had informed me with great confidence that there definitely was, and since they insisted it was true, I just accepted it, even though I had never seen one in 4 years of being at school. Well, when we were down there on Saturday, we ended up having lunch at Hometown Buffet (on Prospect by Outback Steakhouse and across from Meijer). Since the place was so similar to OCB, I started thinking that maybe everyone who told me there was an Old Country Buffet before actually got it mixed up with Hometown Buffet instead.
So this bothered me so much to the point that eventually, I did what any self-respecting nerd would do and just looked it up on the Internet. Google pointed me to Buffet.com or something, where I learned that there were in fact NO locations of Old Country Buffet in the Champaign-Urbana region. However, the kicker is that OCB and HTB are run by the same people so it's pretty much the same thing. Thus in a way, everyone was right and everyone was wrong.
The drive to and from school used to be pretty much a weekly thing for me, one that I must have done close to a hundred times, if not more. I kind of miss driving on the relatively open highway for a couple hours at a time. It's really a relaxing experience, other than the million bugs that die on your windshield, and the occasional possum you run over that gives you a chilling look before the thump comes. One thing I have come to enjoy about the trip is analyzing other people's license plates. On the way back Saturday afternoon, my favorite was "JESUS 85". It made me wonder whether or not there were actually 84 other Jesuses (or is it plural "Jesii"? hmmm...), who wanted that license plate, so this guy ended up getting the 85th. Otherwise, why "85"? I was intrigued.
Well, I guess as all the school people start a new year, us working people simply start a new week. Have a happy Monday everyone.
Friday, August 22, 2003
The Other Side
Back in junior year of college, one of the more promising job presentations/interviews I went to was for Molex, a large maker of connectors that was located in Lisle (or was it Downers Grove? Somewhere close to Darien I remember). The position I interviewed for was basically kind of a technical sales/support consultant, which would require me to learn everything about the connector products, and be able to deal with customers about choosing the right connectors, answering their questions, that kind of thing.
Well, obviously I didn't end up getting hired there, otherwise I probably wouldn't be here working for Northrop Grumman right now. The interesting thing is, Molex is (among others) one of the major sources for connectors that we buy in building stuff here. And as it turns out, my job position here requires me to deal with those kinds of technical sales/support consultants at companies like Molex. But after some frustrating experiences, I must say that I have begun to really hate those guys. They either don't know jack, or give you half-assed answers to important questions, and usually are not very helpful at all.
How weird is it to think that had things worked out differently a couple years ago, I might have found myself on that other side as one of "those guys" I hate. I wonder if that was the case, would I be annoyed with "those systems engineers" from customers like Northrop Grumman, that keep calling up or emailing stupid questions for me to answer. I also wonder whether or not any of these people I deal with were the same biatches that got hired over me back in those days. Hmmmm.....
Back in junior year of college, one of the more promising job presentations/interviews I went to was for Molex, a large maker of connectors that was located in Lisle (or was it Downers Grove? Somewhere close to Darien I remember). The position I interviewed for was basically kind of a technical sales/support consultant, which would require me to learn everything about the connector products, and be able to deal with customers about choosing the right connectors, answering their questions, that kind of thing.
Well, obviously I didn't end up getting hired there, otherwise I probably wouldn't be here working for Northrop Grumman right now. The interesting thing is, Molex is (among others) one of the major sources for connectors that we buy in building stuff here. And as it turns out, my job position here requires me to deal with those kinds of technical sales/support consultants at companies like Molex. But after some frustrating experiences, I must say that I have begun to really hate those guys. They either don't know jack, or give you half-assed answers to important questions, and usually are not very helpful at all.
How weird is it to think that had things worked out differently a couple years ago, I might have found myself on that other side as one of "those guys" I hate. I wonder if that was the case, would I be annoyed with "those systems engineers" from customers like Northrop Grumman, that keep calling up or emailing stupid questions for me to answer. I also wonder whether or not any of these people I deal with were the same biatches that got hired over me back in those days. Hmmmm.....
Thursday, August 21, 2003
Update on yesterday's meeting: it blew. At the end, it was like finishing my last final of the semester, I was tired as hell but could finally breath a huge sigh of relief that it was over. The stuff I presented went fine, so it's nice to know that my work over the past few months wasn't worthless. But I was really getting annoyed by people arguing about little stuff, or stupid questions being asked. It's always those 2 or 3 people in the meeting that make it last 5 hours, when it could probably be done in less than half that time.
We always joke about the motto of Darien being "A nice place to live". Well, on the way to the Dunes on Saturday, me and Olivia saw another cheesy motto printed on the water tower for Worth - "The Friendly Village". I don't know why small towns feel the need to invent a little catchphrase to describe themselves, but it's funny.
*****
Joke of the moment:
A mushroom walks into a bar. The bartender goes "Sorry, we don't serve your kind here." The mushroom replies "Why not? I'm a fun-gi!"
(credit my sister for that one... an oldie but goodie)
We always joke about the motto of Darien being "A nice place to live". Well, on the way to the Dunes on Saturday, me and Olivia saw another cheesy motto printed on the water tower for Worth - "The Friendly Village". I don't know why small towns feel the need to invent a little catchphrase to describe themselves, but it's funny.
*****
Joke of the moment:
A mushroom walks into a bar. The bartender goes "Sorry, we don't serve your kind here." The mushroom replies "Why not? I'm a fun-gi!"
(credit my sister for that one... an oldie but goodie)
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
The following was written yesterday afternoon but I forgot to post it before leaving work. Since I am going to be mad busy today with Design Review fun and probably won't have time to write anything, I'll just put it up anyways and you can all pretend that today is yesterday.
A Glimpse Into The Life
- I have been suffering from a sore throat and stuffed nose for the past few days. Yesterday after work I made a cornish hen because Olivia said it would help me get better. God bless her soul, but I ended up burning my tongue on the soup and now I have no sense of taste in addition to losing my sense of smell to the cold.
- It's a great luxury for my day when a lot of people update their blog/xanga pages. Sometimes I feel like Grandpa Simpson and his mail: "Maybe if I go to sleep for a few days some good mail will build up." So maybe if I stop checking everyone's pages for a few days, some good updates will build up. Props to all the regular updaters out there, you know who you are.
- I watched parts of "Saving Silverman" on TV last night. Normally I don't watch movies on TV, because I always switch the channel during commercials and forget to turn back, and also I don't like the fact that they are edited. But for some reason, I stuck to that channel and caught most of the movie. It turned out to be ok actually, stupid with some funny parts. Although I probably would've been pissed if I had paid money to rent it or watch it in the theater.
- Other than the obvious negative of having to go back to work, another bad part about Mondays is that the baseball schedule is usually much thinner. This hampers my normal routine of keeping my eyes glued to my monitor, following the CBS Sportsline MLB Scoreboard and Yahoo! StatTracker windows. And I guess it also ends up causing me to do more retarded things, such as watching Saving Silverman on TV.
- Today was yet another instance of waking up to the video for Linkin Park's 'Faint' on MTV. It wasn't one of my favorite songs on the CD, but maybe the repeated exposure I get every single morning is making it grow on me. They should've released 'Numb' as a single, that is the best song on the CD in my opinion.
- My daily breakfast consists of cereal with lactose-free milk. When I run out of milk and/or cereal, the backup option is a jelly sandwich. Both options were chosen for their relative ease of construction. Occasionally, I will have some leftover cake or a couple slices of pizza, and those days often turn out to be spicier than the others.
- The drive to work is short and sweet. I could probably make the trip with my eyes closed by now. Usually, I only catch about half a conversation on some morning show. I don't know why I listen to the radio at that time to begin with. What I really need is some music that will put me in a good mood and fire me up for the day. Not much help from the CD changer, which I have managed to fill with sleepy or depressing stuff. I think I need to bust out Doggystyle and put that CD on repeat. Or, just burn a CD with that Ying-Yang Twins song over and over... "to the WINDOWWWWWWW to the WALL" ... I still have no clue what that song is about. But those Ying Yang Twins, they sure have some catchy and ghetto music. Last year's favorite for me was "A-YI-YI-YI-YI", and I don't know what that song was about either. The repeating of syllables seems to be a trademark, maybe they just have a stuttering problem.
- My daily lunch consists of a sandwich (usually turkey, roast beef, or chicken on wheat), chips, and a Capri-Sun Big Pouch, Mountain Cooler flavor. I've found that turkey does indeed make me sleepier in the afternoon. Sometimes, I substitute pretzels for chips, but only if I feel like being spicy that week. Occasionally, I upgrade the lunch experience by treating myself to some fruit.
- I try to drink water regularly at work. The rage these days seems to be those Nalgene bottles. Everyone and their mama has one, except me and my mama. I guess it must be good, and comforting to know that you can run your water bottle over with a car without it breaking, but I've decided to drink my water out of good old plastic cups. Partly to be different, but mostly because I don't like to wash and reuse a plastic bottle. I choose disposable, baby.
A Glimpse Into The Life
- I have been suffering from a sore throat and stuffed nose for the past few days. Yesterday after work I made a cornish hen because Olivia said it would help me get better. God bless her soul, but I ended up burning my tongue on the soup and now I have no sense of taste in addition to losing my sense of smell to the cold.
- It's a great luxury for my day when a lot of people update their blog/xanga pages. Sometimes I feel like Grandpa Simpson and his mail: "Maybe if I go to sleep for a few days some good mail will build up." So maybe if I stop checking everyone's pages for a few days, some good updates will build up. Props to all the regular updaters out there, you know who you are.
- I watched parts of "Saving Silverman" on TV last night. Normally I don't watch movies on TV, because I always switch the channel during commercials and forget to turn back, and also I don't like the fact that they are edited. But for some reason, I stuck to that channel and caught most of the movie. It turned out to be ok actually, stupid with some funny parts. Although I probably would've been pissed if I had paid money to rent it or watch it in the theater.
- Other than the obvious negative of having to go back to work, another bad part about Mondays is that the baseball schedule is usually much thinner. This hampers my normal routine of keeping my eyes glued to my monitor, following the CBS Sportsline MLB Scoreboard and Yahoo! StatTracker windows. And I guess it also ends up causing me to do more retarded things, such as watching Saving Silverman on TV.
- Today was yet another instance of waking up to the video for Linkin Park's 'Faint' on MTV. It wasn't one of my favorite songs on the CD, but maybe the repeated exposure I get every single morning is making it grow on me. They should've released 'Numb' as a single, that is the best song on the CD in my opinion.
- My daily breakfast consists of cereal with lactose-free milk. When I run out of milk and/or cereal, the backup option is a jelly sandwich. Both options were chosen for their relative ease of construction. Occasionally, I will have some leftover cake or a couple slices of pizza, and those days often turn out to be spicier than the others.
- The drive to work is short and sweet. I could probably make the trip with my eyes closed by now. Usually, I only catch about half a conversation on some morning show. I don't know why I listen to the radio at that time to begin with. What I really need is some music that will put me in a good mood and fire me up for the day. Not much help from the CD changer, which I have managed to fill with sleepy or depressing stuff. I think I need to bust out Doggystyle and put that CD on repeat. Or, just burn a CD with that Ying-Yang Twins song over and over... "to the WINDOWWWWWWW to the WALL" ... I still have no clue what that song is about. But those Ying Yang Twins, they sure have some catchy and ghetto music. Last year's favorite for me was "A-YI-YI-YI-YI", and I don't know what that song was about either. The repeating of syllables seems to be a trademark, maybe they just have a stuttering problem.
- My daily lunch consists of a sandwich (usually turkey, roast beef, or chicken on wheat), chips, and a Capri-Sun Big Pouch, Mountain Cooler flavor. I've found that turkey does indeed make me sleepier in the afternoon. Sometimes, I substitute pretzels for chips, but only if I feel like being spicy that week. Occasionally, I upgrade the lunch experience by treating myself to some fruit.
- I try to drink water regularly at work. The rage these days seems to be those Nalgene bottles. Everyone and their mama has one, except me and my mama. I guess it must be good, and comforting to know that you can run your water bottle over with a car without it breaking, but I've decided to drink my water out of good old plastic cups. Partly to be different, but mostly because I don't like to wash and reuse a plastic bottle. I choose disposable, baby.
Monday, August 18, 2003
Sports Talk
For those of you uninterested in sports, fantasy or otherwise, you are advised to skip this entry.
- Up until the past year, I never realized how shady the world of college sports was. It's so sad and disturbing to hear about all the kinds of stuff that goes on - and that's just when they get caught. I guess most of it is caused by the fact that a lot of money is at stake. At least in professional sports, everyone knows that it's all about money and profit. But in college sports, all the schools try to talk about how academics is always a priority, while it's obvious that it isn't. So you have all this stuff happening behind the scenes and a lot ugliness that is swept underneath the rug. You gotta wonder, what scandal or tragedy is gonna be uncovered next?
- Yesterday was the McNown league draft. I went into the draft pretty unprepared this year, but came out feeling ok about how my team turned out. Had the 8th pick, which excluded me from getting any studs (Tomlinson, Ricky Williams, Portis), but it's aight. I ended up with a top 3 of Ahman Green, Terrell Owens, and Daunte Culpepper, which is not fantastic, but decent. And I'm also especially excited because this is the first time I have had Brian Urlacher on my team.
More importantly, Week 1 already looks like it could make or break my season. I have still yet to ever beat Dave Chan's team and my boys desperately need some confidence to start the year off right. A preliminary look at the matchup follows:
*Taipei Dudalisks vs. Dudo Dominators*
QB: Daunte Culpepper vs. Kelly Holcomb
WR: Terrell Owens vs. Randy Moss
RB: Ahman Green vs. Deuce McAllister
TE: Bubba Franks vs. Marcus Pollard
WR/RB: Eddie George vs. Fred Taylor
WR/RB: Rod Gardner vs. Hines Ward
WR/RB: Curtis Conway vs. Isaac Bruce
K: Jason Elam vs. Joe Nedney
D: Brian Urlacher vs. Ray Lewis
D: Derrick Brooks vs. Takeo Spikes
D: Roy Williams vs. Mike Peterson
Hopefully by the end of Week 1, his team name will have to be changed to Dudo Dominatees.
- Usually by the time football season starts, I can focus all my attention towards football instead of baseball because the Sox are out of the pennant race and my fantasy baseball team is pretty much locked into 2nd place. But this year, the month of September looks like it will be very exciting baseball-wise. Sox have a decent chance of winning the Central, if they could find some way to beat crappy teams and win on the road. Two big ifs, but oh well. At least we have something to hope for. And in fantasy, my team is almost dead even with P's team for 1st right now. It should definitely be a interesting final month and a half of the season.
Currently playing on my Winamp: Maxwell - Lifetime
For those of you uninterested in sports, fantasy or otherwise, you are advised to skip this entry.
- Up until the past year, I never realized how shady the world of college sports was. It's so sad and disturbing to hear about all the kinds of stuff that goes on - and that's just when they get caught. I guess most of it is caused by the fact that a lot of money is at stake. At least in professional sports, everyone knows that it's all about money and profit. But in college sports, all the schools try to talk about how academics is always a priority, while it's obvious that it isn't. So you have all this stuff happening behind the scenes and a lot ugliness that is swept underneath the rug. You gotta wonder, what scandal or tragedy is gonna be uncovered next?
- Yesterday was the McNown league draft. I went into the draft pretty unprepared this year, but came out feeling ok about how my team turned out. Had the 8th pick, which excluded me from getting any studs (Tomlinson, Ricky Williams, Portis), but it's aight. I ended up with a top 3 of Ahman Green, Terrell Owens, and Daunte Culpepper, which is not fantastic, but decent. And I'm also especially excited because this is the first time I have had Brian Urlacher on my team.
More importantly, Week 1 already looks like it could make or break my season. I have still yet to ever beat Dave Chan's team and my boys desperately need some confidence to start the year off right. A preliminary look at the matchup follows:
*Taipei Dudalisks vs. Dudo Dominators*
QB: Daunte Culpepper vs. Kelly Holcomb
WR: Terrell Owens vs. Randy Moss
RB: Ahman Green vs. Deuce McAllister
TE: Bubba Franks vs. Marcus Pollard
WR/RB: Eddie George vs. Fred Taylor
WR/RB: Rod Gardner vs. Hines Ward
WR/RB: Curtis Conway vs. Isaac Bruce
K: Jason Elam vs. Joe Nedney
D: Brian Urlacher vs. Ray Lewis
D: Derrick Brooks vs. Takeo Spikes
D: Roy Williams vs. Mike Peterson
Hopefully by the end of Week 1, his team name will have to be changed to Dudo Dominatees.
- Usually by the time football season starts, I can focus all my attention towards football instead of baseball because the Sox are out of the pennant race and my fantasy baseball team is pretty much locked into 2nd place. But this year, the month of September looks like it will be very exciting baseball-wise. Sox have a decent chance of winning the Central, if they could find some way to beat crappy teams and win on the road. Two big ifs, but oh well. At least we have something to hope for. And in fantasy, my team is almost dead even with P's team for 1st right now. It should definitely be a interesting final month and a half of the season.
Currently playing on my Winamp: Maxwell - Lifetime
Friday, August 15, 2003
Ups and Downs
Earlier today I had a "farewell conversation" with the intern that's been working in our department this summer. He was telling me that he didn't want to go back to school, how working life was nice because "you go home at 5, and you're done". I was tempted to inform him that after my first few months, I thought that was the coolest thing about working too, but afterwards, the novelty of that wore off significantly. But my conscience kicked in, and I decided not to rain on his happy parade, so early in the life of a young one.
You know what though, I do believe that life depends so much on your perspective and how you choose to view things. I think that most, if not all of the grief you experience in life is self-imposed. Here is this kid who can't wait to graduate and start working, which was like me, 2 years ago. Now here I am, graduated and working, and I miss being a student. What happened to me?
Since graduating, I can look back on my life since then and divide it into a series of stages:
Stage 1 - Just got out of school, started working for my dad, but continued to look for a permanent job. Somewhat discouraged by the setbacks and frustrations that come with job fairs, interviewing, resume-whoring, etc. Felt like all my problems would disappear, if only I could become an electrical engineer at a large corporation.
Stage 2 - Became an electrical engineer at a large corporation. Enjoyed the excitement of starting my new job and discovering the working world. Began getting weekly paychecks and watching my personal bank account grow. Personal ego also grows as parents treat me more like an adult, and I feel more independent and important to this society.
Stage 3 - After a few months, work life starts to take its toll. I physically start to get tired from the daily commute and the lack of good sleep. Emotional decline also occurs as I realize that I'm still only a newbie at the job and I'm not all that important to society or even to my coworkers as much as I originally thought. The realization also occurs that I need to move out from under my parent's roof because A) I'm 23 years old, and B) I'm wasting 2 hours a day just driving to/from work. I miss college, I miss meeting new people, and I'm getting sick of having a daily routine. The situation is not helped by the gloomy weather of Chicago winter, and further deteriorates as I start to work overtime hours. Convinced myself that all problems would disappear when overtime schedule ended and I moved to Palatine.
Stage 4 - Overtime schedule ended and I moved to Palatine. Suddenly able to enjoy more free time and a return to life with a level of freedom not experienced since college. The new situation allows me to spend more time with friends and develop good relationships. Work related stress is relatively low, and I feel more inspired to do stuff, like learn to cook or plan for the future (investing my money, starting a family, navigating a career path, buying a house, etc.).
Stage 5 - Pretty much settled into life in Palatine. Haven't done much more than buy a cookbook and flip through it. Haven't really done much planning for the future. The demands at the job start to build up again, and life starts to fall back into a routine. No major problems in my life, so I can't focus on figuring out how to make them disappear. But I've definitely experienced better times than these.
The progression of stages described above is shown in the following chart:
Well, if nothing else, that was an example of me using a sophisticated and expensive software drawing tool at work (Visio) to create a crappy-looking diagram and save it as a jpg. But, hopefully it was able to somewhat illustrate my point, which is that life is a series of ups and downs.
If I had more time, I would try to analyze the cycle of ups and downs in depth and devise a theory about how to optimize your life. But I don't have more time, so I'll just say this: since I don't think it's possible to eliminate the down stages and only have ups, I'll just make it a goal to keep my life as steady as I can, while minimizing the downs the my best effort. So my ideal chart would still have waves of highs and lows, but hopefully progress to a point where the corners are rounded and I'm living in the "Smiley-face Zone" as much as humanly possible.
Earlier today I had a "farewell conversation" with the intern that's been working in our department this summer. He was telling me that he didn't want to go back to school, how working life was nice because "you go home at 5, and you're done". I was tempted to inform him that after my first few months, I thought that was the coolest thing about working too, but afterwards, the novelty of that wore off significantly. But my conscience kicked in, and I decided not to rain on his happy parade, so early in the life of a young one.
You know what though, I do believe that life depends so much on your perspective and how you choose to view things. I think that most, if not all of the grief you experience in life is self-imposed. Here is this kid who can't wait to graduate and start working, which was like me, 2 years ago. Now here I am, graduated and working, and I miss being a student. What happened to me?
Since graduating, I can look back on my life since then and divide it into a series of stages:
Stage 1 - Just got out of school, started working for my dad, but continued to look for a permanent job. Somewhat discouraged by the setbacks and frustrations that come with job fairs, interviewing, resume-whoring, etc. Felt like all my problems would disappear, if only I could become an electrical engineer at a large corporation.
Stage 2 - Became an electrical engineer at a large corporation. Enjoyed the excitement of starting my new job and discovering the working world. Began getting weekly paychecks and watching my personal bank account grow. Personal ego also grows as parents treat me more like an adult, and I feel more independent and important to this society.
Stage 3 - After a few months, work life starts to take its toll. I physically start to get tired from the daily commute and the lack of good sleep. Emotional decline also occurs as I realize that I'm still only a newbie at the job and I'm not all that important to society or even to my coworkers as much as I originally thought. The realization also occurs that I need to move out from under my parent's roof because A) I'm 23 years old, and B) I'm wasting 2 hours a day just driving to/from work. I miss college, I miss meeting new people, and I'm getting sick of having a daily routine. The situation is not helped by the gloomy weather of Chicago winter, and further deteriorates as I start to work overtime hours. Convinced myself that all problems would disappear when overtime schedule ended and I moved to Palatine.
Stage 4 - Overtime schedule ended and I moved to Palatine. Suddenly able to enjoy more free time and a return to life with a level of freedom not experienced since college. The new situation allows me to spend more time with friends and develop good relationships. Work related stress is relatively low, and I feel more inspired to do stuff, like learn to cook or plan for the future (investing my money, starting a family, navigating a career path, buying a house, etc.).
Stage 5 - Pretty much settled into life in Palatine. Haven't done much more than buy a cookbook and flip through it. Haven't really done much planning for the future. The demands at the job start to build up again, and life starts to fall back into a routine. No major problems in my life, so I can't focus on figuring out how to make them disappear. But I've definitely experienced better times than these.
The progression of stages described above is shown in the following chart:
Well, if nothing else, that was an example of me using a sophisticated and expensive software drawing tool at work (Visio) to create a crappy-looking diagram and save it as a jpg. But, hopefully it was able to somewhat illustrate my point, which is that life is a series of ups and downs.
If I had more time, I would try to analyze the cycle of ups and downs in depth and devise a theory about how to optimize your life. But I don't have more time, so I'll just say this: since I don't think it's possible to eliminate the down stages and only have ups, I'll just make it a goal to keep my life as steady as I can, while minimizing the downs the my best effort. So my ideal chart would still have waves of highs and lows, but hopefully progress to a point where the corners are rounded and I'm living in the "Smiley-face Zone" as much as humanly possible.
Thursday, August 14, 2003
What up GANGSTAAA
- I can't wait for Xanga to come back to life. The suspense of the entries I haven't been able to read is killing me. Also, I'm counting on plenty of angry postings to follow, like "XANGA SUCKS" in flashing red size 24 font, or other entertaining shows of disgust.
- Sox and Cubs are both 1 1/2 games back from making the playoffs. This would be an awesome time for both teams to go on a tear, and ultimately meet each other in the World Series. Or am I just living in a world of delusion?
- It seems like all of my 40-something managers have shoulder problems of some sort. I'm not looking forward to being 40-something.
- Literally every morning of this week, the first video I saw when I woke up and turned on MTV was Linkin Park's 'Faint'. It really seems like each week, they decide on the one video they are gonna show in the morning when I wake up. Last week, it was Fabolous feat. Tamia, the week before that was Beyonce, and the week before that was Justin Timberlake.
- I've been wondering, couldn't David Banner have come up with a ghetto name? Someone responsible for a song such as "Like A Pimp" shouldn't have a name that sounds like a guy from some boy band or a character in Full House.
- Fantasy football drafts are almost here, and I have done basically no research. Every year this happens, but I always end up feeling good about my draft after it happens. And then my team always proceeds to suck when the season starts.
- I can't wait for Xanga to come back to life. The suspense of the entries I haven't been able to read is killing me. Also, I'm counting on plenty of angry postings to follow, like "XANGA SUCKS" in flashing red size 24 font, or other entertaining shows of disgust.
- Sox and Cubs are both 1 1/2 games back from making the playoffs. This would be an awesome time for both teams to go on a tear, and ultimately meet each other in the World Series. Or am I just living in a world of delusion?
- It seems like all of my 40-something managers have shoulder problems of some sort. I'm not looking forward to being 40-something.
- Literally every morning of this week, the first video I saw when I woke up and turned on MTV was Linkin Park's 'Faint'. It really seems like each week, they decide on the one video they are gonna show in the morning when I wake up. Last week, it was Fabolous feat. Tamia, the week before that was Beyonce, and the week before that was Justin Timberlake.
- I've been wondering, couldn't David Banner have come up with a ghetto name? Someone responsible for a song such as "Like A Pimp" shouldn't have a name that sounds like a guy from some boy band or a character in Full House.
- Fantasy football drafts are almost here, and I have done basically no research. Every year this happens, but I always end up feeling good about my draft after it happens. And then my team always proceeds to suck when the season starts.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
The Rape of Nanking
A few months ago, I started reading The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. I got through about 1/3 of it in the first week, then it just sat next to my alarm clock for a long time as I forgot it was there. Well, a couple nights ago I finally decided to finish the book, and I thought I would write some thoughts about it in my blog.
First of all, the event itself is not very well known, despite being comparable to a lot of other human disasters, such as the Holocaust. When you learn about WWII during high school, the Rape of Nanking is usually either discussed only in passing reference, or not mentioned at all. The reasons for this obscurity in our view of history were discussed in the book, and in short, it was mainly a matter of world politics and economics in the time following World War II.
Since I know nobody is actually gonna read this book themselves after reading my blog, the summary of what happened is as follows. During World War II, Japan invaded China, and part of this invasion involved taking the city of Nanking. Throughout history, Nanking was probably the Chinese city that was richest in tradition, also serving as the capital for many years. You might consider it the "New York City" of China.
Anyways, as the Japanese army did to a lot of other nations it invaded at the time, they arrived at Nanking and performed pretty much every atrocity you could imagine against the people there. The soldiers killed whoever they felt like killing, raped whoever they felt like raping, plundered all the stores, and destroyed a lot of valuable national treasures in the process. Nothing was sacred, as evidenced by the fact that girls as young as 8 and women as old as 70 were all raped, and Japanese newspapers routinely reported contests between soldiers about who killed more Chinese people, as if they were scores of last night's sporting events.
The book also includes some pretty graphic pictures, such as Japanese soldiers posing in front of a pile of human skulls, using live bodies for bayonet practice, and dead naked bodies of raped women, some mutilated. It's some of the most disturbing stuff I've ever seen.
When the war finally ended and the dust settled, Nanking was left with a few hundred thousand people dead and a city in complete ruins. It has recovered and rebuilt somewhat since then, but most likely the city and its people will never be the same.
After reading the book, the first inclination I had was to hate Japanese people. Hate them for the brutality of everything they did, and hate them for covering it up afterwards. But given more time to think about it, I'd have to say that if this was my only reaction after reading the book, I would be taking a step backwards, not forwards. As we were always told in school, the whole point of studying history is to learn lessons from it and prevent future mistakes. And of course the Rape of Nanking is no exception.
Not to let the Japanese off the hook, but the Chinese army was not without responsibility in this tragedy. By the historical accounts described in this book, it was clear that had the Chinese leadership been less cowardly and selfish in their actions, much of these events would have turned out much differently.
After 9/11, the popular mantra for this country was "United We Stand". Meanwhile, most of us either forget or ignore the phrase that follows, "Divided We Fall". The significance of this is well illustrated by the fact that more American lives were lost in the Civil War than in all of its other major wars combined.
As for China, if you've studied any amount of its history, you would know that it is a history filled with struggles stemming from the nation's failure to stand united. Even today, there are two countries that continue to bicker about who is the real China - one being the "Republic of China" (located in Taiwan), the other being the "People's Republic of China" (controlling the Mainland). This is a fact that makes me both very sad and very angry at the same time.
Anyways, the fact that a country as huge as China fell so easily and decisively to a small island nation like Japan shows how much internal division can hurt and weaken a country. Even as its major strongholds were falling during the war, the Chinese army still far outnumbered the Japanese at Nanking. But for some reason, they barely put up a fight when the time came to defend their people. As most of the Chinese soldiers ran away or simply surrendered to the invading army, they left themselves and their defenseless civilians open to all of the massacre that followed. In the face of this cowardly display, it's almost hard for one to fault the Japanese for their delusions that the Chinese people were inferior human beings, and that killing them would be akin to crushing a bug or trapping a rat. Almost, but not quite.
Recognizing all that happened at Nanking was also an important reminder to me of the extent of extreme cruelty that human beings are capable of. Unfortunately, things that we consider to be "inhumane" are in fact a very real part of human nature. The Rape of Nanking was an example of one race perpetrating terrible things against another; yet these same kinds of terrible things have happened and continue to happen in this world between those of the same race. Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong starved and abused their own people under their respective post-WWII reigns of the Soviet Union and Communist China. Until recently, Saddam Hussein and his sons routinely tortured the Iraqi people for many years. And right now, unspeakable violence still goes on in God-knows-how-many-places around the world, from Liberia to North Korea to the ghettos in Chicago.
As much as I hate to borrow the cheesy words from the annoying, played-out song, "where is the love"? Where is the respect for human life? I'd like to believe that society and human civilization has progressed to the point where we are beyond the capability for these kinds of things. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever be immune to that kind of ugliness.
For most of us, we're not in a position to change the world and save the millions of suffering lives. But I guess at the very least, reading this book reminds me that I need to resist the inertia to stay ignorant and pretend like nothing bad ever happens in this world. As much as I disagree with some of the things President Bush has done during his term, I have to say that one thing I do respect about him is that I think he honestly cares about the injustices in this world, and feels for the people who are being persecuted. Speaking out and acting against Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il may not have been the most popular and easy thing to do, but it shows that he isn't prone to ignore the evil things that go on. At least he isn't spending his time in the White House messing around with some intern.
Once in a while, I need to be reminded that there are much more important things to be concerned about in the big picture of life, than what I encounter daily in this bubble that is my own world. After seeing how bad life can really get, anything in my own life that I consider to be a major problem barely seems significant at all. Maybe in a twisted way, I'm just making myself feel good by comparing my life to such an extremely bad situation, I don't know. I definitely do think that it was a worthwhile experience to read this book, though. And if anyone happens to be interested, I'd highly recommend that they give it at least a quick read or a skim.
*****
Dang, that ended up sounding too much like an 8th grade book report. I guess you can take the nerd out of school, but you can't take the school out of the nerd. (The nerd being me).
This California governor's recall election is definitely gonna be something to watch. It just keeps getting more and more ridiculous and entertaining for me. At first I thought the political analysts were out of their minds when they were talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger as a serious contender. But now I look at the other candidates coming out, like Larry Flynt, Gary Coleman, and some 22-year old porn star, and I'm convinced that the entire state of California is filled with wackos, who are all headed towards eventual self-destruction. The stupidest thing is that since he declared himself available as a candidate, Arnold hasn't even talked about any of his policies or running platforms, but he's already leading in the polls. It's pretty absurd any way you look at it.
Maybe it's a sign I'm getting old, but I think I'm actually becoming a fan of Sheryl Crow. I always thought of her music as being very lame, but I like her voice a lot. All day at work yesterday I had that "Steve McQueen" song stuck in my head. It didn't help that I was in a meeting where radar was a recurring subject. Like Steve... McQueen... underneath your radar screen.... and you'll never catch me tonight wooo-wooo.... hahaha
My condolences go out to all my friends on Xanga. I notice it's been down for a while now. I don't think their servers would crash for this long, it's probably some virus, like that worm that was going around. Or maybe just some hackers doing some old-fashioned Distributed Denial of Service. I always wondered why people would go through the trouble of programming viruses, it just seemed really stupid and annoying. But then I think about all the times someone sent me a file called "funny.exe" that would lock up my keyboard and make me type something like "I AM RETARDED" no matter what buttons I pushed. After being tricked, the first thing I would do was look down my buddy list and see who I could pass the fun on to. I guess that's the mentality that makes things like viruses exist, and I'm sad to say that I'm guilty of it myself.
Mussina was pulled after 8 innings of shutout ball with a 6-0 lead. I was pissed. This kind of thing has happened way too much to my team this season. >:-O In other news, Matt Mantei is a stud.
A few months ago, I started reading The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. I got through about 1/3 of it in the first week, then it just sat next to my alarm clock for a long time as I forgot it was there. Well, a couple nights ago I finally decided to finish the book, and I thought I would write some thoughts about it in my blog.
First of all, the event itself is not very well known, despite being comparable to a lot of other human disasters, such as the Holocaust. When you learn about WWII during high school, the Rape of Nanking is usually either discussed only in passing reference, or not mentioned at all. The reasons for this obscurity in our view of history were discussed in the book, and in short, it was mainly a matter of world politics and economics in the time following World War II.
Since I know nobody is actually gonna read this book themselves after reading my blog, the summary of what happened is as follows. During World War II, Japan invaded China, and part of this invasion involved taking the city of Nanking. Throughout history, Nanking was probably the Chinese city that was richest in tradition, also serving as the capital for many years. You might consider it the "New York City" of China.
Anyways, as the Japanese army did to a lot of other nations it invaded at the time, they arrived at Nanking and performed pretty much every atrocity you could imagine against the people there. The soldiers killed whoever they felt like killing, raped whoever they felt like raping, plundered all the stores, and destroyed a lot of valuable national treasures in the process. Nothing was sacred, as evidenced by the fact that girls as young as 8 and women as old as 70 were all raped, and Japanese newspapers routinely reported contests between soldiers about who killed more Chinese people, as if they were scores of last night's sporting events.
The book also includes some pretty graphic pictures, such as Japanese soldiers posing in front of a pile of human skulls, using live bodies for bayonet practice, and dead naked bodies of raped women, some mutilated. It's some of the most disturbing stuff I've ever seen.
When the war finally ended and the dust settled, Nanking was left with a few hundred thousand people dead and a city in complete ruins. It has recovered and rebuilt somewhat since then, but most likely the city and its people will never be the same.
After reading the book, the first inclination I had was to hate Japanese people. Hate them for the brutality of everything they did, and hate them for covering it up afterwards. But given more time to think about it, I'd have to say that if this was my only reaction after reading the book, I would be taking a step backwards, not forwards. As we were always told in school, the whole point of studying history is to learn lessons from it and prevent future mistakes. And of course the Rape of Nanking is no exception.
Not to let the Japanese off the hook, but the Chinese army was not without responsibility in this tragedy. By the historical accounts described in this book, it was clear that had the Chinese leadership been less cowardly and selfish in their actions, much of these events would have turned out much differently.
After 9/11, the popular mantra for this country was "United We Stand". Meanwhile, most of us either forget or ignore the phrase that follows, "Divided We Fall". The significance of this is well illustrated by the fact that more American lives were lost in the Civil War than in all of its other major wars combined.
As for China, if you've studied any amount of its history, you would know that it is a history filled with struggles stemming from the nation's failure to stand united. Even today, there are two countries that continue to bicker about who is the real China - one being the "Republic of China" (located in Taiwan), the other being the "People's Republic of China" (controlling the Mainland). This is a fact that makes me both very sad and very angry at the same time.
Anyways, the fact that a country as huge as China fell so easily and decisively to a small island nation like Japan shows how much internal division can hurt and weaken a country. Even as its major strongholds were falling during the war, the Chinese army still far outnumbered the Japanese at Nanking. But for some reason, they barely put up a fight when the time came to defend their people. As most of the Chinese soldiers ran away or simply surrendered to the invading army, they left themselves and their defenseless civilians open to all of the massacre that followed. In the face of this cowardly display, it's almost hard for one to fault the Japanese for their delusions that the Chinese people were inferior human beings, and that killing them would be akin to crushing a bug or trapping a rat. Almost, but not quite.
Recognizing all that happened at Nanking was also an important reminder to me of the extent of extreme cruelty that human beings are capable of. Unfortunately, things that we consider to be "inhumane" are in fact a very real part of human nature. The Rape of Nanking was an example of one race perpetrating terrible things against another; yet these same kinds of terrible things have happened and continue to happen in this world between those of the same race. Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong starved and abused their own people under their respective post-WWII reigns of the Soviet Union and Communist China. Until recently, Saddam Hussein and his sons routinely tortured the Iraqi people for many years. And right now, unspeakable violence still goes on in God-knows-how-many-places around the world, from Liberia to North Korea to the ghettos in Chicago.
As much as I hate to borrow the cheesy words from the annoying, played-out song, "where is the love"? Where is the respect for human life? I'd like to believe that society and human civilization has progressed to the point where we are beyond the capability for these kinds of things. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever be immune to that kind of ugliness.
For most of us, we're not in a position to change the world and save the millions of suffering lives. But I guess at the very least, reading this book reminds me that I need to resist the inertia to stay ignorant and pretend like nothing bad ever happens in this world. As much as I disagree with some of the things President Bush has done during his term, I have to say that one thing I do respect about him is that I think he honestly cares about the injustices in this world, and feels for the people who are being persecuted. Speaking out and acting against Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il may not have been the most popular and easy thing to do, but it shows that he isn't prone to ignore the evil things that go on. At least he isn't spending his time in the White House messing around with some intern.
Once in a while, I need to be reminded that there are much more important things to be concerned about in the big picture of life, than what I encounter daily in this bubble that is my own world. After seeing how bad life can really get, anything in my own life that I consider to be a major problem barely seems significant at all. Maybe in a twisted way, I'm just making myself feel good by comparing my life to such an extremely bad situation, I don't know. I definitely do think that it was a worthwhile experience to read this book, though. And if anyone happens to be interested, I'd highly recommend that they give it at least a quick read or a skim.
*****
Dang, that ended up sounding too much like an 8th grade book report. I guess you can take the nerd out of school, but you can't take the school out of the nerd. (The nerd being me).
This California governor's recall election is definitely gonna be something to watch. It just keeps getting more and more ridiculous and entertaining for me. At first I thought the political analysts were out of their minds when they were talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger as a serious contender. But now I look at the other candidates coming out, like Larry Flynt, Gary Coleman, and some 22-year old porn star, and I'm convinced that the entire state of California is filled with wackos, who are all headed towards eventual self-destruction. The stupidest thing is that since he declared himself available as a candidate, Arnold hasn't even talked about any of his policies or running platforms, but he's already leading in the polls. It's pretty absurd any way you look at it.
Maybe it's a sign I'm getting old, but I think I'm actually becoming a fan of Sheryl Crow. I always thought of her music as being very lame, but I like her voice a lot. All day at work yesterday I had that "Steve McQueen" song stuck in my head. It didn't help that I was in a meeting where radar was a recurring subject. Like Steve... McQueen... underneath your radar screen.... and you'll never catch me tonight wooo-wooo.... hahaha
My condolences go out to all my friends on Xanga. I notice it's been down for a while now. I don't think their servers would crash for this long, it's probably some virus, like that worm that was going around. Or maybe just some hackers doing some old-fashioned Distributed Denial of Service. I always wondered why people would go through the trouble of programming viruses, it just seemed really stupid and annoying. But then I think about all the times someone sent me a file called "funny.exe" that would lock up my keyboard and make me type something like "I AM RETARDED" no matter what buttons I pushed. After being tricked, the first thing I would do was look down my buddy list and see who I could pass the fun on to. I guess that's the mentality that makes things like viruses exist, and I'm sad to say that I'm guilty of it myself.
Mussina was pulled after 8 innings of shutout ball with a 6-0 lead. I was pissed. This kind of thing has happened way too much to my team this season. >:-O In other news, Matt Mantei is a stud.
Monday, August 11, 2003
Monday Morning Blog
- Something I've been avoiding for a long time is going to the dentist. I haven't gone to a regular checkup in about 2 years, I think. Part of the reason is because I'm scared of all those drills and stuff. But beyond that, I just don't trust the dental industry in general. It all seems shady to me. I feel like as long as I take care of my teeth normally, I'll be fine, but if I go get a checkup, the dentist will tell me I need all this stuff done when I really don't. Just as a way of making more money off of me or my insurance company, they'll make me get my wisdom teeth pulled or something. Still, I probably should get a checkup anyways, I just need to find a dentist that I trust.
- I guess the dentists themselves are only partly to blame, it's the overall system that is messed up. Since so much of the costs are paid for by insurance companies, the dentists can do pretty much whatever they want to jack them for money, and most people don't do anything about it.
I hate the insurance industry so much, maybe even more so than the advertising industry. The concept isn't terrible, but for normal schmoes like me and you, it really ends up being a lose-lose situation. You pay your insurance company a monthly or yearly "premium" for "coverage", in other words, you're giving them some of your money, and in case something bad happens (i.e. a car accident, you get cancer, etc.), they are supposed to pay to take care of it.
Now, 90% or more of the time, nothing bad ever happens, and in that case, 100% of the money you've been paying stays in the pocket of your insurance company. Which is fine, because that's for the service they are providing of distributing risk between their millions of customers.
The thing that pisses me off is when bad stuff happens and you expect your insurance company to pay up, but you are the one with a headache about collecting. You and your family have been paying premiums to State Farm/Allstate/Geico for years, and when you skid on a patch of ice and hit a mailbox, guess what? You're afraid to report it to your agent because they might raise your premium. Think about that, of all the thousands of dollars you have spent over the years for their "coverage", without ever asking for any of it back, you are now afraid to ask them for a few hundred bucks to fix your fender. Not only do you have to foot the first $500 or $1000 of the bill yourself because it's the "deductible", but within a few months your insurance company will probably have recouped whatever they had to pay, by jacking up your premium. "Like a good neighbor" my eye!
Then there's health insurance. For whatever reason that is beyond your control, you get sick and need all this expensive treatment at the hospital. Instead of gladly spitting back a small amount from their mountains of cash to take care of you, your health insurance tries to find every way it can to wriggle off the hook. They'll dig into your history and if it was a "pre-existing condition", you're on your own. Or they decide to go through your original application with a fine tooth comb, trying to find a technicality that will legally release them from responsibility. So you could be not only battling for your life, but also fighting the hospital and the insurance company at the same time just to get everything paid for. As if you wanted to get sick or something, because it's so fun.
Of course, I'm partly exaggerating, and it's usually not all that horrible. But these things do happen and it's not right. Unfortunately, the way our society works, insurance is a necessary evil, kind of like lawyers. So the way I see it, either you find a good agent and pay up, or just get the cheapest coverage you can, and put the money you would've been spending into the bank as your personal "in-case-sh*t" fund, as Chris Rock would call it. Then "in case sh*t" don't happen, you still got most of your money.
"This sucks! When I had health insurance I could get hit by a bus, or light myself on fire... now I gotta be careful?!" - Joey from Friends
- Observation of the day: The nicest-smelling people in the world are old black ladies. I don't know why, but it's true.
- Between mowing the lawn, being at a company picnic, playing softball, and working on my car over the weekend, my body is a little sunburnt now. It sucks to not be able put on a shirt in the morning without feeling like all my skin is peeling off. I've also got a couple blisters to show for my weekend activities, thanks to a bat with a handle covered with sandpaper-like material, the shakiest lawn mower ever, and trying to loosen the super tight bolts on my wheels. The best part about blisters is when they pop, and my favorite ones are the bloody ones. It must be the best feeling in the world.
- Being at that company picnic made me feel pretty young and out of place. It was supposed to be for employees to bring their families, but more in the sense of "wife and kids", not "mommy and daddy". I was gonna bring my sis, but she ended up not being able to make it. So basically, I went there by myself, ate 2 pieces of fried chicken, drank a beer, said hi to a few people, and left. Unless certain stars collide and I get married within the next 12 months, I don't think I will be going to next year's picnic.
- Friday was Chinese Father's Day. Did everyone remember to wish their Chinese Father a happy day?
- Something I've been avoiding for a long time is going to the dentist. I haven't gone to a regular checkup in about 2 years, I think. Part of the reason is because I'm scared of all those drills and stuff. But beyond that, I just don't trust the dental industry in general. It all seems shady to me. I feel like as long as I take care of my teeth normally, I'll be fine, but if I go get a checkup, the dentist will tell me I need all this stuff done when I really don't. Just as a way of making more money off of me or my insurance company, they'll make me get my wisdom teeth pulled or something. Still, I probably should get a checkup anyways, I just need to find a dentist that I trust.
- I guess the dentists themselves are only partly to blame, it's the overall system that is messed up. Since so much of the costs are paid for by insurance companies, the dentists can do pretty much whatever they want to jack them for money, and most people don't do anything about it.
I hate the insurance industry so much, maybe even more so than the advertising industry. The concept isn't terrible, but for normal schmoes like me and you, it really ends up being a lose-lose situation. You pay your insurance company a monthly or yearly "premium" for "coverage", in other words, you're giving them some of your money, and in case something bad happens (i.e. a car accident, you get cancer, etc.), they are supposed to pay to take care of it.
Now, 90% or more of the time, nothing bad ever happens, and in that case, 100% of the money you've been paying stays in the pocket of your insurance company. Which is fine, because that's for the service they are providing of distributing risk between their millions of customers.
The thing that pisses me off is when bad stuff happens and you expect your insurance company to pay up, but you are the one with a headache about collecting. You and your family have been paying premiums to State Farm/Allstate/Geico for years, and when you skid on a patch of ice and hit a mailbox, guess what? You're afraid to report it to your agent because they might raise your premium. Think about that, of all the thousands of dollars you have spent over the years for their "coverage", without ever asking for any of it back, you are now afraid to ask them for a few hundred bucks to fix your fender. Not only do you have to foot the first $500 or $1000 of the bill yourself because it's the "deductible", but within a few months your insurance company will probably have recouped whatever they had to pay, by jacking up your premium. "Like a good neighbor" my eye!
Then there's health insurance. For whatever reason that is beyond your control, you get sick and need all this expensive treatment at the hospital. Instead of gladly spitting back a small amount from their mountains of cash to take care of you, your health insurance tries to find every way it can to wriggle off the hook. They'll dig into your history and if it was a "pre-existing condition", you're on your own. Or they decide to go through your original application with a fine tooth comb, trying to find a technicality that will legally release them from responsibility. So you could be not only battling for your life, but also fighting the hospital and the insurance company at the same time just to get everything paid for. As if you wanted to get sick or something, because it's so fun.
Of course, I'm partly exaggerating, and it's usually not all that horrible. But these things do happen and it's not right. Unfortunately, the way our society works, insurance is a necessary evil, kind of like lawyers. So the way I see it, either you find a good agent and pay up, or just get the cheapest coverage you can, and put the money you would've been spending into the bank as your personal "in-case-sh*t" fund, as Chris Rock would call it. Then "in case sh*t" don't happen, you still got most of your money.
"This sucks! When I had health insurance I could get hit by a bus, or light myself on fire... now I gotta be careful?!" - Joey from Friends
- Observation of the day: The nicest-smelling people in the world are old black ladies. I don't know why, but it's true.
- Between mowing the lawn, being at a company picnic, playing softball, and working on my car over the weekend, my body is a little sunburnt now. It sucks to not be able put on a shirt in the morning without feeling like all my skin is peeling off. I've also got a couple blisters to show for my weekend activities, thanks to a bat with a handle covered with sandpaper-like material, the shakiest lawn mower ever, and trying to loosen the super tight bolts on my wheels. The best part about blisters is when they pop, and my favorite ones are the bloody ones. It must be the best feeling in the world.
- Being at that company picnic made me feel pretty young and out of place. It was supposed to be for employees to bring their families, but more in the sense of "wife and kids", not "mommy and daddy". I was gonna bring my sis, but she ended up not being able to make it. So basically, I went there by myself, ate 2 pieces of fried chicken, drank a beer, said hi to a few people, and left. Unless certain stars collide and I get married within the next 12 months, I don't think I will be going to next year's picnic.
- Friday was Chinese Father's Day. Did everyone remember to wish their Chinese Father a happy day?
Friday, August 08, 2003
- So I guess Arnold Schwarzenegger is officially running for governor in California. Man... whoever is running against him better win, or else I will definitely have lost all faith in our system of democracy. You wouldn't even need a campaign team to come up with ads against him, just run clips of "Jingle All The Way" and see if people still want him to run their state.
- I think I should take a moment to pay tribute to a severely underrated asset to all of our lives: the Sun. Sure, we all like the Sun a lot already. Everyone enjoys it when it's "nice and sunny" outside, many of us desire to "get more sun" whenever we can, and it's almost never used in negative context. But too often we think of our Sun only in terms of its role in weather, while forgetting its much more signifcant role as the source of all our energy.
Other than some scattered obscure undersea ecosystems that rely on the heat of the earth's core, everything that has ever lived on this planet depends in some form or another on the energy of the Sun. It's easy for us humans, being at the top of the food chain, to lose track of this fact. But everything we eat, whether we are vegetarian or carnivorous, contains energy that was somehow harnessed originally from sunlight. That steak you eat comes from a cow, which ate grass, which was able to grow because of the Sun. The exact protein chains that end up in your body may chemically change along the way, but every last calorie you burn can be somehow traced back to the process of photosynthesis, which gets 100% of its stored energy from the Sun.
Not only this, but when you drive a car, it is running on gasoline that has been processed from fossil fuels. What are fossil fuels? None other than decomposed organic material. Though heavily compressed over time to become liquid form, all of the energy in this organic material once belonged to a prehistoric plant or animal that inevitably derived its energy from sunlight.
So as you can see, the Sun is much more than a mere glowing object in the sky that provides us opportunity to tan or gives us warm weather. It is no less than the very key to our survival. Bless the Sun and its all-sustaining light. Showering us generously day after day with its glorious photons. And even when the Sun sets, it provides us ample light throughout the nighttime hours by reflecting itself off the moon. Seriously, what a trooper. What else can I say? I'm in awe.
- A few days ago I went with Cindy to one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the stuff in front of you (teppan?). Across the table were these two ladies that were probably in their 50's or so, and one of them asked me how old I was, so I said 23. To which she replied, "I've got shoes that are older than you". All righty then...
- I think I should take a moment to pay tribute to a severely underrated asset to all of our lives: the Sun. Sure, we all like the Sun a lot already. Everyone enjoys it when it's "nice and sunny" outside, many of us desire to "get more sun" whenever we can, and it's almost never used in negative context. But too often we think of our Sun only in terms of its role in weather, while forgetting its much more signifcant role as the source of all our energy.
Other than some scattered obscure undersea ecosystems that rely on the heat of the earth's core, everything that has ever lived on this planet depends in some form or another on the energy of the Sun. It's easy for us humans, being at the top of the food chain, to lose track of this fact. But everything we eat, whether we are vegetarian or carnivorous, contains energy that was somehow harnessed originally from sunlight. That steak you eat comes from a cow, which ate grass, which was able to grow because of the Sun. The exact protein chains that end up in your body may chemically change along the way, but every last calorie you burn can be somehow traced back to the process of photosynthesis, which gets 100% of its stored energy from the Sun.
Not only this, but when you drive a car, it is running on gasoline that has been processed from fossil fuels. What are fossil fuels? None other than decomposed organic material. Though heavily compressed over time to become liquid form, all of the energy in this organic material once belonged to a prehistoric plant or animal that inevitably derived its energy from sunlight.
So as you can see, the Sun is much more than a mere glowing object in the sky that provides us opportunity to tan or gives us warm weather. It is no less than the very key to our survival. Bless the Sun and its all-sustaining light. Showering us generously day after day with its glorious photons. And even when the Sun sets, it provides us ample light throughout the nighttime hours by reflecting itself off the moon. Seriously, what a trooper. What else can I say? I'm in awe.
- A few days ago I went with Cindy to one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the stuff in front of you (teppan?). Across the table were these two ladies that were probably in their 50's or so, and one of them asked me how old I was, so I said 23. To which she replied, "I've got shoes that are older than you". All righty then...
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Aaron Karo
I've had a more relaxed day at work for once. It's allowed me to do a little freelance reading, and one site that I've found to be fun reading is www.aaronkaro.com. A couple years ago, I remember reading this guy's "ruminations" on college life. Before everyone had their own blogs, he was writing purely entertaining, quality material in a monthly newsletter, posted on the internet or distributed through email lists.
I forgot about him until now, and it turns out that since then, he's graduated college, worked on Wall Street, quit, compiled his writings into a book, and spent time touring the country doing stand-up comedy. Through it all, he's continued to write consistently hilarious ruminations, a lot of which I can relate to, but most of which I lack the wit and charm to transfer to my own blog. After reading all his stuff, I feel shamed to continue posting in my blog, which is devastatingly mediocre in comparison. But anyways, I highly recommend that everyone check out that site and read through his columns.
Here are a few of my favorites:
"I think maybe I’m starting to figure women out though. One thing I have noticed is that girls are always cold and they are always complaining that they’re feet hurt. (Who the hell told you to wear seven-inch heels anyway?) So, I think what I’m gonna do is carry around a pair of sneakers and a sweater. That’ll really make me a hit with the ladies! Man, the things we do for love."
It's funny, cause I've known this for a long time but never did anything about it until recently. This guy thinks like me. Except instead of a sweater, I keep a fleece in the backseat of my car. And these days when Olivia asks me which shoes she should wear, I always tell her "I really like your white and blue sneakers". Even if we're going to a fancy place.
"Did I miss the poof revolution? Since when did it become mandatory for all girls to use one of those poofy things in the shower? I was crashing at a girl friend’s place and all she had was a poof and liquid soap. Guys were just not meant to use a poof in the shower. It’s too rough in places it should be gentle and too gentle when it should be rough. I feel uncomfortable just writing about it."
I can't help but respectfully disagree here. The gentleness/roughness issue is easily remedied by careful usage, most should be able to easily vary the amount of pressure applied in using the "poof" depending on the sensitivity of the area to be washed. It's not just for girls. But like him, I never knew what the real name was for the longest time, and I always called it the "poofy thing". Now, I've been enlightened to know that it's called a loofa.
"I am fascinated by bathroom attendants. To me, this is a sign that the economy is so bad we’ve been reduced to just making up jobs. Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that I really do need baby powder, condoms, six varieties of mints and twenty different kinds of cologne every time I use the bathroom. I certainly don’t need all that stuff handed to me. And I definitely don’t want to tip this guy every time I take a piss. It’s like a urinal tollbooth in there."
I kind of like those guys actually. But it definitely does get annoying that I gotta feel pressured to drop a buck in his tray, just cause he handed me a paper towel after I washed my hands. I can get my own damn paper towel. They're at least part of the reason I tend to break $10 and $20 bills more, instead of using my singles to buy stuff. Stupid, I know, but hey... pays off when you really gotta pee at Barleycorn.
"My college buddies are obsessed with fantasy sports to the point that I’m actually worried about them. Here’s an example. My friend Jeremy is at this club and bumps into Kurt Thomas of the Knicks. Now if I met Kurt Thomas, I’d be getting his autograph, taking pictures with him, etc., but not Jeremy. Here is their conversation. Jeremy: Hey, you’re Kurt Thomas! Thomas: Yeah. Jeremy: It’s great to meet you. Thomas: Thanks dog. Jeremy: You know, I have you on my fantasy basketball team. Thomas: Word? Jeremy: Yeah, listen, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. Thomas: What? Jeremy: I’m in second place, and I could really use some more blocks from you. Thomas: More blocks? No doubt, I’ll see what I can do. Jeremy: Thanks man, have a good night. That’s a true story. A few days later, Thomas had the most in blocks in one game of his career. He must have done it all for Jeremy."
Substitute in that story "Joe" for "Jeremy", "Mike Mussina" for "Kurt Thomas", and "Strikeouts" for "Blocks, and you've got a perfect description of my dream encounter with my favorite fantasy player.
"I wish med school kids wouldn’t show off so much. The other day a bunch of my friends were hanging out and someone farted. We all laughed but then the med student of the bunch said, “Guys, that was just a natural mixture of carbon dioxide, formed from chemical reactions between stomach acid and intestinal fluid, as well as hydrogen and methane.” Well that kind of took the fun out of it."
Yeah, I'm pretty immature like that, but most of the time Olivia laughs it off. But maybe I should try to be a little more professional around her med-school friends. They probably don't appreciate my brand of crass humor as much. So in the future I'll have to resist the temptation to call Magglio Ordonez "Fagglio" or Bobby Jackson "Booby Jackson" when I'm at one of those dinner parties or whatever. Only when I'm with my own less sophisticated group of friends could I say stuff like "I worked out at the Bally's in Queerfield (Deerfield)" or "Let's go eat at Taco Smell".
*****
Also, the call for any interested softball players continues. It sounds like there's enough interest for me to go ahead an plan details, so that's good. Tentatively, it seems early Sunday afternoon would be an ideal time, although I am still leaving the door open for a Saturday date too. Talk to me within the next couple days if possible.
I've had a more relaxed day at work for once. It's allowed me to do a little freelance reading, and one site that I've found to be fun reading is www.aaronkaro.com. A couple years ago, I remember reading this guy's "ruminations" on college life. Before everyone had their own blogs, he was writing purely entertaining, quality material in a monthly newsletter, posted on the internet or distributed through email lists.
I forgot about him until now, and it turns out that since then, he's graduated college, worked on Wall Street, quit, compiled his writings into a book, and spent time touring the country doing stand-up comedy. Through it all, he's continued to write consistently hilarious ruminations, a lot of which I can relate to, but most of which I lack the wit and charm to transfer to my own blog. After reading all his stuff, I feel shamed to continue posting in my blog, which is devastatingly mediocre in comparison. But anyways, I highly recommend that everyone check out that site and read through his columns.
Here are a few of my favorites:
"I think maybe I’m starting to figure women out though. One thing I have noticed is that girls are always cold and they are always complaining that they’re feet hurt. (Who the hell told you to wear seven-inch heels anyway?) So, I think what I’m gonna do is carry around a pair of sneakers and a sweater. That’ll really make me a hit with the ladies! Man, the things we do for love."
It's funny, cause I've known this for a long time but never did anything about it until recently. This guy thinks like me. Except instead of a sweater, I keep a fleece in the backseat of my car. And these days when Olivia asks me which shoes she should wear, I always tell her "I really like your white and blue sneakers". Even if we're going to a fancy place.
"Did I miss the poof revolution? Since when did it become mandatory for all girls to use one of those poofy things in the shower? I was crashing at a girl friend’s place and all she had was a poof and liquid soap. Guys were just not meant to use a poof in the shower. It’s too rough in places it should be gentle and too gentle when it should be rough. I feel uncomfortable just writing about it."
I can't help but respectfully disagree here. The gentleness/roughness issue is easily remedied by careful usage, most should be able to easily vary the amount of pressure applied in using the "poof" depending on the sensitivity of the area to be washed. It's not just for girls. But like him, I never knew what the real name was for the longest time, and I always called it the "poofy thing". Now, I've been enlightened to know that it's called a loofa.
"I am fascinated by bathroom attendants. To me, this is a sign that the economy is so bad we’ve been reduced to just making up jobs. Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that I really do need baby powder, condoms, six varieties of mints and twenty different kinds of cologne every time I use the bathroom. I certainly don’t need all that stuff handed to me. And I definitely don’t want to tip this guy every time I take a piss. It’s like a urinal tollbooth in there."
I kind of like those guys actually. But it definitely does get annoying that I gotta feel pressured to drop a buck in his tray, just cause he handed me a paper towel after I washed my hands. I can get my own damn paper towel. They're at least part of the reason I tend to break $10 and $20 bills more, instead of using my singles to buy stuff. Stupid, I know, but hey... pays off when you really gotta pee at Barleycorn.
"My college buddies are obsessed with fantasy sports to the point that I’m actually worried about them. Here’s an example. My friend Jeremy is at this club and bumps into Kurt Thomas of the Knicks. Now if I met Kurt Thomas, I’d be getting his autograph, taking pictures with him, etc., but not Jeremy. Here is their conversation. Jeremy: Hey, you’re Kurt Thomas! Thomas: Yeah. Jeremy: It’s great to meet you. Thomas: Thanks dog. Jeremy: You know, I have you on my fantasy basketball team. Thomas: Word? Jeremy: Yeah, listen, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. Thomas: What? Jeremy: I’m in second place, and I could really use some more blocks from you. Thomas: More blocks? No doubt, I’ll see what I can do. Jeremy: Thanks man, have a good night. That’s a true story. A few days later, Thomas had the most in blocks in one game of his career. He must have done it all for Jeremy."
Substitute in that story "Joe" for "Jeremy", "Mike Mussina" for "Kurt Thomas", and "Strikeouts" for "Blocks, and you've got a perfect description of my dream encounter with my favorite fantasy player.
"I wish med school kids wouldn’t show off so much. The other day a bunch of my friends were hanging out and someone farted. We all laughed but then the med student of the bunch said, “Guys, that was just a natural mixture of carbon dioxide, formed from chemical reactions between stomach acid and intestinal fluid, as well as hydrogen and methane.” Well that kind of took the fun out of it."
Yeah, I'm pretty immature like that, but most of the time Olivia laughs it off. But maybe I should try to be a little more professional around her med-school friends. They probably don't appreciate my brand of crass humor as much. So in the future I'll have to resist the temptation to call Magglio Ordonez "Fagglio" or Bobby Jackson "Booby Jackson" when I'm at one of those dinner parties or whatever. Only when I'm with my own less sophisticated group of friends could I say stuff like "I worked out at the Bally's in Queerfield (Deerfield)" or "Let's go eat at Taco Smell".
*****
Also, the call for any interested softball players continues. It sounds like there's enough interest for me to go ahead an plan details, so that's good. Tentatively, it seems early Sunday afternoon would be an ideal time, although I am still leaving the door open for a Saturday date too. Talk to me within the next couple days if possible.
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Serve This
Recently, especially in light of the rollercoaster that has been my last couple weeks of work, I've come to the realization that my job makes me more or less a servant. It's not technically a "service" position, like answering phones and dealing with customers' problems, but that just means that instead of being a servant to customers, I'm a servant to my bosses. This was a difficult thing for me to fully grasp because now that I think of it, I've never been in the position to serve other people. I'm used to being served.
Most of us (myself included) went through years of school and looked at it as though it were some burden placed on our shoulders. By the final semester of my senior year at college, I couldn't wait to take my last exam, grab my diploma and go. Too busy being pissed at professors who talked down to me, and too worried about getting the best grades possible, I failed to recognize the fact that school was there for my benefit, and not the other way around. All these professors, TA's, and department administrators that I viewed as the enemy, were actually people that were being paid to make sure I got my edumacation. Maybe it didn't always work out that way, with lazy and self-absorbed professors all over the place, but that was the intention.
Well, now that I'm more than a year removed from graduation and been working for a while, it's becoming more apparent that the days of me being served by everyone around me are over. Though my managers and most of the people I work with are eager to help me and answer my questions, the bottom line is that I work for them and that's the only reason they pay me each week.
Ever since I started working this job, I've wondered why I get home each night feeling so tired and drained, and I still haven't come up with a good answer. I mean, it's not like I'm lifting rocks all day, I'm sitting at a desk for the majority of 8 or 9 hours. All I know is, at the end of each day, I feel like I desperately need some time to recuperate. Exactly what it is I'm recuperating from, I don't know.
I think a big part of it is that I'm just not used to being in the position of serving other people. Yes, I'm getting paid for what I do, but other than that, my work is solely for the benefit of someone else. On the surface, when my boss gives me a list of Action Items from a meeting to take care of, it's a lot like a professor assigning a chapter to study or a problem set to do. But in reality, studying that chapter or doing that problem set is for my own good. If I don't do it, nobody really loses out but me. On the other hand, those Action Items have very little direct effect on my life. I might gain some technical experience from getting them accomplished, but that's merely a side benefit. So while it's probably just as tough, if not tougher, to work on an MP for 8 hours as it is to be at this job all day, the situation is very different.
Doing something for the sake of money and doing it for the sake of personal gain are two different things to me. Money is great, but it's honestly not that important to me. Maybe it's because I've never had to worry much about not having enough of it, so I don't fully appreciate its value. But really, the paycheck I get each Friday is not enough, in and of itself, to motivate me to work my butt off at my job. I do work hard, partly because it's the way I've been brought up, but also because I have some faith that in the end, my effort will pay off in some way when all is said and done. I'm getting off my original topic though.
I guess in the bigger picture of my overall life, there's a significant shift in paradigm that has to come with the adjustment of starting a career. For 22 years, the focus has always been on improving myself, and working hard for my own future gain. Well, that future is now, and with its arrival, the questions arise - who am I working hard for, and for what purpose?
Because my primary role is no longer to serve myself and my own interests, there must be some deeper motivation and personal justification for something that takes up the majority of my waking hours and demands so much of my soul. Right now, I lack a clear sense of what this motivation is, or where it's supposed to come from, and maybe that's why I end up feeling so debilitated at the end of each day.
Maybe I need to have a wife and kids to support, and having them depend on me and my paycheck will provide a driving force to move forward. Maybe I need to take up a satisfying hobby, to counter the draining effects of serving other people's interests at work all the time. Maybe I should drop everything and start my own company, have people work for me, and continue to be entirely focused on my personal gain and no one else's, for the rest of my life. All of the above? None of the above?
Anyways, if I had known that leaving school would effectively mark the end of my life as a "servee" and the beginning of my life as a "server", maybe I wouldn't have been in such a hurry to walk across that stage to get my fake diploma on that fateful day in May 2002. But hey, life goes on. And I'd like to believe that some day, everything I wonder about will all make sense to me.
"Welcome to the real world -- it sucks" - Monica from Friends
Recently, especially in light of the rollercoaster that has been my last couple weeks of work, I've come to the realization that my job makes me more or less a servant. It's not technically a "service" position, like answering phones and dealing with customers' problems, but that just means that instead of being a servant to customers, I'm a servant to my bosses. This was a difficult thing for me to fully grasp because now that I think of it, I've never been in the position to serve other people. I'm used to being served.
Most of us (myself included) went through years of school and looked at it as though it were some burden placed on our shoulders. By the final semester of my senior year at college, I couldn't wait to take my last exam, grab my diploma and go. Too busy being pissed at professors who talked down to me, and too worried about getting the best grades possible, I failed to recognize the fact that school was there for my benefit, and not the other way around. All these professors, TA's, and department administrators that I viewed as the enemy, were actually people that were being paid to make sure I got my edumacation. Maybe it didn't always work out that way, with lazy and self-absorbed professors all over the place, but that was the intention.
Well, now that I'm more than a year removed from graduation and been working for a while, it's becoming more apparent that the days of me being served by everyone around me are over. Though my managers and most of the people I work with are eager to help me and answer my questions, the bottom line is that I work for them and that's the only reason they pay me each week.
Ever since I started working this job, I've wondered why I get home each night feeling so tired and drained, and I still haven't come up with a good answer. I mean, it's not like I'm lifting rocks all day, I'm sitting at a desk for the majority of 8 or 9 hours. All I know is, at the end of each day, I feel like I desperately need some time to recuperate. Exactly what it is I'm recuperating from, I don't know.
I think a big part of it is that I'm just not used to being in the position of serving other people. Yes, I'm getting paid for what I do, but other than that, my work is solely for the benefit of someone else. On the surface, when my boss gives me a list of Action Items from a meeting to take care of, it's a lot like a professor assigning a chapter to study or a problem set to do. But in reality, studying that chapter or doing that problem set is for my own good. If I don't do it, nobody really loses out but me. On the other hand, those Action Items have very little direct effect on my life. I might gain some technical experience from getting them accomplished, but that's merely a side benefit. So while it's probably just as tough, if not tougher, to work on an MP for 8 hours as it is to be at this job all day, the situation is very different.
Doing something for the sake of money and doing it for the sake of personal gain are two different things to me. Money is great, but it's honestly not that important to me. Maybe it's because I've never had to worry much about not having enough of it, so I don't fully appreciate its value. But really, the paycheck I get each Friday is not enough, in and of itself, to motivate me to work my butt off at my job. I do work hard, partly because it's the way I've been brought up, but also because I have some faith that in the end, my effort will pay off in some way when all is said and done. I'm getting off my original topic though.
I guess in the bigger picture of my overall life, there's a significant shift in paradigm that has to come with the adjustment of starting a career. For 22 years, the focus has always been on improving myself, and working hard for my own future gain. Well, that future is now, and with its arrival, the questions arise - who am I working hard for, and for what purpose?
Because my primary role is no longer to serve myself and my own interests, there must be some deeper motivation and personal justification for something that takes up the majority of my waking hours and demands so much of my soul. Right now, I lack a clear sense of what this motivation is, or where it's supposed to come from, and maybe that's why I end up feeling so debilitated at the end of each day.
Maybe I need to have a wife and kids to support, and having them depend on me and my paycheck will provide a driving force to move forward. Maybe I need to take up a satisfying hobby, to counter the draining effects of serving other people's interests at work all the time. Maybe I should drop everything and start my own company, have people work for me, and continue to be entirely focused on my personal gain and no one else's, for the rest of my life. All of the above? None of the above?
Anyways, if I had known that leaving school would effectively mark the end of my life as a "servee" and the beginning of my life as a "server", maybe I wouldn't have been in such a hurry to walk across that stage to get my fake diploma on that fateful day in May 2002. But hey, life goes on. And I'd like to believe that some day, everything I wonder about will all make sense to me.
"Welcome to the real world -- it sucks" - Monica from Friends
Monday, August 04, 2003
Proof that there is justice in this world - Gigli earned only $3.8 million in its opening weekend, a movie that cost $54 million to make. It couldn't even beat Finding Nemo in its 10th week. Not saying Finding Nemo sucks (I haven't seen it), but hey, after all the hype and promotion surrounding Gigli, it's pretty sad that they couldn't do better in their opening weekend. I was starting to think movie producers could put out any piece of crap and make money, but it's kind of reassuring to know that they can't shove just anything they want down our throats and still turn a profit.
A question I have been pondering - would it be better to be mauled by a bear, or walk through a swarm of little tiny flies? Well, I've never been a victim of bear-maulage, but I did experience walking through a thick cloud of little flies this weekend and it was pretty bad. These guys were everywhere, it was disgusting. I felt like I was breathing them in by the hundreds, and they were flying in my mouth. Then I got in my car, and they all followed me in. I've never seen anything like that, is it me or is the insect population getting worse every year? Seriously though, a bear, you can shoot it. How do you kill millions of tiny bugs? You can spray them with insecticide, but there's so many of them that enough will survive, and they will inevitably reproduce faster than you can find new insecticides.
Note to Vic - if you happen to read this, please join Mcnown now. If you need the info, contact me or check your Yahoo email account.
Random Observation - The first 4 letters of the words "Analog" and "Analysis" are "Anal". I noticed this because I looked at my Windows taskbar and a lot of the minimized windows are titled "Anal..." tee-hee
A question I have been pondering - would it be better to be mauled by a bear, or walk through a swarm of little tiny flies? Well, I've never been a victim of bear-maulage, but I did experience walking through a thick cloud of little flies this weekend and it was pretty bad. These guys were everywhere, it was disgusting. I felt like I was breathing them in by the hundreds, and they were flying in my mouth. Then I got in my car, and they all followed me in. I've never seen anything like that, is it me or is the insect population getting worse every year? Seriously though, a bear, you can shoot it. How do you kill millions of tiny bugs? You can spray them with insecticide, but there's so many of them that enough will survive, and they will inevitably reproduce faster than you can find new insecticides.
Note to Vic - if you happen to read this, please join Mcnown now. If you need the info, contact me or check your Yahoo email account.
Random Observation - The first 4 letters of the words "Analog" and "Analysis" are "Anal". I noticed this because I looked at my Windows taskbar and a lot of the minimized windows are titled "Anal..." tee-hee
Friday, August 01, 2003
Baseball/Summer
It's August and football is just around the corner, but right now BASEBALL is where it's at. I can't believe how well the Sox are playing, even in the beginning of the year when everyone had high expectations, I wouldn't have thought it would be like this. Of course, we are still in 2nd place, but man, what a way to rebound from that awful series getting swept by the Tigers. But looking ahead on the schedule, the road gets tougher. Gotta play the Yankees twice, Boston, Seattle coming up right now, and in a few weeks, another series with those dreaded Tigers. It's too bad they didn't cash in on all the crappy teams in the first half, but oh well. It's time to step it up.
Another team that is hot and needs to step up more is my fantasy team. Most of my readers don't care about my fantasy team, so just skip this. Anyways, hot starting pitching as of late has kind of put me back in the running, 150 pts behind the beast out of Kansas. And tonight, two big head-to-head pitching matchups against the Whiteys. Greg Maddux takes the hill against Nideo Homo, and Mike Mussina faces Tim Hudson. Doesn't get much more huge than that...
*****
Considering there's still a whole month left, it's a little early to do a "summer-in-review", but it really seems like the past couple months have just flown by. I guess when I think about it, a lot of stuff happened, but it feels like just yesterday when it was the end of May and we were at Dennis's graduation. Graduating seniors were giving me resumes to submit at Northrop, and everyone was talking about their plans for their break. Ray came back from Berkeley to take summer school at U of I, and I told him I'd visit him in Champaign for sure. Dan left for Honeywell, and I planned on maybe flying out there one weekend too. Olivia finished her finals, and made me promise to take her to Indiana Dunes sometime before the end of her vacation.
Meanwhile, for me at work, life during the summer months pretty much carries on the same as the rest of the year. The weather is nicer, of course, and the atmosphere is a little more relaxed, but other than that, the beat goes on. Fridays come and go, weeks and then months pass before I even know it. I find myself living from weekend to weekend, and having things planned weeks in advance, instead of calling people up an hour beforehand and expecting everyone to be ready to just pick up and go.
So now it's August, Dan is finishing up at Honeywell, Ray will be headed back to Cali soon, and I haven't managed to visit either of them. There's still a few weekends before Olivia starts her 2nd year of med school, but I don't know whether we'll end up making it to the Dunes or not. The past couple weeks especially have been a blur, working late and trying to stay sane amidst the madness of my surroundings. In a couple weeks, the US Navy is set to make a decision on who to award a large contract to, and if they choose us, it'll be even busier here for at least the next year or two. Which would be good for the company, and thus my job security, but not so good for the rest of my life as far as stress and free time and all that.
Well, for now I'd like to forget about all that stuff and list some of the good times so far this summer:
- Visiting Champaign for the weekend of Dennis's graduation. Softball, Legend's, the Quad, a fountain, Murphy's, and more...
- Rod's graduation party. Filipino Egg Rolls, Miller Lite, Mah-johng, Euchre, and No Limit Holdem
- Great America with the best friends. Waiting over an hour for the Whizzer, screaming on Viper, Superman, Iron Wolf, Raging Bull, and sharing funnel cake.
- A Sox game, a Cubs game, and a Sox-Cubs game. Seeing multiple drunk morons run on the field at US Hellular, one attacking the ump. Then Sammy Sosa getting busted for cork at Wrigley. Back to US Smellular, where we happened to catch the only game the Sox lost at home to the Cubs, while Cubs fans and Sox fans in our section kept getting kicked out for fighting each other.
- Lion's Head, Cherry Red, and Blu. Seems like the only times I see certain friends these days are at bars. I miss you guys, we should really hang out more outside.
- Good movies: Matrix Reloaded, X-men United, Seabiscuit, and some others I forget at the moment. Bad movies: Too many, among others, probably my least enjoyable was the Hulk
- 4th of July Barbeque at Cindy's in P-tine. 40's, brats, Pictionary. The only bad part was Billy Krotch blowing the Sox game in the 9th. Also worth mentioning was the recent Sushi night at Cindy's in Chicago. Much props for being a consistently excellent and generous host, Cindy.
- Thursday nights at Cubby Bear, $1 domestics. Turned into a Lambda thing after a while, so I stopped going. But it was good at the beginning of the summer, reminded me of the old crazy times with Andy and Will during freshman year of college. The best was them scaring the hell out of the racist white girl on the dance floor. Followed closely by the time me and Dave Chan whooped on them in Blitz arcade.
- Home run derby at DGS. A nice sunny Saturday afternoon, Anuj with a bucket of baseballs, the batting practice pitcher's screen, and just hitting away for a couple hours. More and more I cherish the opportunities to do these kinds of things and forget about everything else for a day.
Well, there's probably a few more that I missed, but just writing all those down puts me in a better mood. One more month left, time to step it up...
It's August and football is just around the corner, but right now BASEBALL is where it's at. I can't believe how well the Sox are playing, even in the beginning of the year when everyone had high expectations, I wouldn't have thought it would be like this. Of course, we are still in 2nd place, but man, what a way to rebound from that awful series getting swept by the Tigers. But looking ahead on the schedule, the road gets tougher. Gotta play the Yankees twice, Boston, Seattle coming up right now, and in a few weeks, another series with those dreaded Tigers. It's too bad they didn't cash in on all the crappy teams in the first half, but oh well. It's time to step it up.
Another team that is hot and needs to step up more is my fantasy team. Most of my readers don't care about my fantasy team, so just skip this. Anyways, hot starting pitching as of late has kind of put me back in the running, 150 pts behind the beast out of Kansas. And tonight, two big head-to-head pitching matchups against the Whiteys. Greg Maddux takes the hill against Nideo Homo, and Mike Mussina faces Tim Hudson. Doesn't get much more huge than that...
*****
Considering there's still a whole month left, it's a little early to do a "summer-in-review", but it really seems like the past couple months have just flown by. I guess when I think about it, a lot of stuff happened, but it feels like just yesterday when it was the end of May and we were at Dennis's graduation. Graduating seniors were giving me resumes to submit at Northrop, and everyone was talking about their plans for their break. Ray came back from Berkeley to take summer school at U of I, and I told him I'd visit him in Champaign for sure. Dan left for Honeywell, and I planned on maybe flying out there one weekend too. Olivia finished her finals, and made me promise to take her to Indiana Dunes sometime before the end of her vacation.
Meanwhile, for me at work, life during the summer months pretty much carries on the same as the rest of the year. The weather is nicer, of course, and the atmosphere is a little more relaxed, but other than that, the beat goes on. Fridays come and go, weeks and then months pass before I even know it. I find myself living from weekend to weekend, and having things planned weeks in advance, instead of calling people up an hour beforehand and expecting everyone to be ready to just pick up and go.
So now it's August, Dan is finishing up at Honeywell, Ray will be headed back to Cali soon, and I haven't managed to visit either of them. There's still a few weekends before Olivia starts her 2nd year of med school, but I don't know whether we'll end up making it to the Dunes or not. The past couple weeks especially have been a blur, working late and trying to stay sane amidst the madness of my surroundings. In a couple weeks, the US Navy is set to make a decision on who to award a large contract to, and if they choose us, it'll be even busier here for at least the next year or two. Which would be good for the company, and thus my job security, but not so good for the rest of my life as far as stress and free time and all that.
Well, for now I'd like to forget about all that stuff and list some of the good times so far this summer:
- Visiting Champaign for the weekend of Dennis's graduation. Softball, Legend's, the Quad, a fountain, Murphy's, and more...
- Rod's graduation party. Filipino Egg Rolls, Miller Lite, Mah-johng, Euchre, and No Limit Holdem
- Great America with the best friends. Waiting over an hour for the Whizzer, screaming on Viper, Superman, Iron Wolf, Raging Bull, and sharing funnel cake.
- A Sox game, a Cubs game, and a Sox-Cubs game. Seeing multiple drunk morons run on the field at US Hellular, one attacking the ump. Then Sammy Sosa getting busted for cork at Wrigley. Back to US Smellular, where we happened to catch the only game the Sox lost at home to the Cubs, while Cubs fans and Sox fans in our section kept getting kicked out for fighting each other.
- Lion's Head, Cherry Red, and Blu. Seems like the only times I see certain friends these days are at bars. I miss you guys, we should really hang out more outside.
- Good movies: Matrix Reloaded, X-men United, Seabiscuit, and some others I forget at the moment. Bad movies: Too many, among others, probably my least enjoyable was the Hulk
- 4th of July Barbeque at Cindy's in P-tine. 40's, brats, Pictionary. The only bad part was Billy Krotch blowing the Sox game in the 9th. Also worth mentioning was the recent Sushi night at Cindy's in Chicago. Much props for being a consistently excellent and generous host, Cindy.
- Thursday nights at Cubby Bear, $1 domestics. Turned into a Lambda thing after a while, so I stopped going. But it was good at the beginning of the summer, reminded me of the old crazy times with Andy and Will during freshman year of college. The best was them scaring the hell out of the racist white girl on the dance floor. Followed closely by the time me and Dave Chan whooped on them in Blitz arcade.
- Home run derby at DGS. A nice sunny Saturday afternoon, Anuj with a bucket of baseballs, the batting practice pitcher's screen, and just hitting away for a couple hours. More and more I cherish the opportunities to do these kinds of things and forget about everything else for a day.
Well, there's probably a few more that I missed, but just writing all those down puts me in a better mood. One more month left, time to step it up...
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