Pics

Again, congrats and props to Chras on the new job. Some pics from John Barleycorn illustrate the celebration last Friday night:

The night begins... all smiles and a little sleepiness on my part


Still lookin good.... as Dave attacks


((( lemon drops.... lemon drops....... )))


*****

A bonus picture, here's my sister with Dee Brown, taken at the Union earlier this year. (2 of her friends cut out of the sides to protect identities)

The Internet

The 2003 fantasy baseball season is now officially over, with me finally winning a season. I would like to say congratulations to me on my victory, and wish my sincere condolensces to Piya for his narrow loss.

With fantasy sports on my mind all throughout this past weekend, I got to thinking about this one time when I was in my junior high or early high school years, me and my friends were so fanatical about the Bulls and the NBA that we decided to start our own fantasy basketball league. Since this was years before the Internet came along and revolutionized the world (of fantasy sports), we had to do scoring by hand, using boxscores from the Tribune. Of course, this was a huge pain in the neck and thus I don't think our league really lasted for more than a few weeks. It's still a good memory though, mostly I just remember that Mitch Richmond was awesome, and one day Kevin Johnson had 10 steals.

Anyways, now that it's 2003, computers and the Internet are considered second nature to most of us, I thought I'd note some of the other little things that a lot of us (or maybe just me) have gotten used to in the past few years, numbered but in no particular order:

1. Online Movie Listings - If you're hip, you use Fandango. If you're exceptionally cool like me, you customize your personal Yahoo! page. Either way, it saves us from having to dig through a newspaper and end up with black fingertips.

2. Driving Directions - If you're hip, you use MapQuest. If you're exceptionally cool like me, you customize your personal Yahoo! page. Neither one is 100% perfect, but both get the job done most of the time. It's one of those things that seriously make me wonder how I ever got by without it, considering how often I use it these days. A highly underrated convenience, to say the least.

3. Google - As everyone knows, search engines are a very powerful tool that can be used to research important information and gain knowledge about a broad range of topics. But for me, my favorite use of searching the Internet is to settle bets about random arguments that come up between me and certain friends. Such as, "How old is Cindy Crawford?", "Is Zach from Saved By The Bell really half-Asian?", and many more. I mean, most of that "important information" you can find in your local library, but how else can you easily find the answers to those kinds of questions? If not for the power of Google, I'm sure I would have experienced many miserable days of not having my curiosity satisfied or my hypotheses proven.

4. MP3s - I'm not someone who stopped buying CDs when it became easy to download any song you wanted for free. Actually, I probably started buying more CDs because I was exposed to more music beyond the top 40 rotation on popular radio. Anyways, I continue to buy music regularly, partly because it's my way of supporting the artists that I feel are putting out good music and deserve their share of my $13, and also because CD sound is still noticeably better than mp3 quality (at least to me). My point is, if the system wasn't abused to the point where musicians and record companies actually have a right to be mad, mp3s could actually be a really good thing overall. I think I wrote more in depth about this in a earlier blog so I'll leave it at that for now.

So basically, let me sum up the point of this blog. While the Internet has been hailed as a revolution that brings the world closer and forever changes the way people communicate and share information, I see it mainly as a source of free music and useless trivia. And of all the grand uses and conveniences that the Internet might have to offer, the only ones that matter to me are getting quick driving directions and local movie listings. Oh yeah, fantasy sports too.

Either I'm an ignorant fool, or technology still has a ways to go before we can really consider the Internet "revolutionary".

The following news report was written about my current fantasy situation. If you are not involved in my fantasy league and/or do not care about fantasy sports, I strongly advise that you skip this entry. It will come off as being especially nerdy and stupid, so don't say I didn't warn you.

*****

Clash Of The Titans

CHICAGO, Illinois - On a sunny but cool autumn morning, two teenage boys can be seen throwing a football around the fields of Grant Park. To the casual observer, these are simply two kids enjoying the comfortable weather together with some friendly non-competitive sport.

Upon closer inspection, however, one discovers that this is not your typical scene in Chicago. On the left is a skinny, dark-haired Asian boy, sporting a blue and white jersey with the number "35" on the back. The boy, named Quan-Xi, is quite obviously a fan of Mike Mussina and the Taipei Dudlings. Meanwhile, his friend, a rotund Caucasian lad that goes by the name Scooter, wears a brown T-Shirt and a baseball cap with the letter W, the familiar logo of the Kansas Whiteys.

As any fan who follows Dudo League Baseball is aware, perhaps the last thing you'd ever expect to see this weekend would be a Taipei fan associating with a Kansas fan. For you see, the rivalry between the two franchises is as old as the league itself. And this rivalry has never been as intense as it is about to become during the next few days.

Though they root for different teams, these boys have been friends for years and share a common love in rooting for fantasy sports. And ask either Quan-Xi or Scooter what their plans for this weekend are, and they would inevitably talk about their respective teams, as well as the prospect of winning the highly coveted Dudo League Championship.

"My dad wants me to do math problems all night, but you know I'll be there with my walkman, listening to the game on the radio in between the taking of derivatives and integrals, fo shizzle," says Quan-Xi with a wide smile.

Scooter, on the other hand, plans to watch the game with his older brothers at Hooters. "Yep, my momma works there and she can hook us up with all the beer we can drink tonight," the 14-year old boasts.

Though neither team has ever won the crown in the league's history, now in its 5th year, one of them is all but assured of walking away with the title come Sunday night. A long season that started in April now boils down to 3 days of games. Less than 15 points separate the Whiteys and Dudlings - it's truly anybody's guess as to who will emerge as the champion, and who will go home as the loser after all is said and done.

The magnitude of this battle is not lost on the players, either. Though a horrible outing by team captain Mussina and inopportune days off taken by the stars of the lineup, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds, set the team back in the standings earlier in the week, the Dudling clubhouse is once again fired up and ready to go. Leading the charge last night were unexpected heroes, in the form of 5th starter Brad Penny and newly acquired Brian Lawrence, who both posted strong outings in head to head matchups against Whitey pitchers. (Team management thanked Lawrence after the game for his help, then promptly sent him back to the waiver wire)

After an early-morning workout, veteran starter Kevin Brown was asked about his feelings on the rivalry and the upcoming battle with Kansas. "We don't like those guys on the other side, they don't like us ... and right now I would enjoy nothing more than to give those cow-humping hillbillies the thrashing of a lifetime."

Posed with the same question, All-Star second baseman Alfonso Soriano had no verbal reply, instead simply flashing the broadest, whitest smile ever seen this side of Mateen Cleaves. This left reporters feeling somewhat puzzled.

Meanwhile, for the Whiteys, most players apparently preferred to keep the battle on the field and chose not to speak to reporters. Hideo Nomo, obviously still reeling from the previous night's collapse, could be seen in the corner of the dugout, quietly sobbing alone.

One man who rarely stays quiet, however, is Kansas owner Piya P_ongbunkor. The fiery tempered owner has long been known for his outspoken ways and gangster-like tactics, not hesitant at all to punish poor fantasy performance with brutality. Many a Whiteys closer has suffered P_ongbunkor's wrath, and in some cases, not even their families were spared. At times, his brutality has backfired and caused players to hide from him, but at least in the case of star relief man Eric Gagne, the methods of fear and coercion appear to have been effective this season.

One must admit, it is precisely the perfect string of converted saves by Gagne that has led the charge of these upstart Whiteys to the top of the standings this year. And if they are to have any hopes of taking the championship, the team will almost certainly need another inning or two from their dominant closer. The Dudlings know this as well, and the suits in Taipei have been accused of being behind the two failed assassination attempts on Gagne earlier this week. Though the front office vehemently denies gunning for Gagne, these narrow misses underscore just how much is at stake for these two teams, their respective organizations, and the fans.

In sharp contrast to Kansas' P_ongbunkor, Taipei's owner Joe Chen is a reserved and gentle man. Known around the league for his easygoing personality, players of all teams admire his style and most would relish the opportunity to someday put on a Dudling uniform and play for the storied franchise.

But despite the clash in styles and their teams' bitter rivalry, the relationship between Chen and P_ongbunkor is surprisingly close. Much like Quan-Xi and Scooter, these two men have their vast differences in their backgrounds, personalities, and team loyalties, but share a common love of fantasy sports. But when the two join several other fellow league owners tonight in an informal gathering at John Barleycorn, it will be interesting to see whether any drama unfolds in the midst of their fantasy squads' battling.

Throwing another twist into the equation is Sunday's McNown Football League matchup between the Taipei Dudalisks and the Kansas McNowns, both under the same owners as their baseball counterparts. In the past, this rivalry has been relatively one sided, with Kansas being a perennial favorite and Taipei being the regular league doormat. But this year, both teams enter this game at 2-1 and still hold bright hopes for a strong season. Though football will take a backseat in the minds of Taipei and Kansas fans this weekend to baseball, there will undoubtedly be plenty of channel flipping and scoreboard watching on Sunday.

As the loyal fans Quan-Xi and Scooter continue their game of catch on this morning, perhaps even they are unaware of the scale of events that awaits them. In the meantime, the collision course continues, and it is only a matter of time before this one fateful weekend decides all for these boys, their teams, their fellow fans, and of course, a certain two owners out there who have everything at stake.

Before I post my sappy blog, I wanted to congratulate Chras on being the latest to join us in the world of the 9-5. All I can say is, YOU THE FREAKIN MAN and I'm very happy for you, biatch.

*****

The Season of Change

The temperature is dropping, days are getting shorter, and soon enough, the leaves will change color and litter our yards. It's time for guys to put away the sandals and break out the jacket, for girls to pack up their tank tops and skirts for the light sweaters and pants. *tear* Baseball season is winding down, just as football season starts to pick up steam. Meanwhile, students from K through 12 through Ph.D are just now settling into the new school year. The season of change is upon us.

I've always liked the fall, the weather is nice, I always seem to meet a lot of people during this time, and there's just a pleasant feeling in the air. But this year, I'm finding it difficult to let go of the summer and move ahead. I don't think I'm ready to welcome in the new season just yet.

Thinking about the past few months, I'd have to say that the summer of '03 has treated me well. It might not have been the most exciting or eventful time of my life, but that's not to say it won't be memorable. Without going anywhere exotic, taking up a new hobby, or ever even taking a day off from work, I nevertheless enjoyed what I can honestly say is one of the best summers I have ever had, if not the best hands down.

Whether it's my imagination, or by coincidence, or by self-fulfilling prophecy, it feels as though the this time of seasonal change is also signalling a time for certain things in my life, both big and small, to change. Almost as if Mother Nature is running ahead of me, looking back and saying "I'm going forward with or without you. Are you coming or not?"

Change is a funny thing. Newton's first law of motion tells us that an object at rest will stay at rest, unless acted upon my some force. Often times, I feel as though I'm that "object at rest". Ever since I was little, it's been in my nature to resist change. My dad tells me that while other kids always got sick of their toys quickly, tossed them aside and wanted new toys, I would usually find one that I really liked and never let it go. I also had a blanket once that got so old, the edges frayed and the stuffing began to come out. My mom tried repeatedly to make me throw it away, but instead, I figured out how to sew and ended up stitching the edges myself. I think it wasn't until my family moved to Taiwan in my freshman year of high school, that I was finally forced to give up my tattered blanket. Otherwise, you might still be seeing me with a worn out, crudely sewn, kid-sized blanket on my bed, desperately trying to cover myself with it and stay warm at night.

The flip side of Newton's first law, of course, is that an object in motion will stay in motion, again unless acted upon by some force. I know people who fit this description of an "object in motion" as well. These people fully expect changes to come, and freely embrace them when they do. They'll move from place to place, change girlfriends (or boyfriends) and roommates regularly, switch majors every year in college, then get bored with one job after another when they reach the working world. As much as I think my life could use some of that kind of excitement, it's just not me. Quite simply, I don't like change.

Well, I guess there's no law that says when summer ends and fall begins, your own life has to change. Yet there's no avoiding the fact that at this age in particular, very few things in life ever stay the same, if any at all. At the job, I've almost become used to people being hired, let go, or moved around as a routine. In my cube alone, I've already seen maybe 5 or 6 different configurations with different people sitting here in less than one year. I myself have worked on 4 different programs, and just recently was shifted to a whole other department to boot.

In my living situation, I have no immediate plans to move, but my original informal "lease" with Brian was 6 months minimum, and that's coming up in October. My parents have been quietly pushing me to find a permanent house for myself all along, but I guess I'd always put off thinking about it. I know it's a wise thing to do for the long term, but I'd always make excuses. "What if I get laid off in a year?" "What if I want to go back to school?" And of course there's my favorite, "let's just wait and see, and I'll think about it later".

Coincidentally or not, that's precisely the kind of motto that seems to go along with my view of summer - "I'll worry about it later". Maybe that's what I've always loved about summer, not so much the warm weather or the long days or the time off from school, but the feeling like I have not merely an excuse, but a God-given right to procrastinate for a few months. Maybe that's why I don't want to leave this summer behind, because I dread the feeling of responsibility that I've come to associate with the arrival of fall.

Again, I look back on the past few months and find that I didn't do much at all. The voice of that guy in Office Space always pops into my mind: "I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I hoped it would be". Of course, I worked hard at my job (when I wasn't writing blogs), but other than that, I can't say that I accomplished a whole lot besides that during this time. Knowing in the back of my mind that I should have been thinking more about my future, making some decisions, and actively working to improve myself, I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I did none of those things. What I did do was watch a lot of TV, wash my car a few times, see a bunch of movies, and basically just hang out with my friends. Not that any of those things are terrible or worthy of shame, and in fact those are the exact things that make me feel like this was such an awesome summer. But I also need to be honest with myself in admitting that I've been using all these things as a distraction from the serious stuff for too long now. I definitely know I can't say "I'll worry about it later" for the rest of my life.

Eventually, the time comes when "later" turns into "now". Which takes me back to the bittersweet feeling I'm currently experiencing as the "season of change" arrives. I don't know exactly what it is that makes me feel like it's time to get serious. Maybe it's seeing my sister and all the other students headed back to school for another year of learning. Maybe it's the long, cold winter looming ahead as a menace I need to somehow prepare to face. Maybe it's the fact that a baseball schedule of daily games is being soon replaced by a football schedule of Sunday and Monday night games only - perhaps a subtle hint that I have no more excuse to not be taking care of other stuff during the rest of the week? Whatever it is, I get the undeniable feeling that "play time is over".

Life's not gonna get easier from here on out. My dad has always told me as much, but I always figured "I'll worry about it later". Only now am I starting to understand this fact.

Summer of 2003, so sad to see you go.

Sox Games

In the past 2 days, I went to 2 Sox games. Unfortunately, the team is pretty much out of the race after getting repeatedly handled by the Twins. But I decided to go anyways, seeing as how baseball season is almost over and it will be a long winter with the Bears.

Yesterday's experience driving to "The Cell" was one of the most frustrating I have ever had. I was stuck at the exit ramp at 35th St. for literally half an hour. Then, parking people routed me all the way back to IIT where they charged me $15 anyways. Man, I can't believe I paid 15 bucks to park somewhere and walk 10 minutes to get to the stadium. It's so stupid how they complain that no fans come out to Sox games, and then they jack you with ridiculous parking fees and overly priced food.

An interesting incident was when a cop tried to scalp me a ticket on the way to the gate. I was like, "why is he looking at me funny", and then when I got closer he mumbled "hey, you need a ticket", trying to be all subtle and everything. Now, I'm used to all the ghetto people trying to scalp outside the ballpark, but not one of "Chicago's Finest".

The Sox eventually won in a pretty good game. Magglio hit a walk-off 3-run homer in the 10th inning. Also, Soriano got me 2 jacks which could prove to be quite valuable in the very tight fantasy race against P. See his blog for more details.

Having gone to quite a few games in the past few seasons, the in-game festivities are pretty routine to me now. I'll take the opportunity to outline the highlights:

- The Races. They have the airplane race and the frog race, in which I always cheer for blue. The pizza race, gotta go with Sausage. Then they have the 3 people running around the bases and making ATM transactions. I hate how they trip for no reason, can't you people even run without falling down? But anyways, I usually bet on the black lady for that one.

- Guess The Attendance. I've gotten pretty good at this by now. You can't just guess by looking around the stadium, it's imperative to also consider other factors. Such as, how bad was the traffic, how full was the parking lot (or which lot did you have to park in), and each of these in turn must be weighted in accordance with the time you arrived.

- The Hat Game. Nobody should ever get this one wrong. No matter what kinds of funky tricks they do, you should always be able to easily follow the one with the ball underneath. The only time I miss it is if I blink at a critical moment, but usually I'm willing to bear the significant dryness of my contacts in order to follow the hat. One thing that's always puzzled me is, how does the ball always stay in the hat when it's moving all over the place, and there's nothing physically holding it in there? Maybe there are magnetic forces, but I dunno.

- The Aquafina thing. Quite possibly, the dumbest and most annoying gimmick ever. All they do is move the camera around and zoom on people with Aquafina bottles, and people are supposed to get excited about it in between innings? Just for that, I'm gonna buy only Evian from now on.

- Fireworks. I think they have the extended fireworks after Saturday night games only, and those are usually some of the more quality firework shows I've seen. But even if it's just the fireworks after a home run, I like it and I think it's a good thing that adds to the Sox game experience.

- 7th Inning Stretch, sponsored by Cracker Jack. How clever, Cracker Jack sponsoring a segment when people sing a song that already advertises their product. Now, maybe I'm blind or something, but I don't think I've seen them selling Cracker Jacks at the ballpark in a long time. Not that I care, those things sucked anyways, even with the little toy inside. But yeah, maybe it's time to make an adjustment to the lyrics of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". Also, I think I heard somewhere once that the name "Cracker Jack" has certain negative racial implications and there was some controversy about it. Not sure about the details though, maybe I'll look it up sometime if I remember.

- Kiss Cam. Most of the time it's all in good fun, but what happens when they zoom in on a brother and sister? Cousins? Will and Grace? Maybe I need to get a life, but I truly wonder a lot about these kinds of things.

- The Wave. Not all that common in my experience at Comiskey, but at US Cellular, it seems to happen more. I usually don't care when the game isn't close, and it's entertaining to see how into it some people get (mostly middle-aged women and kids). But last night people were starting the Wave in the bottom of the 9th inning with the score tied. That's just retarded, people.

- Intro music. Another thing I always wonder about is whether or not the players get to choose their music. Does Paul Konerko pick all the alternative rock intros for himself, and Carl Everett pick 50 Cent all the time, or did the people upstairs just base it on stereotypes? Also, does Magglio like that stupid "OH-EE-OH... MAAA-GLIO" thing? If I were him, I'd be looking to shoot someone every time I heard it.

- Grounds crew dragging those comb things on the infield dirt. Does that even make a difference? And it's definitely not as cool as the Zamboni in hockey games.

Overall, I think the White Sox home game experience is above average. The stadium isn't as "friendly" as Wrigley, and there aren't as many hot chicks, but as long as the team is worth rooting for, I'll continue to try and make it to a few games a year. Maybe one of these years I'll even invest in some season tickets? Hmmm....

New Job

The past few days at work have felt like it was my first week all over again. After work on the last program was pretty much wrapped up, I was shifted to a completely different division of the company to work on a new project. So, I've spent most of this week meeting my new managers and reading up on the stuff they gave me, to get up to speed on this program's efforts.

I kind of miss the meeting of new people, shaking hands and actually walking through parts of the building I've never even seen in almost a full year of working here. One thing I definitely don't miss, though, is the interviewing that comes along with starting fresh.

Officially, I wasn't being interviewed, but basically every new manager I had to meet with started by asking those kinds of questions. What kinds of skills do you have experience in? How much experience do you have in each skill? What projects did you work on in school? What area do you prefer to work in? Analog? Digital? RF? Do you like design, testing, both?

Of course, they were just asking me that stuff to get a better idea of what assignments to give me, which is fair enough. I must say that being asked all those questions without having to wonder, "is my answer gonna screw up my chances of being hired here", takes a lot of pressure off and makes is so much easier. Still, I've never enjoyed or felt comfortable in the process of being interviewed.

I think a big part of it is that I'm not used to "tooting my own horn", which is kind of key to being a successful interviewee. Unless I feel very confident in something, I hate to tell someone that I'm good at it. And the list of things in life that I feel "very confident" in is fairly limited:

- NFL Blitz
- Mariokart 64
- Math (up through multi-variable Calculus only)

That's all I can think of right now. Pretty sad, eh? But seriously, for basically everything else in life not listed above, I just rate myself as being "average" to "below average" or "piss poor".

Anyways, for the time being, I'm quite thankful that my interviewing days are behind me. I definitely don't envy those of you out there who are either about to begin the grueling job-hunting process, or are continuing in the hunt. All I can say is, good luck, and let me know if there's anything I can help you with (not likely, but still). And I'll offer you the words of 2pac:

Keep ya head up
ooooooooh child things are gonna get easier
Keep ya head up
oooooo child things are gonna get brighter

Initial B

For those of you who like buying CDs of good artists, I have a recommendation. Coming soon to a Best Buy near you will be the release of an album by an artist called Britney Spears.

The exact date of release is November 18th and the title is "Get Into The Zone". I don't know about you, but I am definitely looking forward to getting into the zone 2 months from now. Britney is also on this month's cover of Rolling Stone. I highly recommend for all red-blooded, heterosexual men out there to check it out.

Currently playing in my head: Britney Spears - Autumn Goodbye
Not on any of her albums, but one of my favorite Britney songs of all time.

Initial D

For those of you who like buying DVD sets of TV shows, I have a recommendation. Coming soon to a Best Buy near you will be the DVD release of a Japanese animated series called Initial D. It's about the world of street racing in the mountainous regions of Japan. I was first introduced to this show a few years ago by a friend, who downloaded the first season episodes off the internet and got me semi-hooked on the plot. Later, he bought the DVD sets in Japan while vacationing there and let me and Olivia borrow them. After watching the first 2 seasons (there are only 2, plus a movie), me and Olivia became pretty big fans. The DVDs for the movie are sitting on my desk right now, so we'll probably finish that sometime soon too.

Anyways, the show has a lot of quality racing scenes with cool drifting sequences, and also is packed with all the drama, laughs, and girls with high-pitched voices and huge eyes that we all love about Japanese cartoons. Well, I'm not a big fan of all that "anime" stuff, so I mostly just like watching the races and the parts when they talk about cars. There's some sweet cars in there, like the Skyline R34, Lancer Evolution ("Lan-Evo"), RX-7, while the main character dominates everyone with a old beat up 1986 Toyota Corolla. But yeah, even though this show might not be of the caliber of 24 (which I have still yet to see a single episode of), I recommend anyone who is even mildly interested in cars to check out Initial D when it becomes available in this country.

Monday Blows

So, the routine continues. I walked out of the house this morning to find that it was cold. Which made me realize that hey, we're halfway through September. Seriously, what happened to August? Before I know it, I'll be digging my car out of a pile of snow every morning just to drive 3 miles to work.

I noticed that my blog has been mostly an informal diary and running commentary on the media/pop culture lately. It makes for regular updating, but I think I'm gonna try to write more challenging entries again (in addition to the other stuff). I guess I haven't been in an introspective mood that much lately. But anyways, if you are a regular reader of this blog, like it or not, there will probably be more of those entries coming that scream, "Hmmm, better just skim this one". Maybe I'll try writing more on the weekends again too, but we'll see. Now, on with the diary/running commentary...

Friday evening, I took the first good nap I've had in a long time, quite a noteworthy event in this exciting rock star lifestyle of mine. I fell asleep with the Sox losing 4-3 in the 3rd or 4th inning, then woke up exactly one Billy Koch outing later, when it was 7-3 or so, with my face mashed in a drool-soaked section of my pillow.

After watching them lose officially, I stopped by Lameworks in Streets of Woodfield and did something that I hadn't done in a long time: Play arcade games. I miss the days when I would go to the MKII machines, beat the guy there as a crowd gathered to watch, and impress everyone by doing a certain "Babality" or "Friendship Move". Or, be one of the people who knew how to drive the "Advanced" or "Expert" tracks on Daytona USA. Hey, when you're in Junior High or High School, people are easily impressed. Now, other than the occasional game of 4 player Blitz, I don't know any of the games well enough to play them anymore. I don't remember a single finishing move in MKII, not that there are any arcades that still carry that game anyways. I can barely even pass Advanced in Daytona nowadays, and all but forgot every single shift in Expert.

Oh, I also got to hang with some old peeps from college. We even took a sticker picture, which I definitely haven't done since high school. Of course, Will the idiot forgot to close out his tab that night, so he was in the area again Saturday morning. But it was a good opportunity to take the following pictures in my driveway:





Riding in his coupe was a pretty cool experience. The car feels a little sportier than mine, but a little less luxury. I guess it depends on what you prefer, even though the differences aren't that huge. I don't think I'll ever buy a 2-door car though. Just so used to 4-doors by now that I can't see myself driving anything else.

The other major sources of excitement for the weekend were football and cards. Even though I can feel another MNF-screwing about to hit me, and I got eliminated twice in poker with a River card draw, I still must admit that it was all good fun. The battles between me and Greg are starting to rival the classics between me and P. In football, it's gonna be another nail-biter tonight. Everyone is highly encouraged to root against Jeremy Shockey and Freaky Barber, and root for Roy Williams to get 2 interceptions returned for TDs.

Fun With TicketBastard

So this morning at 10 am, tickets for the Sox potential first round playoff games went on sale. I thought about taking the day off and lining up at the US Cellular, but that was not an option. So my only remaining course of action was to rely on my least favorite vendor in the world, TicketMaster Online.

Starting at about 9:50, I started clicking the link to the ticket purchase page over and over. I must have gotten about 100 windows telling me "Tickets go on sale on 9/12/03 at 10 am". Finally, at around 10, I got through to an actual "search for tickets" page. I searched for 4, "best available", and it took me to a page where it shows you a picture of a distorted word and tells you to type it in the box to verify that you aren't an automated ticket buying system. Those distorted pictures of words disturb me. Either it reminds me of some horror movie when stuff is written in blood on the walls, or it just looks like the handwriting of a retarded 8 year old using a fat crayon. I don't know which one scares me more.

Anyways, the next page was a message saying the following:

"Your wait time is less than 1 minute. If you refresh or hit the back button, you will lose your place in line!"

It also included some sort of moving bar that didn't tell really represent any useful information about your waiting status, it just kind of hypnotizes you with a weird pattern of movement. So I guess I had to patiently wait for this page to refresh itself until it "found" some seats for me. My favorite part was when the page refreshed, and my wait time went from "less than 3 minutes" to "less than 5 minutes". That was always fun. Why don't you biatches just kick me in the nuts while you're at it, and we'll call it even?

Well, eventually I was given a page telling me that section 554, row 25, seats 5-8, would be reserved for me for the next 2 minutes. Where is section 554, you may wonder? Well, let's put it this way. When I went to the game on Tuesday, I turned to Chras, pointed to the far left field corner of the Upper Deck (all empty seats, I might add) and said something like "Man, those seats must really suck. Look how high up and steep they are." Of course, after consulting the seating chart, I found that section 554 was located in pretty much the heart of that exact area. SWEET....

With my 2 minutes quickly melting away, and seeing that each seat was $30 plus $5 TicketMaster fee, my final decision was, "Pork that, I ain't paying $35 a seat to sit in that hell hole, even if it is a Sox playoff game". For kicks and giggles, and because I enjoy self-inflicted suffering, I tried searching a few more times, and either came up with "no seats available" or even worse seats each time. So the conclusion of the story is, I didn't get any playoff tickets. Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up in the course of telling this long, drawn out story. Oh, another conclusion is, TicketBastard sucks.

*****

Mr. Burns: And to think, Smithers, you laughed when I bought TicketMaster. "Nobody's gonna pay a 100% service charge"

Smithers: Well, its a policy that ensures a healthy mix of the rich and the ignorant, sir.

Regular Blog

- The Sox game yesterday was a good time. Thankfully, they put up some runs in the later innings and didn't blow their lead entirely. It was nice to just hang out at the ballpark for a night, watch some baseball, talk sports, drink beer, eat brats, point out some hot chicks, and shout at each other about those silly Jumbotron games (which hat is the ball under, Pizza race, Plane race, frog race, etc.) with the boys of old school Pact. I really wish we could do this kind of stuff more often, but unfortunately a lot has changed since college, and it's not as easy anymore.

A highlight was watching (and participating in) a pretty strong Wave that went around the lower deck for about 10 minutes, when the Sox were up 8-2 in the 8th inning. Even though the Wave goes against pretty much everything a true fan stands for, it was so hilarious to me in its retardedness, especially in light of the game situation at the time.

Some pics from the game (mouse over for description):




- This week at work has been pretty hectic. At COB (Close Of Business, for those not hip with corporate lingo) last Friday, the USN (United States Navy) annouced that they were awarding the contract for RTC_SS (Reconfigurable Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System) to McDonnell-Douglas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing. For anyone who happens to be interested, a link to the DoD (Department of Defense) announcement follows (see Navy section):

http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts/2003/ct20030905.html

RTC_SS was the project I've been working on since around May. Between myself and a lot of people here at NGC-RM (Northrop Grumman Corporation-Rolling Meadows), we spent so much time and effort on preparing to build this thing. It's a weird feeling to know that after all the arguing about the design, the construction of the lab for this station, the stressing out to meet deadlines, all of that became more or less a moot point, summed up in a short paragraph of which all of our combined effort hardly even composed a few words of a press release, "four offers were received".

To me, the loss of this contract doesn't hit terribly hard, because I'm just a little guy. Actually, it probably means that I won't be super busy through the rest of the year, which would have happened if we got the contract. I'd still rather be able to work more extensively on a project, though, and gain some good experience doing so. But for some people here, the announcement was a pretty big blow. Especially to a lot of the contract workers, who were counting on being needed for the duration of the program, they now have a lot of uncertainty. I guess that is the way this industry works... I'm just kind of unaccustomed to the idea that it would be "all-or-nothing" like that.

- In brighter news, I've now been working here for almost a year, and today my boss called me into her office and officially informed me that I should be seeing a 4% raise starting with this week's paycheck. I guess when I think about it, 4% isn't a huge amount, especially after taxes and everything, but hey, I'll take it. I'm just an engineer anyways, not exactly the most glamourous way to get rich quick, right?

- The latest video to dominate my mornings is "Stacy's Mom". At first it was just an annoying little song, but then it was stuck in my head all day at work. I guess I underestimated its catchiness, and it made me pay by creeping into my head and multiplying. Stacy's mom has got it going on........ doo-doo doo do doo do doo doo doooo....

- Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary (is that the right word for a tragedy?) of 9/11. I tend to wonder if the world has succeeded in banding together to become a safer, happier place during these past two years. Or if conditions have actually deteriorated from where they were before, and the terrorists are succeeding in sucking the lifeblood out of this planet.

- A while back I talked about my observation that the words "analysis" and "analog" both begin with the word "anal". If you enjoyed that fact, I have a couple more examples of my immaturity at work to share:

1) There's a maker of electronic connectors called Assmann Electronics. A link to the company site is here for those who don't believe me. Once, when I was looking at some of that company's connectors online with an older engineer, it took every ounce of self-control in my body to avoid busting out laughing at the name. He kept pronouncing it "OSS-MONN", but in my mind, I kept hearing "ass man" and snickering to myself, Beavis and Butthead style. huh-huh... Ass Man.... huh-huh huh-huh

2) One of the products I had to study at work today was called Built-In Test Exerciser and Sensor, better known by its acronym, BITES. That's an actual trademarked name, no joke. Again, for those who doubt me, I'll provide another link here. So anyways, I guess it shouldn't be that funny, but I wasted a good deal of the morning enjoying my own clever thoughts about the irony of the situation - how it was funny to me that spending hours reading up on a product called BITES, indeed bites. I wonder if there are any other products out there called SUCKS or BLOWS, that would be two more mornings I could waste with immature thoughts about such aptly named acronyms.

Lowered Expectations

If you ever watched the old school seasons of MadTV, you might remember a recurring skit called "Lowered Expectations". Basically it was like a dating service for really desperate people, so the candidates were all like prison convicts on death row, crazy psychos, or old wrinkly fat people. It was funny. By the way, those old seasons of MadTV were some of the most quality entertainment ever done in my opinion. There's a ton of hilarious stuff they came up with, at a time when SNL was pretty weak. If they released it as a DVD, I'd definitely buy it.

So that skit isn't really what I was gonna write about, but I thought I might as well explain the origin of my title. Anyways, I was just thinking more about the key to happiness, as I often do. And it's been discussed before, in this blog and plenty elsewhere, that if you set your expectations too high, you are never going to be happy. I think there's a Sheryl Crow song that says "It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you got". Even though it's Sheryl Crow, it kind of expresses the same idea.

If this school of thought were true, then I would need to heavily reevaluate my expectations of life, and think hard about what is important to me. Off the top of my head, some of my most desired goals in life are as follows (in no particular order): own a nice house, get married to a beautiful wife that loves me and treats me well, have 2 or 3 healthy and productive children, drive an M5, run a successful corporation. These are all things that I either consciously or subconsciously work towards, and provide me with some direction and reason for life.

Being an engineer, my first nerdy approach to these situations is to analyze it with the typical set of "engineer questions". What can I improve? Which things are necessary and why do I need them? Can I cut out anything? Can I replace it with something else? What are the tradeoffs involved? What's it gonna cost me, and is it worth the cost?

Applying these questions to the short list above, I end up more confused than before. Like, why specifically do I want an M5? A lot of people would be happy with a lesser car like the G35, perhaps. Or, what's the definition of a "nice" house? Does it have to be huge and "Cribs"-worthy, or just warm, safe, and in a good location? And if I can't have a wife that's both beautiful and treats me well, does she really have to be beautiful? If so, how beautiful? If I could choose between an 8 that treats me like dirt, or a 6 that cooks, cleans, lets me watch baseball all day, and bears me 2 or 3 good kids, who should I choose? These questions just bring on more questions, which is the last thing I need.

It seems like every time I try to write a blog with these kinds of challenging issues, I come away without much progress. It's part of the reason why lately, I just try to keep my entries simple and avoid the deep thinking. But once in a while, the need to take on tough questions still strikes me hard.

I don't know why old TV shows are on my mind today, but right now I'm reminded of the "Mindy and Buttons" series on Animaniacs. The girl Mindy always ends up talking to some random person she meets, and keeps asking the question "Why?" over and over until the person runs out of answers and finally flips out. Then she goes "Okay I love you bye-bye" and runs off. Sometimes I wish I could be so cheerful, so blissfully ignorant when I run out of answers to my own questions.

Unfortunately, I was not born with the capability to take bliss in ignorance. If I was Neo in the Matrix, I would always make the same choice he did and take the blue pill (or is it red? I forget). I need answers to my questions, no matter the costs or risks associated with obtaining them.

A few nights ago, Olivia asked me what one thing I would improve about myself, if I had the opportunity. After thinking about it for a while, my answer was, I wish I could be smarter. The reason being, there's nothing I hate more than feeling like I am limited by my own lack of brainpower. Other people might wish for being more athletic, a better smoothtalker, a prettier face, a kinder and more compassionate heart, a better sense of humor, or having a larger member. I guess none of that matters as much to me as having unlimited mental aptitude. Like, even though I know the SAT doesn't really measure how smart you are, I still always remember my exact score - not because I was proud of how I did, but because I was so pissed off at myself for missing a perfect score by 30 points. A rare time in my life when I can recall being seriously mad about something. Since I feel like I put every effort I could into shooting for a flawless victory, it was one of the most frustrating feelings I've ever experienced, to be humbled and know that I could give everything I had and still come up short.

Anyways, back to the original topic. Can you really become more happy by lowering your expectations? Well, it would make sense, but then the more fundamental question is, can you just tell yourself to lower your expectations? After some thought, I think the answer is no. Telling yourself to not expect something that you already do, is like trying to "forget" how to read or ride a bike. It just doesn't happen that way, unless you somehow choose to be ignorant of your own thoughts and feelings. And as I already mentioned, I'm not a person who can ever be satisfied with being ignorant.

I guess that means that if your expectations in life are impossibly high, you're pretty much screwed because there's no turning back. The only way your expectations are going to come down is if you get hit with a dose of reality, and those are usually painful and reduce happiness. But hey, if you go through life thinking that you deserve nothing less than Britney Spears as your wife, you're probably better off getting rejected by some ugly girls at the bar a few times, to cut your expectations down to size.

In that case, maybe the key to maximum happiness is not to lower your existing expectations, but to keep your expectations in check in the first place. It's fine to have lofty goals, as long as they are reasonably attainable. So you have to maintain a balance between idealism and realism. Because the thing is, you might not necessarily be able to tell yourself to be happy, but you definitely can't be happy unless you allow yourself to be. Expectations are definitely important to your overall happiness in that respect. And right now, I'm just hoping that mine aren't too high as it is. I'd hate to have to experience some painful doses of reality...

Final Score: Dudo Dominators 91, Dudalisks 88

The saga continues.... all my non-McNown league readers are spared from any more DaveChanBowl updates, at least for the next 8 weeks.

I'm too sad to write.

Update: Dudo Dominators 91, Dudalisks 83

Down 8 going into Monday night's game, my last chance at snapping the streak is DERRICK BROOKS... Please don't let me down Derrick. I feel like Princess Leia: "Help me Derrick Brooks, you're my only hope!"

Which reminds me, George Lucas really screwed up by making his 3 prequels released so far apart. The first one came out when I was a freshman in college. The second one, after I graduated college. By the time the third finally comes out, I'll be 25, married with children, balding, with love handles and recurring liver problems. Well maybe not, but it's too bad Georgie couldn't have done it like the makers of the Matrix or the Lord of the Rings trilogies.

Now would be a good chance for me to pre-empt the inevitable attacks that will strike us next month, as the media starts to work its publicity machine for the Nov. 5th release of Matrix Revolutions. I don't know about everyone else, but I am already mentally preparing myself for another barrage of Powerade ads, Access Hollywood special reports, and Keanu Reeves on every single talk show. That stuff almost killed me the last time around for Matrix Reloaded. Yes that's right, I'm hyping the hype. I'm an even bigger nerd than you all thought.

If all goes well, at least the first half of October will provide us here in Chicago with a welcome diversion. In case nobody has noticed, both the Cubs and the White Sox are in 1st place right now, with only a few weeks left in the season. Not sure what the Cubs schedule looks like, but the Sox still have to play the Royals and Twins 7 times each from here on out, throwing in the Red Sox and Yankees for good measure. If Jerry Manuel doesn't do anything too stupid (a big "if"), and the Cubs can stay hot, this city will be hopping a month from now. OH BABY

OH MAN that gives me an idea... Anybody up for going to the Sox game tomorrow night? We play Minnesota, and if I'm not mistaken, it's Pepsi Half-price Tuesday. I'd want to go tonight, but I need to watch Derrick get his 9 tackles. Anyways, I've been itching to go to a game for a while now, and this series with the Twins is a good opportunity. If interested, email me, call, or leave a comment here ASAP so we can set it up. haha I used "ASAP" in a sentence. I hate people who use "ASAP".

Oh, and what happened to blogger's pimp interface? This is so primitive.

- Went to RAM last night to kick off the season by watching the game with my nemesis. The current score is Dudo Dominators 8, Dudalisks 3. Sad that my 2 flex guys couldn't score as much as his one defender. Also disturbing that they couldn't score more than the 5 Long Islands we each had throughout the night. When you have more drinks than fantasy points at the end of the night, it's not a good sign.

- This week went by fast. I could definitely use more short weeks like this one.

- My computer has been making some weird groaning noises when I turn it on lately. It's a little disturbing.

- Why does everyone think Madonna is some kind of goddess to be worshipped? I mean, I like a lot of her music, but she's not that awesome or revolutionary. She's just someone who has built her image by making conservative people uncomfortable and going against the norm. Maybe it takes some courage to do that, but still. By now, it's like she's expected to do something shocking, so it's not shocking any more. More like, she's trying too hard to figure out how to do the next attention-grabbing thing. Oh, and I don't think she's that attractive either, more slutty and weird than anything else.

- Meeester Son-of-beetch. Let's pliay some khards...

What's On TV

- I watched some of Newlyweds for the first time on Tuesday, and all I can say is, that show is proof of how much a girl can get away with in this world just by being hot. Young viewers out there can all take note that as long as you can make yourself attractive, you too can be lazy as a rock and dumb as wood.

- Last night I was flipping channels and came across part of this show, Ripley's Believe it or Not. I've been to the museum, but I didn't know there was a TV show. The segment I caught involved 2 guys in a giant cage (WWF style, or WWE, whatever), competing in, of all things, pool. I thought it was a joke at first, but I guess not. So each guy had 2 pool tables to take care of, and I guess they were trying to see who could clear their tables first. Meanwhile, surrounding the cage were all these screaming fans, some with signs, and also commentators saying things like "And he takes care of the last two balls in the first table!!!" The whole scene was pretty ridiculous, and I didn't watch enough to see what happened in the end. The only thing I can compare it to is these old videos someone sent me a couple years ago, of a Korean TV show with 2 guys playing Starcraft in front of a live audience and commentators with a telestrator. Both are pretty good examples of people who really need to get a life, but at least the Starcraft show I'd watch in its entirety.

- Then I watched most of the Sox game, starting with them being ahead, blowing the lead on a David Ortiz homer, tying it on Jose Valentin's homer, then losing it on another David Ortiz homer. I was pissed at first about the loss, but then Chras informed me that he was 2 or 3 rows behind the guy who missed catching the second Ortiz homer and to look for him in the highlights. So I watch Sportscenter later, and sure enough I see Chras in his little blue hoodie, with his hands stretched out to catch the ball and one of the goofiest grins ever on his face. That made my night... a scene too hilarious for words.

- And finally, the most important TV item to mention involves tonight's opening game of the 2003 NFL season. I encourage everyone to watch and root along with me for Curtis Conway and Rod Gardner to score 2 TDs each. In addition, Britney will be singing at the game, so don't miss it. Not sure if she's just doing the anthem, or performing at halftime. But either way, I'm hoping there will be no more of these silly, awkward, unnatural 1/2 second kisses with Madonna the female predator.

LD-Dubs

Well, in the blink of an eye, it was over. Labor Day Weekend was way too short this year. Part of it was due to working on Saturday, which was no fun. Come to think of it, I did a lot that day. The highlight being, seeing all the cool people at Lion's Head. It was especially nice to have Vic back in town for a couple days too. So sad to see you go again, come back soon.

Woke up for church on Sunday, napped in the afternoon, and then played cards at night. Every time I see the Cantonese fool Dave, our upcoming FF matchup gets hyped to a new level. 3 more days until go time... can't wait to see Fred Taylor go down on his first carry.

I don't think I left the townhouse at all on Labor Day itself. Instead, just slept in, watched baseball, read magazines, and listened to music. I wish every day could be more like that. "I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be"

Music from "The Bends" provided quality listening for the day off. Nirvana and Pearl Jam get all the attention, but was there a better band in the 90's than Radiohead? I argue for the latter. Haven't listened to Pablo Honey much, but The Bends and OK Computer were 2 absolutely huge albums released during my high school years, when I started to really listen to music. And now that it's years later, as I've become a post-graduate of college, I find that I'm still gaining more appreciation for songs like "High and Dry" or "Fake Plastic Trees".

Some things learned from the weekend:

- "Real" poker chips cost a lot. Me and P were looking up on the internet to see how much we could get some for, and found that it would cost at least a hundred bucks for about 300 ceramic chips, and even more for clay. It's hard for me to understand why they cost so much, maybe someone has the market for poker chips cornered and they are jacking up the prices. If that is so, the only way I know to get around that is to look in Chinatown or Taiwan.

- Those temporary tattoos are harder to remove than you think. During kids' Sunday School time, we were giving them some of those tattoos that you can soak onto your skin using a wet paper towel. I decided to join in and get one of Linus on my hand. Then when I came home, I tried to wash it off and discovered that it was damn near impossible. I tried again late Sunday night before going to sleep, and it was still impossible, leading me to start worrying. Finally, Monday afternoon I used a lot of dishwashing detergent, rubbed it like mad, and it came off, not without leaving all the skin on my hand red. But it was either that, or show up to work with a Charlie Brown character on my hand. Although I did have a backup plan, which was to put a bandaid over it. I'm glad I didn't have to resort to such homoness though.

- Not charging your Pocket PC for a long time can cause data loss. I guess I should have known this, considering that it gives me a warning message saying as much when the battery is low, but sometimes I'm one of those fools that needs to learn the hard way. So now all the contact info that I got from everyone is gone, along with the few programs that I installed. Oops... But it got me thinking, if that happened to my phone, I would be much more screwed. I don't know anyone's phone number because I never dial it manually.

- The Zaino car polish system is probably the best I have ever used. I had my doubts in the beginning, but now I am really starting to see for myself that the more layers you put on, the deeper the shine and protection. If only it didn't rain so much, and I didn't have to park outside, then I wouldn't have to wash every other week or so. It's getting kind of tiring.