Baseball Politics: Sammy Sosa, Steroids, and Sports Illustrated
This week in Sports Illustrated, columnist Rick Reilly publishes his story about testing for steroids in the Major Leagues. Apparently, he recently asked Sammy Sosa personally to help clear his own name and do a positive thing for baseball by submitting himself to a test for steroids, even providing the information for a local clinic. Sosa angrily declined, yelling at Reilly for his suggestion, to which Reilly decided that Sosa must be hiding something to react in such a way. There are many different ways to look at this thing, but here is the dudo509 blogspot breakdown.
First of all, neither Sosa nor Reilly is the good guy in this story. Sammy, for all his home run hitting and MVP numbers, is a very egocentric man. Beneath that wide friendly smile, that dumb little home run hop he does, and the kissing his fingers and pointing at his chest and the camera is an attention-hungry and image-driven player. While he's put up some amazing numbers the past few seasons, his game could be even better. He's too talented to strike out and pop up as much as he does in clutch game situations. Compared to Barry Bonds, his home runs are much less meaningful to the team if you look at the relevant stats. Still, mention even a hint of these facts to him and you'll see the shiny happy Sammy disappear and transform into a defensive, ill-tempered man. Rather than humbly accepting the challenge to improve his game and further his talent, Sammy will quickly remind you that he hit 66 home runs in a season or that his teammates aren't backing him up, and that's why the Cubs are losing. Which isn't untrue, but from the man's reaction you can see the true person's attitude.
I guess you can't blame Sammy for being that way. I mean, he's become such a media darling the past few years, and he's used to hearing nothing but praise from everyone around him. Every time I see someone interview him, I can't help but be reminded of the SNL sketch with Chris Farley interviewing some actor or rock star with questions like "Dude, why are you so awesome?" or "You know that time when you did [this or that, fill in the blank]... heh .... that was cool."
Anyways, how does all that relate to this steroid thing? Well, weeks ago when the hot topic was "who's on the juice in baseball?" and people were clamoring for steroid testing to be implemented in MLB, Sammy took it upon himself to come out and say that if testing were approved by the Players Union, he'd be the "first in line." Well, this statement means very little to begin with. If testing is eventually approved, it won't be for at least a year, and by that time players would be stupid to be still taking steroids. Plus, what exactly is "first in line" supposed to mean? It doesn't matter if you're first in line or last in line, Sammy, it's the results that matter. What it comes down to is, he figured nobody would take him up on his words anyways, why not try to make some bold statements and be a hero? (since Piya loves this song so much, why don't we cue the cheesy electric guitar riff once again "and they say that a hero could save us, i'm not gonna stand here and waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit......"). Nice try, Sammy, it turns out that someone actually tries to hold you accountable and now you don't know what to say, do you?
As for Rick Reilly, let's not kid ourselves here. He's been a writer for many years now, fairly well-respected, but he definitely didn't cook up this little Sammy steroid test thing to help Sammy or the MLB look better. Reilly knew he had a huge story on his hands and went with it. Also, he could have chosen anybody: Bonds, Luis Gonzalez, Roger Clemens, Jeromy Burnitz, or Herbert Perry; why Sammy Sosa? Maybe it was because of his "first in line" statement. Maybe it was because everyone loves Sammy. Or maybe it was because he had a feeling that Sammy would respond this way. Whatever it was, as a writer, Reilly did this thing with an agenda of his own, not so he could help these poor accused players.
It's not like Reilly had the right to do any of this, either. Basically, he's going up to a player and saying, "if you're not using steroids, prove it by taking this test!" and if the player declines, then he's guilty as sin. We're still innocent until proven guilty in this country. That is like if someone is accused of being gay, then you say if he doesn't show us a tape of him with a woman, then he must be gay (I'm surprised nobody did that to Mike Piazza). We might as well go back to the McCarthy era or the Salem Witch trials if reporters are allowed to do this.
In the end, we still don't know for sure if Sammy is using steroids. Maybe by his angry reaction, one might lean more towards thinking he's trying to hide something. But there are legitimate reasons for not wanting to take a test. For example, if he agrees to be tested, where does this type of thing end? Who's gonna stop every reporter in America from hounding each and every baseball player with the address of the nearest clinic, saying "Sammy did it, why don't you?" And if he agreed, it's also undermining the cause of the Players Union to which he belongs, even if it's not a great cause at all. Or it could just be that he felt insulted by the way he was approached; some writer trying to impose his will on a prideful sports star isn't gonna fly too often.
It's not my place to accuse, but if you ask me what I think, I would almost be surprised if Sammy Sosa (and more than half the stars we see on SportsCenter these days, for that matter) were using steroids. Not that it's right, but if there's no testing for it, a lot of these players probably think, "everyone else is doing it, I've got to stay competitive." And if all you desired was fame, attention, and glory, then steroids would be an easy answer. Unfortunately, we'll never know who's using and who isn't. Whether players get tested or not isn't going to be mandated by a magazine columnist. Ultimately, it comes down the fans. Speaking as someone who loves the game of baseball, it's disgusting that these players are binding together to collectively avoid being tested for something that undermines their credibility, takes away from the game's integrity, and shrinks their testicles! Nobody pays these players to play except for the fans. How sad would it be for people to be forced to stop attending games and buying jerseys in order for these stupid players to take notice and show some respect.
Wednesday, July 03, 2002
Tuesday, July 02, 2002
Chocolat
I got a email forward from an old friend today called "The Man Code" (the email, not the friend). Normally, I don't read forwards, but because this friend doesn't send stuff that often, I figured it would be pretty good. Basically, it was a list of rules that guys should follow when it comes to stuff like girls and beer. It's short but amusing and for anyone who's interested in a quick read, I can forward it to you.
This "Man Code" thing was especially funny to me because the first rule on the list was "Thou shalt not rent the movie Chocolat." The thing is, I actually did get that movie this past year, but I will explain. Mostly it happened because I was picking out movies with my sister and girlfriend, you might say that was a big mistake right there. When you are outnumbered in gender, you're basically screwed. But before you start judging me anyways for succumbing to the choosing of Chocolat, let me say that girls in general are impossible to pick movies with. Either they have seen every movie on the shelf already, or they're not "in the mood for that kind of movie," or they find that either Denise Richards too much of a hoe or some actor is too "crusty" for that movie to be rented.
So what happened that night was, as always, we couldn't decide what movie to get. I think Chocolat was one of the recent releases or whatever, but I guess we were standing by that section looking kind of bewildered and indecisive. Then, for some reason, this one guy took it upon himself to tell us that "Chocolat? That's a pretty good movie." I gave him a "ummm... right" look but he continued, "It's not a chick movie at all, I highly suggest you guys get it." I guess in a moment of weakness, and going against my better judgement, I was like, "ok, why not, it will save us 20 more minutes of figuring out what to get."
As the story goes, we watched the movie, and it wasn't horrible like I figured it would be. I've always believed that the main factor in determining whether or not people like a movie is a ratio of their expectations to the actual quality. So, since I thought it would suck, the movie exceeded those expectations and I thought it was alright (same could go the other way, everyone expected Star Wars Episode I to be awesome, and even though it was a pretty good movie in my opinion, people said it was terrible). Still, contrary to what Blockbuster-Man said, Chocolat was very much a chick movie. I'd rather be shot than have to watch it with other guys. I don't know why that random guy told us it wasn't a chick flick. Maybe he was playing a cruel joke on me, but I don't think that was it. He didn't seem like the gay type either. I figure he was just dumb, or maybe "dropped his balls somewhere and forgot to pick them up," as a cruder friend of mine would probably put it.
OWW and i just squirted some juice in my eye trying to eat corn on the cob.
The moral of the story here, if there is one, is two-fold. First, do not listen to the recommendations of a stranger you have never met when it comes to choosing a movie to rent. You can't just assume that other people (who you know nothing about) have your best interests in mind, and more likely than not, you would have been better off picking a movie yourself. Second, at all costs, resist the urge to help other people out in the video store, no matter how badly it looks like they need help. Mind your own forking business. If, for some inexplicable reason, you absolutely must say something, or if some people at Blockbuster break that rule I just explained above and ask you for help, try to be as discreet as possible. Avoid recommending movies like Chocolat, which I consider to be more "of questionable nature." Typically, Adam Sandler movies are pretty good choices, unless it's a 60 year old Chinese grandma asking, but then again, I've never seen any of those at the video store. Otherwise, a polite shrug and "sorry, I don't know what to tell you" will do. If you have problems remembering these two things, simply refer to my Chocolat story. Because of my ignorance, disaster struck and the Man Code was broken.
I got a email forward from an old friend today called "The Man Code" (the email, not the friend). Normally, I don't read forwards, but because this friend doesn't send stuff that often, I figured it would be pretty good. Basically, it was a list of rules that guys should follow when it comes to stuff like girls and beer. It's short but amusing and for anyone who's interested in a quick read, I can forward it to you.
This "Man Code" thing was especially funny to me because the first rule on the list was "Thou shalt not rent the movie Chocolat." The thing is, I actually did get that movie this past year, but I will explain. Mostly it happened because I was picking out movies with my sister and girlfriend, you might say that was a big mistake right there. When you are outnumbered in gender, you're basically screwed. But before you start judging me anyways for succumbing to the choosing of Chocolat, let me say that girls in general are impossible to pick movies with. Either they have seen every movie on the shelf already, or they're not "in the mood for that kind of movie," or they find that either Denise Richards too much of a hoe or some actor is too "crusty" for that movie to be rented.
So what happened that night was, as always, we couldn't decide what movie to get. I think Chocolat was one of the recent releases or whatever, but I guess we were standing by that section looking kind of bewildered and indecisive. Then, for some reason, this one guy took it upon himself to tell us that "Chocolat? That's a pretty good movie." I gave him a "ummm... right" look but he continued, "It's not a chick movie at all, I highly suggest you guys get it." I guess in a moment of weakness, and going against my better judgement, I was like, "ok, why not, it will save us 20 more minutes of figuring out what to get."
As the story goes, we watched the movie, and it wasn't horrible like I figured it would be. I've always believed that the main factor in determining whether or not people like a movie is a ratio of their expectations to the actual quality. So, since I thought it would suck, the movie exceeded those expectations and I thought it was alright (same could go the other way, everyone expected Star Wars Episode I to be awesome, and even though it was a pretty good movie in my opinion, people said it was terrible). Still, contrary to what Blockbuster-Man said, Chocolat was very much a chick movie. I'd rather be shot than have to watch it with other guys. I don't know why that random guy told us it wasn't a chick flick. Maybe he was playing a cruel joke on me, but I don't think that was it. He didn't seem like the gay type either. I figure he was just dumb, or maybe "dropped his balls somewhere and forgot to pick them up," as a cruder friend of mine would probably put it.
OWW and i just squirted some juice in my eye trying to eat corn on the cob.
The moral of the story here, if there is one, is two-fold. First, do not listen to the recommendations of a stranger you have never met when it comes to choosing a movie to rent. You can't just assume that other people (who you know nothing about) have your best interests in mind, and more likely than not, you would have been better off picking a movie yourself. Second, at all costs, resist the urge to help other people out in the video store, no matter how badly it looks like they need help. Mind your own forking business. If, for some inexplicable reason, you absolutely must say something, or if some people at Blockbuster break that rule I just explained above and ask you for help, try to be as discreet as possible. Avoid recommending movies like Chocolat, which I consider to be more "of questionable nature." Typically, Adam Sandler movies are pretty good choices, unless it's a 60 year old Chinese grandma asking, but then again, I've never seen any of those at the video store. Otherwise, a polite shrug and "sorry, I don't know what to tell you" will do. If you have problems remembering these two things, simply refer to my Chocolat story. Because of my ignorance, disaster struck and the Man Code was broken.
Monday, July 01, 2002
PMS
Ok, so it probably isn't such a good idea to write about this topic, but I was reading this (congrats on starting a blog, Bees), and had some thoughts of my own. I am probably gonna regret this when girls start sending me nasty hate-filled emails and boycotting my blog.
I should first acknowledge the fact that as a male, I have never personally experienced PMS, and this fact alone will probably severely weaken whatever arguments I try to make. But hear me out, because I have observed this phenomenon at close range and I would be willing to bet that I know more about this subject than the typical guy.
There's no doubt in my mind that PMS exists, so don't think I'm trying to deny that. For the most part, I'm not trying to counter that blog I linked above, but more to add and throw in my ten cents (my two cents is free... yes that's from Eminem sorry but I hear that song like 60 times an hour). She gives a pretty complete list of symptoms: acne, backache, bloating, fatigue, headache, and sore breasts. Unfortunately, she left out the most obvious symptom of all, which is "making everyone around you flat-out miserable for a few days."
It's not my goal to be insensitive here, but I just can't accept the fact that PMS in itself makes it ok to unleash hell on innocent bystanders. It's understandable that hormonal imbalances have a huge influence on your physical and emotional state. Like I said, I've never had the experience of FSH and LH running wild in my own body, so forgive me. What I imagine the feeling of PMS to be like is being sick with headaches, discomfort, etc., and not being able to think too clearly as if you had taken some drowsy cough medicine or something. As a result of being physically and mentally hampered, one is more likely to snap when certain things happen, like if you do bad on a test, chip a nail, or your boyfriend has a Britney Spears sticker in his wallet. Sounds reasonable enough, wouldn't you say.
The thing is, I guess it's ok to expect others to be more reasonable when you're going through hormonal stress - but only to a certain point. It's like when some people get drunk, they are more likely to get into fights, say reckless things, basically do things that they will regret once they sober up. Even though it's probably cause of alcohol, it doesn't make it all ok. Your judgement is impaired, but you haven't completely lost control. Same with PMS, hormones are making you prone to become irritable and angry, but you can't just lash out whenever you want at whoever you want and expect that people will just understand. I realize that some people are affected by PMS more than others, maybe like some people have more control over their temper, but being mean to people who don't really deserve it and laying the whole blame on PMS is like coming home from work and kicking your dog because your boss yelled at you. It's not like you're doing it for no reason; just that it's not a very good one. As for me, I think I do try to be more nicer when I know someone is not feeling well in general, whether it's from PMS or just the flu or they are going through depression or something.
When it comes to medicine, this is one thing where I probably won't be able to diss people for taking something to feel better, because like I said, I've never experienced PMS myself. Also, maybe I should take back a little of what I said before about medicine, because someone has already called me a Luddite (if you don't know what a Luddite is, look up Ned Ludd in Google or something). I am not a Luddite, but I was just pointing out that whenever it's possible to avoid taking medicine, it will probably be better for your health in the long run to do so. Cancer and ulcers were just examples, I don't know if Advil actually causes either. I have a strong inkling that caffeine is bad though, so coffee drinkers should watch out. Since I don't know that much about what causes a lot of things, like cancer, or birth defects, appendicitis, or hiccups, I believe in keeping my life as simple as possible. I used the example of people 200 years ago, who didn't have all these new drugs but did okay. It's still a valid point, but I do understand that in today's world, there are times when you can't afford to lose a couple days to illness and taking a Tylenol is worth it. Just don't get too dependent on all these new supposed-wonder drugs, because everything has a side effect. There was a time when a drug named fen-phen was supposed to help people lose weight just by taking a pill. Everyone thought it was awesome but now we know that it causes heart disease. Not trying to make everyone paranoid, but people should have known better than to trust everything to a little pill. So I'm not gonna say that you should never take medicine for anything, just don't rely on it too much.
Ok, so it probably isn't such a good idea to write about this topic, but I was reading this (congrats on starting a blog, Bees), and had some thoughts of my own. I am probably gonna regret this when girls start sending me nasty hate-filled emails and boycotting my blog.
I should first acknowledge the fact that as a male, I have never personally experienced PMS, and this fact alone will probably severely weaken whatever arguments I try to make. But hear me out, because I have observed this phenomenon at close range and I would be willing to bet that I know more about this subject than the typical guy.
There's no doubt in my mind that PMS exists, so don't think I'm trying to deny that. For the most part, I'm not trying to counter that blog I linked above, but more to add and throw in my ten cents (my two cents is free... yes that's from Eminem sorry but I hear that song like 60 times an hour). She gives a pretty complete list of symptoms: acne, backache, bloating, fatigue, headache, and sore breasts. Unfortunately, she left out the most obvious symptom of all, which is "making everyone around you flat-out miserable for a few days."
It's not my goal to be insensitive here, but I just can't accept the fact that PMS in itself makes it ok to unleash hell on innocent bystanders. It's understandable that hormonal imbalances have a huge influence on your physical and emotional state. Like I said, I've never had the experience of FSH and LH running wild in my own body, so forgive me. What I imagine the feeling of PMS to be like is being sick with headaches, discomfort, etc., and not being able to think too clearly as if you had taken some drowsy cough medicine or something. As a result of being physically and mentally hampered, one is more likely to snap when certain things happen, like if you do bad on a test, chip a nail, or your boyfriend has a Britney Spears sticker in his wallet. Sounds reasonable enough, wouldn't you say.
The thing is, I guess it's ok to expect others to be more reasonable when you're going through hormonal stress - but only to a certain point. It's like when some people get drunk, they are more likely to get into fights, say reckless things, basically do things that they will regret once they sober up. Even though it's probably cause of alcohol, it doesn't make it all ok. Your judgement is impaired, but you haven't completely lost control. Same with PMS, hormones are making you prone to become irritable and angry, but you can't just lash out whenever you want at whoever you want and expect that people will just understand. I realize that some people are affected by PMS more than others, maybe like some people have more control over their temper, but being mean to people who don't really deserve it and laying the whole blame on PMS is like coming home from work and kicking your dog because your boss yelled at you. It's not like you're doing it for no reason; just that it's not a very good one. As for me, I think I do try to be more nicer when I know someone is not feeling well in general, whether it's from PMS or just the flu or they are going through depression or something.
When it comes to medicine, this is one thing where I probably won't be able to diss people for taking something to feel better, because like I said, I've never experienced PMS myself. Also, maybe I should take back a little of what I said before about medicine, because someone has already called me a Luddite (if you don't know what a Luddite is, look up Ned Ludd in Google or something). I am not a Luddite, but I was just pointing out that whenever it's possible to avoid taking medicine, it will probably be better for your health in the long run to do so. Cancer and ulcers were just examples, I don't know if Advil actually causes either. I have a strong inkling that caffeine is bad though, so coffee drinkers should watch out. Since I don't know that much about what causes a lot of things, like cancer, or birth defects, appendicitis, or hiccups, I believe in keeping my life as simple as possible. I used the example of people 200 years ago, who didn't have all these new drugs but did okay. It's still a valid point, but I do understand that in today's world, there are times when you can't afford to lose a couple days to illness and taking a Tylenol is worth it. Just don't get too dependent on all these new supposed-wonder drugs, because everything has a side effect. There was a time when a drug named fen-phen was supposed to help people lose weight just by taking a pill. Everyone thought it was awesome but now we know that it causes heart disease. Not trying to make everyone paranoid, but people should have known better than to trust everything to a little pill. So I'm not gonna say that you should never take medicine for anything, just don't rely on it too much.
Summer
We've all heard that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes (I'm not sure if this was originally said by Aristotle or Ben Franklin). I've recently found that there are two certainties in summer: weddings and moving. During the past couple days, I've attended my cousin's wedding and helped Olivia move into her apartment, thus the revelation. Another stunning observation is that summer is hot. I must have sweated off 20 pounds today.
But actually, the heat is one thing I can bear about summer. It's the construction that drives me nuts. Every freaking year without fail, they are tearing up some major highway and slowing traffic to a near halt for nearly a whole summer. I don't understand, is there some law to ensure that people must be stuck in traffic for a certain amount of hours per year? I could swear that right now on I-55, they are blocking off an entire lane when they probably won't even work on it for another month. Someone, somewhere is laughing at this cruel joke being played on us.
Plus, you'd think with how technologically advanced our society is today, what with tiny cell phones, electric cars, and computer mouses with a wheel in the middle to scroll up/down within a window, they could have found some more advanced methods to pave roads. Come on, you civil engineers out there. All I know is that no matter how pretty and nice they make the roads after construction, in like 2 years or less they are back on the same road fixing it because it is ripped up again. Simply pathetic, and it's almost suspicious. I don't really want to accuse these construction companies of sabotaging their own work so the government will have to keep paying them, but is there really no way to pave our roads with some longer-lasting material? Hard to swallow.
One thing that amuses me about construction is those signs that say "Please slow down, my daddy works here. Signed, Katie." It's cute enough of an idea, but how many people actually think there is a sweet little girl named Katie somewhere who made that sign. Anyways, usually when I see that sign, it's late at night when no construction workers are around anyways. Otherwise, it's during the day and I am moving at 5 mph if lucky. If I slow down, I will be going backwards. Is that what you wanted, Katie, telling me to slow down so I can stop and say hi to your daddy? I really wonder how much good those signs do, but honestly, I hope they do end up saving some lives somehow. Maybe if they are shown to be effective, the government can erect some billboards around the country: "Please don't fly a plane into this building, my mommy/daddy works here. Signed, Timmy, Amber, Nicky, Ashley, Keisha, Jiang-Wen, etc..." Well, probably not. There's really no chance in hell that would ever work, especially because it seems that terrorists are generally meaner than the typical person. Yeah, don't even get me started on terrorists.
We've all heard that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes (I'm not sure if this was originally said by Aristotle or Ben Franklin). I've recently found that there are two certainties in summer: weddings and moving. During the past couple days, I've attended my cousin's wedding and helped Olivia move into her apartment, thus the revelation. Another stunning observation is that summer is hot. I must have sweated off 20 pounds today.
But actually, the heat is one thing I can bear about summer. It's the construction that drives me nuts. Every freaking year without fail, they are tearing up some major highway and slowing traffic to a near halt for nearly a whole summer. I don't understand, is there some law to ensure that people must be stuck in traffic for a certain amount of hours per year? I could swear that right now on I-55, they are blocking off an entire lane when they probably won't even work on it for another month. Someone, somewhere is laughing at this cruel joke being played on us.
Plus, you'd think with how technologically advanced our society is today, what with tiny cell phones, electric cars, and computer mouses with a wheel in the middle to scroll up/down within a window, they could have found some more advanced methods to pave roads. Come on, you civil engineers out there. All I know is that no matter how pretty and nice they make the roads after construction, in like 2 years or less they are back on the same road fixing it because it is ripped up again. Simply pathetic, and it's almost suspicious. I don't really want to accuse these construction companies of sabotaging their own work so the government will have to keep paying them, but is there really no way to pave our roads with some longer-lasting material? Hard to swallow.
One thing that amuses me about construction is those signs that say "Please slow down, my daddy works here. Signed, Katie." It's cute enough of an idea, but how many people actually think there is a sweet little girl named Katie somewhere who made that sign. Anyways, usually when I see that sign, it's late at night when no construction workers are around anyways. Otherwise, it's during the day and I am moving at 5 mph if lucky. If I slow down, I will be going backwards. Is that what you wanted, Katie, telling me to slow down so I can stop and say hi to your daddy? I really wonder how much good those signs do, but honestly, I hope they do end up saving some lives somehow. Maybe if they are shown to be effective, the government can erect some billboards around the country: "Please don't fly a plane into this building, my mommy/daddy works here. Signed, Timmy, Amber, Nicky, Ashley, Keisha, Jiang-Wen, etc..." Well, probably not. There's really no chance in hell that would ever work, especially because it seems that terrorists are generally meaner than the typical person. Yeah, don't even get me started on terrorists.
Friday, June 28, 2002
Joseph Chen
It might sound kind of dumb to write about this, but throughout my life I have found, to my dismay, that there are many other Joseph Chens in this world. It only figures, because Chen is one of the most popular Chinese names, and Joseph is a Biblical name which is also very popular, at least in the Western world. So I guess my mom and dad, in addition to the many other mom and dads named Chen, put the two together and a brand spankin new little Joe Chen is born. People named David Kim or Esther Lee probably know exactly what I'm talking about here.
One of the guys my Dad did business with in Taiwan when I was little was named Joseph Chen, and I remember he had a business card which I always wanted to get. What a 8 year old kid needs a business card for, I don't know. So back then and there, I knew there was another Joseph Chen in this world, which I guess might have seemed cool for a little kid. Then, when I lived in Taiwan my freshman year of high school, there was a guy named Joseph Chen there at Taipei American School, who happened to be the same year as me too. Even better, the lockers there were assigned by alphabetical order so his locker was right above mine. Suprisingly, though, our paths crossed only a few times that year. I think the longest conversation we had went something like this:
Him: Oh, so you're the other Joseph Chen I heard about
Me: Yep, that's me
Him: That's kind of weird, man
Me: You don't say
Him: Ok, well vote for me, Student Council Treasurer next week
Me: Yeah, ok I will
Seriously, that was about it. And even that much was somewhat awkward. After that, I don't think I met any more same-name buddies in person. But recently, when I was trying to sign up for a new email account to replace my students UIUC email, I ran into some problems. I think a lot of other people basically just transferred their students ID to a yahoo or hotmail ID. Pretty standard, really. (that's a line from Dr. Evil, if you didn't know. Austin Powers III, July 26th anyone?)
Unfortunately, it didn't work out that simple for me. First I tried entering "jychen@yahoo.com" but that was taken. "Fiddlesticks," I cursed... but to no avail, someone else got there before me so what could I do. Yahoo is pretty big, and to be fair, they probably weren't all named Joseph Chen anyways. I figure there's got to be quite a bunch of Joshes, Jameses, Jeffs, Johns, maybe even a couple Juwanna Chens too. So I moved on and tried "josephchen@yahoo.com" but that didn't work either. Now I was kind of mad. I thought about hunting down that kid from TAS cause it was probably him, but common sense won out.
The last straw was when I tried "josephychen@yahoo.com," and that didn't work. No, I am not joking. I wanted to throw the computer out the window. Someone else is named Joseph Y. Chen, and registered his name on Yahoo??? What kind of crap is that! I was getting so mad I couldn't think straight, and I even tried to rationalize that maybe there was someone named "Josephy Chen" before I realized that I was losing it. Yahoo was no help either, they offered me the accounts "josephychen1980@yahoo.com" and "josephychen1@yahoo.com" as alternatives. Yeah right, like I'm gonna be that desperate to use an email like that. "josephychen@yahoo.com" is already more tedious than I wanted, why would I sink even lower to be "josephychen1"?
So in case you are wondering what I ended up doing, I just stuck to my original "dudo509@yahoo.com" account. Yes, good old dudo509, lets just hope nobody else gets that nickname. So my resume now lists "dudo509@yahoo.com" as my email, which probably doesn't sound too professional, but if potential employers have a problem with that, I don't really care anymore. They can email me at "bite.me@screwyou.com" if it makes them happy. I'm definitely not going through any more of this stress just to find a more official sounding address.
It might sound kind of dumb to write about this, but throughout my life I have found, to my dismay, that there are many other Joseph Chens in this world. It only figures, because Chen is one of the most popular Chinese names, and Joseph is a Biblical name which is also very popular, at least in the Western world. So I guess my mom and dad, in addition to the many other mom and dads named Chen, put the two together and a brand spankin new little Joe Chen is born. People named David Kim or Esther Lee probably know exactly what I'm talking about here.
One of the guys my Dad did business with in Taiwan when I was little was named Joseph Chen, and I remember he had a business card which I always wanted to get. What a 8 year old kid needs a business card for, I don't know. So back then and there, I knew there was another Joseph Chen in this world, which I guess might have seemed cool for a little kid. Then, when I lived in Taiwan my freshman year of high school, there was a guy named Joseph Chen there at Taipei American School, who happened to be the same year as me too. Even better, the lockers there were assigned by alphabetical order so his locker was right above mine. Suprisingly, though, our paths crossed only a few times that year. I think the longest conversation we had went something like this:
Him: Oh, so you're the other Joseph Chen I heard about
Me: Yep, that's me
Him: That's kind of weird, man
Me: You don't say
Him: Ok, well vote for me, Student Council Treasurer next week
Me: Yeah, ok I will
Seriously, that was about it. And even that much was somewhat awkward. After that, I don't think I met any more same-name buddies in person. But recently, when I was trying to sign up for a new email account to replace my students UIUC email, I ran into some problems. I think a lot of other people basically just transferred their students ID to a yahoo or hotmail ID. Pretty standard, really. (that's a line from Dr. Evil, if you didn't know. Austin Powers III, July 26th anyone?)
Unfortunately, it didn't work out that simple for me. First I tried entering "jychen@yahoo.com" but that was taken. "Fiddlesticks," I cursed... but to no avail, someone else got there before me so what could I do. Yahoo is pretty big, and to be fair, they probably weren't all named Joseph Chen anyways. I figure there's got to be quite a bunch of Joshes, Jameses, Jeffs, Johns, maybe even a couple Juwanna Chens too. So I moved on and tried "josephchen@yahoo.com" but that didn't work either. Now I was kind of mad. I thought about hunting down that kid from TAS cause it was probably him, but common sense won out.
The last straw was when I tried "josephychen@yahoo.com," and that didn't work. No, I am not joking. I wanted to throw the computer out the window. Someone else is named Joseph Y. Chen, and registered his name on Yahoo??? What kind of crap is that! I was getting so mad I couldn't think straight, and I even tried to rationalize that maybe there was someone named "Josephy Chen" before I realized that I was losing it. Yahoo was no help either, they offered me the accounts "josephychen1980@yahoo.com" and "josephychen1@yahoo.com" as alternatives. Yeah right, like I'm gonna be that desperate to use an email like that. "josephychen@yahoo.com" is already more tedious than I wanted, why would I sink even lower to be "josephychen1"?
So in case you are wondering what I ended up doing, I just stuck to my original "dudo509@yahoo.com" account. Yes, good old dudo509, lets just hope nobody else gets that nickname. So my resume now lists "dudo509@yahoo.com" as my email, which probably doesn't sound too professional, but if potential employers have a problem with that, I don't really care anymore. They can email me at "bite.me@screwyou.com" if it makes them happy. I'm definitely not going through any more of this stress just to find a more official sounding address.
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