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.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
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....
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....
Friday, September 19, 2003
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
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
Thursday, September 18, 2003
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
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.
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.
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