I'm thinking, I'm thinking

Interesting Choice of Advertisement

2005-10-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

On the Metro, there is an advertisement for Juniper Networks, a company that helps people telecommute (or so I infer from the displays). The ads all involve the rat race, and jamming yourself into crowded and dirty subway trains. I'm surprised by the decision by the Metro system to carry an advertisement series that ridicules the Metro. It seems that every person who does telecommute as a result of these ads would be a loss to the revenue of the Metro, especially since the target audience of these ads pay more because of rush-hour fare.

"Making Schools Work"

2005-10-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

I love PBS because it has many interesting programs. I'm currently watching "Making Schools Work" which discusses programs that are helping public schools improve their performance in a variety of climates, across a variety of ethnic groups.

The first program that they are covering is an intensive 90 minute reading program. In first grade, every day is started with an aggressive 90 minute reading lesson to the point where teachers were commenting on the amount of relearning and reworking of the curriculum that they had to do. This challenge is good. Students need to be challenged. People, especially kids, have an amazing amount of resilience and ability to adapt. Physically, if you want to get stronger you have to push your muscles beyond their norm and they will be sore the next day. However, after a while, the muscles will become stronger. Likewise, mentally, people need to be challenged. There is the caveat that like muscles, the mind must be rested and there should lots of positive encouragement. However, doling out copious positive encouragement does not preclude copious work.

The second program that they covered dealt with social issues. The related anecdote is that a mother didn't pick up her daughter up from school because she was high. The school hired her as a parent assistant to keep an eye on her. Because the mother was in school constantly, she didn't have an opportunity to smoke up and eventually, she became a helpful staff member. In addition, the school has social workers on-site to deal with anger and depression issues.

All in all, these programs are all good but they all have something in common - more time, more people, more resources. Of all the things to skimp on, why make it education?

Legacy

2005-10-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

We all want some sort of legacy when we leave a place. At my last school, I felt like a small fish in a large pond because everyone there was so talented and motivated. I always felt very middling. I wasn't so talented that people would view me as "wicked smaht" and I was definitely not motivated enough to be the type of person who excelled in multiple extra-curriculars. Because of this, I don't think I've been the best alum even though I do owe my alma mater quite a bit (for example, it taught me the meaning of mental anguish).

However, in a recent letter to alums, the new President of my alma mater mentioned two exceptional students as examples as why alums should give back to MIT. One of the alums is a volunteer in a program that I helped to start so when I read it, I felt this warm fuzzy feeling inside. Back then, it didn't seem like much, but the fact that the program is still running after 6 years is refreshing. Now I just have to save up so I can give back to that program.

Making Light of the Situation

2005-09-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

There was a commercial recently on Fox for Fox Local News (the news that comes on at 10 PM, not the kind with Bill O'Reilly). The investigative story was for a person who was misdiagnosed and ended up being partially paralyzed. The video clip for this investigative story had clips of the paralyzed lady interweaved with clips of the Fox show House. I know that televisions channel want to hype themselves but this seems somewhat callous. To use a story about a lady being paralyzed by misdiagnosis as a cheap advertisement for the show "House?" Wow...

Statement of the Day

2005-09-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

A statement by CEO of the Warner Music Group Edgar Bronfman Jr:
“We are selling our songs through iPod, but we don’t have a share of iPod’s revenue. We want to share in those revenue streams. We have to get out of the mindset that our content has promotional value only... We have to keep thinking how we are going to monetize our product for our shareholders. We are the arms supplier in the device wars between Samsung, Sony, Apple, and others.”

Wow, no wonder people dislike record labels.

Statement of the Day

2005-09-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to do this and finally I have my act together enough to find a quotation and write about it.

"We're not aware of everything we've published," Sanfilippo said. "Back in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, there were no electronic files for those books." (Associated Press, 9/18/2005)

Tony Sanfilippo is the Penn State Press's marketing and sales directory and he is talking about Google's decision to scan books to be made available for searching via the Internet. Google has said that publisher's can submit a list of books that they do not want scanned and Google will not scan them, in the same manner that website owners can request that Google not index them. While I agree that in light of current copyright law, it's backwards and instead Google should be asking the publishers' permission to scan and display the books, this statement gives a clear example of what is wrong with copyright law. Mr. Sanfilippo is basically admitting that they haven't recently published (or sold) a lot of books from the 50's through the 70's, because if they had recently published them, they would indeed have electronic files on these books. However, because they own the copyright to these books, they can continue to deprive the rest of America and the world the ability to read them, for no good reason other than because they can. It's like that old philosophical question: if you own the rights to a book but don't know what the book is, do you really own the rights to the book?

Total BS

2005-09-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

The NFL hosed the New Orleans Saints by having them play in New York for their first "home opener." In the first quarter, the Saints had to call a time-out because the crowd was too loud. Now, there are all sorts of unsportsmanlike conduct flags being thrown on both teams, which is always a cheesy way out because someone had to start the fight. As Michael Wilbon pointed out, there are many other stadiums in the Louisiana, Mississippi, and even the Eastern Texas area but instead the NFL decided to play in New York.

Who's in the Kitchen

2005-09-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been in a mood to eat a lot of Chinese food. I've really missed it since leaving Boston, partly because the food here is slightly inferior (well, depending on where you go, it could be massively inferior) and because without my parents, I'm not sure what to order (I can't read Chinese, a real shame).

To alleviate my craving, I decided to try my hand at making Chinese dumplings. My parents used to make this for me and it was a family activity, wrapping the meat in the dumplings skins. It was a nice casual group activity that would feed the family for a couple of days. My parents told me that when they were younger, they and their friends would make a whole bunch of them together. Some friends at college did that too. They would spend one afternoon a month making dumplings and freeze them to heat up later.

My first attempt at making dumplings went pretty well. They tasted correct (which is always an important thing) and I figured out some adjustments that I need to make for next time.

If You Eat a Lot Of Beans

2005-09-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Don't be surprised if you fart during a date...

I am a firm believer in karma, not for any supernatural reason but because of human nature, economics, and probability (as well as basic physics). If you embezzle money, then there is a great likelihood that you might be paranoid, or at least very jumpy. The more money you embezzle, the more nervous you may become which will cause you to enjoy life less. On the other hand, if you are not paranoid or nervous, then your confidence may lead you to overlook something which will get you caught. Either way, the act is not without its trade-offs. Of course, there are occasionally those who pull it off without losing either their happiness or their freedom but for mostly, they will lose one or another.

It's economics on a single individual level. For every choice, every decision, there are positives and some negatives. Sometimes the net outcome of a choice is not immediately apparent. For example, contributing to your 401k while you are 25 might not seem like the most glamorous thing but when you are 65, it'll seem like a good choice. On the other hand, taxes are a historic low so perhaps a 401k isn't the best choice and instead a Roth IRA is a better choice. Or perhaps its better to just spend the money on a nice vacation. However, either way you make a decision and have to accept the consequences. Therefore, sometimes lack of foresight is not an excuse for failure.

Of course, there are some things that you can't account for but that's for another time.

When Does

2005-09-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Coincidence stop being coincidence and start becoming an underlying theme? Recently, race has been in everyone's mind because of Hurricane Katrina. Kanye West's simple sentence spoke volumes about how he and 3/4 of blacks feel they have been treated by the federal government. Two captions in the Associated Press spoke volumes about how quite a few white people view blacks. There was a recent report about how, although people of each race are pulled over at the same rate, there is a higher percentage of black and hispanics who have their cars searched and/or are arrested. In fact, the head of the department that published that report resigned in protest because he felt that the White House was trying to suppress the full facts of the report.

Most recently, there was a report published the researchers at the Federal Reserve that states that "blacks and Hispanics are getting a disproportionate share of high-cost mortgages compared with whites" (Link to article here). The analysis showed that even after adjusting for factors such as loan size, income level, and property location, blacks are still nearly twice as likely as whites to be given a high-cost loan. This data is significant. America is a country that has always been obsessed with homes and land ownership. In fact, the Constitution almost read, "life, liberty, and land" instead of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Now, data comes out and essentially says that blacks must pay more for the same parcel of land than whites.

George Will recently said that there are three simple rules for avoiding poverty: graduate from high school, don't have a baby until you are married, don't marry while you are a teenager. When you grow up in a nice neighborhood and go to a nice accredited school, not only is it an admirable goal, it is also decently achievable. However, when you start life under the poverty line, going to a substandard school, it's not quite as easy, especially when the quality of your school is tied to the property value of your home. And if you're black, then you can't afford a good house because you have to pay more on your mortgage. Ahhh wonderful, the cycle of hosing isn't it?

How Far Will You Go?

2005-09-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

How far does your loyalty to an organization, to a person go? Trade your future, your dignity, give up golden opportunities? Just a thought. How loyal are you to your values, to yourself?

The Ultimate Fans

2005-09-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

I would also like to apologize for not posting in a while. My company had a huge conference and I was caught up in preparing for it, participating for it, and then cleaning up after it. It was a rousing success and definitely a fun experience.

Here's a story about the ultimate fan experience:
I play in an amateur hockey league. Amateur hockey is broken up into leagues (A, B, C), where A is the best and consists of guys who played for Division I teams back in college and C consists of people like me who learned how to play three years ago. In fact, C league is further broken down into C1 and C2 where C2 is really bad where C1 is merely somewhat bad. I play in C2.

In our league, the first-place team has two players that are far too good for the league. In addition, these two players are real jerks. During our last game against the team, one of them took out a guy on our team and laughed when our teammate had to leave the ice injured. When we told the guy that our teammate had had surgery on his knee before, the guy just laughed harder. The other guy checked me (we play in a non-checking league) when we were nowhere near the puck. For the rest of the game after he got out of the box, he constantly would taunt me by asking me how much I liked the hit and if I wanted another. He would charge at me and then stop suddenly to see if I would flinch and when I didn't, he would say, "Good job, little buddy." Quite frankly, this guy was a real asshole.

So after a game we had during the weekend, some of our team stuck around to drink beer and eat pizza in the stands while we watched the next game. We had enough beer that we stuck around for the third and final game of the night. Some of the guys from both teams of the second game of the night joined us. When we found out that the first-place team was playing, everyone on all three teams started talking about the two defensemen on the first-place team, the two aforementioned jerks.

At first, it started off as pockets of jeers. When those two defensemen got scored on, we would shout out, "Change the D" and "Watch that plus/minus go down." People also started calling them the "C2 Superstars" and the superstars responded. They told us to come down on the ice and face them like men and they would taunt us back. Finally, we organized the heckling. Everytime one of them would touch the puck, we would start making a "woop-woop" alarm sound. Everytime one of them scored or got a penalty, we would start booing lustily.

Finally, one of them cracked. He banged his stick against the wall and started giving us the finger (not really easy to do with hockey gloves on). I would like to add that at this point, his team was up 12-3. Finally he got thrown into the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Once he got into the box, he kept going so the referee threw him out of the game. We clapped loudly. A few minutes later, the other cracked. He got a penalty and as we booed him, he pushed the other team's player. The captain of the other team took exception and charged him where the two attempted to get in a fight before the referee broke up the action. We cheered the captain and offered him beer. After watching a few more minutes, one of the fans commented, "Wow, now this looks like a real C2 game."

All in all, this was the best fan experience ever. Every fan hopes for that one chance to actually make a (legal) difference in a game and I'm pretty sure that getting two bruisers ejected from a game rates up there.

To amateur hockey!

The Ultimate in...

2005-08-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

Laziness. Unlike my fellow bloggers, the Prophet, the Prodigy, and the Jaded (or is it just Jaded?), I don't bother linking to articles. Recently, I read an article in the Washington Post about how restaurants included a low-fat option in their menus in order to appease what they meausred to be consumer desires. Instead, the low-fat options have not sold well and companies have lost money on it. Meanwhile, people have continued to enjoy eating unhealthy foods. While some could say that restaurants miscalculated by not considering the entire point of people going out to eat or the cost and taste of low-fat healthy food, that is a principle part of the problem of listening to consumers. Consumers know exactly what they want: perfection. However, as I learned from a class at my school, perfection is the enemy of good.

This search for perfection applies to other aspects of life as well. Sometimes when people search for something perfect, they miss all the good things out there. And since there is reasonable debate whether perfection exists, is it worth missing all the great things out there for an elusive goal.

New Rule

2005-08-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

New Rule:
If you decide to reprint nothing more than a transcript of your television show, you can't charge twenty-five dollars for it. In fact, you can only charge for the paper and ink it cost to make the book. While I love Bill Maher's new show, Real Time, his latest book, "New Rules: Musings of a Timid Observer" which is nothing more than the "New Rules" part of his show condensed into a book, is a cheap commercial ploy that you would hope someone like Bill wouldn't stoop to. Twenty-five bucks for a reprinting of the show transcripts? I can pay twenty-five bucks and probably buy the DVD of the entire show. Heck, twenty-five bucks is what I pay for the crappy movie remake of a movie that I've already seen. So put it out in paperback and charge the $5.95 you actually deserve.

New Drug Commercial

2005-08-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Remember how catchy that old drug commercial was with the brain and the eggs and this is your brain on drugs? I just saw this era's iteration of that commercial. It's a video of a kid sitting in a cafeteria and he's singing a song that goes like this:

"Ba ba black sheep, have you any E
Yes sir, yes sir, first hit's free."

Wow, creepy, funny, and scary at the same time.

A-ha

2005-08-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

I want to elaborate more on that one line that I posted yesterday. I, unlike some other posters, get around to finishing off thoughts from previous posts. You know who you are :-P.

My freshman year in college, I lived with two other students in a dorm room. All three of us had very different schedules. I was still on high school time and would go to bed early and wake up early. Another one of my roommates went to bed very late and would therefore wake up very late as well. The last roommate preferred to sleep during the day and sometimes I would see him going to bed when I got up. Between the three of us, there was the constant glow of two very overworked fluorescent tubes in our room. This schedule was okay because we were in college and time is very flexible then.

Now, I find myself working a full-time job as a member of "real world." Luckily, my company has a flexible schedule; as long as people work eight hours, they pretty much have control over the actual hours. Add in remote log-ins and staff in different countries and pretty much people are always working for my company at any given hour of the day. This is becoming the same at many other companies. Since some percentage of the population naturally enjoys being awake later during the day or even the night, it is not unreasonable to think that they would work the night shifts at their respecitve companies. Now the question becomes, how much longer until our society goes 24/7? At some point, there will be enough people who are awake at night that they will need additional services (i.e. enough people are hungry at 5 in the morning to warrant 24/7 fast food joints). With companies now hiring more and more people for night shifts, are we that far from a 24/7 environment? The effects of it could be interesting with constant light pollution and possibly other adverse side effects.

Light and Darkness

2005-08-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

As I stayed at work late (I left around 10 PM after getting in at 10 AM), I wondered how much longer until the world becomes 24/7.

Restaurant Review

2005-08-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

At some point, I'm going to have to come up with a better system of blogging. For example, it would be nice to have an easy way of searching through my blogs for certain meta-terms like "restaurant reviews." I enjoy writing these restaurant reviews because it gives me an opportunity to compare my tastes and descriptions with that of professional food reviewers. This way I have a baseline to compare to so I can future determine which reviewers match my tastes.

Last Saturday, I went to a dim-sum restaurant called Hollywood East Cafe for a taste of real dim-sum. Last time I went to dim-sum was two months ago at this place called Tony Cheng's in Chinatown in Washington DC. Tony Cheng's is a tourist trap and the dim-sum was mediocre at best. Regardless, it's been a year since I've had dim-sum at someplace good (China Pearl back home in Boston) so I was excited to try Hollywood East Cafe. The restaurant has a very polished look to it. The food is pretty good. It's not as greasy as dim-sum is sometimes supposed to be but the food still has some flavor to it. The largest gripe I have with the restaurant is that the selection was smaller than what I'm used to and the prices were a bit higher. However, the highlight of the meal was chicken legs. I'm usually not a fan but this restaurant had some of the most succulent chicken legs I had ever tasted.

And Now For Something Completely Different

2005-07-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a bucket of water. They finally reached the top of the hill where the well was. The only problem was that their arms were too short to reach the pail which was hanging from a rope at the roof of the well. They tried rocking the wooden supports to the roof of the well, in hopes that the bucket would rock within their reach but alas, their efforts were for naught. The wood was solid and the rope thick and sturdy.

Jack finally came up with a solution. He would lean across across the ledge as far as he could and Jill would hold his legs and act as a counterbalance to his weight (It would not be appropriate for Jack to be holding Jill's legs as she was a proper young lady wearing a proper young lady's dress). Jack, on the other hand, had no qualms about getting his Sunday best dirty.

As he squirmed farther and farther out from the edge of the well, Jill struggled more and more to keep him upright. To keep his nerves steady, Jack began talking aloud.

"Boy, am I glad you're the one here to hold me because I wouldn't trust anyone else. Imagine if it were that big oaf Jeff holding my legs. He'd probably let go just to see what happened. Or if it were that sneaky Bertrum, I bet he'd blackmail me into giving him something before he let me up. Even worse, it could be Ralph. He's so stupid that he'd leave in a moment to go chase a butterfly."

All Jill did was grunt (in a lady-like manner) in reply as she propped her feet against the side of the well for more leverage. Jack kept on reaching, he just had the tips of his fingers on the edge of the bucket.

"Yessiree, I'm glad you are the one holding me. You're focused, intelligent, and trustworthy. We've been through some tough times like that time we got switched for stealing apples from ole man Tom's yard or that time the pigs got loose and we had to chase 'em down or even that time, I tried to kiss your friend Betty and she slapped me and stopped talking to both of us..."

With that Jill thought, "This ain't worth it.", and let go of Jack's legs. Jack plunged to his near-doom in the well (Lassie came by and saved him later) and Jill realized that instead of hauling ass to some murky well that you could just call some spring water company and they would deliver water straight to your door.

Moral of the story: A little bit of research could save you a lot of time and hassle.

Yummy in My Tummy

2005-07-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

Recently my town had a "Restaurant Week." That week is a time when several restaurants in the local area have a prix fixe menu, that is a choice among several courses and the price is the same no matter what you choice. Most large cities have a "Restaurant Week" but my town is so bourgeois that it also decided to have its own. Oh well, more the benefit for me.

I decided to pick "Centro", a restaurant near my workplace that from the outside seems too posh to go to for lunch, unless of course you have a three hour lunch break and your first name is "Senator." I ended up getting a grilled skirt steak with arugula salad and potatoes and a dessert of tiramisu. The food was amazing. I normally don't like arugula because it has such a strong flavor but the chef managed to downplay it with a thin slice of parmesan cheese (I think it was parmesan) and a nice oil and vinegarette with herbs to control the bitterness. The potatoes were amazing, small wedges that resembled mandarin oranges in color and shape but with a firm texture. The grill skirt steak was cooked medium, just as I had ordered it and was flavorful despite not being heavily spiced. The tiramisu was small but amazing; I would go so far as to say it was better than the tiramisu at Maggiano's.

If there was anything to complain about, it would be the service. A young couple that was seated next to us managed to order, get their meal, and leave a good fifteen minutes before my friend and I did, despite our earlier arrival and their payment with credit card. I was amazed that the food took so long, especially during Restaurant Week, where the chefs churn out mass quantities of the same three dishes and especially since I ordered a medium-cooked steak. Also, the other thing that somewhat disappointed me was the small portions. I realize the restaurant is normally much more expensive and in fact, I was surprisingly filled after a good fifteen minute wait. I guess that's how rich people stay thin.

Hockey League

2005-07-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Hockey League. If you like it as much as me, sign the petition to support it. I think it's hilarious because it reflects what adult hockey leagues are like.

Review of "Two Percent Solution"

2005-07-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

I post in spurts. I know. If you notice, most of the posts come during the weekend.

A short review of "Two Percent Solution" by Matt Miller. The book describes a "Two Percent Plan" which involves universal health care, better education, and better wages and it only costs two percent of the nations GDP (which he equates to a two percent increase in taxes - while I doubt that is true, I also believe the estimate isn't off by a significant amount). In creating this plan, he consults with both Democrats and Republicans. For example, he brings in a senator from each party to discuss his health care plan.

Overall, I like the book. Matt Miller simplifies the solutions and the problems quite a bit, in a manner benefiting a journalist writing a book, but at the least, he considers the problems from quite a few angles. I especially like the end of the book where he summarizes how much his plan costs and how much it would save, due to the cuts that can be made to other programs from his solutions. He also discusses periphery issues to the plan such as acceptance from the press, from the people, and from the politicians. He works with two partisan polling parties to create a non-biased poll and then creates discussion groups. In essence, Matt Miller does a lot of grunt work that would be necessary to get this plan off the ground (in smaller proportions of course).

It's definitely worth reading. It's a pragmatic book that deals with current issues in a sensical and balanced approach.

Mute Button

2005-07-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

There should always be a mute button for Flash animations on the web. That is all.

Lazy Weekend

2005-07-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

Over the past year, I've noticed that my workload and my social load have increased greatly as I grow more accustomed to both the full-time lifestyle and the DC area. I'm not sure if my workload has increased because of my experience or it's one of those situations where I've been behind the entire time but I'm only noticing it now. However, my social load has increased because I've met so many more people and because it's the summertime and there are lots of my college friends (who are still in college) around.

Because of this, every weekend this summer I've had some huge event to go to or some friend visiting and during the week I constantly have work (which I think about even outside of work). This weekend is the first weekend in a long time that I've had without thought. It feels nice. Of course I still have six weeks to survive in the summer so I stop posting for a while, I have an excuse.

On a totally random note, I don't think drug companies should be allowed to advertise their products on television (actually I don't think they should be allowed to advertise in general). It raises drug prices as they waste money on commercial time and on a marketing department and it wrongly influences consumers.

One Year Huzzah!

2005-07-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today marks my one-year anniversary. No, I'm not married - it's my one-year anniversary of when I started my first real full-time job. I also mark this date as the first day I entered the "real" world. So the biggest questions are have I changed since entering the real world and do I like the real world (and what it has done to me)?

I definitely feel a bit older with all the added responsibilities that I have. In college, goals are well-defined - it is clear what is necessary to succeed in a class. Dating is also simplified because it's not quite as long-term, people have a tendency to take things one day at a time in college. Even outside activities tend to be more well-designed.

In the real world, none of this is true because of the vast difference in time frame. No one knows how long they are going to stay in a particular area. Because of this, dating becomes more dicey. Long-term, short-term, no one knows what they are looking for. Sometimes, especially in this area, people don't even know what they want to do for a living. In addition, tasks aren't as well defined. There is no set path to getting ahead in the corporate environment.

Do I like the real world? There's more effort involved in meeting up with people (as opposed to college where I could just go up and down the halls and find people to drink with) but I do like it because a) I'm not poor all the time and b) by working, I feel like I am actually doing something useful (applying my knowledge).

Week of Zen

2005-07-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

I've decided that for the next week I'm going to try to not to hose people and that I'm not going to sit around getting hosed. Every once in a while, a man just needs a week of peace and this is that week.

Cheers,
The Guru

Holes in the Sky, Holes in Himself

2005-06-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

What happens you lose the ability to express a particular emotion? Perhaps, saying "lose the ability" is a bit of an exaggeration but it serves the current literary purpose. For example, when I was at school, I had a lot of anger, a real chip on my shoulder. I would go to the weight room at three or four in the morning and just whaling on the punching bag to the points where my knuckles would bleed (I never wore gloves or tape). During my last year at MIT though, there was just so much anger that it overwhelmed my system and I decided to let it go. Since then I've been much more mellow (although according to some people, my overall obnoxiousness and belligerence is much higher). The point is though I don't feel the same kind of blind rage that I occasionally felt at MIT.

But the question becomes, is the anger really gone or is it just latent, waiting to explode at an inopportune time. At one point, I felt the former but recently I've been feeling the latter. However, by shutting down in my mind the normal course of action that I would take to vent this anger, I can't seem to properly get rid of it without the results being harmful (and not just to me). The results will be interesting.

If this post doesn't make sense, it's okay - that just means you are doing too many drugs.

Quick Hit

2005-06-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

Lacrosse has become a bigger sport in the last few years to the point where ESPN2 regularly shows Major League Lacrosse. In fact, it's to the point where lacrosse has cheerleaders even though the average attendance is only 5000 a game. Must be cheap to get cheerleaders.... Hockey and baseball need cheerleaders if its that easy to get them. Baseball could especially use cheerleaders because of the amount of downtime and hockey could use anything that brings people back to the game.

Fubar

2005-06-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

If you don't know what that means, watch "Saving Private Ryan." Good movie.

Recently the Discovery Channel had a show called "Greatest American" where they picked 100 great Americans and let people vote on who would make it to the top 25 and then the top 5 and lastly the number one spot. I believe most, if not all, of the voting was done online. The results are here.

Even more startling than the fact that Ronald Reagan is apparently the greatest American of all times is the fact that the current President is number six on the list. I'm also not a fan of having Bill Clinton seventh either. I realize that people voting might have a slight bias toward more recent events but basically this poll says that the greatest Presidents in order are: Reagan, Lincoln, Washington, Bush, Clinton, then Roosevelt and Jefferson. Somehow the man who was elected most often to office and the creator of Social Security is lower on the list than the man seeking to destroy Social Security. Also, the President who only got a bj out of an intern ranks higher than a man who slept with his slaves (okay, that was just a mean dig so we'll rephrase it). What I meant to say is that the President who allowed the scourge of SUV's on the road is ranked higher than one of the Framer's of both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Of course most of this probably has to do with the voting and the demographics of people who vote. People who care will vote often and since you can only vote for one person per time, votes for certain people will be split among their followers. But still...... Lance Armstrong is the greatest American sports hero?

The Definition of Irony

2005-06-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

On "Meet the Press", Donald Rumsfield said that "the moderates must defeat the extremists" in order for America to be safe. Granted he was talking about Muslims and not Americans but it was still funny. Also, he later said "I don't get involved in politics."

Take That Friedman!

2005-06-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thomas Friedman, a man who quickly went from being someone I respected because of his three Pulitzer Prizes to being someone I revile because of his exceptional journalistic ignorance, wrote an entire book on outsourcing to India and China. However, as this article points out, not all is rosy. Here lies the problem behind outsourcing, accountability. I don't inherently have a problem with outsourcing because it was brought about by market conditions. Many tasks have huge sunk costs so these tasks are better done by specialized companies that can pay the sunk cost once and merely charge for the service.

However, the problem becomes accountability. With a task as simple as printing posters or watering plants, the contract is simple and responsibilities are clear. When the task becomes more involved and complicated such as technical support or a call center, then it becomes more convoluted. Adding in differences in laws between countries (and their enforcement) and suddenly accountability in outsourcing becomes more difficult. For example, who's to blame in the case where an outsourced call center sells personal information? A better question is who is managing the entire scenario.

Kevin Mitnick made a living off tricking people and said something to the effect of "a guy earning 10 dollars an hour doesn't care about protecting your identity" which explains a story where he gets someone else's credit card information from a video rental store. Now consider where a company isn't even paying 10 dollars an hour because the outsourced country has a much lower standard of living. That means it is that much cheaper to bribe someone. Who is going to claim responsibility for that?

I'm not an opponent of outsourcing but I think that one thing that CEO's and shareholder's either forget (or purposefully ignore) is that there are other costs than just dollars and cents.

Ladder Theory

2005-06-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

Lesson of the night: respect the ladder theory. The minute that you think you are on the wrong ladder for a girl, kick her out of your house. Give her the boot. I'm just kidding around... to an extent.

I'm not Lawrence Summers

2005-06-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw the movie "Crash" and it was amazing. The movie is a glimpse into a slice of life in LA. This tiny microcosm contains an interwoven tapestry of characters, each one interacting with another in tiny vignettes that combine to form a complete story. In this case, this story's impetus is race and with every action, every reaction being tinged with fear and hatred. In the movie, there is the fallen idealist, the redemption of the sinner, the anger of a man pushed to his limits, the lesson learned by a man smug in his own knowledge, all the foibles that people rarely speak of demonstrated in each of the characters.

This discussion about race intrigues me on so many levels: biological, philosophical, social. It's intriguing that we expanded so far around the globe and evolved in our own different ways to adapt to our environments and then, through out technological prowess, were thrown back together. While I can't speak conclusively on this matter, it's hard to think of another animal that did what we did: separate and then recombine. For thousands of years, Asia and Europe were ignorant of one another and also completely ignorant of America and in the last thousand years, people from these separate continents met and shared food, ideas, and diseases. I find it hard to believe that a squirrel, a cow, or even a bird would do that (granted, you'd be hard-pressed to find a bird sharing ideas with other birds, but food and diseases for starters). Do other animals of the same species carry the same stigma that we do about color? There was a recent article about how black squirrels are thriving in the Maryland area over their gray cousins because of biological differences. How do they feel about this?

It's about time

2005-06-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

A little more than a week ago, I attended church and I said that I would post more about it. Last week, I got caught up in other matters so I didn't get the chance to post but here it is now (better late than never).

Before attending church, I was a bit torn over religion. Long ago, I was very much anti-religion, believing it to be a crutch for the masses, an opiate for the proletariat. As the years went by, my view on religion softened to the point where I viewed it as a necessary evil, a social bond that has the potential for both good and evil. After attending church, my views have not really changed.

The people who attended the church were very nice and very genuine although from past experience, I know that can turn if a person does not measure up to their standard of morality into nasty whispers, gossip and other subversive habits. The sermon itself was quite interesting. It discussed charity specifically by using the example of the Festival of Weekes. While the pastor was not the best speaker in the world, he was still very enlightening and slipped in a good bit of humor when necessary. I enjoyed it in the sense that I enjoy a good lecture or discussion about a good book (which the Bible is supposed to be) from a studied individual.

That being said, there were many other aspects of church that I didn't like. While this may be just this particular church, it was racially segregated. When I pulled up to the church there were two actual areas. One was for a Brazilian convocation and the other was for the Asian convocation. Granted I don't have any statistics for this, but I feel like this is a regular occurence. Promoting a common social bond is a good thing but not if its at the expense of breaking barriers between other social walls. Another thing that bothers me is the excessive singing. I know we all have to express our love of God in song - it just makes more sense that way but when all the songs are so simple that even I sing along with them without seeing the score and only sight-reading the words and when you sing for thirty minutes, it makes the songs seem more like a way of pacifying the people, a distraction to keep them from thinking. Also, I dislike the crying at the end of church. People, during the last nine... thousand songs, people went up to pray or ask for forgiveness or renew their vows to God. More often than not, people were wet-eyed or crying. Aren't they supposed to carry this Love of God in them everyday or is it because you are in the House of God on the Day of God, it makes that much more potent? I'd hate to see some of these people at a chick flick.... . Also, the church program contained the amount of money that the church collected last week. However, it didn't seem to post where the heck this money is going to. Shouldn't it also say something along the lines of "we gave forty cans to poor people?" Also, sometimes I have trouble figuring out what churchs do with all those donations. After all, they rent out the church space to various groups so its not like they lose all that much money on the land. In addition, they get tax breaks and other incentives. As Cassidy would say, "Preacher Hustle."

All I know is I'm not going back to that particular church, not matter how often they call my house.

Warning

2005-06-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

When listening to a hot true sex story being told by a fine-ass girl on your hockey team, remember to remove your cup before she starts the story. Otherwise, when she gets to the good part, it might hurt.

This has been a public service announcement.

Firsts

2005-06-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of firsts...

In the morning, today was the first day that I've run for 20 minutes (2.5 miles) without stopping. That puts me just a little more than half a mile away from completing the couch to 5K challenge that I set out to do (and I still have three weeks on the calendar to accomplish that goal). Friday night, when I mentioned the jogging to a friend (who surprisingly noticed the weight loss), she and her friends were skeptical that jogging 20 minutes was difficult until I mentioned that it was a 2.5 jog, at which point they nodded and said, "Yes, that is hard." After discussing it with fellow jogger, The Prophet (TM), we agreed that people often over-estimate (like most other things in life) their physical prowess. Jogging for twenty minutes, playing a hockey shift of a minute and a half, swimming 100 meters, hitting a 60 mph fastball - these all seem easy until you try it. (As a caveat to people who think this is an endorsement of the high salaries in sports, it's not - try solving a Hilbert math problem and all you get is one million which I feel is a disgrace). Regardless, the ground rule that I'm trying to express is that, when faced with a task, never assume that it's too difficult but when listening to someone who accomplished a task, never assume that's it too easy. The former prevents people from feeling despair and hopelessness and the latter prevents arrogance.

The second thing that was a first was I went to my first religious service today (not counting bar mitzvah ceremonies since I never had to participate). I ran into a fellow alum and he invited me to go to church. I've been debating attending church for a while because on one hand, they seem to be large social centers and a good way to meet people as well as to implement limited social (positive) change. On the other hand, I still feel like religion is a crutch forced upon the plebians in an attempt to keep them walking at a slower pace than the rest of us. After attending the service, I am still divided between my two views on religion. Since I'm still unsure on how I feel, I'll write more about this on a later date.

Truth in Advertising

2005-05-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

Random thought: if you are a car insurance company, should a commercial for your company really be about racing cars? State Farm's commercial is a race between four NASCAR type cars, each labeled with a different car insurance company. As the commercial goes on, each of the cars gets left behind a speedy State Farm vehicle. Should a car that represents a car insurance really be speedy and leaving dust clouds and tire marks? Just a thought

Baseball!

2005-05-31T20:25:00.000-07:00

The problem with being a young professional is that you can't bullshit people if you just don't feel like going out. Everyone knows that, unless you have a date, you don't really have anything more important to do. Especially when they are offering free baseball tickets, your friends know that you cannot resist. Regardless, that is why I was connived into going into a baseball game tonight. Apparently the excuse, "I need to finish three more chapters so I can finish my one book a week." is not valid.

I went to my first baseball game of the year and my first National League game ever. I went to watch the Washington DC Nationals play the Atlanta Braves. The Nationals are 2 and a half games behind first place (where the Braves are tied with Marlins) with only a 26-24 record. I guess there is parity in baseball. The game was really exciting. The Braves got off to an early lead due to a single and a stolen base by lead-off hitter Raphael Furcal. He later scored on a series of sacrifices and fielder's choices. After that, John Patterson, the pitcher for the Nationals, was lights-out. On the other hand, the Nationals were hitting a lot off Mike Hampton but were scattering the hits around so they couldn't score. By the sixth inning, the Nationals had accumulated 6 hits and 3 walks but still hadn't manage to score a run. Finally, the Nationals broke it out and scored four runs. In the ninth inning with a 5-3 lead, the Nationals closer, Chad Cordero, made it interesting by giving the lead-off hitter a homer (in the ultimate pitcher's park with a 410 foot center field and a 335 drive to the right and left field walls) and then two singles. Finally, he gets a fielder's choice and has men on third and first with one out with a 5-4 lead. He strikes out the next two guys to get the save. Wow, it was exciting.

One last thing, since the Nationals play in DC and are a new team, there were quite a few people who weren't wearing Nationals gear. There were lots of Braves fans, Baltimore fans, Yankee fans, and my personal favorite - Red Sox fans. My friend is trying to convince me to go to tomorrow's and Thursday's games too. That's a lot of baseball.

Not a Normal Outcome

2005-05-29T06:42:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't do this sort of thing (personality tests) because I feel the questions are poorly worded or not complete enough. However, a face recognition website seems pretty cool: Face Analyzer.

Here are my results:
YOUR ARCHETYPE: Beta Academic
Personality Profile:

You are a long-term planner, diligent worker and avoid risk as much as possible. You are of above average intelligence and have the ability to focus on tasks that seem unimportant at present, but can lead to greater things in the foreseeable future. You are not keen to interact with others or make social connections. You would rather gain material wealth before putting yourself in a position to be judged. You are not confrontational unless someone directly opposes your intellectual beliefs. You are highly concerned with your social status. You are keen to avoid risks that could jeopardize your long-term plans. You take a calculated approach to life, working hard to control all aspects of it in order to not leave anything important to chance.

You tend to be a perfectionist and quite self-conscious. You sometimes wish you were less reserved and more like some others you see who are more bold and outspoken in social situations. But as much as you try to be like them, you cannot, because you care too much about the future to ever be comfortable taking risks in social situations.

Your view of other types
Academic types can end up rich but it will take longer than with Boss types. You see Boss types as potential business clients and as great resources to expand your contacts. Therefore you treat them with respect. For the most part you do not respect Artist types, however there are some Alpha Artists that you give some credit to. You look down upon Blue collar types as you consider them ignorant. You see White collar types as unsuccessful versions of yourself, but because of work situations you may have to interact with them often. You have very little in common with Charmers, therefore you avoid them. You consider Gambler types to make foolish decisions, and for the most part you do not interact with them. At times you feel sorry for Drifters.

Other types' view of you
Boss types consider you to be a valuable resource of advice. They constantly interact with you to make better decisions and they often respect your opinion. For the most part Artist types do not interact with you for they rather take it easy. They however may like you because of your knowledge of subjects that they find interesting. Blue collar types find you boring and uptight, they have very little in common with you. White collar types may respect your accomplishments and ambition. Charmer types regard you as mostly withdrawn from life and too uppity to hang around with. Gambler types think that because you play so safe you miss out on great opportunities. Drifter types have no regard for you, because your repetitive routines seem boring to them.

Alpha academic: Solid long-term planner. Highly intelligent, ambitious and loyal to close ones.

Expected Occupations: Lawyer, Doctor, Investment Banker, Chief Accountant, Corporate Consultant, Head Engineer, Stock Broker, Business owner (professional skill/knowledge based business operation)

Beta academic: Not as intelligent or ambitious as Alpha Academics, but still focused on being materially successful.

Expected Occupations: Lawyer, Doctor, Investment Analyst, Accountant, Architect, Engineer, Professor, Researcher, Psychologist

Theta academic: Not as intelligent as Alpha and Beta academics, but still intelligent.

Expected Occupations: Pharmacist, Accountant, Teacher, Journalist, Computer Technician

Done in Little Time

2005-05-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

Once again, I'm blogging in spurts, then again most things in life happen in spurts. Bars aren't crowded every day of the week; instead they are extremely crowded on weekends when people try to pack all their drinking into two days and barren on weekdays when the metro closes early and people have to go to work the next day. Restaurants aren't crowded between meal times; stadiums are only packed during entertainment venues and the Metro is most crowded during rush hour and tourist days. Therefore, I can blog in spurts (as long as the overall throughput of my blogging is still consistently high). Haha, there.

MTV has this show that features people as they decide to undergo plastic surgery; their reasons, their fears, their results. In particular, a lot of the people featured want to look like a specific celebrity. Of course, none of the people end up looking like celebrities but in general, they all look much more attractive than they did at the beginning. However, when you look at most of the before and after pictures, the only surgery that appears to make a significant difference is breast augmentation. So far, liposuction, nose jobs, face jobs, or whatever has seemed to have little impact (although one caveat, none of the people feature on the show are unattractive or portly to begin with so liposuction would be useless for them regardless). In fact, the most impact is after the people go to a hair stylist and make-up artist. Recently, while watching Filter on G4TV, this view was reinforced. The host of Filter is Diane Mizota would is quite attractive. During one episode, she was being filmed on location at the recent E3 expo. When they first showed her arriving at the expo, she looked like a plain Jane, nothing spectacular. I would not be able to pick her out of a line-up. However, after she did her hair and make-up and got into a slightly nicer outfit, she was back to looking like her normal attractive self. This all relates to a post from the Prodigy where basically, a little bit of care can go a long way. Now, an interesting question would be, what would be the similar routine for a guy? Women have a much more diverse set of desired qualities in a guy than men have in women. Some women like their men scruffy, others will only have clean shave, while still others don't care. Almost unanimously, men don't like hairy legs on women. So I believe the first question to pose would be, what are a common set of attractive qualities that women find in men?

I believe the most vague answer I can give is good hygiene. While this may not win the day, lack thereof can certainly bust a date before it starts. Therefore, good teeth, clean hair, and clean skin are all essentials. While dressing up every day is not a requirement, clothes should not be slovenly and disheveled; in other words, an iron is a must. So far, those are the only physicals qualities that I believe most women would agree are attractive in a man..

Speaking of good hygiene, I noticed that there are many more attractive female video game players out there than before. While a lot of this phenomenon can be attributed to the rise in games that are more enjoyable to females (DDR, Sims, Katamari, etc.), I believe a good part of it also has to do with the revolutions in weight-control (not weight-loss per-se but weight-control) and in pharmaceutical products. With treatments as simple as Proactiv and the wide expansion of places such as Bath and Body Works and Sephora, the path to attractiveness has become a commodity. An hour of make-up has been reduced to twenty minutes and the 100-dollar price tag has been reduced to 20. Fad diets and the expansion of twenty minute exercises (of course accessible by the web) spread the ability to defeat obesity far more effectively than the Nordic track or Abs machine of the 90's ever could. The only barrier these days is motivation and time.

However, I'm a firm believer in the notion that motivation begets time and this is a theory that has been tested and proved time after time. Here's a basic example. The average commercial break in one Daily Show episode is 3 minutes long. I know that when I watch The Daily Show and the ensuing commercials, those three minutes blow by rather quickly (except when there are car commercial on, but that's for another day). However when I play hockey and I'm in the middle of a two minute penalty kill, the last thirty seconds can feel like an eternity and in fact anything can happen. Right now, I'm jogging in a program meant to take people who don't run at all and train them to run three miles. At first, I ran in 90 second spurts and all 90 seconds were painful. Now I run in 3 minute spurts and while it is much less painful, it still passes by rather slowly. Also, the distance that I can jog in 3 minutes is impressive (by my standards). I guess the gist of all of this is that with enough motivation to do something instead of just sitting around, we can actually accomplish much more than we already do.

Proyecto Uno

2005-05-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Gotta do it. Just gotta.

As I told The Prodigy a while ago, "You need to have an edge." Personally, I think I may have lost a bit of my edge since being in a long-term relationship. It's time to get it back.

This summer will make or break the Guru. Doesn't take a Prophet to tell you that.

Freakonomics Review

2005-05-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

"Common sense is not so common" is a statement that was once made by Voltaire, and in retrospect, was a piece of common sense itself. However, common sense is the kind of thing that makes a person slap himself in the forehead and proclaim the statement obvious, but only after hearing it. All this beggars the question, is it interesting to read a book that is, at its heart, common sense?

I pose this question because that is essentially what Freakonomics is, it is a book about common sense disguised as a book about economics that does not use the curves and graphs that may be normally found in economics books but instead uses case studies and broad statistics. The book is a quick read because of a light writing style and because each chapter is a series of two narrow questions and their answers. A lot of the questions have to do with social issues like racism and parenting, further distancing this book from the genre of economics. All in all, the questions posed are interesting and the answers are sometimes unexpected.

One great thing about the book is that it reiterates the following statement: correlation does not imply causation. Granted, this should be a well-known fact but given the intelligence of the average person and the screaming inanity of mass media and "experts" these days, this statement is often overlooked. However, Levitt goes to great lengths to demonstrate a correlation and then, in addition, tries to prove causation afterwards by eliminating as many variables as possible. This is a refreshing style of not only presenting his theory and his evidence but also considering possible counterarguments and blunting them (as opposed to the all-to-popular, yelling your points and never providing evidence or addressing counter-arguments). One caveat is that since his theories rely on variables that other people don't consider, it proves that Levitt could have missed other variables as well. However, this is an unavoidable problem and it does not reflect negatively on his insight into matters.

While I do recommend that people read this book, I can't necessarily recommend buying it. The list price is 26 dollars and even after a 37 percent discount, it as still 17 dollars, which is a bit much for a book that can be finished in a mere afternoon. If, on the other hand, I managed to get my book autographed, then it would be worthwhile.

Hopefully the last thing for the night

2005-05-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

Because I'm getting tired and delusional (I blame TV).

So they have games out there to teach you how to do things. They have DDR for the high-paced, excessive caffeinated world of techno dancing. They have the golf game that lets you actually swing a pseudo golf club (same with tennis). They even have a game to teach you rhythm by having you beat drums. The next step, a game to teach girls how to maneuver around a stripper pole and how to really grind. It'll be for the girls who aren't confident, maybe even a bit socially awkward and don't want to be mocked at their first fraternity (or more importantly 3E) party. This way, they can practice in their room alone with some sort of objective system to judge them. I'm not going to judge this game; I'm just saying its the next step in the evolution of gaming.

What happens when you watch too much TV

2005-05-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Proof that reading "Da Vinci Code" does not mean that you are a deep thinker. Dan Brown wrote the script for a video game. Name one other author who does that. If you named ever prolific and commodity author Tom Clancy, you are correct. Dan Brown's books. Tom Clancy's books. See the similarities?

When an athlete comes on TV and asks me what I'm doing sitting on my couch, my (unhearable) answer is inevitably, "Watching you." If famous athletes really want to help people get thinner, they should days where they invite 100 fat people (sorry, I meant obese) to a stadium. If you can catch the athlete, you get their autograph. Imagine watching 20 fat people (sorry again, I mean obese) trying to catch Mike Vick on a football field. We could even sell copies of the video to "World's Funniest Home Videos."

Something that's been bothering me...

2005-05-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

Keith Foulke. He's been called one of the most reliable relievers of recent times, posting a below 3.00 ERA (pretty good for a reliever) for the last six years (the only closer to do so). However, this year he has a ERA of 7.29 in 20 innings and has an amazing 8 walks and 2 hit-by-pitches, very bad for a reliever who relies more so on location than on an overpowering fastball. Foulke says nothing is wrong but obviously something must be. His velocity is the same, but the location is off.

On an unrelated note (yes, I'm putting unrelated thoughts together in the same post), one example of where America managed to come back in the technology department is in the video gaming console world. When I was young, the gaming consoles and games out there were owed by Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, and Atari, all Japanese companies. Thanks to the hard work by Microsoft and Electronic Arts, a significant portion of the market has been snagged by North America. Boo Thomas Friedman.

I Like 'Em Girls

2005-05-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

I love hot girls who play hockey because when you can tell a girl is stacked while she is wearing shoulder pads and a loose fitting jersey, you know she definitely got it up there. Likewise, if you can see her sashaying with some curves while wearing hockey pants, she's got 'em too. Plus, hot girls who play hockey clean up ridiculously well and aren't prissy and annoying like girlie girls. They can take care of themselves and probably enjoy drinking a lot (seems to be a pastime with all hockey players I know).

The same goes toward girls who are really into alternative music. They drink, they wear loose-fitting clothing which means when they look fine, they will look twice as fine after you convince them to lose the clothing, and they are into activities other than shopping.

Oh yeah, whoever decided that beer after hockey was a good idea is a genius. Beer before hockey, also brilliant (but only if everyone is drunk too).

Cash go up?

2005-05-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

I enjoy reading advice columns in newspapers because its an interesting sampling of the problems and doubts that other people have. One question that comes up often in columns about jobs is how to ask for a raise. Most columnists say that a raise is not something you deserve but something you earn. When you go into your boss's office looking for a raise, you should have a list of your accomplishments and also a list of any responsibilities you have taken on. This way, you can clearly present an image that you are doing some percentage amount of work more than before and therefore deserve some percentage amount more money. While not optimal, it makes sense.

The problem is I don't understand how CEO's work. There was a piece that I read a long time ago from "The Armchair Economist" that explained why CEO's get paid so much. CEO's get paid quite a bit in both stock and in cash to serve as hedges against one another. The stock serves as an incentive for the CEO to try something new to drastically increase earnings while the cash serves as a safety net in case one of those things goes horribly wrong. It is in this vein along with the workings of a raise for the rest of us, that I don't understand how CEO's get raises. Most accomplishments of a CEO are reflected in the stock price (an idealistic view but still the entire point of them holding stock is for this reason) and from year to year, a CEO's responsibilities stay relatively constant. In essence, the CEO is in charge of the direction of the entire company; he certainly can't acquire any additional responsibilities (barring acquisitions, which are uncommon).

Another thing I don't understand is how CEO's can shuffle between companies so easily, especially after getting kicked out from one company. When the coach of a sports team fails, he might get another job but it won't be for more pay and in many cases, he may be demoted to a lesser coaching job, a phenomenon that I can barely comprehend. On the other hand, CEO's are rarely demoted. You rarely hear of a CEO going back to being a CFO, etc. Instead they are always hired back as the head of another company.

That's my little piece for the day. At some point I should go back and polish it up a bit but the nice thing about blogs is that you can say your piece for the day and come back later.

I'm going to write

2005-05-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

three words to make The Prophet feel better.

Okay so it's more than three

Quick Update

2005-05-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

I had actually written a post yesterday but when I attempted to post it, Blogspot produced an error and deleted my post. Basically the post described a book signing by Thomas Friedman on his latest book, "The World is Flat." The part that bothered me the most was that Thomas Friedman spent half the discussion complaining about America does not have enough engineers and then he goes out and calls engineers "geeks." That's a prime example of the cultural difference between Asia and America. In Asia, being studious is a good thing while in America, it's grounds for getting beat up. And then America wonders why we do so poorly in school.

Status update: 185 pounds, jogged 2.25 miles.

I tried a new recipe today, BBQ tofu. I'm a big fan of Alton Brown on Food Network and decided that I should actually try one of his recipes. It was pretty good and also the first meal that I've had in at least a year that didn't require meat. I also grilled some portabello mushrooms. Yum!

Ranting... cont

2005-05-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Since my friend was kind enough to rant in his blog, I was inspired to rant after watching "Crossfire" and then part of "The McLaughlin Group."

My first complaint: if I am awake at 11:30 AM on a Sunday morning and watching "The McLaughlin Group", I do in fact know what a Pyrrhic victory is and furthermore know how to spell it. Don't attempt to be funny if the guests on your show are Pat Buchanan and Mort Zuckerman (of US News and World Report). Also, you cannot state that you have the brightest minds on your show for the last two decades if they are the same minds you had on the show two decades ago. They certainly were not the brightest then and by now senility must have crept into at least some of them.

My second complaint: you cannot complain about the judiciary if you control more than half of it. On "Crossfire" this morning, the Republican complained about the Democrats using the judiciary to stop legislation. In particular, she complained about the Supreme Court. Considering there are five Republican-nominated judges on the Supreme Court, you cannot moan about Democrats' judiciary.

Smorgasbord

2005-05-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since I last posted and since I like to encourage my friends to post blogs, I should do the same.

I went jogging on Friday, making it three times in a week that I went jogging. I am impressed with myself. According to the running schedule, next week I will be increasing the intensity. Since I don't have hockey until June, jogging is the only exercise that I'm getting currently. I hope to add other activities in the coming weeks.

Today I saw Bob Dole speak. He was funny and interesting and looked quite a bit thinner than he does on television. I guess it is true that the cameras add ten pounds (a piece, depending on who you ask). Unfortunately, he did not have anything new (or even controversial) to say about political matters. Granted the book signing was for his war memoirs but given the nature of the questions posed to him, I would have expected something to slip out. Senator Dole managed not to bite on any of the questions and instead gave very conventional answers.

Also I recently finished "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. That makes four books down in my quest to read all the winners of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, it's quite funny and several times I found myself smirking out loud. The protagonist (I guess that's the best way to describe him), Ignatius, can sometimes be too obnoxious even for the intent of the novel. The intermediate scribbles from and to Ignatius can also be distracting but overall the irreverence of the book is extremely amusing. About a hundred pages from the end, I wondered how the book would end gracefully. John Kennedy Toole tied together an excellent series of hilarious coincidences to create a dramatic and very pleasing ending.

Word of the Day

2005-05-04T16:56:00.000-07:00

A subtle reminder that "Jeopardy", not "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" is a real show that tests your intelligence.

The answer to the final question of tonight's Jeopardy was "sybarite."

Falling Down Hurts

2005-05-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but on the Metro, many more people walk down the escalator than up the escalator. This is especially true at Metro stations that have long escalators. I've often wondered why because there are many more reasons that would encourage behavior in the opposite direction. Walking up is better exercise and after seeing some of the people out there, they could use the exercise. Walking up also results in a larger gain in time than walking down because when you go down the escalator, you only gain time if that walk results in you catching a train that you would not have otherwise caught. On the other hand, when you walk up the escalator, you gain exactly the time difference between walking up and riding up, which on the longer escalators, can actually be somewhat significant. Just a thought.....

Book Signing

2005-05-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

As is one of my hobbies these days, I went to a book-signing. Thomas Frank was discussing and signing his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" I was debating purchasing the book because after perusing it at the store, I was not impressed with the book. While the message was interesting and the writing was clear and concise, the examples do not intrigue me because of their narrow range. They all seems to delve deeply into intimate knowledge of Kansas which the author obviously has, since he was a native. However, I do not have that knowledge so I cannot relate quite as well. That said, Thomas Frank was an excellent speaker. His drool humor, combined with an amazing ability to go off on relevant tangents, make him a dynamic speaker. Mr. Thomas Frank was such a good speaker I was tempted to buy his book just to have him sign it.

Quick Second Post

2005-05-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

Nothing like starting the first of May with a good old May Resolution. For all of you who don't know what a May Resolution, it's a New Year's Resolution that didn't make it past March that you take up again in May so by the time the pool opens on Memorial Day, you'll be fit enough to impress the ladies.

My resolution was to get in shape. Having done South Beach three times, I can say this much, South Beach works but only if you stick to it. The first two weeks are tough but worth it. Unfortunately, the second phase is almost as tough but without the benefits. However, leaving the diet causes the person to gain all the weight back because of the sudden adjustment in calories. Overall, this leaves the person no better off (and less two weeks of his life). Having said that, I've decided to run. A slower way to lose weight but at least I will become fit as well.

Today was 2 miles. Not too shabby, considering I haven't ran in 6 years.

I've decided to post my progress as a way of keeping me on track, a form of public humiliation so to speak. If I don't post my progress after a while, people will probably say, "What happened to the posts on your progress?" and that will motivate me to continue working out.

Today's status report: 187 pounds, jogged 2 miles.

First Post

2005-04-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

The first post in a blog is usually the most inane one. It either says, "Hi, this is my blog, more posts will be coming later, I hope I can keep up" or its a long post profiling the person's likes and dislikes, all of which can be covered in the profile (which is much easier to write, read, and search for). As you can see, my first post ain't like that. I hope it gives you some fun initial mis-conception into who I am so I can confuse you with later posts. Good luck reading this.

(For even more fun kids, pretend Lewis Black is reading this post to you. Don't forget to insert a swear word after every other word in this post and shake your hands wildly).