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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Clean your car!

I'm ready to show everyone my new 2008 Toyota Prius. Click the link below to view a few photos uploaded to Picasa.

Prius

From the advice of my Father, I've discovered the importance of washing your car. It really helps with its upkeep and value - my Dad's 96 Acura still looks gorgeous like he had just bought it. If you're curious about what products to use, I highly recommend Mr Clean's AuoDry Carwash kit. The water-gun attachment serves as a filter for soap to clean your car, and some brilliant de-ionized water plugins, which allow your car to dry spotless! And it really works, taking out all of the frustrations of washing a car on your own. Plus, refills of soap run for about $8, meaning you'll pay around $5 to wash your car, instead of $20+ at a professional car wash.

The other thing I recommend you get is Eagle 1 Wax-As-U-Dry. It's about $5 and will last for a really long time [1+ years] and waxes your car while you run your towel over the car, drying it at the same time. And no, I am not sponsored or anything by these two products. They really do work and I'm very happy with my results. I used to never wash my old car, but now that I have a new car, I feel a lot more invested in making it last as long as possible.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Success! Traveling and Presenting

I had posted last week that I had purchased a pair of noise canceling headphones. During my flight to Chicago they turned out to be a blessing. My flight was delayed about 4 hours, so I sat in the airport and read the Kite Runner while having the noise canceling activated. It allowed me to concentrate better, and I think prevented me from being as fatigued because I didn't have to constantly hear all of the airport noise. So I highly recommend noise canceling headphones!

Of course, the transition from Chicago to St. Louis was a little hectic. We landed at 10:20 and my flight out to St. Louis was supposed to depart at 10:50. Once we landed I rushed out to my plane, running through the terminal as fast as I could. I had my backpack and carry-on bag with me, and got tired pretty quickly. But, when I turned the corner and saw the terminal lined with cots and people already getting ready to sleep, resigned to the fact that they would be spending the night there, I decided that there would be no way that I would spend the night in Chicago. So I ran and caught my plane - but of course, it wouldn't leave for another 45 minutes due to additional boarding of late passengers and bad weather.

Christmas was the first time our family had been together since June, and the first time I had been home to St. Louis since last December. Plenty of things had changed - the roads, the things in my home. Nonetheless, it was nice to catch up. My family loved the Google gear I got them =) So it was a successful holiday! And back to work on Thurdsay.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

<3 my new headphones

Oh hell yes. I finally got noise canceling headphones. This was something I've wanted for many years, especially after taking countless plane rides during college from Stanford to St. Louis, and getting off the plane really grumpy because some baby was crying and because the plane engine is just so noisy! I guess it really does drive me a little nuts when a middle school group traveling to China runs up and down the aisles while you're trying to rest. So, in preparation for my next trip home, I finally pulled the trigger and bought some Audio-Technica noise canceling headphones:


And already after one day of work, I can tell they make a huge difference. At work I felt more productive, and less distracted from the noise around me. I think it was really good, because I sit right next to a busy meeting room, where the constant in and out of people causes me to always look up and see what's going on. It's my instinct to look around to see what's happening, but now that there's no noise to cue me, I can pay attention to my work. Flying is never something I enjoy, but I know it will be 10 times better now that I don't have to listen to lots of background noise when I fly back to St. Louis.

Of course, my manager had to wave for a few seconds to get my attention at the end of the day. I expect to get hit a few times for people to get my attention. =)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

My cover has been blown

My fellow employees have found this blog. There goes my freedom of expression =(

Monday, December 17, 2007

Cool countdown

Sunday, December 16, 2007

When Jenny's gone...

I become very bored and lonely.

For a little background info, Jenny has left for a trip to Asia, where she will work in the Google Tokyo office for a few days before hopping over to Qingdao to see her Grandparents. I, in the meantime, am continuing the work thing in Mountain View, and attempting amuse myself while she's gone.

Some things I've done:

- Played video games: Probably about 24 hours worth during the weekend. I got a game called "Just Cause" for Xbox 360, which is just like the Grand Theft Auto series. You fly around a gorgeous island, completing missions to overthrow the government and grabbing territory from drug lords and corrupt government officials. While the quest for 1000 Xbox achievements points continues on that game, I have only left the house to do the following...

- Eat - at Google...three of my four meals were there. Well, I only drove their twice. On Saturday I got enough chipotle BBQ pork loin to last through dinner. And Saturday was some thai chicken. Very very good!

- Gym - I'm proud to say I went. Made me feel worthwhile.

- Shop - took my butt out to get some clothes I really didn't need. I went to Express Men at Valley Fair and bought two pairs of jeans and a t-shirt. I also stopped by Old Navy and got some socks and boxers. That made the trip worth it.

So what will I do the rest of this week? I've done all my Christmas shopping, so it will be more of the same. Work, gym, video games. Gotta get it all out of my system before Jenny comes back!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Xbox obsessed

The best thing about Xbox 360 is that there are achievement points associated with each title. 1000 points can be obtained for each game, based on completing certain objectives. For me, I've always been obsessed with completely beating a game - getting 100% completition in GTA Vice City or beating Farcry/Fear/HalfLife2 on the hardest setting.

But now Xbox live records a gamer score, with all of the points associated with the games you've played. It totally makes me keep playing games just with the point of getting achievements to have a higher score. I'm around 5000 points, but people online are as high as 50000. Maybe one day I'll reach that much!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Thanksgiving Recap

Awesome things I did in Hawaii:

- Attended the Triple Crown Surfing competition in the North Shore of Haleiwa. The waves were killer - 10-15 feet high.

- Ate at Kua'aina burger. 1/3 burger with 1/2 an avocado on top. And fries. Best. Burger. Ever.

- Ate at Alan Wong's. Menu included:
  • Baked Lobster Mousse Wrapped in Nori with Crab Avocado Stuffing
  • Steamed Clams with Kalua Pig, Shiitake Mushrooms in a Foil Bag
  • Hamakua Springs Whole Tomato Salad with Li Hing Mui Ume Vinaigrette
  • Maui Cattle Company “Garlic Steak” - Pipikaula Potato Gratin, Boursin Goat Cheese, Roasted Vegetables, Red Wine and Shallot Glaze
  • Waialua Chocolate Sampler
- Shave ice at Wailoa Shave Ice. Green tea and strawberry. Yum!

- Watched Kicking and Screaming and Blades of Glory.

- And spent time with family :)

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thankgiving

I flew out this morning to Honolulu for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, the drive to the airport (granted, at 6am) was nice and quick and getting through security to the gate was also quick. Plus, the flight itself was quiet (no kids or high school groups to annoy me). I watched Transformers, which was pretty bad but passed the time.

Seeing family in Hawaii is always nice. We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner. I will be spend the next few days relaxing on the beach and at home!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Go see Travis live

Last night I traveled up to SF to see Travis at the Fillmore with some coworkers. I hadn't ever heard of Travis until last month when I was asked if I wanted to go, and since I figured it would be a fun way to get to know my coworkers, I agreed. I half-heartedly listened to their music too, but wasn't incredibly excited about going.

The concert itself definitely changed my opinion of the group. They are so good live! Now I'm a big fan. So go see Travis live! And go to the Fillmore. It's a great venue. We were about 50 feet from the stage.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Reason #46 to love the Prius

Today I was the first time I had to get gas for my prius. Gas is $3.50 at the moment. Luckily, I only needed to get 8.8 gallons to refill the car. I currently get 43 mpg! So awesome :)

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Changes

I've learned a lot in the past few weeks. I took out my first loan. I bought my first car. I bought car insurance. Up next - becoming a California citizen!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Honest Tea

At work I drink tea. Lots of it. I've fallen in love with Honest Tea's "Just Green Tea," drinking maybe 3-5 glasses a day. It's so addicting, 0 calories, organic, and healthy! And, as a side project, I've been collecting the bottle caps, which have quotes. So far I have around 60 unique ones, that I hope to get up on the internet one day. I'll rank first in SERPs for Honest Tea quotes!

Monday, October 08, 2007

Stanford 25, USC 24

Work has been much of the same and I continue to feel more distant from Stanford. That is, until this Saturday, when I checked NCAA scores and found that Stanford had beaten USC 25-24! I couldn't believe it! Jenny and I were on campus that evening, and were fortunate enough to catch a large crowd gathering around Maples. Over 1000 students, alumni (as old as upper 50s) came out to cheer on the newly revitalized Stanford football team as they rolled in at midnight. As far as sports moments at Stanford, this ranks right up there with Nick Robinson's trey at the buzzer to beat Arizona in 2004. For once, an entire campus was united and behind the football team, which just last year had only won one game. And now that I'm an alumni, I can really see how the players, they're just kids too, were so happy to get off that bus to fans. Many of them, for the past four years, got off the bus at midnight to an empty campus, rejected from yet another lost. But that night, they were heroes and they deserved it. Guess all of the good things happen once I leave. But, as they say, once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Officially no longer a student

Classes start tomorrow at Stanford. Now I really am no longer a student. =[

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Day I Almost Died

Yesterday I crashed into a tree and probably totaled my car. I was heading to the gym around 11am and it had been drizzling all morning. When I made a slight left on E. Bayshore, my tires lost traction and my car turned left. I over-steered to the right, causing my car to do a 180 that took me onto the embankment to my right. I collided with a metal fence and a tree, damaging my front bumper, driver door, and rear of the car. Luckily, I was not hurt and the impact was probably at 5-10mph.

As I was sliding out of control, the only thought that really went through my head was "Oh shit, I might die." This has probably been the closest I've been to really hurting myself, and surprisingly, I didn't think very introspectively about anything. A part of me said, "No, I want to live," but I felt the outcome of the situation was beyond my control - I was at the fate of my car and the surroundings I would run into. Guess I'm more existential than I thought.

I'm surprised I'm not more shaken up about the situation as a whole. I probably have to pay a ton to get a new car, but part of me is excited about change in my life. Guess that's me and my optimism about any situation.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Moody Road

For my bike ride today, I headed south on Foothill Expressway to El Monte Road and then Moody road. After making the turn into Moody, I actually turned off onto Altamount, and rode that up about 500 feet before thinking that I had gone the wrong way and turned around. That little detour was tiresome, but when I went down the hill I was able to get up to 39mph, the fastest speed in recent memory.

As for the ride up Moody, it's pretty easy. Low grade climbing, if you could even call it that, for the first few miles, and then finally a pretty steep uphill for a mile. You then get dumped off on Page Mill, which I took down at a fairly fast pace and then rode back home.

All in all:

The Route

27.06 miles
14.6 average mph
39.0 max speed
842.0 calories burned
1:51:07 time


View Larger Map

Thursday, September 13, 2007

What the heck Cardinal's

The St. Louis Cardinal's, once 1 game out of first place, have now gone on an 0-7 losing streak. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. I really really hope they make the playoffs, but after this past week, I'm not sure they deserve it.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

King's Mountain -> OLH

With Wilmot gone, today I went on the longest bike ride I've ever been on. Starting from my home in East Palo Alto, I made my way on Sand Hill and climbed Kings Mountain Road to Skyline. Kings Mountain was pretty grueling, since it was all uphill, taking me almost an hour to climb. The ride between Skyline and OLH was awesome though, allowing me to reach up to 35mph as I flew down the road. By the time I had gone down OLH and hit Alpine, I was pretty tired, never having ridden this far. Luckily, the route back was flat and easy, allowing me to hit (almost) 40miles on a single ride.

Stats:
39.97 miles
13.4 average mph
35.2 max mph
1343.9 calories burned
2:58:22 time

The route

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=2265+Pulgas+Ave,+Palo+Alto,+CA+94303&daddr=Garden+St+%4037.466880,+-122.134630+to:37.462255,-122.134495+to:University+Ave+%4037.443620,+-122.163910+to:Alma+St+%4037.446590,+-122.170720+to:Sand+Hill+Rd+%4037.442420,+-122.173910+to:Sand+Hill+Rd+%4037.412320,+-122.240230+to:Skyline+Blvd+%4037.417420,+-122.318560+to:Old+La+Honda+Rd+%4037.386020,+-122.248620+to:Alpine+Rd,+Portola+Valley,+CA+to:Campus+Dr+W+%4037.429160,+-122.180580+to:palm+drive,+stanford,+ca+to:Donohoe+St+%4037.462490,+-122.134670+to:Garden+St+%4037.466930,+-122.130720+to:2265+Pulgas+Ave,+Palo+Alto,+CA+94303&mrcr=1,2&mrsp=2&sz=14&mra=dpe&sll=37.464163,-122.132263&sspn=0.053888,0.078106&ie=UTF8&ll=37.402346,-122.206421&spn=0.215731,0.312424&z=12&om=1

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Anonymity and Access to Information

If you log into Facebook, you'll see that they're opening profile pages to search engines, allowing anyone's profile page to appear in Google search results. I'm sure thousands of high schoolers are crying foul at this moment, worried that the "I fall asleep in AP Bio" group they joined will get them in trouble. But is it really that big a deal? Is it an invasion of privacy? I don't think so, and I want to take a few minutes to outline my position on net privacy.

Ever since I started full-time work, I've realized how much information about you is on the internet. If you haven't Googled yourself, do it right now. And if you have an uncommon name (like myself) you might be surprised with the results. Under my own name, I have a few op-eds I wrote while at Stanford, some forum posts about my time as a high school debater, and for some reason, some non-existent webpages in another college organization I was briefly a part of. But, in the grand scheme of things, this information is not that big of a deal. If you look at the myriad of Yellowpages, or reverse phone lookup websites, you'll find that your address, phone number, and even previous addresses all appear. I did it for my father and I was surprised that data shows our residence in Maryland, Connecticut, and Missouri (all true). The Yellow Pages is a directory that has existed in print form for many years and nobody had a big problem with this. If you did, you could not list your number. You could opt-out.

For some reason, putting information on the internet causes a greater fear. I don't blame critics - with an address on the internet, anyone across the world could find where you live, as opposed to a local Yellow pages where local residents would be able to access that information. But, this is the trade-off we see with the benefit of the internet and search engines like Google. Google, in an effort to provide more and more quality results, can understand that a query for your name, or even a phone number, will return a result that a user, ultimately wants. Yes, it borders on stalking, but we do it for celebrities all the time, why not extend it to our own lives. At the core, this is transaction of valuable information that a user ultimately wants. Sure, it's unsettling at first, especially if something embarrassing comes up. There are appropriate escalations for that, such as removing the content at your own behest. But at the same time, that is the beauty of the internet as well - it is dynamic and ever changing. Back to the main point - I'm a supporter of the greater access of information on the internet. I think it ultimately pushes humans closer together.

The end.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

In-Flight Messaging: Invasion of Privacy or the Wave of the Future?

Besides offering in-flight movies and TV for its commercial flights, Virgin Airlines is also allowing its passengers to chat with each other. Tech Diary from the WSJ recently did a hands-on investigation of this new service, and the results are nothing short of hilarious.

"11F rocks!" Oh. My. God.

OLH -> Skyline -> Page Mill

Wilmot and I rode from Arastradero up Old La Honda, and on Skyline to Page Mill. According to Google maps, the route is 23.4 miles, which took us over 2 hours, since I'm slow as hell on the uphills. Going down Page Mill was exhilarating and a bit scary; at one point I saw that I was going 36mph! I wore my brakes down a whole bunch on that downhill. This is a map of the route.



View Larger Map

Friday, August 31, 2007

Then why did you buy the book???

In the effort to recoup the massive amount of money I have poured into textbooks over the past four years, I've been selling books on half.com. It's really easy - just type in the ISBN of each book, set a price, and that's it! No need to monitor a bidding war like on eBay. You only pay a commission when the item is sold. Since school is starting again, I've been able to make a few sales.

Most of the interaction I receive with buyers is through the seller feedback area, where users can leave comments about the interaction. Yesterday, however, I received the following letter in the mail:

"To whom it may concern:

Received the book on **********. Its very nice but was surprised at the price of such a small book. Is there a reason for such a high price? Was expecting a bigger paperback.

Thank you,"


...

Are you serious? Then why did you buy the book? I didn't force you to buy the book. In fact, if you look at the book information, it tells you how many pages are in the book as well as its dimensions. I can't believe someone spent more money and time writing back to me. And, now that I think of it, it's slightly sad that I took even more of my time to blog about it here.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Freaking WHOIS

So during winter break of my Sophomore year, Harry, who is in China, IM's me and tells me that he can't register harryzhong.com, because China's firewall prevents him from going through with the transaction. Since I'm a nice guy, I register the domain name for him, and fill our the appropriate information so he can start building his website.

Now, a few years later, I've learned about WHOIS and lo and behold, if you do a search for harryzhong.com, this pops up:

See: http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=harryzhong&tld=com

Registration Service Provided By: 2mhost co.
Contact: sales@2mhost.com

Domain name: harryzhong.com

Registrant Contact:

Reid Yokoyama (harryzhong@**********.com)
+1.916715****
Fax:
673 Escondido Road Rm 350
Stanford, CA 94309
US

Administrative Contact:

Reid Yokoyama (harryzhong@**********.com)
+1.916715****
Fax:
673 Escondido Road Rm 350
Stanford, CA 94309
US

Technical Contact:

Reid Yokoyama (harryzhong@*********.com)
+1.916715****
Fax:
673 Escondido Road Rm 350
Stanford, CA 94309
US

Status: Locked

Name Servers:
ns1.2msrv23.com
ns2.2msrv23.com

Creation date: 04 Aug 2004 14:53:54
Expiration date: 04 Aug 2008 14:53:54
Lame. Good thing the address is my old Kimball dorm room from Sophomore year and that the cell phone number is Harry's and not mine. Information on the internet is so public!!

Friday, August 24, 2007

After 4 year's at Stanford

I'm at a lost on how to spend my weekend. There's so much going on around the Bay Area, but I'm so lazy to go out and find things to do.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Want music?

If you're trying to find music online, take advantage of some of Google's search parameters, along with your knowledge that some people will temporarily host music on directories, which Google crawls.

Try this search parameter and see what you find:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3) "ARTIST/SONG"

Fill in what song or artist you're looking for.

You'll be surprised with what you'll find, or what other songs you find in the process. =)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Remember what the correct title of a book is when you're recommending it to a friend

J had raved to me about reading "The Inheritance of Loss." In an effort to be erudite, I had purchased the book and started to read it last week. I unfortunately had trouble getting through it, ending up on around page 100 after a few hours of half-hearted reading. So, talking to J a few minutes ago, here's what transpired:

Me: so far i'm liking the story of biju in new york better than the things going on in india
J: biju????
Me: maybe because the narrative is something that i can understand and picture a little better
J: who's biju?
Me: the cook's son in new york
Me: who is going between lots of jobs
J: who huh?
Me: lol didn't you read this?
J: ummm
J: i don't remember a cook
Me: the cook in india
Me: the cook for the judge
Me: who has a son in new york city
J: wut judge?
Me: WHAT
J: ummmmm
Me: are we reading the same book?
Me: The Inheritance of Loss?
Me: by Kiran Desai
J: OMG
J: i guided u to the wrong book
J: O_O

I'm supposed to be reading "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri! I'm going to pick that up tomorrow after I return this other book!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Rediscovering Reading

To occupy my newfound freetime, I've taken up reading. In the past month I've read Prep, The Search, The Headmaster Ritual, HP7, and the Time Traveler's Wife. All excellent books. Well, the Headmaster Ritual was the worse of them all. I'm now onto The Inheritance of Loss. I feel like I'm doing some hit parade right now, going to Border's and picking whatever was a NYT bestseller a few months ago and is now discounted. Either way, these are good books to occupy myself when I'm tired of staring at the computer all day.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Post-College Boredom

I never thought I'd say it, but having graduated from college means a completely different lifestyle. There's no staying out/up late, because you have to get up early for work and you don't want to fall asleep on the job. Most surprisingly, I've found myself with a ton of free time; instead of having to work on a paper or think about classes all evening, I have nothing scheduled. So far, I've been amusing myself by reading, watching TV, playing video games, or desperately calling Jenny in China, hoping that she'll pick up. I wouldn't say I'm lonely, but it's definitely not as sociable as it once was at Stanford.

Is this college nostalgia?

Friday, July 27, 2007

Aquafina is just tap water

I've always preferred tap water to bottle water, since I felt the water was just as nutritious, plus it reduced plastic waste. The fact that water was supposed to be better if it came out of a bottle seemed kind of pointless to me, since the United States spends a great deal of time purifying water in its treatment facilities.

Well, I'm happy that one company, Pepsi, is coming clean with claiming any sort of superiority with bottled water. Forbes just reported that Aquafina labels will now say "P.W.S," meaning public water source. So, is it really worth it to spend $3 at an amusement park for some water that would cost 3 cents if you filled a water bottle at home? I don't think so.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Desktop Backgrounds

I work at a computer company, so obviously, the use of a computer is one of necessity. In only a few weeks, I've developed a certain bit of affinity with my workspace. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a super-fast Dell Precision 690 and 2, yes TWO, 24 inch HP monitors.

But, whenever you lock your computer or step away for a minute, your desktop background is broadcast to whomever looks your way. And so far, I have seen some pretty bad backgrounds. A no-no is keeping the templated background that is given to you when you first boot up. I think it shows a lack of creativity. There are others that like to put up a candid picture, perhaps of their pet or maybe a girlfriend/boyfriend. These are nice, but small digital cameras don't take pictures in 1920x1200, meaning there's always some ugly blue space surrounding the picture.

What people need are elegant, artistic, and even funny desktop backgrounds. So please, if you are reading this, visit the following three websites and download a background and help beautify your office-space:


- Vladstudio.com - this site is amazing. Original, creative, and free! If you want to get backgrounds for a 1920x1200 screen, you have to register.

- mandolux - a really sweet site, with precise, high-def images that go nicely on dual-monitors.

- InterfaceLIFT - this site has a wealth of backgrounds, and a variety at that. Be sure to sort by resolution to get the best wallpaper for your computer!

Monday, July 23, 2007

HP7 / Arrested Development

So yes, I finished Harry Potter. I don't want to give anyway any spoilers to the vast majority of people who haven't read the book, but suffice it to say, it was much different than previous versions, although not in a bad way, but in one that just made the book not as exciting as others have for me. Plus, since it was the official end to the series, I thought the ending was cliche and somewhat contrived, but in many ways it really did finish an excellent series. So read it, definitely.

And while you're at Borders or Barnes and Noble, be sure to get:

Arrested Development.

I just bought season 1, and holy shit, it's hilarious! The Bluth's are a seriously dysfunctional family and what's better is that their interactions are shockingly funny. It almost feels like a reality show, like Real World, mixed with an element of third-person narration to keep the plot moving. I particularly enjoy Tobias, who is struggling to be an actor, is a "never-nude," and likes to cry in the shower. Good stuff.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

HP7 is Coming

Of course the internet is buzzing with spoilers, activity, etc of the upcoming HP7. Myself included, will be getting the book as soon as possible and reading it this weekend. Hopefully the next update will be my own impressions of the book.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Biking to Work

I biked to work for the first time today. According to Google maps, the route is about 5.85 miles each way. It's a pretty decent route, because there are bike lanes alongside East Bayshore, Garcia Road, Amphitheater Parkway, and Shoreline Boulevard. And the route is flat, so there are no hills to slow me down.

Also, there is a shower on the first floor of my building, so after getting to the office, I was able to shower before starting work. And there are towels, shampoo, and body wash I can use.

I'm really starting to enjoy the perks of working here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Two interesting cycling articles

Since I have an interest in road cycling, I thought I'd share two interesting articles published by the NYTimes:

1) The Bicycling Paradox: Fit Doesn't Have to be Thin

- The jist of the article is that unlike running, where thin, strong people are the best, even people who are overweight can be decent cyclists. Much of this has to do with how the body sits on the bike, and how your center of gravity can allow you to still be powerful on a cycle. I guess I can relate somewhat to all of this, since I am by no means and thin, and seem to do a lot better on a bicycle than running.
2) A New French Revolution's Creed: Let Them Ride Bikes

- Interesting - Paris is allowing for cheap rentals of bikes to get around various sections of the city. It's a great idea and should hopefully help significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the city. I wonder if anything like this would work in the US, however. Off the top of my head, SF would be too difficult because of all the hills, NY would suck because there's really no bike lanes and the Metro/buses/taxis seem to be good enough. Maybe Chicago. LA is too spread out. How about Las Vegas? Doubtful. Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing another article about how this program works out in a year.

Excited

Today was pretty cool. Besides training, there are a few things why working at Google is awesome

1) Free, excellent food - today I ate at one of the 14 cafeterias, and had some really tender roast lamb, portobello mushrooms, fresh salad, and some great chocolate chip cookies. It seems that everyday during lunch, it's another adventure to one of the cafeterias with some people on my team, along with some really good food.

2) Great facilities - I mentioned a few of the amenities yesterday, like a game room, but along with that, we toured a few of the buildings, and there's free food everywhere, ping pong tables, a ball pit, massage chairs. And today, we rode around the Google campus on some fixed gear bikes that anyone can take to get from building to building. To be honest, much of this hardly feels like work, but again, I think that's the point - for us all to feel very happy when we come here everyday.

So yes, many of the reasons why I wanted to work for Google are holding true, and I'm very happy for that. As work picks up in the coming few days, it should be exciting.

Monday, July 16, 2007

First Day, First Impressions

So, I had my first day of work at Google. A little crazy at first, since there were about 100 new people starting work this week, and only 4 total going into Search Quality, the division I am in. Can't mention much about the work itself, since I signed a whole bunch of non-disclosure paperwork. On the other hand, I will say that I'm happy to get 2 24 inch monitors, a kitchen stocked of free food, and a game room with a XBox 360, PS3, Wii, and foosball. I haven't got to play any of the games yet, and I don't really want to ask people to play because then I'll look like that's all I want to do. I'll give that a few weeks, then. As for the work itself, it seems very intriguing and it will be a good challenge, especially after an extensive background in historical research. It will be interesting to see how my skills in that area will translate into this position.

In the meantime, I'm trying to adjust to going to be early so I'm not tired in the afternoon. I was okay today but I don't want to build up and sleep debt. I do, however, need to find things to occupy my evenings. Without a TV, you have to get creative. Of course, once Harry Potter comes out this weekend, I know what will occupy my time. Until then, I might as well read some books on my shelf that I haven't looked at for a long time. Or surf the net some more. Probably the latter.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Time to Start Fresh

First things first - my trip to China and Thailand was incredible. I took plenty of pictures, which you can view here or on Facebook. I could go on and on about the experience, about what I learned about Chinese or Thai cultures, the food I ate, the sights I saw, and everything in between, but my trip was packed in with only a few days of downtime before work.

So for a little background information, I have moved into a house with three other housemates in East Palo Alto. I live in the master bedroom. I'm starting work at Google tomorrow, as part of their Search Quality Evaluator team. When people have asked me what the job entails, to be honest, I haven't been told much. It has something to do with rating web pages for quality and content. It has something to do with filtering out spoof sites. It has something to do with basic HTML. So, with my limited knowledge, I'm somewhat worried about tomorrow. But, my jitters are typical for any new experience. Will the people like me? Will I ask too many questions? Will I break any unspoken rules? Will I learn things quick enough?

In the past, I've usually been okay handling new situations, but this is my first time experiencing full employment, so it's a different environment entirely. I did, however, pick Google because of its laid-back environment. And I hope that holds true.

Luckily, I have not been hit with much jet-lag. I got a lot of sleep on the plane back so I've transitioned well back to Pacific Time. Staying occupied, however, has been somewhat difficult. Leaving Stanford is like leaving an entire community and since my house is pretty empty right now (only 1 other person living in it), I've had to keep busy by cooking for myself and making some big but long-term investments in my new dependent lifestyle. For example, I spent $200 at Target today, purchasing bathroom cleaning supplies, pots and pans, and kitchen utensils. All of the things I've taken for granted, I now need. But, thankfully it is not a sunk cost, because when the toilet clogs or I need to cook, I'm ready for it!

Finally, after watching a few stages of the Tour de France in Hong Kong, I was pretty excited to come back and bike around the Bay. I've gone out twice with Wilmot, and gotten beat pretty badly. Guess I have a lot more work to go.

More reports after my first day of work tomorrow!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

China and Thailand

I'm going to China and Thailand from June 26 to July 12th. Not that I haven't posted much recently, but I hope after I come back I can post some of my travel blog entries and start blogging before work starts at Google on July 16th.

Friday, June 22, 2007

History Grad

I was honored by being chosen to be the undergraduate speaker for the history graduation ceremony for Stanford's Graduation activities on June 17, 2007. Here's the text of my speech, for posterity:

Thank you.

For the past four years, when many of my peers asked what I majored in and I told them it was history, there was usually an awkward pause, a sideways turn of the head, and "Oh, history." I've always felt like there was a stigma against our major; that writing papers was not as rigorous as a problem set. That taking a class that meets one day a week could be really worth five units (my friends are really jealous about that one), or that you can't do anything with the major. But, I think all of us graduating today have proved those people wrong. I would like to talk about history in two forms - the passion and the practical. I would like to comment on what studying history has meant for me now, and how a history degree will help myself and my classmates in the future.

I wasn't always a history major. When I first came to Stanford, I was premed. After a tough quarter of math and chemistry, I decided to do what was recommended thorough-out Freshman orientation - take classes that interest you. I stumbled into a class called "Introduction to Asian American History." As you can tell, I'm obviously Asian, but I grew up in St. Louis Missouri, where there are hardly any Asian people. It was the first time I had taken a class where the topic had relevance to my own life. It was the first time I had felt passionate about a subject. And it was the first time where I had an opportunity to meet a professor who could inspire me to switch majors, write a thesis, and consider graduate school in history. So thank you Professor Chang, for teaching me the value of history and making me envious of an office filled to the ceiling with books. I would not be here today without your mentorship.

History has taught me the value of being a critical thinker and active citizen in our society. My roommate Sophomore year didn't even know where Missouri was on the United States map, so I bought him an atlas. My dorm mates learned a great deal this year about Japanese Americans who returned to San Francisco after World War II, the topic of my thesis, through dinner time conversations and forcing a few to revise my chapters. You can't go wrong with a subject you love, so if anyone in the audience would like to talk with me in more detail about my thesis, please see me after the ceremony.

This major has also prepared me for the future. Two months ago, during Freshman Admit Weekend, I spoke on a panel for my job as a research assistant at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, which is directed by history professor Clayborne Carson. A parent directly asked me about the practicality of a history major. I told her that there is a common misconception about history - it is not just facts and dates. It is about analyzing the human condition, about discovering how people and systems operated in the past, allowing us to understand values and solutions that are practical and workable in a broader context. And I concluded by saying, "So you can major in history, and still get a job." And the parents actually started clapping! Can you believe that?

But, it's true. We are all moving on to promising futures. The world, more than ever, needs people with an understanding of human events, or even more simply, people who know how to read, analyze, write, and defend their ideas. In many ways, it is the most practical major Stanford offers.

Finally, I think many would agree with me that we owe a great deal to our professors. In class, you questioned our ideas and taught us how to question others. I guess the all-nighters to finish papers were worth it. We didn't just write papers that regurgitated material, but produced original scholarly papers that looked at a particular event, person, or organization in a completely innovative way. We have all emerged as true historians - critical thinkers, passionate readers, and researchers keen on having a better understanding of human events.

Wherever life leads us, we are prepared. Thank you faculty, friends, and family for coming today.

Thank you.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Psych!

So with a few weeks between being done and graduation, I signed up for a bunch of psych studies. I think I took around 25 or so in 2 weeks. Appointments ranged from 30 minutes to 3 hours. And in the end, I made a couple hundred dollars. Not bad, I say.

It was a pretty interesting experience, but the tests did get a little old, even if they were testing different things. I noticed a few common themes in my studies:

1) A lot of studies measure to what extent you are a certain type of person on a spectrum, such as silent vs talkative. The problem I, however, saw with these measurements, is that they change day-by-day for me. One of the popular tests is to see if you think you have "control" or "power" over a certain situation, such as decision making in a position of authority. As an RA, I can sometimes feel like I do have power and control, but in other contexts, such as thinking about my new job at Google, I have little. So my temporal state of emotions influences what choice I make on these surveys, which could vary day-to-day. I suppose there is utility in knowing that the survey represents my current state of emotions and can be linked to how I've reacted to other stimuli in the study.

2) Thankfully, I'm quick at taking the studies. When I've signed up for experiments, they say 30, 45, 60, minutes each. That's no good, considering the pay doesn't really work out to a whole bunch for an entire hour. So be quick and they really are worth your time.

3) Maybe an MRI machine is going too far. Yesterday, I did my final psych study - an MRI scan. It was my first time in that machine, and it's really cramped. I had to keep my head still for three hours while I did a pretty boring cognitive task. Even with the magnet spinning around and the scanner making a ton of noise, I still managed to doze off a bit. So, would I do it again? Probably not, even though it paid $20/hour and I was there for 4 hours. I guess it demonstrated the things I would do for money. It's not entirely worth it, I guess.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Road Biking!

So I made the jump and bought a road bike.


The Off Ramp was having a close-out on their 2006 Giant bikes, so I ended up getting an OCR-3 for only $1199.99 (MSRP: 1850). While not a top of the line bike or a well-known road bike brand like Specialized or Bianchi, the bike is certainly light with an excellent carbon frame and has the quality Shimano 105 shifters. It's taken some time to get used to clipping into my pedals and out, as well as getting the hang of shifting while still keeping up a pretty fast pace, but I've gone out riding the past week and it's been great.

Here are two popular trails I've gone on thus far:

Old La Honda seems to be an infamous climb for local bikers. It's a 3.3 mile climb to the top, gaining 1290 feet in the process. Really fast bikers can make it up in under 20 minutes (the record is around 15 minutes). I've ridden it once and my time was 30+ minutes. Anyway, the route I then took was to La Honda (Highway 84). Riding that highway downhill was thrilling - you go 30+ MPH, faster than cars. Guess I need to do this route more to work on climbing.


Rode this route today - La Canada is relatively flat and pretty darn fast if you can keep up a good clip. We did 26 miles in 2 hours. Could definitely improve on that time, but nothing to be ashamed of to start with.

Road biking is fun! I highly recommend it.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Drum Major Instinct

I'm not a religious person. Never have, never will be. For the past three years, I've worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, an institute as old as I am (22) which began when Coretta Scott King asked Clayborne Carson, the director of the institute, to compile King's papers, sermons, and speeches. For the past three years, I've come in contact with many of King's speeches and writings. I most recently did some research on a speech entitled "Drum Major Instinct." Given in February 4, 1968 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, excerpts would later be played at his funeral 3 months later at the same church. It's message, although religious, is universal and can give some advice on how we should all live our lives:

Drum Major Instinct

This morning I would like to use as a subject from which to preach: "The Drum Major Instinct." "The Drum Major Instinct." And our text for the morning is taken from a very familiar passage in the tenth chapter as recorded by Saint Mark. Beginning with the thirty-fifth verse of that chapter, we read these words: "And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him saying, ‘Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.’ And he said unto them, ‘What would ye that I should do for you?’ And they said unto him, ‘Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.’ But Jesus said unto them, ‘Ye know not what ye ask: Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ And they said unto him, ‘We can.’ And Jesus said unto them, ‘Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.’" And then Jesus goes on toward the end of that passage to say, "But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."


The setting is clear. James and John are making a specific request of the master. They had dreamed, as most of the Hebrews dreamed, of a coming king of Israel who would set Jerusalem free and establish his kingdom on Mount Zion, and in righteousness rule the world. And they thought of Jesus as this kind of king. And they were thinking of that day when Jesus would reign supreme as this new king of Israel. And they were saying, "Now when you establish your kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand of your throne."


Now very quickly, we would automatically condemn James and John, and we would say they were selfish. Why would they make such a selfish request? But before we condemn them too quickly, let us look calmly and honestly at ourselves, and we will discover that we too have those same basic desires for recognition, for importance. That same desire for attention, that same desire to be first. Of course, the other disciples got mad with James and John, and you could understand why, but we must understand that we have some of the same James and John qualities. And there is deep down within all of us an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life.


And so before we condemn them, let us see that we all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. Alfred Adler, the great psychoanalyst, contends that this is the dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to contend that sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a new argument saying that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life, this drum major instinct

And you know, we begin early to ask life to put us first. Our first cry as a baby was a bid for attention. And all through childhood the drum major impulse or instinct is a major obsession. Children ask life to grant them first place. They are a little bundle of ego. And they have innately the drum major impulse or the drum major instinct

Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it. We like to do something good. And you know, we like to be praised for it. Now if you don't believe that, you just go on living life, and you will discover very soon that you like to be praised. Everybody likes it, as a matter of fact. And somehow this warm glow we feel when we are praised or when our name is in print is something of the vitamin A to our ego. Nobody is unhappy when they are praised, even if they know they don't deserve it and even if they don't believe it. The only unhappy people about praise is when that praise is going too much toward somebody else. (That’s right) But everybody likes to be praised because of this real drum major instinct.

Now the presence of the drum major instinct is why so many people are "joiners." You know, there are some people who just join everything. And it's really a quest for attention and recognition and importance. And they get names that give them that impression. So you get your groups, and they become the "Grand Patron," and the little fellow who is henpecked at home needs a chance to be the "Most Worthy of the Most Worthy" of something. It is the drum major impulse and longing that runs the gamut of human life. And so we see it everywhere, this quest for recognition. And we join things, overjoin really, that we think that we will find that recognition in.

Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. (Make it plain) In order to be lovely to love you must wear this kind of lipstick or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you're just buying that stuff. (Yes) That's the way the advertisers do it.

I got a letter the other day, and it was a new magazine coming out. And it opened up, "Dear Dr. King: As you know, you are on many mailing lists. And you are categorized as highly intelligent, progressive, a lover of the arts and the sciences, and I know you will want to read what I have to say." Of course I did. After you said all of that and explained me so exactly, of course I wanted to read it. [laughter]

But very seriously, it goes through life; the drum major instinct is real. (Yes) And you know what else it causes to happen? It often causes us to live above our means. (Make it plain) It's nothing but the drum major instinct. Do you ever see people buy cars that they can't even begin to buy in terms of their income? (Amen) [laughter] You've seen people riding around in Cadillacs and Chryslers who don't earn enough to have a good T-Model Ford. (Make it plain) But it feeds a repressed ego.

You know, economists tell us that your automobile should not cost more than half of your annual income. So if you make an income of five thousand dollars, your car shouldn't cost more than about twenty-five hundred. That's just good economics. And if it's a family of two, and both members of the family make ten thousand dollars, they would have to make out with one car. That would be good economics, although it's often inconvenient. But so often, haven't you seen people making five thousand dollars a year and driving a car that costs six thousand? And they wonder why their ends never meet. [laughter] That's a fact.


Now the economists also say that your house shouldn't cost—if you're buying a house, it shouldn't cost more than twice your income. That's based on the economy and how you would make ends meet. So, if you have an income of five thousand dollars, it's kind of difficult in this society. But say it's a family with an income of ten thousand dollars, the house shouldn't cost much more than twenty thousand. Well, I've seen folk making ten thousand dollars, living in a forty- and fifty-thousand-dollar house. And you know they just barely make it. They get a check every month somewhere, and they owe all of that out before it comes in. Never have anything to put away for rainy days.


But now the problem is, it is the drum major instinct. And you know, you see people over and over again with the drum major instinct taking them over. And they just live their lives trying to outdo the Joneses. (Amen) They got to get this coat because this particular coat is a little better and a little better-looking than Mary's coat. And I got to drive this car because it's something about this car that makes my car a little better than my neighbor's car. (Amen) I know a man who used to live in a thirty-five-thousand-dollar house. And other people started building thirty-five-thousand-dollar houses, so he built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house. And then somebody else built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house, and he built a hundred-thousand-dollar house. And I don't know where he's going to end up if he's going to live his life trying to keep up with the Joneses.


There comes a time that the drum major instinct can become destructive. (Make it plain) And that's where I want to move now. I want to move to the point of saying that if this instinct is not harnessed, it becomes a very dangerous, pernicious instinct. For instance, if it isn’t harnessed, it causes one's personality to become distorted. I guess that's the most damaging aspect of it: what it does to the personality. If it isn't harnessed, you will end up day in and day out trying to deal with your ego problem by boasting. Have you ever heard people that—you know, and I'm sure you've met them—that really become sickening because they just sit up all the time talking about themselves. (Amen) And they just boast and boast and boast, and that's the person who has not harnessed the drum major instinct.


And then it does other things to the personality. It causes you to lie about who you know sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) There are some people who are influence peddlers. And in their attempt to deal with the drum major instinct, they have to try to identify with the so-called big-name people. (Yeah, Make it plain) And if you're not careful, they will make you think they know somebody that they don't really know. (Amen) They know them well, they sip tea with them, and they this-and-that. That happens to people.


And the other thing is that it causes one to engage ultimately in activities that are merely used to get attention. Criminologists tell us that some people are driven to crime because of this drum major instinct. They don't feel that they are getting enough attention through the normal channels of social behavior, and so they turn to anti-social behavior in order to get attention, in order to feel important. (Yeah) And so they get that gun, and before they know it they robbed a bank in a quest for recognition, in a quest for importance.


And then the final great tragedy of the distorted personality is the fact that when one fails to harness this instinct, (Glory to God) he ends up trying to push others down in order to push himself up. (Amen) And whenever you do that, you engage in some of the most vicious activities. You will spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on people, because you are trying to pull them down in order to push yourself up. (Make it plain) And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct.


Now the other problem is, when you don't harness the drum major instinct—this uncontrolled aspect of it—is that it leads to snobbish exclusivism. It leads to snobbish exclusivism. (Make it plain) And you know, this is the danger of social clubs and fraternities—I'm in a fraternity; I'm in two or three—for sororities and all of these, I'm not talking against them. I'm saying it's the danger. The danger is that they can become forces of classism and exclusivism where somehow you get a degree of satisfaction because you are in something exclusive. And that's fulfilling something, you know—that I'm in this fraternity, and it's the best fraternity in the world, and everybody can't get in this fraternity. So it ends up, you know, a very exclusive kind of thing.


And you know, that can happen with the church; I know churches get in that bind sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) I've been to churches, you know, and they say, "We have so many doctors, and so many school teachers, and so many lawyers, and so many businessmen in our church." And that's fine, because doctors need to go to church, and lawyers, and businessmen, teachers—they ought to be in church. But they say that—even the preacher sometimes will go all through that—they say that as if the other people don't count. (Amen)


And the church is the one place where a doctor ought to forget that he's a doctor. The church is the one place where a Ph.D. ought to forget that he's a Ph.D. (Yes) The church is the one place that the school teacher ought to forget the degree she has behind her name. The church is the one place where the lawyer ought to forget that he's a lawyer. And any church that violates the "whosoever will, let him come" doctrine is a dead, cold church, (Yes) and nothing but a little social club with a thin veneer of religiosity.


When the church is true to its nature, (Whoo) it says, "Whosoever will, let him come." (Yes) And it does not supposed to satisfy the perverted uses of the drum major instinct. It's the one place where everybody should be the same, standing before a common master and savior. (Yes, sir) And a recognition grows out of this—that all men are brothers because they are children (Yes) of a common father.


The drum major instinct can lead to exclusivism in one's thinking and can lead one to feel that because he has some training, he's a little better than that person who doesn't have it. Or because he has some economic security, that he's a little better than that person who doesn't have it. And that's the uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum major instinct.


Now the other thing is, that it leads to tragic—and we've seen it happen so often—tragic race prejudice. Many who have written about this problem—Lillian Smith used to say it beautifully in some of her books. And she would say it to the point of getting men and women to see the source of the problem. Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct? A need that some people have to feel superior. A need that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first. (Make it plain, today, ‘cause I’m against it, so help me God) And they have said over and over again in ways that we see with our own eyes. In fact, not too long ago, a man down in Mississippi said that God was a charter member of the White Citizens Council. And so God being the charter member means that everybody who's in that has a kind of divinity, a kind of superiority. And think of what has happened in history as a result of this perverted use of the drum major instinct. It has led to the most tragic prejudice, the most tragic expressions of man's inhumanity to man.


The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point—that was the second or third day—to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, "Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You're just as poor as Negroes." And I said, "You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you're so poor you can't send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march."


Now that's a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he’s superior because his skin is white—and can't hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out. (Amen)


And not only does this thing go into the racial struggle, it goes into the struggle between nations. And I would submit to you this morning that what is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy. And if something doesn't happen to stop this trend, I'm sorely afraid that we won't be here to talk about Jesus Christ and about God and about brotherhood too many more years. (Yeah) If somebody doesn't bring an end to this suicidal thrust that we see in the world today, none of us are going to be around, because somebody's going to make the mistake through our senseless blunderings of dropping a nuclear bomb somewhere. And then another one is going to drop. And don't let anybody fool you, this can happen within a matter of seconds. (Amen) They have twenty-megaton bombs in Russia right now that can destroy a city as big as New York in three seconds, with everybody wiped away, and every building. And we can do the same thing to Russia and China.


But this is why we are drifting. And we are drifting there because nations are caught up with the drum major instinct. "I must be first." "I must be supreme." "Our nation must rule the world." (Preach it) And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. And I'm going to continue to say it to America, because I love this country too much to see the drift that it has taken.


God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now. (Preach it, preach it) God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war as the war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in that war. We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation.


But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. (Amen) The God that I worship has a way of saying, "Don't play with me." (Yes) He has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews, "Don’t play with me, Israel. Don't play with me, Babylon. (Yes) Be still and know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." (Yes) And that can happen to America. (Yes) Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America, I say to myself, the parallels are frightening. And we have perverted the drum major instinct.


But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"


But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."


And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared." (Amen)


And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness.


And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.


I know a man—and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way (Yeah) because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn't have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. (Yes) He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.


He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They said he was an agitator. (Glory to God) He practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned him over to them. (Amen) One of his closest friends denied him. Another of his friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the people who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he had in the world. (Lord help him) When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.


Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together (Yes) have not affected the life of man on this earth (Amen) as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a familiar one. (Jesus) But today I can hear them talking about him. Every now and then somebody says, "He's King of Kings." (Yes) And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's Lord of Lords." Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East nor West." (Yes) And then they go on and talk about, "In Him there's no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world." He didn't have anything. (Amen) He just went around serving and doing good.


This morning, you can be on his right hand and his left hand if you serve. (Amen) It's the only way in.


Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.


If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)


I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)


I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.


I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)


I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)


And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)


I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)


I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)


Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.


If I can help somebody as I pass along.
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song.
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,

If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,

If I can spread the message as the master taught,

Then my living will not be in vain.


Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Too many movies

So with all of my free time, I've been catching up on movies. Here's what I watched:

Pirates 3 - Not very good, especially compared to the first and second. It was way too long and predictable. The fight scenes on the ships were pretty awesome, however.

Shrek 3 - Also not very good. The jokes just weren't very good this time and the plot wasn't as good as the first or second. I'm starting to see a problem with the third movies of a series.

Accepted - Wow, horrible. 1.5 hours I'll never get back.

Breach - Tons of drama in this one. And I can't believe it's based off a true story. Definitely a good movies to watch - Chris Cooper gives an excellent performance.

Legally Blonde - Best quote "I am comfortable using legal jargon in everyday settings." Guy whistles at Reese Witherspoon, who says "I object!"

Legally Blonde 2 - Not as good as the first, but still has a lot of cute humor.

Eurotrip - Surprisingly funny. And tons of crude humor to keep your giggling.

Blood Diamond - DiCaprio gives a stellar performance. I definitely feel conflicted about diamonds and how first world nations work to solve problems in Africa.

Oldboy - Wow, what a messed up story. And I mean that in a very provocative and interesting way. Definitely watch this if you want a great plot twist and twisted story. Plus, Roble Hall is written in the Korean yearbook the main character looks at. Oh snap!

XXX - Bad.

XXX: State of the Union - Bad. Why did I watch both of these?

Not sure what to watch next - I need more sources for movies than the FTP site I currently use. I guess I could make my way to Green, but that requires planning and work.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Shots really aren't that bad

I used to have a horrible fear of shots. I hadn't gotten one since 2000 and even seeing those needles or thinking about one going into my arm just gave me goosebumps. This summer, Jenny and I are going to China and Thailand, and it was recommended that I get shots to prevent Hepatitis A and Typhoid. No matter how much I didn't want a shot, I came to terms with knowing that I'd rather have a shot than get these horrible diseases. So last week I made my way up to San Francisco to get my shots.

My nurse was a kind lady in her late forties, volunteering at the clinic to provide low-cost health care to travel patients. She seemed just as excited as I did about traveling to China and Thailand, and even recalled fond memories of her time in Thailand. But, she was also realistic about the need for my immunizations - "One can never be too careful," she said. I agreed to the immunizations, paid the money, and sat back in the chair, waiting for the shots. I watched her fill two long needles with the fluid, realizing that all of that would soon enter my body.

She swabbed my arm. I turned away. I felt a slight prick. Then another. She slapped on two band-aids, said I was done and smiled. Turns out, shots really aren't that bad. All of my worrying was for naught. I guess I've built this whole shot thing up for 7 years. Now I know not to be afraid next time.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

At long last

Well it's been a long time since I last updated. It's hard to make blogging a part of your daily routine, once you fall out of it for awhile. But, I've finished my senior thesis and since I'm no longer taking classes, I have a lot of free time. Of course, I finished my thesis on May 11th, so for the past few weeks, you'd think I'd have plenty of time to blog.

In either event, there's only one thing I wanted to write about today. This week, it was revealed that a recent graduate of Troy High School has been posing as a Stanford student. Azia Kim both lived in Kimball and Okada for this entire year, claiming to be a Frosh or Sophomore. She even studied with peers, ate at the dining halls, and became close friends with the girls she squatted with (for the full store, read the Stanford Daily article). Today, when I was able to actually look at a picture of Azia, I finally realize that I had seen her in the dining hall and had seen her around campus. It's so easy to fall off the radar at Stanford and you become used to running by or having class with people you don't know or care to know. I can see how she fit in and unassumingly fooled everyone. But, I still don't understand how she was able to squat. That's the disconnect I see in the entire situation. Is it really possible for RAs to not know that she was squatting or sneaking into her room through the window? I want to say no and I want to say that I would have been able to catch her if she was doing that in Lantana. I'm happy that I know all my residents and at least know all their faces. I know if someone actually lives in the dorm and know if someone is a stranger. I know my residents' boyfriends and girlfriends. But, I guess in a larger dorm, I wouldn't be able to know everything. Especially in a larger dorm like Kimball or in Azia's case, if she was always around the dorm and said she was living elsewhere, I wouldn't think too much about it. Regardless, Azia succeeded and tricked Stanford this entire year. It's really crazy to think that this university is so safe, but it's also so easy to break into dorms and walk into dining halls without paying. It's the good and bad of Stanford's culture - it's too laid back to the point of ignorance and apathy.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Clean your car!

I'm ready to show everyone my new 2008 Toyota Prius. Click the link below to view a few photos uploaded to Picasa.

Prius

From the advice of my Father, I've discovered the importance of washing your car. It really helps with its upkeep and value - my Dad's 96 Acura still looks gorgeous like he had just bought it. If you're curious about what products to use, I highly recommend Mr Clean's AuoDry Carwash kit. The water-gun attachment serves as a filter for soap to clean your car, and some brilliant de-ionized water plugins, which allow your car to dry spotless! And it really works, taking out all of the frustrations of washing a car on your own. Plus, refills of soap run for about $8, meaning you'll pay around $5 to wash your car, instead of $20+ at a professional car wash.

The other thing I recommend you get is Eagle 1 Wax-As-U-Dry. It's about $5 and will last for a really long time [1+ years] and waxes your car while you run your towel over the car, drying it at the same time. And no, I am not sponsored or anything by these two products. They really do work and I'm very happy with my results. I used to never wash my old car, but now that I have a new car, I feel a lot more invested in making it last as long as possible.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Success! Traveling and Presenting

I had posted last week that I had purchased a pair of noise canceling headphones. During my flight to Chicago they turned out to be a blessing. My flight was delayed about 4 hours, so I sat in the airport and read the Kite Runner while having the noise canceling activated. It allowed me to concentrate better, and I think prevented me from being as fatigued because I didn't have to constantly hear all of the airport noise. So I highly recommend noise canceling headphones!

Of course, the transition from Chicago to St. Louis was a little hectic. We landed at 10:20 and my flight out to St. Louis was supposed to depart at 10:50. Once we landed I rushed out to my plane, running through the terminal as fast as I could. I had my backpack and carry-on bag with me, and got tired pretty quickly. But, when I turned the corner and saw the terminal lined with cots and people already getting ready to sleep, resigned to the fact that they would be spending the night there, I decided that there would be no way that I would spend the night in Chicago. So I ran and caught my plane - but of course, it wouldn't leave for another 45 minutes due to additional boarding of late passengers and bad weather.

Christmas was the first time our family had been together since June, and the first time I had been home to St. Louis since last December. Plenty of things had changed - the roads, the things in my home. Nonetheless, it was nice to catch up. My family loved the Google gear I got them =) So it was a successful holiday! And back to work on Thurdsay.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

<3 my new headphones

Oh hell yes. I finally got noise canceling headphones. This was something I've wanted for many years, especially after taking countless plane rides during college from Stanford to St. Louis, and getting off the plane really grumpy because some baby was crying and because the plane engine is just so noisy! I guess it really does drive me a little nuts when a middle school group traveling to China runs up and down the aisles while you're trying to rest. So, in preparation for my next trip home, I finally pulled the trigger and bought some Audio-Technica noise canceling headphones:


And already after one day of work, I can tell they make a huge difference. At work I felt more productive, and less distracted from the noise around me. I think it was really good, because I sit right next to a busy meeting room, where the constant in and out of people causes me to always look up and see what's going on. It's my instinct to look around to see what's happening, but now that there's no noise to cue me, I can pay attention to my work. Flying is never something I enjoy, but I know it will be 10 times better now that I don't have to listen to lots of background noise when I fly back to St. Louis.

Of course, my manager had to wave for a few seconds to get my attention at the end of the day. I expect to get hit a few times for people to get my attention. =)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

My cover has been blown

My fellow employees have found this blog. There goes my freedom of expression =(

Monday, December 17, 2007

Cool countdown

Sunday, December 16, 2007

When Jenny's gone...

I become very bored and lonely.

For a little background info, Jenny has left for a trip to Asia, where she will work in the Google Tokyo office for a few days before hopping over to Qingdao to see her Grandparents. I, in the meantime, am continuing the work thing in Mountain View, and attempting amuse myself while she's gone.

Some things I've done:

- Played video games: Probably about 24 hours worth during the weekend. I got a game called "Just Cause" for Xbox 360, which is just like the Grand Theft Auto series. You fly around a gorgeous island, completing missions to overthrow the government and grabbing territory from drug lords and corrupt government officials. While the quest for 1000 Xbox achievements points continues on that game, I have only left the house to do the following...

- Eat - at Google...three of my four meals were there. Well, I only drove their twice. On Saturday I got enough chipotle BBQ pork loin to last through dinner. And Saturday was some thai chicken. Very very good!

- Gym - I'm proud to say I went. Made me feel worthwhile.

- Shop - took my butt out to get some clothes I really didn't need. I went to Express Men at Valley Fair and bought two pairs of jeans and a t-shirt. I also stopped by Old Navy and got some socks and boxers. That made the trip worth it.

So what will I do the rest of this week? I've done all my Christmas shopping, so it will be more of the same. Work, gym, video games. Gotta get it all out of my system before Jenny comes back!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Xbox obsessed

The best thing about Xbox 360 is that there are achievement points associated with each title. 1000 points can be obtained for each game, based on completing certain objectives. For me, I've always been obsessed with completely beating a game - getting 100% completition in GTA Vice City or beating Farcry/Fear/HalfLife2 on the hardest setting.

But now Xbox live records a gamer score, with all of the points associated with the games you've played. It totally makes me keep playing games just with the point of getting achievements to have a higher score. I'm around 5000 points, but people online are as high as 50000. Maybe one day I'll reach that much!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Thanksgiving Recap

Awesome things I did in Hawaii:

- Attended the Triple Crown Surfing competition in the North Shore of Haleiwa. The waves were killer - 10-15 feet high.

- Ate at Kua'aina burger. 1/3 burger with 1/2 an avocado on top. And fries. Best. Burger. Ever.

- Ate at Alan Wong's. Menu included:
  • Baked Lobster Mousse Wrapped in Nori with Crab Avocado Stuffing
  • Steamed Clams with Kalua Pig, Shiitake Mushrooms in a Foil Bag
  • Hamakua Springs Whole Tomato Salad with Li Hing Mui Ume Vinaigrette
  • Maui Cattle Company “Garlic Steak” - Pipikaula Potato Gratin, Boursin Goat Cheese, Roasted Vegetables, Red Wine and Shallot Glaze
  • Waialua Chocolate Sampler
- Shave ice at Wailoa Shave Ice. Green tea and strawberry. Yum!

- Watched Kicking and Screaming and Blades of Glory.

- And spent time with family :)

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thankgiving

I flew out this morning to Honolulu for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, the drive to the airport (granted, at 6am) was nice and quick and getting through security to the gate was also quick. Plus, the flight itself was quiet (no kids or high school groups to annoy me). I watched Transformers, which was pretty bad but passed the time.

Seeing family in Hawaii is always nice. We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner. I will be spend the next few days relaxing on the beach and at home!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Go see Travis live

Last night I traveled up to SF to see Travis at the Fillmore with some coworkers. I hadn't ever heard of Travis until last month when I was asked if I wanted to go, and since I figured it would be a fun way to get to know my coworkers, I agreed. I half-heartedly listened to their music too, but wasn't incredibly excited about going.

The concert itself definitely changed my opinion of the group. They are so good live! Now I'm a big fan. So go see Travis live! And go to the Fillmore. It's a great venue. We were about 50 feet from the stage.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Reason #46 to love the Prius

Today I was the first time I had to get gas for my prius. Gas is $3.50 at the moment. Luckily, I only needed to get 8.8 gallons to refill the car. I currently get 43 mpg! So awesome :)

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Changes

I've learned a lot in the past few weeks. I took out my first loan. I bought my first car. I bought car insurance. Up next - becoming a California citizen!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Honest Tea

At work I drink tea. Lots of it. I've fallen in love with Honest Tea's "Just Green Tea," drinking maybe 3-5 glasses a day. It's so addicting, 0 calories, organic, and healthy! And, as a side project, I've been collecting the bottle caps, which have quotes. So far I have around 60 unique ones, that I hope to get up on the internet one day. I'll rank first in SERPs for Honest Tea quotes!

Monday, October 08, 2007

Stanford 25, USC 24

Work has been much of the same and I continue to feel more distant from Stanford. That is, until this Saturday, when I checked NCAA scores and found that Stanford had beaten USC 25-24! I couldn't believe it! Jenny and I were on campus that evening, and were fortunate enough to catch a large crowd gathering around Maples. Over 1000 students, alumni (as old as upper 50s) came out to cheer on the newly revitalized Stanford football team as they rolled in at midnight. As far as sports moments at Stanford, this ranks right up there with Nick Robinson's trey at the buzzer to beat Arizona in 2004. For once, an entire campus was united and behind the football team, which just last year had only won one game. And now that I'm an alumni, I can really see how the players, they're just kids too, were so happy to get off that bus to fans. Many of them, for the past four years, got off the bus at midnight to an empty campus, rejected from yet another lost. But that night, they were heroes and they deserved it. Guess all of the good things happen once I leave. But, as they say, once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Officially no longer a student

Classes start tomorrow at Stanford. Now I really am no longer a student. =[

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Day I Almost Died

Yesterday I crashed into a tree and probably totaled my car. I was heading to the gym around 11am and it had been drizzling all morning. When I made a slight left on E. Bayshore, my tires lost traction and my car turned left. I over-steered to the right, causing my car to do a 180 that took me onto the embankment to my right. I collided with a metal fence and a tree, damaging my front bumper, driver door, and rear of the car. Luckily, I was not hurt and the impact was probably at 5-10mph.

As I was sliding out of control, the only thought that really went through my head was "Oh shit, I might die." This has probably been the closest I've been to really hurting myself, and surprisingly, I didn't think very introspectively about anything. A part of me said, "No, I want to live," but I felt the outcome of the situation was beyond my control - I was at the fate of my car and the surroundings I would run into. Guess I'm more existential than I thought.

I'm surprised I'm not more shaken up about the situation as a whole. I probably have to pay a ton to get a new car, but part of me is excited about change in my life. Guess that's me and my optimism about any situation.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Moody Road

For my bike ride today, I headed south on Foothill Expressway to El Monte Road and then Moody road. After making the turn into Moody, I actually turned off onto Altamount, and rode that up about 500 feet before thinking that I had gone the wrong way and turned around. That little detour was tiresome, but when I went down the hill I was able to get up to 39mph, the fastest speed in recent memory.

As for the ride up Moody, it's pretty easy. Low grade climbing, if you could even call it that, for the first few miles, and then finally a pretty steep uphill for a mile. You then get dumped off on Page Mill, which I took down at a fairly fast pace and then rode back home.

All in all:

The Route

27.06 miles
14.6 average mph
39.0 max speed
842.0 calories burned
1:51:07 time


View Larger Map

Thursday, September 13, 2007

What the heck Cardinal's

The St. Louis Cardinal's, once 1 game out of first place, have now gone on an 0-7 losing streak. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. I really really hope they make the playoffs, but after this past week, I'm not sure they deserve it.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

King's Mountain -> OLH

With Wilmot gone, today I went on the longest bike ride I've ever been on. Starting from my home in East Palo Alto, I made my way on Sand Hill and climbed Kings Mountain Road to Skyline. Kings Mountain was pretty grueling, since it was all uphill, taking me almost an hour to climb. The ride between Skyline and OLH was awesome though, allowing me to reach up to 35mph as I flew down the road. By the time I had gone down OLH and hit Alpine, I was pretty tired, never having ridden this far. Luckily, the route back was flat and easy, allowing me to hit (almost) 40miles on a single ride.

Stats:
39.97 miles
13.4 average mph
35.2 max mph
1343.9 calories burned
2:58:22 time

The route

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=2265+Pulgas+Ave,+Palo+Alto,+CA+94303&daddr=Garden+St+%4037.466880,+-122.134630+to:37.462255,-122.134495+to:University+Ave+%4037.443620,+-122.163910+to:Alma+St+%4037.446590,+-122.170720+to:Sand+Hill+Rd+%4037.442420,+-122.173910+to:Sand+Hill+Rd+%4037.412320,+-122.240230+to:Skyline+Blvd+%4037.417420,+-122.318560+to:Old+La+Honda+Rd+%4037.386020,+-122.248620+to:Alpine+Rd,+Portola+Valley,+CA+to:Campus+Dr+W+%4037.429160,+-122.180580+to:palm+drive,+stanford,+ca+to:Donohoe+St+%4037.462490,+-122.134670+to:Garden+St+%4037.466930,+-122.130720+to:2265+Pulgas+Ave,+Palo+Alto,+CA+94303&mrcr=1,2&mrsp=2&sz=14&mra=dpe&sll=37.464163,-122.132263&sspn=0.053888,0.078106&ie=UTF8&ll=37.402346,-122.206421&spn=0.215731,0.312424&z=12&om=1

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Anonymity and Access to Information

If you log into Facebook, you'll see that they're opening profile pages to search engines, allowing anyone's profile page to appear in Google search results. I'm sure thousands of high schoolers are crying foul at this moment, worried that the "I fall asleep in AP Bio" group they joined will get them in trouble. But is it really that big a deal? Is it an invasion of privacy? I don't think so, and I want to take a few minutes to outline my position on net privacy.

Ever since I started full-time work, I've realized how much information about you is on the internet. If you haven't Googled yourself, do it right now. And if you have an uncommon name (like myself) you might be surprised with the results. Under my own name, I have a few op-eds I wrote while at Stanford, some forum posts about my time as a high school debater, and for some reason, some non-existent webpages in another college organization I was briefly a part of. But, in the grand scheme of things, this information is not that big of a deal. If you look at the myriad of Yellowpages, or reverse phone lookup websites, you'll find that your address, phone number, and even previous addresses all appear. I did it for my father and I was surprised that data shows our residence in Maryland, Connecticut, and Missouri (all true). The Yellow Pages is a directory that has existed in print form for many years and nobody had a big problem with this. If you did, you could not list your number. You could opt-out.

For some reason, putting information on the internet causes a greater fear. I don't blame critics - with an address on the internet, anyone across the world could find where you live, as opposed to a local Yellow pages where local residents would be able to access that information. But, this is the trade-off we see with the benefit of the internet and search engines like Google. Google, in an effort to provide more and more quality results, can understand that a query for your name, or even a phone number, will return a result that a user, ultimately wants. Yes, it borders on stalking, but we do it for celebrities all the time, why not extend it to our own lives. At the core, this is transaction of valuable information that a user ultimately wants. Sure, it's unsettling at first, especially if something embarrassing comes up. There are appropriate escalations for that, such as removing the content at your own behest. But at the same time, that is the beauty of the internet as well - it is dynamic and ever changing. Back to the main point - I'm a supporter of the greater access of information on the internet. I think it ultimately pushes humans closer together.

The end.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

In-Flight Messaging: Invasion of Privacy or the Wave of the Future?

Besides offering in-flight movies and TV for its commercial flights, Virgin Airlines is also allowing its passengers to chat with each other. Tech Diary from the WSJ recently did a hands-on investigation of this new service, and the results are nothing short of hilarious.

"11F rocks!" Oh. My. God.

OLH -> Skyline -> Page Mill

Wilmot and I rode from Arastradero up Old La Honda, and on Skyline to Page Mill. According to Google maps, the route is 23.4 miles, which took us over 2 hours, since I'm slow as hell on the uphills. Going down Page Mill was exhilarating and a bit scary; at one point I saw that I was going 36mph! I wore my brakes down a whole bunch on that downhill. This is a map of the route.



View Larger Map

Friday, August 31, 2007

Then why did you buy the book???

In the effort to recoup the massive amount of money I have poured into textbooks over the past four years, I've been selling books on half.com. It's really easy - just type in the ISBN of each book, set a price, and that's it! No need to monitor a bidding war like on eBay. You only pay a commission when the item is sold. Since school is starting again, I've been able to make a few sales.

Most of the interaction I receive with buyers is through the seller feedback area, where users can leave comments about the interaction. Yesterday, however, I received the following letter in the mail:

"To whom it may concern:

Received the book on **********. Its very nice but was surprised at the price of such a small book. Is there a reason for such a high price? Was expecting a bigger paperback.

Thank you,"


...

Are you serious? Then why did you buy the book? I didn't force you to buy the book. In fact, if you look at the book information, it tells you how many pages are in the book as well as its dimensions. I can't believe someone spent more money and time writing back to me. And, now that I think of it, it's slightly sad that I took even more of my time to blog about it here.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Freaking WHOIS

So during winter break of my Sophomore year, Harry, who is in China, IM's me and tells me that he can't register harryzhong.com, because China's firewall prevents him from going through with the transaction. Since I'm a nice guy, I register the domain name for him, and fill our the appropriate information so he can start building his website.

Now, a few years later, I've learned about WHOIS and lo and behold, if you do a search for harryzhong.com, this pops up:

See: http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=harryzhong&tld=com

Registration Service Provided By: 2mhost co.
Contact: sales@2mhost.com

Domain name: harryzhong.com

Registrant Contact:

Reid Yokoyama (harryzhong@**********.com)
+1.916715****
Fax:
673 Escondido Road Rm 350
Stanford, CA 94309
US

Administrative Contact:

Reid Yokoyama (harryzhong@**********.com)
+1.916715****
Fax:
673 Escondido Road Rm 350
Stanford, CA 94309
US

Technical Contact:

Reid Yokoyama (harryzhong@*********.com)
+1.916715****
Fax:
673 Escondido Road Rm 350
Stanford, CA 94309
US

Status: Locked

Name Servers:
ns1.2msrv23.com
ns2.2msrv23.com

Creation date: 04 Aug 2004 14:53:54
Expiration date: 04 Aug 2008 14:53:54
Lame. Good thing the address is my old Kimball dorm room from Sophomore year and that the cell phone number is Harry's and not mine. Information on the internet is so public!!

Friday, August 24, 2007

After 4 year's at Stanford

I'm at a lost on how to spend my weekend. There's so much going on around the Bay Area, but I'm so lazy to go out and find things to do.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Want music?

If you're trying to find music online, take advantage of some of Google's search parameters, along with your knowledge that some people will temporarily host music on directories, which Google crawls.

Try this search parameter and see what you find:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3) "ARTIST/SONG"

Fill in what song or artist you're looking for.

You'll be surprised with what you'll find, or what other songs you find in the process. =)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Remember what the correct title of a book is when you're recommending it to a friend

J had raved to me about reading "The Inheritance of Loss." In an effort to be erudite, I had purchased the book and started to read it last week. I unfortunately had trouble getting through it, ending up on around page 100 after a few hours of half-hearted reading. So, talking to J a few minutes ago, here's what transpired:

Me: so far i'm liking the story of biju in new york better than the things going on in india
J: biju????
Me: maybe because the narrative is something that i can understand and picture a little better
J: who's biju?
Me: the cook's son in new york
Me: who is going between lots of jobs
J: who huh?
Me: lol didn't you read this?
J: ummm
J: i don't remember a cook
Me: the cook in india
Me: the cook for the judge
Me: who has a son in new york city
J: wut judge?
Me: WHAT
J: ummmmm
Me: are we reading the same book?
Me: The Inheritance of Loss?
Me: by Kiran Desai
J: OMG
J: i guided u to the wrong book
J: O_O

I'm supposed to be reading "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri! I'm going to pick that up tomorrow after I return this other book!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Rediscovering Reading

To occupy my newfound freetime, I've taken up reading. In the past month I've read Prep, The Search, The Headmaster Ritual, HP7, and the Time Traveler's Wife. All excellent books. Well, the Headmaster Ritual was the worse of them all. I'm now onto The Inheritance of Loss. I feel like I'm doing some hit parade right now, going to Border's and picking whatever was a NYT bestseller a few months ago and is now discounted. Either way, these are good books to occupy myself when I'm tired of staring at the computer all day.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Post-College Boredom

I never thought I'd say it, but having graduated from college means a completely different lifestyle. There's no staying out/up late, because you have to get up early for work and you don't want to fall asleep on the job. Most surprisingly, I've found myself with a ton of free time; instead of having to work on a paper or think about classes all evening, I have nothing scheduled. So far, I've been amusing myself by reading, watching TV, playing video games, or desperately calling Jenny in China, hoping that she'll pick up. I wouldn't say I'm lonely, but it's definitely not as sociable as it once was at Stanford.

Is this college nostalgia?

Friday, July 27, 2007

Aquafina is just tap water

I've always preferred tap water to bottle water, since I felt the water was just as nutritious, plus it reduced plastic waste. The fact that water was supposed to be better if it came out of a bottle seemed kind of pointless to me, since the United States spends a great deal of time purifying water in its treatment facilities.

Well, I'm happy that one company, Pepsi, is coming clean with claiming any sort of superiority with bottled water. Forbes just reported that Aquafina labels will now say "P.W.S," meaning public water source. So, is it really worth it to spend $3 at an amusement park for some water that would cost 3 cents if you filled a water bottle at home? I don't think so.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Desktop Backgrounds

I work at a computer company, so obviously, the use of a computer is one of necessity. In only a few weeks, I've developed a certain bit of affinity with my workspace. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a super-fast Dell Precision 690 and 2, yes TWO, 24 inch HP monitors.

But, whenever you lock your computer or step away for a minute, your desktop background is broadcast to whomever looks your way. And so far, I have seen some pretty bad backgrounds. A no-no is keeping the templated background that is given to you when you first boot up. I think it shows a lack of creativity. There are others that like to put up a candid picture, perhaps of their pet or maybe a girlfriend/boyfriend. These are nice, but small digital cameras don't take pictures in 1920x1200, meaning there's always some ugly blue space surrounding the picture.

What people need are elegant, artistic, and even funny desktop backgrounds. So please, if you are reading this, visit the following three websites and download a background and help beautify your office-space:


- Vladstudio.com - this site is amazing. Original, creative, and free! If you want to get backgrounds for a 1920x1200 screen, you have to register.

- mandolux - a really sweet site, with precise, high-def images that go nicely on dual-monitors.

- InterfaceLIFT - this site has a wealth of backgrounds, and a variety at that. Be sure to sort by resolution to get the best wallpaper for your computer!

Monday, July 23, 2007

HP7 / Arrested Development

So yes, I finished Harry Potter. I don't want to give anyway any spoilers to the vast majority of people who haven't read the book, but suffice it to say, it was much different than previous versions, although not in a bad way, but in one that just made the book not as exciting as others have for me. Plus, since it was the official end to the series, I thought the ending was cliche and somewhat contrived, but in many ways it really did finish an excellent series. So read it, definitely.

And while you're at Borders or Barnes and Noble, be sure to get:

Arrested Development.

I just bought season 1, and holy shit, it's hilarious! The Bluth's are a seriously dysfunctional family and what's better is that their interactions are shockingly funny. It almost feels like a reality show, like Real World, mixed with an element of third-person narration to keep the plot moving. I particularly enjoy Tobias, who is struggling to be an actor, is a "never-nude," and likes to cry in the shower. Good stuff.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

HP7 is Coming

Of course the internet is buzzing with spoilers, activity, etc of the upcoming HP7. Myself included, will be getting the book as soon as possible and reading it this weekend. Hopefully the next update will be my own impressions of the book.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Biking to Work

I biked to work for the first time today. According to Google maps, the route is about 5.85 miles each way. It's a pretty decent route, because there are bike lanes alongside East Bayshore, Garcia Road, Amphitheater Parkway, and Shoreline Boulevard. And the route is flat, so there are no hills to slow me down.

Also, there is a shower on the first floor of my building, so after getting to the office, I was able to shower before starting work. And there are towels, shampoo, and body wash I can use.

I'm really starting to enjoy the perks of working here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Two interesting cycling articles

Since I have an interest in road cycling, I thought I'd share two interesting articles published by the NYTimes:

1) The Bicycling Paradox: Fit Doesn't Have to be Thin

- The jist of the article is that unlike running, where thin, strong people are the best, even people who are overweight can be decent cyclists. Much of this has to do with how the body sits on the bike, and how your center of gravity can allow you to still be powerful on a cycle. I guess I can relate somewhat to all of this, since I am by no means and thin, and seem to do a lot better on a bicycle than running.
2) A New French Revolution's Creed: Let Them Ride Bikes

- Interesting - Paris is allowing for cheap rentals of bikes to get around various sections of the city. It's a great idea and should hopefully help significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the city. I wonder if anything like this would work in the US, however. Off the top of my head, SF would be too difficult because of all the hills, NY would suck because there's really no bike lanes and the Metro/buses/taxis seem to be good enough. Maybe Chicago. LA is too spread out. How about Las Vegas? Doubtful. Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing another article about how this program works out in a year.

Excited

Today was pretty cool. Besides training, there are a few things why working at Google is awesome

1) Free, excellent food - today I ate at one of the 14 cafeterias, and had some really tender roast lamb, portobello mushrooms, fresh salad, and some great chocolate chip cookies. It seems that everyday during lunch, it's another adventure to one of the cafeterias with some people on my team, along with some really good food.

2) Great facilities - I mentioned a few of the amenities yesterday, like a game room, but along with that, we toured a few of the buildings, and there's free food everywhere, ping pong tables, a ball pit, massage chairs. And today, we rode around the Google campus on some fixed gear bikes that anyone can take to get from building to building. To be honest, much of this hardly feels like work, but again, I think that's the point - for us all to feel very happy when we come here everyday.

So yes, many of the reasons why I wanted to work for Google are holding true, and I'm very happy for that. As work picks up in the coming few days, it should be exciting.

Monday, July 16, 2007

First Day, First Impressions

So, I had my first day of work at Google. A little crazy at first, since there were about 100 new people starting work this week, and only 4 total going into Search Quality, the division I am in. Can't mention much about the work itself, since I signed a whole bunch of non-disclosure paperwork. On the other hand, I will say that I'm happy to get 2 24 inch monitors, a kitchen stocked of free food, and a game room with a XBox 360, PS3, Wii, and foosball. I haven't got to play any of the games yet, and I don't really want to ask people to play because then I'll look like that's all I want to do. I'll give that a few weeks, then. As for the work itself, it seems very intriguing and it will be a good challenge, especially after an extensive background in historical research. It will be interesting to see how my skills in that area will translate into this position.

In the meantime, I'm trying to adjust to going to be early so I'm not tired in the afternoon. I was okay today but I don't want to build up and sleep debt. I do, however, need to find things to occupy my evenings. Without a TV, you have to get creative. Of course, once Harry Potter comes out this weekend, I know what will occupy my time. Until then, I might as well read some books on my shelf that I haven't looked at for a long time. Or surf the net some more. Probably the latter.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Time to Start Fresh

First things first - my trip to China and Thailand was incredible. I took plenty of pictures, which you can view here or on Facebook. I could go on and on about the experience, about what I learned about Chinese or Thai cultures, the food I ate, the sights I saw, and everything in between, but my trip was packed in with only a few days of downtime before work.

So for a little background information, I have moved into a house with three other housemates in East Palo Alto. I live in the master bedroom. I'm starting work at Google tomorrow, as part of their Search Quality Evaluator team. When people have asked me what the job entails, to be honest, I haven't been told much. It has something to do with rating web pages for quality and content. It has something to do with filtering out spoof sites. It has something to do with basic HTML. So, with my limited knowledge, I'm somewhat worried about tomorrow. But, my jitters are typical for any new experience. Will the people like me? Will I ask too many questions? Will I break any unspoken rules? Will I learn things quick enough?

In the past, I've usually been okay handling new situations, but this is my first time experiencing full employment, so it's a different environment entirely. I did, however, pick Google because of its laid-back environment. And I hope that holds true.

Luckily, I have not been hit with much jet-lag. I got a lot of sleep on the plane back so I've transitioned well back to Pacific Time. Staying occupied, however, has been somewhat difficult. Leaving Stanford is like leaving an entire community and since my house is pretty empty right now (only 1 other person living in it), I've had to keep busy by cooking for myself and making some big but long-term investments in my new dependent lifestyle. For example, I spent $200 at Target today, purchasing bathroom cleaning supplies, pots and pans, and kitchen utensils. All of the things I've taken for granted, I now need. But, thankfully it is not a sunk cost, because when the toilet clogs or I need to cook, I'm ready for it!

Finally, after watching a few stages of the Tour de France in Hong Kong, I was pretty excited to come back and bike around the Bay. I've gone out twice with Wilmot, and gotten beat pretty badly. Guess I have a lot more work to go.

More reports after my first day of work tomorrow!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

China and Thailand

I'm going to China and Thailand from June 26 to July 12th. Not that I haven't posted much recently, but I hope after I come back I can post some of my travel blog entries and start blogging before work starts at Google on July 16th.

Friday, June 22, 2007

History Grad

I was honored by being chosen to be the undergraduate speaker for the history graduation ceremony for Stanford's Graduation activities on June 17, 2007. Here's the text of my speech, for posterity:

Thank you.

For the past four years, when many of my peers asked what I majored in and I told them it was history, there was usually an awkward pause, a sideways turn of the head, and "Oh, history." I've always felt like there was a stigma against our major; that writing papers was not as rigorous as a problem set. That taking a class that meets one day a week could be really worth five units (my friends are really jealous about that one), or that you can't do anything with the major. But, I think all of us graduating today have proved those people wrong. I would like to talk about history in two forms - the passion and the practical. I would like to comment on what studying history has meant for me now, and how a history degree will help myself and my classmates in the future.

I wasn't always a history major. When I first came to Stanford, I was premed. After a tough quarter of math and chemistry, I decided to do what was recommended thorough-out Freshman orientation - take classes that interest you. I stumbled into a class called "Introduction to Asian American History." As you can tell, I'm obviously Asian, but I grew up in St. Louis Missouri, where there are hardly any Asian people. It was the first time I had taken a class where the topic had relevance to my own life. It was the first time I had felt passionate about a subject. And it was the first time where I had an opportunity to meet a professor who could inspire me to switch majors, write a thesis, and consider graduate school in history. So thank you Professor Chang, for teaching me the value of history and making me envious of an office filled to the ceiling with books. I would not be here today without your mentorship.

History has taught me the value of being a critical thinker and active citizen in our society. My roommate Sophomore year didn't even know where Missouri was on the United States map, so I bought him an atlas. My dorm mates learned a great deal this year about Japanese Americans who returned to San Francisco after World War II, the topic of my thesis, through dinner time conversations and forcing a few to revise my chapters. You can't go wrong with a subject you love, so if anyone in the audience would like to talk with me in more detail about my thesis, please see me after the ceremony.

This major has also prepared me for the future. Two months ago, during Freshman Admit Weekend, I spoke on a panel for my job as a research assistant at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, which is directed by history professor Clayborne Carson. A parent directly asked me about the practicality of a history major. I told her that there is a common misconception about history - it is not just facts and dates. It is about analyzing the human condition, about discovering how people and systems operated in the past, allowing us to understand values and solutions that are practical and workable in a broader context. And I concluded by saying, "So you can major in history, and still get a job." And the parents actually started clapping! Can you believe that?

But, it's true. We are all moving on to promising futures. The world, more than ever, needs people with an understanding of human events, or even more simply, people who know how to read, analyze, write, and defend their ideas. In many ways, it is the most practical major Stanford offers.

Finally, I think many would agree with me that we owe a great deal to our professors. In class, you questioned our ideas and taught us how to question others. I guess the all-nighters to finish papers were worth it. We didn't just write papers that regurgitated material, but produced original scholarly papers that looked at a particular event, person, or organization in a completely innovative way. We have all emerged as true historians - critical thinkers, passionate readers, and researchers keen on having a better understanding of human events.

Wherever life leads us, we are prepared. Thank you faculty, friends, and family for coming today.

Thank you.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Psych!

So with a few weeks between being done and graduation, I signed up for a bunch of psych studies. I think I took around 25 or so in 2 weeks. Appointments ranged from 30 minutes to 3 hours. And in the end, I made a couple hundred dollars. Not bad, I say.

It was a pretty interesting experience, but the tests did get a little old, even if they were testing different things. I noticed a few common themes in my studies:

1) A lot of studies measure to what extent you are a certain type of person on a spectrum, such as silent vs talkative. The problem I, however, saw with these measurements, is that they change day-by-day for me. One of the popular tests is to see if you think you have "control" or "power" over a certain situation, such as decision making in a position of authority. As an RA, I can sometimes feel like I do have power and control, but in other contexts, such as thinking about my new job at Google, I have little. So my temporal state of emotions influences what choice I make on these surveys, which could vary day-to-day. I suppose there is utility in knowing that the survey represents my current state of emotions and can be linked to how I've reacted to other stimuli in the study.

2) Thankfully, I'm quick at taking the studies. When I've signed up for experiments, they say 30, 45, 60, minutes each. That's no good, considering the pay doesn't really work out to a whole bunch for an entire hour. So be quick and they really are worth your time.

3) Maybe an MRI machine is going too far. Yesterday, I did my final psych study - an MRI scan. It was my first time in that machine, and it's really cramped. I had to keep my head still for three hours while I did a pretty boring cognitive task. Even with the magnet spinning around and the scanner making a ton of noise, I still managed to doze off a bit. So, would I do it again? Probably not, even though it paid $20/hour and I was there for 4 hours. I guess it demonstrated the things I would do for money. It's not entirely worth it, I guess.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Road Biking!

So I made the jump and bought a road bike.


The Off Ramp was having a close-out on their 2006 Giant bikes, so I ended up getting an OCR-3 for only $1199.99 (MSRP: 1850). While not a top of the line bike or a well-known road bike brand like Specialized or Bianchi, the bike is certainly light with an excellent carbon frame and has the quality Shimano 105 shifters. It's taken some time to get used to clipping into my pedals and out, as well as getting the hang of shifting while still keeping up a pretty fast pace, but I've gone out riding the past week and it's been great.

Here are two popular trails I've gone on thus far:

Old La Honda seems to be an infamous climb for local bikers. It's a 3.3 mile climb to the top, gaining 1290 feet in the process. Really fast bikers can make it up in under 20 minutes (the record is around 15 minutes). I've ridden it once and my time was 30+ minutes. Anyway, the route I then took was to La Honda (Highway 84). Riding that highway downhill was thrilling - you go 30+ MPH, faster than cars. Guess I need to do this route more to work on climbing.


Rode this route today - La Canada is relatively flat and pretty darn fast if you can keep up a good clip. We did 26 miles in 2 hours. Could definitely improve on that time, but nothing to be ashamed of to start with.

Road biking is fun! I highly recommend it.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Drum Major Instinct

I'm not a religious person. Never have, never will be. For the past three years, I've worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, an institute as old as I am (22) which began when Coretta Scott King asked Clayborne Carson, the director of the institute, to compile King's papers, sermons, and speeches. For the past three years, I've come in contact with many of King's speeches and writings. I most recently did some research on a speech entitled "Drum Major Instinct." Given in February 4, 1968 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, excerpts would later be played at his funeral 3 months later at the same church. It's message, although religious, is universal and can give some advice on how we should all live our lives:

Drum Major Instinct

This morning I would like to use as a subject from which to preach: "The Drum Major Instinct." "The Drum Major Instinct." And our text for the morning is taken from a very familiar passage in the tenth chapter as recorded by Saint Mark. Beginning with the thirty-fifth verse of that chapter, we read these words: "And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him saying, ‘Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.’ And he said unto them, ‘What would ye that I should do for you?’ And they said unto him, ‘Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.’ But Jesus said unto them, ‘Ye know not what ye ask: Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ And they said unto him, ‘We can.’ And Jesus said unto them, ‘Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.’" And then Jesus goes on toward the end of that passage to say, "But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."


The setting is clear. James and John are making a specific request of the master. They had dreamed, as most of the Hebrews dreamed, of a coming king of Israel who would set Jerusalem free and establish his kingdom on Mount Zion, and in righteousness rule the world. And they thought of Jesus as this kind of king. And they were thinking of that day when Jesus would reign supreme as this new king of Israel. And they were saying, "Now when you establish your kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand of your throne."


Now very quickly, we would automatically condemn James and John, and we would say they were selfish. Why would they make such a selfish request? But before we condemn them too quickly, let us look calmly and honestly at ourselves, and we will discover that we too have those same basic desires for recognition, for importance. That same desire for attention, that same desire to be first. Of course, the other disciples got mad with James and John, and you could understand why, but we must understand that we have some of the same James and John qualities. And there is deep down within all of us an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life.


And so before we condemn them, let us see that we all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. Alfred Adler, the great psychoanalyst, contends that this is the dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to contend that sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a new argument saying that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life, this drum major instinct

And you know, we begin early to ask life to put us first. Our first cry as a baby was a bid for attention. And all through childhood the drum major impulse or instinct is a major obsession. Children ask life to grant them first place. They are a little bundle of ego. And they have innately the drum major impulse or the drum major instinct

Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it. We like to do something good. And you know, we like to be praised for it. Now if you don't believe that, you just go on living life, and you will discover very soon that you like to be praised. Everybody likes it, as a matter of fact. And somehow this warm glow we feel when we are praised or when our name is in print is something of the vitamin A to our ego. Nobody is unhappy when they are praised, even if they know they don't deserve it and even if they don't believe it. The only unhappy people about praise is when that praise is going too much toward somebody else. (That’s right) But everybody likes to be praised because of this real drum major instinct.

Now the presence of the drum major instinct is why so many people are "joiners." You know, there are some people who just join everything. And it's really a quest for attention and recognition and importance. And they get names that give them that impression. So you get your groups, and they become the "Grand Patron," and the little fellow who is henpecked at home needs a chance to be the "Most Worthy of the Most Worthy" of something. It is the drum major impulse and longing that runs the gamut of human life. And so we see it everywhere, this quest for recognition. And we join things, overjoin really, that we think that we will find that recognition in.

Now the presence of this instinct explains why we are so often taken by advertisers. You know, those gentlemen of massive verbal persuasion. And they have a way of saying things to you that kind of gets you into buying. In order to be a man of distinction, you must drink this whiskey. In order to make your neighbors envious, you must drive this type of car. (Make it plain) In order to be lovely to love you must wear this kind of lipstick or this kind of perfume. And you know, before you know it, you're just buying that stuff. (Yes) That's the way the advertisers do it.

I got a letter the other day, and it was a new magazine coming out. And it opened up, "Dear Dr. King: As you know, you are on many mailing lists. And you are categorized as highly intelligent, progressive, a lover of the arts and the sciences, and I know you will want to read what I have to say." Of course I did. After you said all of that and explained me so exactly, of course I wanted to read it. [laughter]

But very seriously, it goes through life; the drum major instinct is real. (Yes) And you know what else it causes to happen? It often causes us to live above our means. (Make it plain) It's nothing but the drum major instinct. Do you ever see people buy cars that they can't even begin to buy in terms of their income? (Amen) [laughter] You've seen people riding around in Cadillacs and Chryslers who don't earn enough to have a good T-Model Ford. (Make it plain) But it feeds a repressed ego.

You know, economists tell us that your automobile should not cost more than half of your annual income. So if you make an income of five thousand dollars, your car shouldn't cost more than about twenty-five hundred. That's just good economics. And if it's a family of two, and both members of the family make ten thousand dollars, they would have to make out with one car. That would be good economics, although it's often inconvenient. But so often, haven't you seen people making five thousand dollars a year and driving a car that costs six thousand? And they wonder why their ends never meet. [laughter] That's a fact.


Now the economists also say that your house shouldn't cost—if you're buying a house, it shouldn't cost more than twice your income. That's based on the economy and how you would make ends meet. So, if you have an income of five thousand dollars, it's kind of difficult in this society. But say it's a family with an income of ten thousand dollars, the house shouldn't cost much more than twenty thousand. Well, I've seen folk making ten thousand dollars, living in a forty- and fifty-thousand-dollar house. And you know they just barely make it. They get a check every month somewhere, and they owe all of that out before it comes in. Never have anything to put away for rainy days.


But now the problem is, it is the drum major instinct. And you know, you see people over and over again with the drum major instinct taking them over. And they just live their lives trying to outdo the Joneses. (Amen) They got to get this coat because this particular coat is a little better and a little better-looking than Mary's coat. And I got to drive this car because it's something about this car that makes my car a little better than my neighbor's car. (Amen) I know a man who used to live in a thirty-five-thousand-dollar house. And other people started building thirty-five-thousand-dollar houses, so he built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house. And then somebody else built a seventy-five-thousand-dollar house, and he built a hundred-thousand-dollar house. And I don't know where he's going to end up if he's going to live his life trying to keep up with the Joneses.


There comes a time that the drum major instinct can become destructive. (Make it plain) And that's where I want to move now. I want to move to the point of saying that if this instinct is not harnessed, it becomes a very dangerous, pernicious instinct. For instance, if it isn’t harnessed, it causes one's personality to become distorted. I guess that's the most damaging aspect of it: what it does to the personality. If it isn't harnessed, you will end up day in and day out trying to deal with your ego problem by boasting. Have you ever heard people that—you know, and I'm sure you've met them—that really become sickening because they just sit up all the time talking about themselves. (Amen) And they just boast and boast and boast, and that's the person who has not harnessed the drum major instinct.


And then it does other things to the personality. It causes you to lie about who you know sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) There are some people who are influence peddlers. And in their attempt to deal with the drum major instinct, they have to try to identify with the so-called big-name people. (Yeah, Make it plain) And if you're not careful, they will make you think they know somebody that they don't really know. (Amen) They know them well, they sip tea with them, and they this-and-that. That happens to people.


And the other thing is that it causes one to engage ultimately in activities that are merely used to get attention. Criminologists tell us that some people are driven to crime because of this drum major instinct. They don't feel that they are getting enough attention through the normal channels of social behavior, and so they turn to anti-social behavior in order to get attention, in order to feel important. (Yeah) And so they get that gun, and before they know it they robbed a bank in a quest for recognition, in a quest for importance.


And then the final great tragedy of the distorted personality is the fact that when one fails to harness this instinct, (Glory to God) he ends up trying to push others down in order to push himself up. (Amen) And whenever you do that, you engage in some of the most vicious activities. You will spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on people, because you are trying to pull them down in order to push yourself up. (Make it plain) And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct.


Now the other problem is, when you don't harness the drum major instinct—this uncontrolled aspect of it—is that it leads to snobbish exclusivism. It leads to snobbish exclusivism. (Make it plain) And you know, this is the danger of social clubs and fraternities—I'm in a fraternity; I'm in two or three—for sororities and all of these, I'm not talking against them. I'm saying it's the danger. The danger is that they can become forces of classism and exclusivism where somehow you get a degree of satisfaction because you are in something exclusive. And that's fulfilling something, you know—that I'm in this fraternity, and it's the best fraternity in the world, and everybody can't get in this fraternity. So it ends up, you know, a very exclusive kind of thing.


And you know, that can happen with the church; I know churches get in that bind sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) I've been to churches, you know, and they say, "We have so many doctors, and so many school teachers, and so many lawyers, and so many businessmen in our church." And that's fine, because doctors need to go to church, and lawyers, and businessmen, teachers—they ought to be in church. But they say that—even the preacher sometimes will go all through that—they say that as if the other people don't count. (Amen)


And the church is the one place where a doctor ought to forget that he's a doctor. The church is the one place where a Ph.D. ought to forget that he's a Ph.D. (Yes) The church is the one place that the school teacher ought to forget the degree she has behind her name. The church is the one place where the lawyer ought to forget that he's a lawyer. And any church that violates the "whosoever will, let him come" doctrine is a dead, cold church, (Yes) and nothing but a little social club with a thin veneer of religiosity.


When the church is true to its nature, (Whoo) it says, "Whosoever will, let him come." (Yes) And it does not supposed to satisfy the perverted uses of the drum major instinct. It's the one place where everybody should be the same, standing before a common master and savior. (Yes, sir) And a recognition grows out of this—that all men are brothers because they are children (Yes) of a common father.


The drum major instinct can lead to exclusivism in one's thinking and can lead one to feel that because he has some training, he's a little better than that person who doesn't have it. Or because he has some economic security, that he's a little better than that person who doesn't have it. And that's the uncontrolled, perverted use of the drum major instinct.


Now the other thing is, that it leads to tragic—and we've seen it happen so often—tragic race prejudice. Many who have written about this problem—Lillian Smith used to say it beautifully in some of her books. And she would say it to the point of getting men and women to see the source of the problem. Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct? A need that some people have to feel superior. A need that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first. (Make it plain, today, ‘cause I’m against it, so help me God) And they have said over and over again in ways that we see with our own eyes. In fact, not too long ago, a man down in Mississippi said that God was a charter member of the White Citizens Council. And so God being the charter member means that everybody who's in that has a kind of divinity, a kind of superiority. And think of what has happened in history as a result of this perverted use of the drum major instinct. It has led to the most tragic prejudice, the most tragic expressions of man's inhumanity to man.


The other day I was saying, I always try to do a little converting when I'm in jail. And when we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point—that was the second or third day—to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, "Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. [laughter] You're just as poor as Negroes." And I said, "You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. (Yes) And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you're so poor you can't send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march."


Now that's a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, (Make it plain) he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he’s superior because his skin is white—and can't hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out. (Amen)


And not only does this thing go into the racial struggle, it goes into the struggle between nations. And I would submit to you this morning that what is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy. And if something doesn't happen to stop this trend, I'm sorely afraid that we won't be here to talk about Jesus Christ and about God and about brotherhood too many more years. (Yeah) If somebody doesn't bring an end to this suicidal thrust that we see in the world today, none of us are going to be around, because somebody's going to make the mistake through our senseless blunderings of dropping a nuclear bomb somewhere. And then another one is going to drop. And don't let anybody fool you, this can happen within a matter of seconds. (Amen) They have twenty-megaton bombs in Russia right now that can destroy a city as big as New York in three seconds, with everybody wiped away, and every building. And we can do the same thing to Russia and China.


But this is why we are drifting. And we are drifting there because nations are caught up with the drum major instinct. "I must be first." "I must be supreme." "Our nation must rule the world." (Preach it) And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. And I'm going to continue to say it to America, because I love this country too much to see the drift that it has taken.


God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now. (Preach it, preach it) God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war as the war in Vietnam. And we are criminals in that war. We’ve committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation.


But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. (Amen) The God that I worship has a way of saying, "Don't play with me." (Yes) He has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews, "Don’t play with me, Israel. Don't play with me, Babylon. (Yes) Be still and know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." (Yes) And that can happen to America. (Yes) Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America, I say to myself, the parallels are frightening. And we have perverted the drum major instinct.


But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"


But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."


And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared." (Amen)


And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness.


And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.


I know a man—and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way (Yeah) because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn't have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. (Yes) He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.


He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They said he was an agitator. (Glory to God) He practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned him over to them. (Amen) One of his closest friends denied him. Another of his friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the people who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he had in the world. (Lord help him) When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.


Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together (Yes) have not affected the life of man on this earth (Amen) as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a familiar one. (Jesus) But today I can hear them talking about him. Every now and then somebody says, "He's King of Kings." (Yes) And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's Lord of Lords." Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East nor West." (Yes) And then they go on and talk about, "In Him there's no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world." He didn't have anything. (Amen) He just went around serving and doing good.


This morning, you can be on his right hand and his left hand if you serve. (Amen) It's the only way in.


Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life's final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, "What is it that I would want said?" And I leave the word to you this morning.


If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)


I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)


I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.


I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)


I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)


And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)


I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)


I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)


Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.


If I can help somebody as I pass along.
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song.
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,

If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,

If I can spread the message as the master taught,

Then my living will not be in vain.


Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Too many movies

So with all of my free time, I've been catching up on movies. Here's what I watched:

Pirates 3 - Not very good, especially compared to the first and second. It was way too long and predictable. The fight scenes on the ships were pretty awesome, however.

Shrek 3 - Also not very good. The jokes just weren't very good this time and the plot wasn't as good as the first or second. I'm starting to see a problem with the third movies of a series.

Accepted - Wow, horrible. 1.5 hours I'll never get back.

Breach - Tons of drama in this one. And I can't believe it's based off a true story. Definitely a good movies to watch - Chris Cooper gives an excellent performance.

Legally Blonde - Best quote "I am comfortable using legal jargon in everyday settings." Guy whistles at Reese Witherspoon, who says "I object!"

Legally Blonde 2 - Not as good as the first, but still has a lot of cute humor.

Eurotrip - Surprisingly funny. And tons of crude humor to keep your giggling.

Blood Diamond - DiCaprio gives a stellar performance. I definitely feel conflicted about diamonds and how first world nations work to solve problems in Africa.

Oldboy - Wow, what a messed up story. And I mean that in a very provocative and interesting way. Definitely watch this if you want a great plot twist and twisted story. Plus, Roble Hall is written in the Korean yearbook the main character looks at. Oh snap!

XXX - Bad.

XXX: State of the Union - Bad. Why did I watch both of these?

Not sure what to watch next - I need more sources for movies than the FTP site I currently use. I guess I could make my way to Green, but that requires planning and work.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Shots really aren't that bad

I used to have a horrible fear of shots. I hadn't gotten one since 2000 and even seeing those needles or thinking about one going into my arm just gave me goosebumps. This summer, Jenny and I are going to China and Thailand, and it was recommended that I get shots to prevent Hepatitis A and Typhoid. No matter how much I didn't want a shot, I came to terms with knowing that I'd rather have a shot than get these horrible diseases. So last week I made my way up to San Francisco to get my shots.

My nurse was a kind lady in her late forties, volunteering at the clinic to provide low-cost health care to travel patients. She seemed just as excited as I did about traveling to China and Thailand, and even recalled fond memories of her time in Thailand. But, she was also realistic about the need for my immunizations - "One can never be too careful," she said. I agreed to the immunizations, paid the money, and sat back in the chair, waiting for the shots. I watched her fill two long needles with the fluid, realizing that all of that would soon enter my body.

She swabbed my arm. I turned away. I felt a slight prick. Then another. She slapped on two band-aids, said I was done and smiled. Turns out, shots really aren't that bad. All of my worrying was for naught. I guess I've built this whole shot thing up for 7 years. Now I know not to be afraid next time.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

At long last

Well it's been a long time since I last updated. It's hard to make blogging a part of your daily routine, once you fall out of it for awhile. But, I've finished my senior thesis and since I'm no longer taking classes, I have a lot of free time. Of course, I finished my thesis on May 11th, so for the past few weeks, you'd think I'd have plenty of time to blog.

In either event, there's only one thing I wanted to write about today. This week, it was revealed that a recent graduate of Troy High School has been posing as a Stanford student. Azia Kim both lived in Kimball and Okada for this entire year, claiming to be a Frosh or Sophomore. She even studied with peers, ate at the dining halls, and became close friends with the girls she squatted with (for the full store, read the Stanford Daily article). Today, when I was able to actually look at a picture of Azia, I finally realize that I had seen her in the dining hall and had seen her around campus. It's so easy to fall off the radar at Stanford and you become used to running by or having class with people you don't know or care to know. I can see how she fit in and unassumingly fooled everyone. But, I still don't understand how she was able to squat. That's the disconnect I see in the entire situation. Is it really possible for RAs to not know that she was squatting or sneaking into her room through the window? I want to say no and I want to say that I would have been able to catch her if she was doing that in Lantana. I'm happy that I know all my residents and at least know all their faces. I know if someone actually lives in the dorm and know if someone is a stranger. I know my residents' boyfriends and girlfriends. But, I guess in a larger dorm, I wouldn't be able to know everything. Especially in a larger dorm like Kimball or in Azia's case, if she was always around the dorm and said she was living elsewhere, I wouldn't think too much about it. Regardless, Azia succeeded and tricked Stanford this entire year. It's really crazy to think that this university is so safe, but it's also so easy to break into dorms and walk into dining halls without paying. It's the good and bad of Stanford's culture - it's too laid back to the point of ignorance and apathy.