Reid's Blog

I've moved my blog....woot

2008-03-02T00:35:00.000-08:00

This is the final post of readreidsblog.blogspot.com :(

But fear not, everything has been moved over to reidyokoyama.com

I'm still working out some of the kinks with owning my new domain, so please bear with me; but this is the final post I'll be making on this blog. Thanks for being a loyal reader and continuing to follow my extraordinarily interesting life on my new site.

American Idol Season 7: Another four bite the dust

2008-02-28T22:47:00.000-08:00

It was bye forever for Alexandrea Lushington, Alaina Whitaker, Jason Yeager, and Robbie Carrico tonight.

Jason Yeager's departure wasn't anything surprising, and I was close with my prediction of Alexandrea and Alaina, but I thought there would have been more support for Robbie. Of course, Nelson called it, so props to him. If there was any unity between what the judges said this week and how the votes were cast, it was that a song that did not fit a singer at all was grounds for elimination. Still - big surprise for me that Amanda Overmyer is still on the show, as so far all she's proved to me is that she can belt out loud rock songs. Well, as long as my favorites are still in the running, I'm happy.

American Idol Season 7: My Picks for the Top Ten Girls

2008-02-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

The girls took the stage tonight, and I must admit, they have a lot of work to do to catch up with the boys. No one singer stood out for me and poor song choices across the board hurt many girls tonight. Maybe the 70's (which was the theme for this week) was a better decade for male music. At least that's the way it sounded.

So to recap. Carly Smithson opened things up with Heart's "Crazy on You" which the judges themselves weren't too crazy about. I really wonder about her, since there's always the fact that she once had a multi-million dollar recording contract. It's the fact that everyone knows, but no one mentions on the show. Whether that can hurt her or not is still unclear - but I know as a voter, it's hard to vote for her versus some of the contestants who are having their first big break on the show.

Let's look at the mistakes of tonight. The big one was Amanda Overmyer's rendition of Kansas' "Carry on my wayward son." It's a great song, no doubt, but it had too much guitar and not enough vocals. And since this is basically her second chance after a lackluster performance last week, she's probably out of the running. Same for Kady Malloy - Heart's "Magic Man" was less than memorable and I've really got to wonder if some music history is needed for these girls to pick the best songs from each decade.

Songs were also chosen that were simply too safe. Alexandrea Lushington didn't push herself on Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now," which suggests to me that she's saving herself for a later performance to wow the judges. She's probably one of the better female vocalists, but so far she hasn't shown it on the national stage. Safety was also the name of the game for Syesha Mercado. Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" did not allow her to demonstrate her range nor her style, leaving the judges confused with why she picked a song by a male to begin with.

There were more mediocre performances from Alaina Whitaker, who sang "Hopelessly Devoted to You," from Greases. Too slow, too boring, and too pagenty.

Needing to find their groove was Asia'h Epperson and Kristy Lee Cook. Asia'h started off poorly with a Eric Carmen's "All by myself," a tough choice but one that she really took off with at the end. She's got talent, but she's inconsistent. There's always mention of her being sick, but that can only get your sympathy for so long. Kristy Lee was so-so with "You're No Good" by Linda Ronstadt causing Simon to suggest she attempt a country song next week. And while I think Kristy Lee is a lot better suited for that genre, I do think that country singer's don't fare particularly well on the show - I mean, when was the last (or first time) there was a rapper that won American Idol? Country music, I feel, is not mainstream enough for the pop culture teenage/adolescent market.

Well, I saved for the best for last and I've gotta admit that while Ramiele Malubay did not song her best with Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way", she's got an incredible voice and all the judges love her. And so do I.

The surprise performance of the night came from Brooke White who last week was my #12. She totally fit with Carly Simon's "You're So Vain," and the poignant looks at Simon while she sang that line is going to win over the fans for this week. She'll be cruising into the next round.

So without further ado, my rankings for this week:
10) Amanda Overmyer
9) Kady Malloy
8) Alaina Whitaker
7) Alenxandrea Lushington
6) Syesha Mercado
5) Kristy Lee Cook
4) Asia'h Epperson
3) Carly Smithson
2) Brooke White
1) Ramiele Malubay

American Idol Season 7: My Picks for the Top Ten Boys

2008-02-26T21:52:00.001-08:00

The ten boys left really upped the ante tonight, with almost all of them giving stellar performances that shook up my own rankings compared to last week. It was seventies week, so the music selection was a lot more energetic and fun, allowing many contestants to demonstrate their singing abilities, provided they pick the correct song. Michael Johns started things off with Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," which was a poor song choice and even poorer performance, with some awkward microphone movements. I think he's safe, however, since the judges still recognize that he has talent. Jason Castro was next, strumming the guitar to Andy Gibb's "I Just Want to Be." I think the guitar is a big bonus for Jason, since he can obviously play it, but like the judges said, he almost hides behind it. Paula challenged him to sing without a guitar next week - I'm interested to see if he'll rise to the challenge.

When each contestant was introduced, they all answered the typical "Tell us something people may not know about you." Luke Menard revealed that he's been touring with an a-capella group for the past 6 years. The clip of him sing was not very flattering - hitting high notes and then cutting away is never a good thing. Plus, his performance left a lot to be desired, as his selection of "Killer Queen" was almost whiny, according to Simon. Robbie Carrico, on the other hand, revealed that he's into drag racing, which fit well with his rocker persona. He belted Foreigner's "Hot Blooded," which I think improved him in the standings.

The next two contestants are the two males divas of the competition. Danny Noriega is a no-brainer in this category - with his head shaking attitude, argyle sweater vest, and emo-hair. I enjoyed his version of "Superstar" by Luther Vandross; much better than his Elvis rendition last week. As for David Hernandez, I had him really low last week because of his poor performance, but thankfully he pulled it out this week with The Temptations "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone." He must of taken a hint from the ladies when he started his performance on the staircase and showed a lot of confidence that he lacked last week. And why is he a diva? He said he used to do gymnastics when he was younger. And now he can do a "killer cartwheel." Sigh

Next, the worse performance of the night - Jason Yeager, sorry, but I think you're gone. Singing the Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Runnin'" was not a good idea and dancing like Ricky Martin was even worse. The ending too, was really awkward - doing some sort of air-drum bow after holding a note for a long time. Nooooo way, especially when sandwiched between two good performances....which leads us to....

Chikezie! He rocked some double polos and Donny Hathaway's "I Believe," which had the appropriate line "You better remember my name" which was pointed directly at Simon. He's definitely safe for this week.

The David's were the last to perform. First was David Cook, who brought out the electric guitar and turned on the lefty switch to belt "All Right Now." I thought it was an excellent performance, but Simon says he doesn't have charisma. I don't know where he got that from the performance. Blah, maybe Simon's told to deliberately cause drama.

And of course, last but not least, little David Archuleta. It was a big challenge for him to sing John Lennon's "Imagine," but he pulled it off and made Randy scream "Hot hot hot fire!" and bring Paula to tears. As Simon says, he's the one to beat.

So with all of that analysis, here's my list of the top ten boys:
10) Jason Yeager
9) Luke Menard
8) Michael Johns
7) Jason Castro
6) David Hernandez
5) Robbie Carrico
4) Danny Noriega
3) David Cook
2) Chikezie
1) David Archuleta

Pad Thai Pad Thai Pad Thai

2008-02-25T21:35:00.000-08:00

Well, a Macbook Pro saved the day for Jenny and I on Saturday night, when we embarked on making pad thai. Sure, holding up the laptop above a sizzling hot wok is not really advised, but how else are you going to get a picture like this?

So how did we make this wonderful dish, you might ask? Jenny found this blogger's step-by-step instructions which proved very helpful throughout the process. I'd say the first time is the hardest, but by the second batch, it's all gravy. Pad thai...gravy.

Dumpling Time!

2008-02-24T23:16:00.001-08:00

If I had one last meal before I died, I would choose a heaping portion of dumplings. I'm not sure what the allure of dumplings is for me, but there's something very satisfying about popping a bite-sized dough-wrapped moon-shaped shrimp/pork/etc dumpling in your mouth. Maybe it's because I was deprived of them as a child. And now that I'm an adult, I can eat as much as I want. I swear I'm a little piggy when it comes to these.

Jenny's been telling me for awhile that she wanted to make dumplings just like her parents and I've been a big supporter, especially since visiting her in Texas was basically dumpling heaven for two meals. So, finally, this weekend, I present to you, my faithful audience, photographic proof of some successful dumpling making!

Making dumplings is not that hard. We had some left-over shrimp from some amazing pad thai we made on Saturday (sigh, no pictures for proof...that dish deserved its own post) and after removing the veins and shell, we combined it with chives, eggs and salt. That mixture is then placed inside dumpling wrappers (while watching the Oscars, of course).

You have to be careful not to put too much in, or the wrapper won't close.

The dumpling is pinched on all sides to ensure it does not open when placed in hot water.

Ta-da!

Ready for boiling!

Placing them in the hot water.

The finished product.

Google Reader Keeps on Rocking (and sign up for my RSS Feed!)

2008-02-21T23:48:00.000-08:00

And you thought I only blogged about American Idol, didn't you?

This past year I've gotten into using RSS feeds to keep up with news and blogs that normally took a tedious amount of time to load the page, figure out what was updated, and so on and so forth. Google Reader has thoroughly impressed me with its ease in adding a blog feed and allowing me to quickly process a plethora of content in a shorter amount of time. One that that's really awesome is that you can browse through all of your feeds using your keyboard--check out the Official Google Reader Blog post for all of those handy tips. My personal favorite is simply pushing 'j' to get to the next item in my feed, especially for news sites that post a large number of articles I like to simply skim through.

With that said, if you've stumbled across this site or are an avid fan (I love you all!) and want to syndicate my content for your feed, simply click here or the "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" link on the bottom of my blog. You'll me able to get instant updates of my posts and have the ability to scroll through it even faster.

American Idol Season 7: And then there were 20

2008-02-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Garrett Haley (my 5th pick!), Colton Berry (my 10th), Amy Davis (my 9th) and Joanne Borgella (my 8th) are all out. It's a good thing I'm not running for President, since I seem to be out of touch with America. I was off, but at the same time, MSNBC's commentary on tonight's show makes sense. Joanne and Colton were both the last two to make it into the top 24 so it was an uphill battle for them. For Garrett and Amy, the show did not feature them at all until they showed up in the top 24. The editors of the show have the power to really manipulate how a contestant is perceived by giving them plenty of face time or none at all. In contrast to someone like David Archuleta, who's always in clips where Paula says she loves him, Garrett and Amy were not given nearly as much positive attention. As a result, seeing them leave this early is not a big letdown, since I didn't feel invested in them at the start of the show. I suppose I'm just more disappointed with being wrong about the first 4 to be eliminated.

American Idol Season 7: My Picks for the Top Twelve Girls

2008-02-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

12. Brooke White (24, Mesa, AZ)

Song - "So Happy Together" - The Turtles
Started off really nervous with really forced movements. David Cook sang the same song yesterday, and he did a much better job. For some reason, they really liked her, but I'm not sure how far she can go.

11. Amanda Overmyer (23, Mulberry, IN)

Song - "Please Don't Go" - Muddy Waters
The judges really liked her, but I don't know how well she fits in as an "American Idol." She's authentic and talented, but can she beat the other 'pop singers?'

10. Kristy Lee Cook (24, Selma, OR)

Song - "Rescue Me" - Aretha Franklin
Looked better with curly hair. A somewhat boring performance - she didn't belt out like Aretha Franklin would have.

9. Amy Davis (25, Lowell, IN)

Song - "Where the Boys Are" - Patsy Cline
Attractive and camera friendly, but not the best singer. Would probably do better with a more high energy song.

8. Joanne Borgella (25, Hoboken, NJ)

Song - "I Say a Little Pray for You" - Aretha Franklin
Has a really strong voice, but the faster lyrics got to her. It was weird that Randy thought the beginning was worse than the end and that Simon thought the complete opposite, but it reminds me how subjective a performance really is.

7. Kady Malloy (18, Houston, TX)

Song - "A Groovy Kind of Love" - Phil Collins
We didn't hear much of Kady during Hollywood week, which is sad, because she's really good! She's got a great voice and plenty of stage presence to go far.

6. Carly Smithson (24, San Diego, CA)

Song - "Shadow of Your Smile" - Frank Sinatra
Randy and Paula loved it, Simon hated it. I'm somewhere in between - she wasn't the best of the 24 like Randy said, but she always wasn't the worse. She'll make it out of the top 12 girls, but I'm not sure if she can win it all.'

5. Syesha Mercado (21, Sarasota, FL)

Song - "Tobacco Road" - The Animals
Definitely a sleeper pick, especially since Simon likes her a lot. It's super corny that Paula always mentions that "yes" is in her first name.

4. Alaina Whitaker (16, Tulas, OK)

Song - "More Today Than Yesterday" - Diana Ross
Impressive singer for being so young. Definitely going to go far.

3. Alexandrea Lushington (17, Douglasville, GA)

Song - "Spinning Wheel" - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Wow, I was impressed with her the most today. Good energy, great song, and great confidence.

2. Asia'h Epperson (19, Joplin, MO)

Song - "Piece of my Heart" - Janice Joplin
Coincidence that she sang a Joplin song 'cuz she's from Joplin? I think not. She did really well - Simon's favorite performance of the night. Top 3 for me.

1. Ramiele Malubay (20, Miramar, FL)

Song - "Wishin' and Hopin''" - Dusty Springfield
Impressive voice for someone so small! Sings like someone way beyond her years. My favorite!

American Idol Season 7: My Picks for the Top Twelve Boys

2008-02-19T22:23:00.000-08:00

Sigh, forgive me, reality TV critics. I've fallen under the spell of American Idol. And now that the field has narrowed down to the Top 24, you'd bet I have an opinion on who I think has got it and who has got to go. Tonight the top 12 boys sang and here's my list from worse to best:

12. Jason Yeager (28, Grand Prairie, TX)

Song - "Moon River" - Johnny Mercer
He just didn't do it for me. He's got a good voice, but he swallowed his words and started by sitting and then awkwardly standing. There's a good story here, with him having a kid and all, but there's just too much talent in this field.

11. David Hernandez (24, Glendale, AZ)

Song - "Midnight Hour" - Wilson Pickett
I'm sad he's number 11, because I think he's more talented than he sounded tonight. His movements looked forced however, and he always looks up and to the left when he sings, like he's trying to remember the lyrics. Maybe it's nerves, but it might be too late to make it for it.

10. Colton Berry (18, Staunton, VA)

Song - "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley
He admits to looking like Ellen DeGeneres, which is pretty funny. A surprisingly good performance, sans the suspenders. I guess I just don't like him because he was picked over Kyle.

9. Luke Menard (29, Crawfordsville, IN)

Song - "Everyone's Talking at Me" - Harry Nilsson
Simon calls his performance forgettable. I agree. He's saved thus far by being good looking, but that can only go so far.

8. Danny Noriega (18, Azuza, CA)

Song - "Jailhouse Rock" - Elvis Presley
Wow, this kid has some attitude! Maybe it's from drinking all that Naked Juice (hint - they're based in Azuza), but when Simon criticized him he stuck out his lower lip! The cute act is going to win him some votes and I did like his white shirt, skinny black tie/jeans look, but I don't think he has the natural talent to win it all.

7. Michael Johns (29, Buckhead, GA)

Song - "Light My Fire" - The Doors
He really rocked "Bohemian Rhapsody" during Hollywood week, but this definitely was not his best performance. He's got a ton of energy, though. It won't kill him this round, but he'll have to do better if he wants to win it all. I really like him...perhaps he's my sleeper pick to be in the top 3.

6. Robbie Carrico (26, Melbourne, FL)

Song - "One is the loneliest number" - Three Dog Nights
Good rocker. The field is sort of muddled for me at this point, so he'll have to really put on some good performances if he wants to stand-out in the future.

5. Garrett Haley (17, Elida, OH)

Song - "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" - Neil Sedaka
He performed well-enough, but what I really liked was how he took all of the criticism in stride and had a great attitude about improving. Much more impressive than how some of the other contestants sounded when they talked with Ryan Seacrest.

4. Chikezie (22, Inglewood, CA)

Song - "I Love You More Than Yesterday" - Stevie Wonder
This guy can groove! He was a bit off-tune at the end, but he made it work and has a really cool vibe to him. Great smile, great personality.

3. David Cook (25, Blue Springs, MO)

Song - "So Happy Together" - The Turtle
I'm a bit biased, since he's from Missouri, but he's a good rocker with a lot of energy. He's really at ease when he sings and had an original take on the song. I can see him going far.

2. Jason Castro (20, Rockwell, TX)

Song - "What a Day for a Daydream" - Lovin Spoonful
He's the only contestant thus far to perform with an instrument (guitar). I placed him at number two because he's got a really pure voice and picked the perfect song tonight.

1. David Archuleta (17, Murray, UT)

Song - "Shop Around" - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
This guy has got to be the early favorite to win it all. He's young, Randy, Paula, and Simon all love him, and he'll capture all of the young adolescent votes. With that said, yeah, he's talented and yeah, he's definitely number one for me now. No mistakes yet, but maybe his youth will get to him. He already showed that he needs to learn on communicating with the judges after a performance (he was out of breadth and smiling the whole time but really didn't say anything concrete).

So there you have it! The girls are tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Prologue Time Trial - Tour of California

2008-02-18T21:57:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I headed over to Stanford to watch the Prologue stage of the Tour of California. The streets were blocked off from University Avenue all the way down Palm Drive to the Oval. Due to the gorgeous weather, there was a fabulous turnout, but I was able to find a good spot to snap some photos. The rider's themselves were world class - Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara won the 3km time trial in a blistering 3:51:211 (see the stage recap). My favorite pictures are below:

Valentine's Dinner

2008-02-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

Instead of going out for Valentine's Day dinner this year, I cooked a 5 course meal for Jenny. Pictures are below.

First Course:
Cheese and Pate with Crackers

Second Course:
Mixed Green Salad with Miso Dressing

Third Course:
Shrimp and Mixed Vegetable Tempura

Fourth Course:
Valentine's Day Crab Cake

Fifth Course:
Red Velvet Cupcakes

Thanks also to Scott Giambastiani, chef at the Pure Ingredients Cafe for the helpful tips when making the Valentine's Day Crab Cake. It turned out really well! Check out the recipe at the Official Google Blog and the instructional video below:

New Dim Sum Place!

2008-02-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

I've been living in the Bay Area for over 6 years now and have had my fair share, (perhaps more than fair share) of excellent Dim Sum experiences. There's Koi Palace in Daly City, Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Milbrae, Loon Wah in Cupertino, and good old Ming's down the street in East Palo Alto. I've been to a few joints in Milpitas and Sunnyvale, so I figured I was well versed in what were the 'best' dim sum restaurants in the South Bay.

I have much to learn.

My new favorite place is now Hong Kong Saigon Seafood Harbor Restaurant (where I've basically put the following into my Yelp review). Yes, a 10 syllable, mouthful of a restaurant. Located in Sunnyvale, this place is inexpensive, pushy, rude, and dirty. And I love it all. By noon the place is packed, families and friends are chattering to each other, and the food is pushed around by pushy ladies who hawk the dishes like it's some sort of competition to get rid of them as fast as possible. The su mai is fresh, the pork buns are soft, and the pork spare ribs, oh my, the pork spare ribs are amazing! Once you enter the restaurant, it's like you're in Hong Kong all over again.

For any first timers - if you call ahead 15 minutes, you can get a number for a table. This is a highly valuable piece of paper that grants you eventual entrance into dim sum heaven.

Go see Persepolis

2008-02-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

What, 95% on Rotten Tomatoes isn't enough for you?

I majored in history, and even though my Middle Eastern history is a bit dusty, I found Persepolis to be a very compelling perspective on the Islamic Revolution and Iran's history in the 70s and 80s. I encourage you all to learn more about Iran's history - for starters, check out the Wikipedia entry. Read it before you watch the movie for a better understanding.

Even if you don't, the characters of Persepolis are very real contrasted with the simple animation. It's dramatic, funny, and heartwarming. And props to the Aquarius, for screening Persepolis and Juno at the same time!

Disneyland, Google Style

2008-02-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

Monday through Wednesday, Googlers from the West Coast offices headed down to Anaheim for a visit to place of a 'million dreams.' Suffice it to say, it was an incredible experience. I got to go on rides I had gone on over 10 years ago - including Space Mountain, Matterhorn, and Star Tours. And, I got to ride the new rides - California Soarin', California Screamin', Buzz Lightyear, and Indiana Jones. From 8pm-1am, the park was open only to Googlers, with our very own fireworks show and no waits in the lines. I'm still recovering from a long day of travel to get back. More details to come...

The end of me

2008-02-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

I just signed up for Yelp.

reidy.yelp.com/

It's highly addictive. This will be the end of me.

Why the internet is so dangerous (or awesome)

2008-01-29T22:52:00.000-08:00

I won't go into specifics, for fear of reprisal from co-workers, but I want to remind us all that anything you say or write can end up on the internet and if you don't control the content, will stay there forever. Old blogs, random comments or forum posts, can all come back to be embarrassing web pages associated with your name. It's like, a permanent record. Not so cool.

So anyway, the reason I'm noting this is because at the behest of a co-worker and some snooping, I found some random Urban Dictionary definitions, Google AdWords sponsored listings for various queries, a MySpace page, YouTube videos, a Xanga, and a brand new website by my co-workers. Kind of incriminating them, but really interesting for me, since it really shed some light on what the people I work with are outside of the job. Or, what they were like before working at Google.

But, the title of this post was about why the internet is so dangerous and awesome. It's dangerous for obvious reasons, but awesome in that I got a good laugh out of all of the funny defitions one of my co-workers used for his own nickname. So face it, if your name is on a webpage, it's gonna be indexed and placed in Google search results. Instead of screaming libel, we might as all get a good laugh out of it.

Reality Check for East Palo Alto

2008-01-23T20:12:00.001-08:00

When I told my co-workers that I lived in East Palo Alto for the first time, they were all surprised; some asked if I thought I was safe while others jokingly asked if I had ever been shot at. I've realized that it's not the best neighborhood, but I've found it pleasant. No problems with neighbors (they even have some nice children who run up and down the street) and I have my own bedroom/bathroom all to myself. Rent is cheap and I have ample parking in our driveway or the street.

Well, so much for that.

This weekend, MLK weekend, of all weekends, East Palo Alto was hit with three major crimes. A murder. A vandalism of an elementary school. A shoot-out leaving one man wounded. All, just a few blocks from where I live.

It's pretty scary stuff. I drive by the intersection everyday where the murder occurred. Last Thurdsay, I recall seeing police cars and paramedics at a blocked off area of the road where it all happened, probably an hour after the murder. To think, if I had left one hour earlier, I could have been caught at the intersection when the drive-by happened. But, what baffles me is that the next day, at that same intersection, life is back to normal. Kids are playing out in the streets. People walking around like nothing happened.

People move on. Life has to go on, or nothing would be normal.

The question, I am currently confronted with, is if I can or should continue to live here. I have the means to move out. Should I fear for my own safety? I'm not completely certain of my decision yet, but I'm willing to stick things out until my contract ends in August. My understanding is that these crimes have been committed by people outside of EPA. My housemate mentioned that some people are getting out of jail and settling old scores. If it's a one-off thing, then I think I'll be okay. If it keep up, however, I think I would seriously consider moving.

Reworking my tags

2008-01-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

When I first started this blog, I thought about tagging posts with whatever subject they were about. I never really thought much about organization - that maybe if I just wrote enough, there would be enough overlap. From a readers' perspective, however, everything was too specific that the purpose of tags - which I believe to be some simple organization based on a common theme or subject, was lost.

So, I've spent some time going over my old posts and decided on the following tags from hereon out:

Biking - road and mountain
Blog - posts related to updating this blog...like this one!
Books/Magazines
Check this out - news articles or video clips I recommend you take a look at
Food - for posts related to restaurants I've recently eaten at
Games - Xbox360 and other stuff
Google - stuff about the greatest search engine ever
History - at one point I was a history major
Travel - places I've been/want to go to
Meta - personal life related posts aka the 'Dear Diary' stuff
Music - live bands or recordings
Photography - pictures I've taken
Politics - various political related posts
Prius - since I drive one, maybe this will have some future use
Sports - self explanatory
Television/Movies
Uncategorized
Work - things related to working

I'll be adding a tag area to the right side navigation of my blog, in case you're ever interested in sorting posts based by each tag.

NYE @ Rubicon

2008-01-06T00:10:00.000-08:00

Rubicon 12/31/07

Jenny and I went to Rubicon in San Francisco for New Year's Eve. We had a price fixe 4 course meal with excellent oysters, lamb, and pomegranate sorbet, to name a few. The food, service, and ambiance were pretty great, but I'm not sure it was anything particularly unique, so it's probably a one time thing that we went here. But, if you have a special occasion to go there, I recommend it!

Clean your car!

2007-12-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

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.

Success! Traveling and Presenting

2007-12-26T20:01:00.001-08:00

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.

<3 my new headphones

2007-12-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

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. =)

My cover has been blown

2007-12-18T14:10:00.001-08:00

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

Cool countdown

2007-12-17T00:00:00.001-08:00

When Jenny's gone...

2007-12-16T22:03:00.000-08:00

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!

Xbox obsessed

2007-12-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

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!

Thanksgiving Recap

2007-11-27T00:03:00.000-08:00

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 :)

Thankgiving

2007-11-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

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!

Go see Travis live

2007-11-21T23:43:00.000-08:00

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.

Reason #46 to love the Prius

2007-11-11T19:29:00.000-08:00

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 :)

Changes

2007-11-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

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!

Honest Tea

2007-10-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

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!

Stanford 25, USC 24

2007-10-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Officially no longer a student

2007-09-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

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

The Day I Almost Died

2007-09-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Moody Road

2007-09-16T22:21:00.000-07:00

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

What the heck Cardinal's

2007-09-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

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.

King's Mountain -> OLH

2007-09-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

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

Anonymity and Access to Information

2007-09-06T23:50:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2007-09-04T23:17:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-04T22:29:00.001-07:00

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

Then why did you buy the book???

2007-08-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Freaking WHOIS

2007-08-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

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!!

After 4 year's at Stanford

2007-08-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Want music?

2007-08-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

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. =)

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

2007-08-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

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!

Rediscovering Reading

2007-08-15T22:16:00.001-07:00

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.

Post-College Boredom

2007-08-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

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?

Aquafina is just tap water

2007-07-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Desktop Backgrounds

2007-07-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

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!

HP7 / Arrested Development

2007-07-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

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.

HP7 is Coming

2007-07-19T22:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Biking to Work

2007-07-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

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.

Two interesting cycling articles

2007-07-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

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.

First Day, First Impressions

2007-07-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

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.

Time to Start Fresh

2007-07-15T18:07:00.001-07:00

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!

China and Thailand

2007-06-26T00:17:00.000-07:00

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.

History Grad

2007-06-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

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.

Psych!

2007-06-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Road Biking!

2007-06-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Drum Major Instinct

2007-06-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Too many movies

2007-06-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Shots really aren't that bad

2007-05-30T02:02:00.000-07:00

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.

At long last

2007-05-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

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.

The end is near

2007-04-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

I apologize for an absence from my blog. Spring quarter has kept me surprisingly busy, even though I'm not taking any classes. In the meantime, it's been a whole lot of fun, kicking things off with a trip to LA to see a performance of Wicked. Driving around a mini-van in LA, however, is not that fun, but eating Korean BBQ at Steph's house was worth it. Had to carry Sprinkles cupcakes 500 miles back to Jenny, too!

Writing my thesis has basically become full-time work and I turned in a draft last Friday, which totaled 110 pages. I'm happy with what I've written thus far, but I still have plenty of room for improvement.

In the meantime, I've been going to the gym more frequently.

Kind of interesting thing to note, but today I was approached by some research group with a questionnaire that they were having college freshman and seniors fill out across the country. Basically, it was questions about US history - the things you learn in middle and high school. Not surprisingly, I knew very little, even though I'm a history major! The evaluator then went over the results from last year's survey, which indicated that nationwide, students scored around the 60-70% range, and Stanford was 31 of 50 in schools. I wasn't very surprised with that result, since rote memorization, which the test covered, is not really emphasized at all here. On the other hand, seniors performed better than frosh on the test, but it was mainly due to scoring better on economics questions, which many college students study. Anyway, back to my thesis.

I'm done!

2007-03-22T01:33:00.000-07:00

In the most anti-climactic way possible, I have finished all my undergrad classes. Next quarter it's Camp Stanford - no classes, but finishing up my senior thesis. I'm kind of sad that I won't be taking any fun courses next quarter, but with all of my free time, the possibilities will be endless!

If you've into YTMND vidoes, check out these two Harry made for my birthday:

http://reidmustardout.ytmnd.com/

http://reidhumps.ytmnd.com/

Gary Danko!!!!

2007-03-20T01:05:00.000-07:00

Jenny took me here for my birthday. Maybe captions will follow later. Until then - pictures of food!!

Bball Update

2007-03-20T00:57:00.000-07:00

Funny thing is - I did have a change of heart over my picks. My final four is:

UCLA v Florida
UNC v Texas A&M

Finals:
UNC over Florida.

Thank goodness I didn't pick Texas like I did before. They didn't even make the Sweet 16. There have been some great games thus far, but no Cinderella's like I imagined. Thus I lost crucial points with Oral Roberts and Davidson going out on the first day. Stanford got mauled against Louisville too.

Luckily, Brook is returning for another season for the Cardinal! The team is going to be so good next year!

March Madness

2007-03-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

It's a shame I haven't been updating my blog, since so much has been going on in the world. Most recently, Jenny and I roadtripped down to Los Angeles to see the Pac-10 Men's Basketball tournament. We made it just in time for the tip-off of Stanford v. USC on Thursday. Unfortunately, we lost the game in overtime, putting Stanford's NCAA tournament hopes in jeopardy. Since we had tickets for the rest of the games, we went to Friday's semifinal games, watching Oregon dominate Kal and USC stifle Washington State. Luckily, we sold our tickets for the Championship match, which turned out to be an excellent choice, since USC got completely dominated by Bryce Taylor's amazing 11-11 shooting (32 pts) and Oregon. Instead, we went over to Pasedena and met up with some friends to go to Ding Tai Fung, one of the best dumpling houses ever! For the 6 of us, we ordered about 80 dumplings. :D

Anyway, I was elated to hear that Stanford was an 11th seed for the tournament and spent a majority of Sunday and Monday reading all of the commentary about the seeding, potential upsets, and cinderella stories. Having filled out a bracket, I feel pretty confident about a few upsets:

VCU over Duke - Duke, dealing with its lowest seed in 11 years, just does not have enough maturity or a go-to shooter. Much of this game will depend on if Paulus will show-up, but VCU (having beaten George Mason to win the Colonial Athletic championship and could thus be this year's George Mason), has more upperclassmen and quality wins against Albany and Old Dominion, two other potential sleepers in the tournament. I don't see them going past the second round because Pittsburgh always finds a way to score, but a probably upset against Duke.

Oral Roberts over Washington State - Having seen Washington State play in the semifinals at the Pac-10 tournament, I'm hesitant if Kyle Weaver and Derrick Low adequately penetrate to the hoop, especially against a defensive Oral Roberts team. It's a stretch, since this is a 14th seed knocking off a 3 seed, but if there was one game in the tournament where it could happen, this would be it. Tony Bennett showed he couldn't provide an answer for USC last Friday, and I'm not sure he will be able to in the Big Dance either.

Arkansas over USC - I just want this to happen so bad, since USC beat Stanford in the Pac-1o tournament.

Stanford over Louisville - This would make my week. Stanford certainly has a size advantage and great perimeter shooting with Goods and Hill, but when Brook and Robin get in foul trouble, and Stanford gets in turnover trouble (they had the highest turnover to assist ratio in the Pac-10), one starts to wonder. Plus, Louisville will be playing in their back yard in Lexington, so the home court advantage might help, especially since Stanford does not have quality wins on the road, with the exception of Virginia and Texas Tech (on neutral territory). Regardless, I don't see either team beating Texas A&M, but getting to the second round for Stanford would prove that they deserved to play in the Big Dance.

Final Four:
Florida (1) over UCLA (2) - A rematch of last year's Final game, where Noah and co. prove that coming back for another year was worth it.

Texas (4) over Texas A&M (3) - Texas A&M, still reeling from their 2OT loss to Texas in the regular season, still has no answer for Durant. Law IV is clutch, but not enough to stop Texas.

Final:
Texas (4) over Florida (1) - Similar to Syracuse's champsionship with Carmelo Anthony, Durant takes over and scores 30+ points and grabs 10+ boards in a game for the ages. Texas goes crazy while Florida misses a chance to win the NCAA Football and Basketball Championship in the same year.

My predictions, however, seem to change every 4 hours, so I'll post any final changes on Thursday. The only difference I see is if I become more confident about Ohio State over Texas A&M (which I'm currently not), or see Purdue (9) over Arizona (8) or similarly, BYU (8) losing to Xavier (9). UNC also has a chance to go really deep and they could even take out Texas in the Sweet Sixteen, and I'll have to think long and hard about that one too. Texas vs. UNC in the Sweet Sixteen? The matches this year are going to be AMAZING.

Viennese Ball

2007-02-26T01:07:00.000-08:00

I've never taken up social dance, primarily due to laziness. Social Dance 1 is offered at 8:45AM across campus, and as a Junior and Senior, there is no way I would ever make the effort to get up and do that. As a result, I'm quite inept at any sort of physical fluidity; I think the term is having two-left feet. Luckily, in preparation for the 30th Annual Viennese Ball, there were introductory classes offered at night. In the course of two weeks, I learned basic cross-step waltz, rotary waltz, swing, polka, and the Congress of Vienna Waltz. At times it was incredibly frustrating; I often got upset that I could not even master a seemingly simple step pattern, but for the most part, I enjoyed learning and doing something that will definitely come in handy later in life.

The Ball itself was fabulous! After an excellent dinner at California Cafe Jenny and I headed over to the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame. First off, there was tons of food. Like, fruits, gourmet desserts, cheeses, breads, and meats. And an ice sculpture to top things all off. We spent half the time dancing and half the time eating. As for the dancing, I think we did alright. The waltz was difficult because the band kept on changing tempos and the floor was packed with spinning couples. In the second room was band that played swing music, and we did a lot better there. There were also swing and waltz competitions that we paused to watch - some couples are so graceful! I guess that's something so strive for.

Here's a picture of Jenny and I waltzing ;-)

Censoring Wikipedia

2007-02-21T14:26:00.001-08:00

From the NYT, February 21, 2007:

"A History Department Bans Citing Wikipedia as a Research Source"

A real interesting article. I, for one, would never use Wikipedia in a paper, but I would definitely consult it for an initial summary of whatever I'm interested in.

i feel like a freshmen again

2007-02-20T02:56:00.000-08:00

It's been more than a year that I've stayed up trying to write a paper. And I just remembered something. You know how you check your AIM buddy list occasionally as the hours turn to 3am, 4am, 5am, and the number of buddies dwindle significantly to only a few ppl who are either in another time zone or have their away msgs up? Yea I hate when it gets to that point. That's when the despair takes over.

HR is an Intriguing Field

2007-02-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

Every job I've had for the past 8 years has required me to think, concentrate, or do something physically tiring. Working in a labratory, tutoring, playing in a quartet, MLK Papers Project, and even working at Express and our dining hall all required me to be productive. Thus, I've always been envious of the people at Stanford who sit at the gym and do homework while watching the card scanner or Jenny's job, where she's an Oral Communications Tutor from 9-11PM on Monday nights (where she's gotten about 5 people total after a few months of that time slot).

But, I finally have a job where I can get paid to sit on my ass, do my homework, and surf the internet. I'm an "assistant" for the Manzanita office, picking up hours here and there when the Resident Student Affairs Specialist, Michael G. is out of the office. Today was my first day and four people came in - 3 picked up packages that had been delivered to the office and a fourth I redirected to Monica M. next door because he wanted lofting materials. I did the Stanford Daily's crossword and did some reading for my thesis. As long as I can keep busy during this job, it should be a breeze.

Dammit

2007-02-12T23:50:00.000-08:00

Letting Jenny post on my blog was a bad, bad, idea.

Down with dim sum at 1am!!!

2007-02-12T23:39:00.000-08:00

Reid is going to order dim sum tonight.
I will turn away if he farts.
And then the commotions will start.

I need to...

2007-02-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

...control my spending. This weekend, I purchased an iPod shuffle. I did need one, since my iPod had broken and buying a new battery for it would have been a little less than buying a new shuffle. But, coming up is dinner at Il Fornaio for Valentine's Day and Viennese Ball on Friday. I guess I'll have to win back all my money at Las Vegas this Spring Break.

Obsessions

2007-02-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

A few musings from today:

- I am obsessed with the Dim Sum from Lag Late Nite. It's just deep fried dumplings that aren't incredibly good, but for some reason, they're addictive and the best thing on the menu for a late snack. I just ate 12 and I'll wake up in the morning regretting it.

- It's nice to see old friends. I haven't seen much of Anna all of last quarter, so I stopped by in Roble tonight. Catching up with her was nice, especially hearing about where she's hoping to go to graduate school, plans for the future, and what not.

- My thoughts on Asian American identity, politics, and race have definitely progressed throughout the past few years. As a Senior, I can really reflect, especially during the conversation we had today in my Asian American stereotypes class, about how my views have become very intellectualized, but also more clearly articulated and thought out. And more importantly, the questions we discuss are things I find myself passionate about.

- Children of Men is a really good movie. As in, the cinematography is excellent and it's an emotional rollercoaster. I definitely recommend watching it.

- The men's basketball Pac-10 conference is so deep - UCLA, Washington State, Stanford, USC, Oregon, and Arizona. Wow. Stanford has a tough road trip this week, taking on Washington State and Washington. If they can pull it off, I really think we'll seal the deal for an NCAA appearance.

- Somethingawful continues to impress me:

Clothes > Sex

2007-02-06T02:03:00.000-08:00

Oh no!!!

As Reuter's repots on February 5th:

"For most women, the choice between sex and a new wardrobe is simple -- they go for the clothes.

Women on average say they would be willing to give up sex for 15 months for a closet full of new apparel, with 2 percent ready to abstain from sex for three years in exchange for new duds, according to a new survey of about 1,000 women in 10 U.S. cities.

Sixty-one percent of women polled said it would be worse to lose their favorite article of clothing than give up sex for a month.

"Some people say clothes make the man, but the right clothes can even replace him," fashion designer, stylist and TV personality Carson Kressley from the reality TV show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" said in a statement accompanying the poll.

The study also suggested that clothes often wear better than relationships.

The average woman between 18 and 54 years of age has hung on to her favorite article of clothing for 12 and a half years, a year longer than she's held on to her longest relationship.

Almost three-quarters of respondents, or 70 percent, also said they believed in love at first sight when it came to finding the perfect article of clothing, while only 54 percent of women were as confident in spotting the right man.

Nearly half of the women, or 48 percent, taking part in the survey by consumer products giant Unilever said their favorite article of clothing was more reliable than their man in giving them confidence and making them feel sexy."

I'm not surprised that researcher have not conducted a similar study on men. The answer would be too obvious.

What the heck is going on with Gavin Newsom?

2007-02-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

After Gavin Newsom admitted to having an affair with the wife of a veteran aide, he's now seeking alcohol counseling. What's next? He's engaged in tax fraud? He has an illegitimate child? I love San Francisco, but I'm not so sure about what's going on with the people in charge.

Super History!!!

2007-02-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

I've called attention to the awesomeness of the pictures on Something Awful. Here are some of my favorites from their older form, entitled, "Super History."

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did!

Who Killed Vincent Chin?

2007-02-05T17:51:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I watched the 1989 Academy Award nominated documentary called "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" For those of you who don't know the story:

"Vincent Chin was a Chinese American industrial draftsman murdered in 1982 in the Detroit, Michigan enclave of Highland Park by two white autoworkers, Chrysler plant superintendent Ronald Ebens and his recently laid off step-son, Michael Nitz. The murder was controversial because of Ebens mistaking Chin as Japanese and the subsequent miscarriage of justice that occurred during the criminal and civil trials of Nitz and Ebens. Ebens instigated the incident by declaring, "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work," referring to U.S. auto manufacturing jobs being lost to Japan.

On the night of June 19, 1982, a fight ensued at the strip club where Chin was having his bachelor party. The group was thrown out and after a heated exchange of words subsequently parted ways. Ebens and Nitz searched the neighborhood for 20 to 30 minutes before finding Chin at a McDonald's restaurant. Chin tried to escape, but was held by Nitz while Ebens repeatedly bludgeoned Chin with a baseball bat. Chin was struck at least four times with the bat, including blows to the head. When rushed to the hospital, he was brain-dead and died after four days in a coma."

Watching the documentary definitely makes you feel powerless but also angry, since the directors interviewed the murderers, who are sitting not behind bars, but in their own living rooms, and pass their actions off as just a "mistake." More disturbing is the denial that there was any element of race behind the murder - but as Helen Zia points out, Chin would not have been murdered if he wasn't Asian American. Even worse, Chin was Chinese, not Japanese, who the murderers obviously had the biggest problem with. More problematic, is that Ebens and Nitz did not spend more than one day in jail - a gross miscarriage of justice.

Suck it Cal

2007-02-05T02:07:00.000-08:00

I've never been much for school rivalries, but Jenny and I decided to trek up to Berkeley this Saturday to support our basketball team in one of their biggest games of the season against Cal. It basically was a must win game for both teams - both were on the bubble, Cal much more so since they had lost most recently to UCLA, while Stanford was coming off a heartbreaking 2OT loss to Gonzaga, after having built an impressive resume with wins against Washington, Washington State, USC, and UCLA.

About 150 Stanford students were there for the game and we were loud! Stanford was definitely hot tonight, demolishing the Bears 90 to 71. The best part was being the loudest group in Haas Pavilion, as Cal fans could only watch in silence as their team got manhandled up and down the court. The win definitely made up for getting our ass beat in football and definitely cemented my loyalty for Stanford men's basketball.

Here's a view of the game from our nosebleed seats. As you can see, the fans tried to distract the Stanford players on every possession. Didn't work. Fools. Safety School.

VIdeo Game Diets

2007-02-02T03:55:00.000-08:00

I guess it could come to this. West Virginia, which has the worse child obesity rates in the country, hopes to put a DDR game in each of its schools. At it stands, DDR has been proven to help improve health:

"Preliminary results from a 24-week study of 50 overweight or obese children, aged 7 to 12, showed that those who played the game at home for at least 30 minutes five days per week maintained their weight and saw a reduction in some risk factors for heart disease and diabetes."

Here's a link to the full Yahoo! article.

I think this is a step in the right direction, but we really need to stop eating McDonald's and get rid of soda machines in schools. There's little help in playing DDR and then cooling down with a 200calorie Pepsi.

I've decided

2007-02-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

...that college allows such a relaxed lifestyle.

When else am I going to be able to put my dirty dishes on a conveyor belt and see it disappear without having to clean it myself?
When else am I going to be able to do four loads of laundry at once?
When else am I going to be surrounded by such awesome people?

I don't know if I'll be ready to leave come June.

Who the Heck is Dana Gioia?

2007-01-31T02:44:00.000-08:00

The Stanford Daily broke the news that a dark horse was chosen as the class of 2007's Commencement speaker: Dana Gioia.

Now honestly, how many people know who this guy is? I admit, when I first read the article, I was pretty upset - since 2000, Stanford has had an impressive list of commencement speakers:

2000: Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General
2001: Carly Fiorina, HP CEO
2002: Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State
2003: Alejandro Toledo, President of Peru
2004: Sandra Day O'Connor, US Supreme Court Justice
2005: Steve Jobs, Apple CEO
2006: Tom Brokaw, NBC News Anchor

But now it's

2007: Dana Gioia, Poet??????????!?!?!

It's easy to be upset about this. After all, we're Stanford, we should get the most famous person in the planet, right? I sensed a little bit of arrogance during my conversation at dinner, myself included, ragging on Gioia because he wasn't "famous." I did decide to look at his CV and after learning a little about him, I'd be interested to hear what he has to say.

Things to like:
1) Impressive career
- BA Stanford, 1973, MA Harvard, 1975, MBA Stanford, 1977
- VP of General Mills 1977-1992
- Fulltime poet
- Current chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts

2) Diverse background
- Experience as a businessman, bureaucrat, poet, writer, composer
- Has translated works from Latin, Italian, German, and Romanian
- Commentator for BBC Radio

And you know, he willl probably know that nobody knows who he is, and will make a joke about this, which will be funny.

On the other hand, there's a lot of justifiable criticism for Gioia as commencement speaker. Given the Iraq War and the landscape of American politics, someone more pertinent to that might have been more relevant.

But, I'm going to come down and defend Gioia as commencement speaker. First, Gioia has commendable accomplishments, and given his diverse and successful career, you don't need to be a billionaire to deliver a good speech. And given that he's a poet, and a full-time writer, I'm sure he'll have something insightful to say. Second, I think there's something to be said about the importance of the arts in America. Gioia, as leader of the NEA, seems to be at the helm of promoting and protecting the arts in America, and with so much attention on the Iraq War and politics, there's hardly any appreciation for the arts, much less at a very techie place like Stanford.

On the other hand, it's easy for us to all get upset since as seniors, we had a chance to vote for our speaker. There was little transparency in this whole process, seeing as how the Stanford Daily was the one to inform us of Gioia. I'd definitely fault our Senior Class Presidents and the whole selection process for not telling us who else was considered and most importantly, who the seniors voted for. After all, it's our commencement and it's pointless to let us decide who to have if that decision doesn't even matter in the longrun. I honestly doubt that even a small minority picked Gioia as our speaker. Bill Clinton must have been in the top 3. But, it seems like we're stuck with Gioia, whether we like it or not. If students want to fight the decision, so be it, but I'd only support them to the extent of increased transparency in the entire process.

Being cultured

2007-01-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

Stanford Lively Arts has been offering us some great performances this year and for great student prices! Last Friday, the Richard Alston Dance Company came to perform some contemporary dances. There was free pizza before the performance and our RFs reimbursed the 9 of us who went for the $10 tickets. Although I didn't know much about the company, I must admit that it was 2/3 weird, 1/3 awesome. And by that, I mean there were three different dances, the first two based off contemporary arrangements that were...weird. It was very atonal, very dissident, and very harsh on my ears. On the other hand, they were very graceful dancers. To be able to perform choreographed routines without any rhythm was pretty impressive. For their final number they performed a dance off of some Scott Joplin swing music, including "The Entertainer."

I guess what I liked most was that I went to a performance that I would never have gone to otherwise. And with a great lineup for the rest of the quarter, I'm hoping to go to the following concerts as well:

- The Emerson String Quarter, February 10th
- Jupiter String Quarter, April 1
- Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, April 25

Photoshop Phriday

2007-01-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

Something Awful.com is awesome. One of my favorite sections on the site is Photoshop Phriday where users creatively alter a bunch of historical pictures. Check out the latest thread on Clown History. The commentary is especially funny.

Priorities

2007-01-29T18:08:00.000-08:00

I had mistakenly scheduled my hall dinner during the UCLA vs. Stanford basketball game. It was too late to reschedule the dinner so I had to miss the game. I watched the first half on television, and it didn't look that good at all. Stanford was down by almost 20 points and at that point, I was okay going to California Pizza Kitchen. The dinner itself was good so when I got back, I thought I had made the right choice. But, when I came back, I found that Stanford had rallied to beat UCLA 75 to 68. Lawrence Hill is now the Espn.com player of the week. And Stanford is ranked #23 by the AP Press. What a horrible game to miss! But, I guess it made me realize that when it comes down to play and my job as an RA, I have to defer to my job.

Finding Motivation

2007-01-25T01:26:00.000-08:00

I remember my senior year of high school. After AP exams were over - Senioritis set in. A terrible lack of motivation. Of course, for me, taking a break could only be temporary, since I was still having to prepare for graduation, nationals in debate, and a strolling strings tour of Europe. And after all of that, I was working fulltime in a lab at WashU before Stanford started.

I guess for me, I really haven't had a time to be on a break. But now, it's senior year of college and I've found a job. GREs and applying to graduate school can wait now that I've decided to work at Google for the time being. Yesterday, I received word that my petition to stay on campus as an RA and finish my thesis Spring quarter has been approved, meaning I don't have to take any classes. It's going to be Camp Stanford for me.

So with anticipation of partying, enjoying my last quarter without classes, and spending quality time with friends, I've lost a whole lot of motivation to finish up the last two classes I need to take. I made a conscious choice tonight to skip class, something I rarely do, since I'm so sick of superficial discussions and classmates who say the most asinine things. Am I wrong to be so unmotivated? How do I get motivated, especially when more exciting and pressing things, like my senior thesis, Stanford basketball, Jenny, and photography are available?

Blades of Glory

2007-01-24T22:52:00.000-08:00

Is Will Ferrell crazy or a genius? Perhaps, both.

Watch the preview for his new movie, Blades of Glory.

The Wonders of Eyebrow Pluckers

2007-01-24T01:45:00.000-08:00

So good, use everyday!

Tahoe, January 19-21, 2007

2007-01-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

It's an annual tradition for dorms at Stanford to head up to Tahoe during the first few weeks of Winter Quarter. I've been on one each of my four years at Stanford, and each was plagued, in my opinion, by numerous problems or complaints. For example, Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior year snow-trips had numerous complaints - 1) Too many people crammed in a house, 2) Having to sleep on a hardwood floor due to #1, 3) No food because the dining hall messed up our order, 4) No time to ski since rentals took so long to get, and 5) Headaches from the high altitude/falling/sun/dehydration. So, as an RA, I finally was responsible for helping plan one of these events, and for what it's worth, I give credit for anyone who takes the time and effort to plan such a trip. It's quite and undertaking and something you wouldn't realize until you did it yourself. We had originally delegated responsibility to a snow-trip committee, which did do a great job ordering food, a bus, a house to stay in, and group lift tickets and rentals. Unfortunately, in the final few days before the trip began, I suddenly became responsible for making sure everyone signed waivers, paid money for lift tickets and rentals, and was where they needed to be every hour of the day. And that took a long time, but in the end, we had a gorgeous house to stay in that was carpeted with plenty of sleeping space, the weather was beautiful, we had plenty of good food, and no hiccups with the bus, lift tickets, or rentals.

Logistics aside, skiing was great. I hadn't gone since last year and I try to make the most of my day, skiing from 9AM-4PM. I hit up plenty of advanced slopes and had plenty of fun flying down the mountainside at breakneck speed. The weather was beautiful - in the upper 40s and clear skies, but there wasn't a lot of snow on the ground, meaning some areas were a bit icy while other black diamond runs were closed all together. Also, I decided to take my camera up on the slopes of Heavenly. Unfortunately, my camera battery was already on its last breath, so I only took a few pictures. Although pictures are supposed to capture the essence of a place, the view of Lake Tahoe from Heavenly and being 10,000 feet above sea level is an experience that cannot be captured on film. The crisp, cold air, the smell of evergreen trees, the panoramic view of Tahoe. Here's a shot of the sunrise from our house:

A view of Lake Tahoe from the slopes:

A wider shot from the same location:

Tahoe

2007-01-21T03:06:00.000-08:00

Hi :D

First of all, let me introduce myself. I'm Jenny, and you can find my hands and face in the backdrop to some of the food pics of NY that Reid recently posted.

Reid is off in Tahoe right now, being a snow manbunny. I'm sure he'll be posting his many many pictures and a lol rather lengthy writeup on how fun it was tomorrow night in between his class reading.

Ppl really do have a much more productive time when they're off campus.

Ian McEwan said that the best thing about his Masters in English was the amount of time that it gave him to write. I wish I didn't hear about this right before this weekend, because of course then I go and compare how I'm spending my time in college and now we all feel bad about ourselves.

My weekend consisted of watching Prince of Tennis, many many movies, and a couple of MTV shows. Click on the link to Prince of Tennis and please get addicted and watch episode 176 so we can argue or shake our fists together about the ending. Back to what I was saying, I only regret watching those MTV shows. The others (The Queen, Akeelah and the Bees, Freaky Friday) were quite good if not thank god I saw them types of movies. The only time when Ian McEwan didn't bug me was when I reread Dandelion Wine. Later I decided that if all those hours of slouching was a domino effect that led me to read the book Dandelion Wine again, then those hours were not wasted, and that makes me feel much better. I think if I ever had a kindred spirit as Anne (oGG) always harps about, the requirement would be that we feel the same way about Dandelion Wine.

Anyhoo that's it for now. It's nice that Reid has these automatically saved passwords. And I do feel right at home using it for my own happy thoughts. This seems to be absolutely begging for an [Evil smile] right here. But really, going out *for like forever* has basically erased all qualms whatsoever of dabbling in the other person's blog, food, COUGH car COUGH COUGH COUGH.

Although I've always felt that Reid has always taken my Aim profile too liberally to write about what he thinks I think about him. I'll end this blog with a grr now that I think about about that again.

Volume VI - Advocate of the Social Gospel, September 1948-March 1963

2007-01-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to say that my name is in a published book! For the past three years, I have worked at the MLK Research and Education Institute. For the past 20 years, Clayborne Carson has edited the papers of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Although the book is primarily academic, it chronicles the development of King as a leader and features many of his never before published sermons and speeches. Here is a description from the UC Press:

Dedicated to documenting the life of America's best-known advocate for peace and justice, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. breaks the chronology of its series to present King's never-before-published sermon file. In 1997 Mrs. Coretta Scott King granted the King Papers Project permission to examine papers kept in boxes in the basement of the Kings' home. The most significant finding was a battered cardboard box that held more than two hundred folders containing documents King used to prepare his celebrated sermons. This private collection that King kept in his study sheds considerable light on the theology and preaching preparation of one of the most noted orators of the modern era.

These illuminating papers reveal that King's concern about poverty, human rights, and social justice was clearly present in his earliest handwritten sermons, which conveyed a message of faith, hope, and love for the dispossessed. His enduring message can be charted through his years as a seminary student, as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, and, ultimately, as an internationally renowned proponent of human rights who saw himself mainly as a preacher and "advocate of the social gospel." Ten of the original and unedited sermons King submitted for publication in the 1963 book Strength to Love and audio versions of King's most famous sermons are the culmination of this groundbreaking work.

Mountain Biking

2007-01-15T23:28:00.000-08:00

One hobby that I have recently picked up has been mountain biking. For the past year, I have progressed from a newbie that could barely bike up a hill to an enthusiast that enjoys speeding downhill with a used, full suspension bike that will one day break with the way I treat it.

Here are a 3 of my favorite trails in the Bay Area:.

- Arastradero Nature Preserve
This place is just a 15 minute bike ride from Stanford, making it the ideal place to go for a quick ride. The trail is pretty easy as well, with wide roads and mostly gradual climbs. There are a few switchbacks and steep slopes to make it more exciting, but if you're in shape, you can fly through the whole trail in less than 30 minutes. There are also a few jumps as well for you to fool around on.

- El Corte de Madera
Not for the faint of heart. I've ridden this trail one way only - bombing down a very steep, rocky downhill and then spending an hour or so climbing back up to the top where we started. Although the downhill is the best I've ever experienced, the climb up really isn't that much fun. This is definitely a trail for skilled riders, so don't go here unless you can conquer the other two trails listed here.

- Saratoga Gap
This trail edges out El Corte de Madera due to the wide variety of trails (mostly some great xc, really big hills and downhills, and a great view of the ocean from the top). It takes about 2 hours and is definitely an intermediate hill, with some really quick cross-country singletracks where tree branches and rocks sneak up on you. But, once you get use to the trail, you can really fly through it. Riding this trail today inspired me to share what I felt about these three trails.

In the future, I hope to take my camera with me when I go biking, and not only shoot some pictures of the scenery, but perhaps my friends shooting down some of these trails. And if you're looking for a hobby, definitely consider mountain biking. It's a great workout and a great way to see some beautiful sites wherever you live.

Japanese Basketball???

2007-01-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

Who would have ever thought a Japanese guy could play college basketball? Well, look no further than Columbia's K.J. Matsui. He's 6 foot 2 inches, and is a great perimeter shooter. There's a great Yahoo! Sports article on Matsui here.

Cupcakes!

2007-01-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

Given Jenny's and mine recent interest in gourmet cupcakes (see post on Spinkles and the picture from Magnolia Bakery in New York City), the following article makes it quite clear that cupcakes are not created equal.

I'm Prepared To Do Anything To Get That Cupcake

There is something quite pressing that I must make clear immediately. I am afraid I am going to have to take that cupcake. That cupcake...

I don't mean to brag, but...

2007-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/snapshots/1.html

And Stanford's nail-biting, scrappy 78-77 win over #24 ranked Washington:

If you didn't know, the Lopez twins, Robin and Brook, are two 7-foot beasts that provide much entertainment as they block numerous shots. The picture above is Robin making Justin Dentmon wish he ate more Wheaties as a child since he's so short. And by that I mean 5 feet 11 inches.