weekly resolution

In a seminar I went to on Tuesday, the speaker stated that on average, 77% of the things we say are negative. (I haven't confirmed or researched the validity of this statistic, I'm just passing along some information).

That got me thinking: I'm a huge complainer. If the average person is 77% negative, I must be in the upper 90th percentile. I'm often so negative and self-deprecating that I make Conan O'Brien look like a perpetual optimist.

Take, for example, this (somewhat abridged) email exchange I had with a friend about configuring my powerbook:

Me:
Not a high priority, but i followed your blog instructions for configuring the proxy, and i still can't access [an internal website] on my powerbook. Maybe it's https:// that fails?

Friend:
like i said in im you need secure proxy too

Me:
i'm so dumb

Friend:
u'r !dumb, i'm so busy

Well, I instead should have said that he was really smart (which he is), but at least one good, positive thing came out of this: my friend invented a new contraction, and elementary school grammar will never be the same.

So I guess this post will be the start of my resolution for this week: I'll be average-negative instead of super-negative.

For those what want measurable metrics, my negative, complainy comments and self-deprecating statements will be 77% or less of the things that come out of my mouth. (But what I write in my blog is a whole other matter).

gizmo box

I needed to find a serial cable for my computer tonight so I went into my gizmo box and behold, I own a ton of junk. Some of the random stuff I discovered in my gizmo box include:

• 6 ethernet cables
  
• 3 different GPS sensors
  
• A SlipStream DSL modem
  
• 2 flashlights
  
• A photo ID and luggage tag laminator (and a bunch of lamination blanks)
  
• More batteries then you can count
  
• A Weller soldering iron, with adjustible temperature control
  
• 2 spools of solder
  
• A Nintendo Gameboy Advance, and a couple of games (I've been looking for this! Hurrah! Yet another distraction!)
  
• An Koss portable CD player
  
• A bag filled with Atmel 8052 microprocessors
  
• 2 different barcode scanners
  
• An Auto 12V DC to 120V AC power converter (this puppy is going my my car!)
  
• A pack of Motorola BiStatix RFID tags
  
• A Motorola BiStatix RFID reader
  
• A pair of 900mhz wireless radio development boards.

Oh, and I found my serial cable. In fact I found four. Heh.

run log

Today's mileage: 1.8 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 78.2 mi.
Course: Bootcamp Time Trials - 6 x Charleston Park Loop + Amplitheater Pkwy
Calories Burned: 1114 (including Bootcamp Workout)

Yet another Bootcamp Time Trial! Big Improvements! (And in only one day!)
50 pushups, 90 crunches, 9:12 run for 6 x Charleston Park Loop

run log

Today's mileage: 2.5 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 76.4 mi.
Course: Bootcamp Time Trials - 6 x Charleston Park Loop + 2 x around Salado Bldgs. + Amplitheater Pkwy
Calories Burned: 1041 (including Bootcamp Workout)

Time Trials at Bootcamp!
36 pushups, 55 crunches, 9:24 run for 6 x Charleston Park Loop

life management tips

From a David Allen "Getting Things Done" Seminar I attended for 8 hours today at work.

1. Write whatever think of that you need to do on a piece of paper, on a PDA, or on whatever. That way you'll never have to think about (or forget) having to do something. When you're relaxed and your mind is clear, you're much more happy and productive, not to mention much less stressed!
   
   
2. When you reach critical mass, sit down and process everything you've written down. Figure out what the "actionable" item is for each item you've written down (e.g. "Call dentist to set up cleaning appointment" or "Send quarterly update to Sergey") and put it in one of your "location" folders. A "location" folder is a place where you usually would complete that item--e.g. "At the Office" or "By the Phone" or "At the Computer." (My folders: "@Office", "@Home", "@Phone", "@Sports", "Read & Review", and "Sometime/Maybe")
   
   
3. When you're at that location and have time, go through the list of items and complete them in the order of whatever prioritization system you have set up. If a new task comes to mind, write it down and file the "actionable item" component of it in the appropriate folder.
   
   
4. Review what you've done once a week. Clean your desk. Clean out your e-mail inbox (by deleting the messages, responding to the messages, or filing it in the appropriate "location" folder).
   
   
5. Repeat, rinse, and lather.

Oh, and as a result of going to the seminar (or just having 8 hours of free time), I completely cleaned out my e-mail inbox today--all 3280 messages! Huzzah!

new day

A new day begins, another fresh start. It's amazing how a good night's sleep can wipe out the crappiness of your previous day.

Today I'm going to learn to better manage my life.

uber-drama

Ever have one of those days, where you feel like everything around you is spinning out of control? Where you feel like a plastic bag, fluttering in the wind, being carried off to an unknown and far-off place? Where you wake up from some weird dream and you're not sure where you are, how you wound up there, or why you're there at all?

Well, I had one of those days today. My day was simply Shit-tay, with a capital S.

In other news, Lilly thinks my late night blog post yesterday was uber-dramatic. Wait till she reads what I wrote today!

"Good night little PowerBook--my world will shortly end for today, as will the universe, whether digital or analog--with sleep."
--Microserfs, pg. 102

late night dreams

We yearn to tell stories. To make us laugh and cry; to inspire; to share; to impart some nugget of wisdom; to unearth our innermost fears so that they become visceral and understandable.

We tell our stories so that some soul will learn from unspeakable tragedy--and rise up from the ashes of despair to dream great things. We do so, deep down, because catharsis, fear, love, and humor are essential components of our very existence.

I dream of the day when I can tell my story.

When I can write my great American novel--not about me per se, but about life as I see it--about how the challenges we face in this world are more similar than not. About our fear of not mattering--and about the exploration and discovery that happens before we find our place among the cosmos.

laundry reflections

Today was a day for doing laundry. A day for replenishing my dwindling supply of boxer shorts and socks. For turning once dirty clothes sparkling clean. For making my closet smell "spring mountain fresh." For reducing clothing entropy. For getting rid of the randomly strewn around piles of shirts & jeans in my room. For knowing that I now have enough clean shirts from bankrupt dot-coms to last me another 30 or so runs and bootcamp workouts. Today was a day for doing something that really mattered.

run log

Today's mileage: 2.1 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 73.9 mi.
Course: Short Shorline Park Lake Loop
Calories Burned: 485

microserfs

For some reason, I've read more fun books this past month than in the last two years. That's not saying much, as I've only read one non-work-related book in the past two years. As you've probably figured out, reading usually isn't my thing.

But this past month, I've read Stephenson's Snow Crash and Coupland's Microserfs.

Both books were really enjoyable. Snow Crash was a great escape into the past and the future; Microserfs was riveting because of how much I could relate to it.

The similarities I share with some of the characters in Microserfs are quite eerie.

Take, for example, Abe (who, like me, also graduated from MIT): "He seems happy to be reaching the age of 30 in just four months with nothing to his name but a variety of neat-o consumer electronics and boxes of Costco products purchased in rash moments of Costco-scale madness ("Ten thousand straws! Just think of it--only $10 and I'll never need to buy straws ever again!")"

I too worked for Microsoft. And like Abe, I had my rash bulk-purchasing moment at Costco. After walking through one of the never-ending asiles of processed food, a moment of inspiration struck me: "Five gallons of cereal--and it's only $7.99! That'll last us the whole summer!" After my impulse purchase, I quickly discovered that you get sick of Cheerios and Cap'n Crunch really quickly. My dillusional scheme didn't quite work out.

Well, back to more reading.

writers block

I'm usually quite chatty but I couldn't think of anything to write about for this blog entry. I just stared at my computer screen for 10 minutes before giving up and writing this pointless drivel.

Ernest Hemingway once said that the most frightening thing he ever encountered was "a blank sheet of paper." My frightening thing for today was my blank blog entry screen. Bleh.

the art of consuming jello shots

The jello shots were especially delicious at Brian and Heather's par-tay tonight! Apparently, consuming jello shots is an art. You're supposed to soak them for a couple minutes in warm water before shooting them. (The dig-your-finger-in-the-jello-to-loosen-it method also works, but it's kinda gross). I tried both...the 2nd method requires a helluva lot more cleanup.

I promised Heather and Baxter that they could have a guest appearence in my post tonight, so here they are:



Aren't they a cute couple?

tour de france blog

My Nokia 7250 camera phone finally made it to France!

Professional cyclist George Hincapie has the phone now and has posted some behind-the-scene shots of Lance Armstrong and other racers in his photo-blog. Check it out at http:/hincapie.blogspot.com.

boot camp bye-bye

Google bootcamp memories: pushup purgatory, superstars, crunches, jumping jacks, burpies, jump rope, Lori's whining, debates as to whether Google is a cult or not, painful "prizes" for winning the scavenger hunt ("drop down and give me 20 pushups!"), itchy grass-induced rashes, obstacle courses, scaling Vista Point (several times!), t-shirts galore, & way too much running!


(Our team - the House of Pain!)

run log

Last day of boot camp! (Another class begins on Monday...)

Today's mileage: 2.0 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 71.8mi.
Course: Boot Camp Workout Course
Calories Burned: 1021 (including bootcamp workout)

run log

Today's mileage: 1.8 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 69.8mi.
Course: Boot Camp Scavenger Hunt Course
Calories Burned: 986 (including bootcamp workout)

cruising in an ev-1

The EV-1 is a pretty phenomenal car given that it runs completely on electricity and can go from 0-60mph in less than 9 seconds. Apparently GM discontinued production of the EV-1 and you can't buy them any longer.



One of my coworkers has an EV-1 that he let me take around town today. I used to laugh at electric cars and thought that they were suped up golf carts. Not anymore.

The EV-1 acclerated quickly on the freeway, handled turns rather well (it has a low center of gravity), and was quite fun to drive. It also made cool noises like the monarail at disneyland--a very slow hum that got louder as you went faster.

The controls inside the car also looked like the console of a 757 jumbo jet. There were lots of buttons on it; unlocking the car and starting the ignition involved punching in a series of codes on a keypad (sort of like starting up the countdown timer of a nuclear weapon). I found it particularly fun to press a button on the console and have it do random things--like start the air conditioner or lower the windows.



The EV-1 does have a downside--each charge only lasts about 100 mi. It also takes 10-14 hrs. to charge if you plug it into a normal 110V outlet, (or 2-3 hrs if you plug it into a special 240V charging station) so it's not something you want to drive across the country.

Nonetheless, if I had $40k to spare, I would consider buying one (that is, if GM was still selling them...sigh).

quote of the day

"Hell no! If anything, you're probably the gutsiest person on the team considering you came out to play hockey without having really ice skated or rollerbladed before!"

--My friend Lilly, in response to my lamenting about how I was the worst person on our company's beginner ice hockey team, which consists mainly of experienced roller-hockey players.

run log

Oh man, I felt like crap during my morning run. I can usually handle 3 miles without a sweat, but I had to stop several times today. Perhaps it was all the leftover acetaldehyde in my body from Friday's triple parties or the fact that I haven't run in a couple of days, but today's mileage was particularly painful.

Today's mileage: 3.1 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 68.0mi.
Course: Los Altos Rd/San Antonio Rd/Main St Loop

rube goldberg

Ever since I watcheed the The Goonies, I've been a huge fan of Rube Goldberg machines.

You can imagine how happy I was when I saw a "Cog", a Honda commercial taking Rube Goldberg contraptions to new heights.

The TV commercial took 4 days and 606 takes to film--and was done without any computer graphics trickery.

apples and oranges

Here's a toast to aldehyde dehydrogenase, part of a group of enzymes that help us break down alcohol in our body into a variety of nasty substances.

I happen to turn as red as an apple when I consume moderate amounts of beer and other happy-inducing drinks. (In fact, several of my college buddies refered to me jokingly as an "orange"--a reference to my turning blood-red after drinking and my asian heritage).

The whole orange phenonemon is well studied: some people (myself included) have a genetic disposition where they can't produce enough aldehyde dehydrogenase ito metabolize alcohol as quickly as others. A study describes the symptoms best:

"Following alcohol ingestion, they exhibit more intense reactions to alcohol and generate higher levels of the metabolite acetaldehyde." In other words, I usually have nastier hangovers after drinking lots of vodka.

But there is one great side effect that the study found: I'm much less likely to be an alcoholic than most people.

"Asians with ALDH2*2 alleles drink less and are less likely to be alcoholic than Asians without this mutation...these results suggest that Asian Americans with ALDH2*2 alleles may experience more severe hangovers that may contribute, in part, to protection against the development of excessive or problematic drinking."

a quarter century of wisdom

Stuff learned on my first day of being a quarter-century old: it's hard to get a table for 18 friends in a crowded restrauant on friday night; boxes falling off the back of pickup trucks are scary; apple security guards won't let you park in their lot; getting a huge birthday cake means you can't blow all the candles out at once--and fitting the leftovers in your fridge requires significant engineering effort; Lori loves superlogs; after-party parties rock; drinking multiple 32-oz. nalgene bottles full of beer will f*ck you up the next day; a friend's couch is your best friend at 4 in the morning; all of my friends totally rule!



As birthdays go, this one was probably the most memorable by far. It's right up there with my 21st birthday when I put down a midnight $100 bet on a blackjack table at the Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas.

25

Today's blog posts are brought to you by the number 25.

And speaking of the number 25, did you know that the quarter has gone through many changes--some controversial--since its first minting in 1796? In fact, in 1916, the front of the quarter had an image of Lady Liberty with an exposed breast. There was apparently such outrage that the quarter was re-designed and a much more conservative quarter was issued the following year.

run log

Today's mileage: 4.0 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 64.9mi.
Course: Shoreline Lake - Theater Loop
Calories burned: 1891 (bootcamp workout & run)

phone de tour de france

The Blogger folks at Google have sent my Nokia 7250 camera phone to France. No more grainy photos on my blog...at least until I can get another camera phone.

The phone will be used to send live photo-blog entries that will document Lance Armstrong's progress in this year's Tour de France. Go Lance!

mid-week madness

I feel a sense of accomplishment; lots of fun things done today:

• bought hockey skates
  
• went skating
  
• had yummy red wine
  
• listened to music (and watched friends attempt to spastically dance to it)
  
• watched cowboy beebop
  
• tried painful yoga poses
  
• RSVP'd for Monday's hockey game
  
• wrote blog
  

(time for bed!)

run log

Today's mileage: 1.2 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 60.9mi.
Course: 3 x Salado Bldg Loop
Calories burned: 1093 (Run & Bootcamp Pushup Purgatory!)

world's largest book

Rumor is (and I just found this out), my former MIT Media Lab thesis advisor is working on creating the world's largest book. (He apparently called up Jeff Bezos and said something to the effect of "How would you like to be the world's largest book, store?")

Apparently, the largest book in the Library of Congress (John James Audubon's Birds of America) is over 1m tall, and contains "life-sized illustrations" of many birds. My thesis advisor wants to create something that showcases life sized photos of the many people in far-off places he's been to, and hence, he plans to create a book 7 feet tall.

I loved working at the Media Lab and especially with Herr Doctor Professor Mike Hawley on Project Voyager. Coming in every day to work was like going to a high-tech Disneyland. There were so many toys to play with and things to learn and experiment with. (It was at the lab that I played with my first SLR digital camera and fell in love with taking pictures...since then, I always have a camera on me wherever I go and annoy everyone I know by snapping more photos than you can count).

Mike was always full of crazy ideas, and the world's largest book is the least of them. Every time I would propose a project to work on, he would give me a strange stare, and say, "That's not crazy or wild enough. You need to think REALLY big. Do something crazy and remarkable."

I miss the lab, and I miss all the crazy projects I had the opportunity to work on. At least I still try to think REALLY big things and work on crazy and remarkable projects.

wi-fi radar

I found a new gadget that lights up when it detects any 802.11 wireless network. It's interesting what you stumble across during random late-night web surfing sessions.

run log

Today's mileage: 4.0 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 59.7mi.
Course: Shoreline Lake - Theater Loop
Calories burned: 1196 (with gym workout)

surf's up

My shower is all clogged up with sand again. Another awesome surf day at Cowell's Beach in Santa Cruz.

Next time, I might try another surf spot.

hockey prep

Went to the Logitech Ice Center in San Jose to prep and practice skating for my first hockey game for Google's beginner team on Monday night. Wow, I can actually sort of stop and turn now. Tripod hockey, here I come.

wedding woes

The New York Times reports that many newlyweds (and their parents) are going into serious debt to finance lavish weddings. In the end, it even costs some couples their marriage as the stress of having to pay off creditors for their wedding debt is just too much for them to handle.

"Wedding bills are weighing down couples and their parents long after the 'I do's,' and many have been forced to seek financial counseling as a result, according to credit counseling agencies."

This couple takes the cake:

"[Because of the $20k debt incurred from their wedding, Stacey and Justin Blair] also parted with their two leased cars in favor of sharing a used car, and they enlisted a financial planner to monitor their spending, even submitting their credit card statements for review each month. "Everything was just a mess," Ms. Blair said. Still, she considers the wedding well worth it: 'It was such a fun day, I didn't care how much we put on our credit cards.'"

What kind of wacko society have we become that encourages (and even expects) this kind of irresponsible behavior?

todo list

A non-exhustive list of stuff I am going to do (sometime during my life, and in no particular order):

• Play ice hockey. Score a goal in a game. Get good at it.
  
• Go scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Wave to a clownfish.
  
• Learn to swing dance. Then dance the night away.
  
• Start a company that will someday make $1B+ a year. Make sure the company maintains the following three values throughout its life:
  1. build stuff that is truely useful and is something our customers really need
  2. hire the world's smartest people and make sure that they are well treated
  3. don't be evil.
  
• Give a halarious and inspiring college commencent address. Dispense life-changing advice and words of wisdom.
  
• Surf at an exotic tropical beach on a shortboard.
  
• Own a restrauant. Make hungry people happy by feeding them delicious food and giving them a remarkable dining experience.
  
• Go backpacking for a month in Europe, Australia, or some other far off place I've never been to.
  
• Live in New York City for a year. Party. Visit museums. Drink coffee at a different cafe every night. Watch the crystal ball drop live in Times Square on New Years Eve.
  
• Care for and own a big fluffy white dog. Ever since my run-in with Alex back at MIT, I've had a place in my heart for Sayomeds.
  

mid-week outing

Random mid-week hanging-out in Menlo Park last night. Like old high school days.


Practicing the art of crosswalk flag waving. Or learning out-of-sync semaphore. You decide.


Hanging out at the gatehouse. (Didn't even know Menlo Park had one!)


Who will win? Bostock or the Caltrain?

run log

Today's mileage: 3.1 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 55.7mi.
Course: 3 x Google Loop
Calories burned: 774

Larry Page (Google co-founder) having fun at dinner tonight. More importantly, I'm showing Larry how instant-photo-blogging my my Nokia 7250 works.

kitchen chaos

I was discussing a project with a colleague over e-mail and mentioned that there were too many people involved in it--the proverbial problem where "too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the soup." He wrote back something quite insightful:

"Do you know what professional chefs do when there are literally too many cooks in a kitchen?  They give everyone specific tasks to do.  One person is assigned the entree, another does the sauce, another does dessert, another picks wine, another does the side dish, another may be asked to leave.  Each station cook gets to do their own thing.  The master cook makes sure everyone is being productive.  You need to be the master chef instead of a cook."

I think I'll go make a 7-course meal now.

a matter of time

All of my friends are always such doing interesting things that I feel like a sedentary slob. I wish I had more time, fortitude, and money to try out new things and get good at it.

Bostock, for example, plays ice hockey 4 nights a week (at last for this week) and it seems so fun. Too bad I can't skate worth a damn, and I'm not sure how I could ever get good enough at skating that I could keep from being trampled by other hockey players. Plus, a full set of hockey gear costs $1000 so that's quite an investment for something I don't know if I could get good at.

Dan is apparently a championship water polo player and swimmer. And he works out like crazy. He recently invited me to join him at the gym...and I'm afraid to as I lack such upper body strength that at the last bootcamp workout I could barely do 10 pushups.

My friend Andy from MIT founded a tech company. Despite the dot-com bust, his company is doing quite well. Andy is trying to hire a ton of software and hardware engineers to meet customer demand for a product he's already shipped. (I toyed with this idea once when I was back in college but realized that my business plan was doomed to failure).

Stan is a crack photographer (the Associated Press publishes his photos!) and a world-class marathoner. He's finsihed the Boston Marathon several times under 3 hours. In contrast, when I first started running a year ago, I nearly collasped after a mile and couldn't run it in under 15 minutes.

All of my friends lead such fascinating lives that it makes me feel inadequate. Oh well. I guess I'll find something interesting I'm good at sooner or later.

It's just a matter of time.

big mac rap

I just saw the most ridiculous commercial on Fox TV today.

There were a bunch of buff black rappers and ultrathin girls trying to push MickeyD Big Macs. The whole commercial showed these people shoving burgers into their mouths while rapping about two all beef patties, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and special sauce in a sesame seed bun.

"C'mon / Uh-huh / Nothing is exact / like a big mac"

I broke out laughing in a hissy fit. I didn't know what was more insane: that McDonalds was trying to market the message that shoving big macs into your mouth would make you buff and thin (or a prolific rapper), or that there actually exists people who would believe this.

another lazy sunday

Petey's BBQ was a blast. There's nothing like spending a Sunday drinking beer, eating burgers, listening to cheesy 80's music and watching a mariachi band serenade the party next to yours.

Some highlights:


(too many dogs for Natala)


(scooter race)


(petey's attempt at catching a water balloon)

run log

Today's mileage: 3.1 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 52.6 mi.
Course: Los Altos Rd/San Antonio Rd/Main St Loop (night run)
Calories burned: 804

i-see, u-see

The Apple iSight camera just came out. It's perhaps the best looking webcam on the market, and it looks awesome when mounted on top of my Mac G4 powerbook.


(The BMW of webcams. Yours for only $149.)

I bought one this weekend and played around with it.



It worked quite well. The video conferencing aspect of it is somewhat grainy over an 802.11b/DSL connection. Nonetheless, it can supposedly support 30 frames per second over a fast net connection so I'll try it out tomorrow at work.

roughing it

Camping was fun: musical Corona bottles, creek-chilled beer, envying our neighbor's red wine and steaks, hitting Dave in the head with a frisbee, crappy burrs stuck in Mike's socks, beef stew and sugary dried pineapple chunks, avoiding reclaimed water in Wadell creek, & blinding flashlight wars.


(Bostock & Dave cooking beef stew...yummmmmm.)

run log

Today's mileage: 2.5 mi.
Total milage since 6/2/2003: 49.5 mi.
Course: Bootcamp Workout up Vista Hill
Calories burned: 1274 (total boot camp workout)

Nikhil, Bret, and Brian enjoying lunch outside at Google.

Hanging out at the BBC in Menlo Park after a long day at work.

yikes

I bought a Taylor Body Fat Monitor scale yesterday. The scale supposedly reads your weight and using an electrical pulse, it's also able to measure your percentage of body fat to within 1% of "professional body fat assesment methods."

The first time I stepped on it, I nearly freaked out. Despite working out for over a year, it said that my body fat content was absurdly high. Then I started to do some research and found out that many of these scales were up to 28% off in its ability to accurately determine your body fat content. Though the article did say that the particular one I bought was one of the more accurate ones.

On a funny note, one of my friends mentioned a rumor that some people were actually suing the companies that manufacture these body fat monitoring scales. Apparently it drove some people anorexic because it misread their body fat and they sued because they thought they were abnormally fat. I tried to do a quick search on google to confirm this but couldn't find anything. Anyhow, if this story is true, it's quite halarious.

Enjoying mohitos a La Bodeguita after a talk by Google Marketing VP Cindy McCaffrey.