Assorted thoughts on...

Family Vacation

I still haven't gotten around to writing up a blog post with the highlights and stories from my family trip a week and a half ago, but for the time being, you'll be able to see my pictures at the following links:

Yosemite Valley
Mariposa Grove, Kings Canyon
Sequoia National Park, Crystal Caverns
Getty Center
The Grove, Hollywood, Santa Monica

Incidentally, I also began uploading old photos from events earlier this year and "best-of" photos from previous years at Yahoo! Photos. Going back through my old files, I'm realizing that I took more pics than I thought, and I suspect I may spring for smugmug sooner rather than later, if just for the ability to more cleanly organize albums.

Brother's Appreciation

The Everglow sisters did a marvelous job kicking off Memorial Day weekend with Brother's Appreciation, which I know they spent a lot of time preparing for. Check out the goings-on in George's photos and Shally's photos. Thanks for a splendid evening!

Nutritional needs

Back in my younger days, I could wake up and play 5 hours of basketball at the gym without any breakfast or barely even water. Nowadays, I know I'm getting older when I can tell my energy level on Sundays depends on whether I had a substantial lunch on Sunday before ball. This past Sunday, I made sure to eat a bowl of cereal after church, and proceeded to have one of my better days of the year. Even though my outside shot wasn't falling, I felt active on defense, sharp with my passes, and had one game where I scored 7/9 buckets for my team. Yay for Quaker oatmeal!

Mutants galore!

Some thoughts resulting from my Memorial Day viewing of "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" (mouse over as spoilers are contained herein):

- Non-spoiler one-sentence review: If I could turn off the X-Men comic story fan side of my brain, I could enjoy the movie as a brainless summer action flick. But the X-Men fan in me was annoyed/disappointed by some of the creative choices.
- They. Killed. XAVIER? and CYCLOPS? and JEAN GREY? They're arguably the most important characters in the X-Men mythology! Maybe everyone thinks Cyclops is boring, but his relationship to Jean is one of the more important plot points used over and over again in the comic books.
- I can understand how, from a movie standpoint, they wanted to center the story around the most popular character (Wolverine). But twisting the story to shine the spotlight on him having Jean as his "true love" and his transformation into a team leader... not very accurate.
- The Danger Room scene was kind of cool. Wolverine struck the right notes here ("That was my last cigar!") and they even incorporated the Fastball Special (Colossus tossing Wolvie at the Sentinel).
- Kelsey Grammer as Beast was an excellent casting choice. The makeup artists made him look physically convincing, and the professorial tone and manner were pretty much just as I'd imagine Dr. Hank McCoy to be.
- Too many mutants in this movie. I caught lots of glimpses of folks who could be actual comic characters, but most seemed to be movie-only.
- One love triangle in a movie is about as much as I can take. Having two just annoys me.
- The technology used to make Xavier and Magneto look 20 years younger is pretty darn cool. If it becomes easier and cheaper to implement, I could see it rejuvenating the careers of actors by broadening the types of roles they could play - no longer would they have to play their age.

- Real-life X-Man: I came across this story about a baby born in China with three fully formed arms (even though both of the left ones aren't usable). They'll probably perform surgery to remove the third arm once he gets older. I wonder, in what ways would having a third arm be useful? World-champion swimmer? Would having a third arm disqualify him from swim meets?

If you had mutant powers, what would you want? My default answer is usually "flying", followed by "teleportation".

- Seeing Triple-Arm Baby reminded me of another genetic anomaly I read about a few months ago, where an English couple (both mother and father being half black and half white) had fraternal twins where one was black with brown eyes, and the other white with blue eyes. Something like a 1 million to one chance of that happening. Check out this link for more details.

Fantastic finishes (and some not so much)

NOTE: Since I'm jotting down some thoughts on season finales below, mouse over the following paragraphs to reveal the text as there will be spoilers.

Alias
I started watching Alias midway through season 1 and got hooked by the unique premise - a double agent trying to lead multiple lives as a fake bad guy actually working for the good guys, a nondescript banker to her friends, and a troubled daughter dealing with her own family issues (exemplified in her touchy relationship with her father). The missions were fun, the gadgets were cool, and there was some nice acting in the parts of Sydney and Sloane. As well, there was some puzzling and intriguing mythology on the part of an ancient fictitious scientist named Rambaldi (what with the recent fascination with Da Vinci, I figure it's only a matter of time before the legacy of the next famous artist/scientist becomes corrupted by the next writer looking to inject "history" into their story). In season 2, the emphasis on espionage lessened andmore focus was put on the family relationship between Sydney, Jack Bristow (one of three heroic Jacks in TV drama, along with Bauer and Shephard) and her long-lost mother, Irina (who was played quite well as an ambiguously evil-or-is-she-just-selfish quasi-villain). From there though, the writers seemed to realize that there was indeed no coherent, complete story arc to flesh out, and the last 3 seasons became a mishmash of new mysteries, international conspiracies, and a lot of other things that didn't make sense. We were hoping that the series finale would answer some long-standing questions and mysteries, but instead we just got to see a whole bunch of characters die and a happy ending on a beach. I guess that's the real danger of writing an ongoing TV drama - if it does well, you have to come up with fresh material, but a good story needs to have a beginning, middle, and end - if you keep on coming up with stuff on the fly, eventually things will become ludicrous. Ah well. Farewell "Alias" - it was kinda fun while it lasted, but even when the quality of the show was going down the tubes, I just couldn't quit. At least now, I've freed up another hour of my week.


Lost
Pretty good season finale. Answered some mysteries (why did the plane crash?), pretty good story and flashbacks centered around the relatively minor character of Desmond, advanced the dichotomy of Locke/Eko (they better not be dead), showed Henry as the leader of the Others, and introduced a few more clues for psycho fans to speculate on. Incidentally, at last report the Lost folks were planning to begin season 3 in January and run straight through, similar to "24", so it'll be a long wait to find out what Penelope Widmore (nice reference to Greek mythology and "The Odyssey" there) is going to do to find the island.

I wouldn't have expected "Lost" to be as popular as it is. Usually, intelligently written dramas with hints of sci-fi, mythology, and religion would just be the realm of a small cult-like fan following. Here's holding out hope that the show's popularity will enable it to retain better writers who can keep a coherent, overarching story arc over the entire lifespan of the show, without having it all fall apart like Alias did or like I understand "X-Files" did.


24
Solid finale to a solid season. While this season did quite a bit of stretching disbelief and didn't make good use of the real-time concept as much as season 1 did, I think there are currently two factors that might make this my second-favorite after season 1. First, a more streamlined story arc, with only 2 primary characters to follow (Jack/Logan) and whose stories were directly antagonistic to each other, rather than the 3-4 often unrelated lines of previous seasons (typically Jack, Palmer, Kim, villain). Second, some solid-to-great acting performances, in particular by President Logan and Martha, gave the entire season some great dramatic weight. At the very least, Itzin should garner an Emmy for his performance. I'm glad that the superweapon-o'-the-season (nerve gas) didn't occupy top billing as the great threat of the season for that many episodes - the human element made it much more interesting.

Edited to mention: I am somewhat disappointed that Henderson got killed off. He was a compelling villain, as opposed to the run-of-the-mill ones possessing various superweapons from previous seasons. The fact that he and Jack have a significant history (trained him, knows his tactics and moves) upped the ante on their interactions - Jack was no longer the most competent guy on screen by default anymore.

Now, Jack's all beat up and on his way to China. I'm thinking me, and most of my friends who are fans (who are all Asian anyway) should go try and become extras next season on "24:Prison Break:China". I could be a Chinese guard that gets his throat slit by a scared submarine engineer who's being coached by Jack.

I came across the following quotes on the message boards regarding the finale that I found hilarious:
======
Next season will be like the first part of "Return of the Jedi." Chloe will arrive in Tiananmen Square in disguise, holding Aaron Pierce on a chain, holding a tiny fancy computer bomb saying "Ya-to, Ya-to..." And then Curtis will come into the Chinese premier's chambers saying, "You will bring Agent Bauer and the wookie to me..."

This would also make for a perfect opportunity to bring Chase back into the fold in the Luke Skywalker part. After all, he did get his hand chopped off.
======
JACK BAUER HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED BY NINJAS
ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO RESCUE JACK BAUER?
(Yes, I know Ninjas are not Chinese. But the Chinese dressed like Ninjas, so shush)
Note from Bob: this is a reference to "Bad Dudes", an old school arcade game.
======
"...And poor Audrey. The typical boy-meets-girl, boy-kills-girl's-ex-husband, boy-fakes-death, boy-resurfaces-for-a-day, girl-gets-stabbed-by-boy's-mentor, boy-gets-kidnapped-by-the-Chinese story. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a million times."
======

Back into the flow...

Got back from vacation Friday night... spent a week road tripping with family to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks, and then a day and a half in LA. It was nice to get away. I still haven't gotten used to being able to lift right out of the rhythm of work, ministry, news, friends, etc. for a period of time.

I'll write up a blog hitting the highlights of the trip later, but for now, here's a pic:

Tag

Tagged by Karen (that cheater... 3 on one line!):

1. Four Jobs:
Assuming "job" implies a salary...
a. release manager/test engineer for my first company (mid-size startup)
b. release manager/test engineer for my second company (after company in "a." was acquired)
c. release manager/test engineer for my third company (after being laid off from the company in "b.")
d. release manager/test engineer for my fourth company (after company in "c." was acquired)
Okay, so I've lived a sheltered professional life.

2. Four Things I Wish I Had Done Earlier In My Life:
a. live in a city
b. taken better care of my eyesight so it wouldn't be as bad now
c. travel with friends
d. become a Christian

3. Four Places I Have Lived:
a. Salt Lake City, Utah
b. Saratoga
c. Berkeley
d. Mountain View

4. Four Countries I Have Been To:
a. Canada (Banff, Edmonton - which has the biggest mall in the world, with dolphin pools at each corner!)
b. Mexico (2005 mission trip)
c. Spain
d. England

5. Four Countries I Would Like to Visit:
a. Italy (Rome)
b. Japan
c. China
d. Greece

6. Four of My Favorite Dishes:
a. ribs
b. fish (salmon, mackerel)
c. carnitas super burrito from Taqueria La Bamba
d. smoothies (does that count as a dish?)

7. Four Sites I Visit Daily:
a. Gmail
b. My Yahoo
c. Google Reader and various Xangas
d. Warriorsworld

8. Four Software Applications I Cannot Live Without:
a. Firefox
b. VNC
c. Trillian
d. Outlook (not for email, but for calendar/notes/tasks that I synch up with the PDA)

9. Four Things I'll Never Forget:
a. missions trip in NYC (summer 2000)
b. breaking my teeth and my arm within the span of 1 month in sixth grade, during Little League baseball season
c. growing up experiences while in college at Berkeley, in spiritual/mental/social realms
d. moving out to live at Kittoe

10. I Tag....
a. George
b. Shally
c. Joy
d. Dr. Andy

Off to vacation. See y'all in a week!

[geek] LOL! [/geek]

In lieu of thoughtful content, here are a few recent Youtube videos that made laugh out loud. It helps if you're familiar with Star Wars and Star Trek to get all the little in-jokes. Thanks to Andrew W for the SW link:


Favorite line: "What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?"


Favorite line: "Dope" (while flashing the Vulcan sign).

Mishmash

Links, news, and other fun stuff...

NBA Playoffs
For the basketball fan, there isn't a much better time of the year than the NBA playoffs. Round 1 was full of exciting finishes, stars shining bright on the national stage, and a renewed buzz around the league generated by even casual sports fans. A few brief thoughts...
- The Spurs look like an old, but still well-coached team. They play great team defense and they swing the ball for open threes better than in previous seasons. Problem is, they look old, with even the relative young'uns like Parker and Ginobili clearly limited by leg injuries, and Duncan looking like he has even less lift than last year (when he summoned some heretofore unseen well of strength to battle the Wallaces into submission in Game 7, forcing them into foul trouble and paving the way for Ginobili's heroics in the second half).
- The Pistons look awesome. Simply as a basketball fan, I love watching them play - the way they run their offense (with a good variety ranging from the maze of screens for Hamilton, to post-ups for Rasheed, to wing isos for Prince and post-ups for Billups), to the way Big Ben anchors the defense. There are only two things that annoy me about them - 1) Rasheed (comes across as rather brash and unlikable, at least in the media and in his past offenses) and 2) in previous seasons, it seemed as if they never felt that they committed a foul, complaining about everything. However, it seems that 2) has diminished this season, so that may have been an artifact of Larry Brown's regime. Even as a Spurs fan, I don't see them taking Detroit down unless they get unbelievably hot and Duncan discovers a fountain of youth. Oh, and the Admiral in his prime wouldn't hurt either.
- Dallas is versatile. I like Josh Howard's game. They might be able to give Detroit a run for their money simply on the basis of having younger legs than San Antonio.
- The Suns-Clippers series should be a pretty solidly fun one to watch. I enjoyed game 1, with the way both teams executed contrasting styles (fast break vs. Brand in the post), mini-runs by both teams, etc. Brand has been a mainstay of my fantasy teams for years, and Diaw was my main free-agent pickup this year, so I feel like I've been following both teams for most of the season already. Haven't seen any of the Nets-Heat series yet.

24
- Looks like "The Sentinel" won't actually be 24: The Movie after all. I'm thinking they'll try to make use of the real-time gimmick in 1/2 hr - 1 hr chunks. Since it sounds like they'll be filming in multiple locales, they might need to make it a bit less Jack-centric as well.
- Here's an interesting article theorizing that part of the appeal of 24 is that it's shot like a live-action comic book. No, not stylized like "Sin City" (speaking of which, I still need to see that), but rather, the acting (holding expressions a heartbeat longer than normal, speaking in terse phrases as if in a speech bubble) and cinematography (the multiple side-by-side real-time panels the show will employ) strike a chord with viewers who grew up on Batman and Spiderman saving the world before they found out they needed Jack Bauer to finish the job.
- An amusing Flash comic about the current administration, presented in the "24" style. Bush's approval rating is dropping... what's he gonna do?

Other news and links
- To help become a more efficient partaker of televised media, I recently acquired a DVD Recorder (no hard drive). While it'd be nice to be able to record up to 100 GB of shows, it wasn't worth paying up to 3x more. Eventually the hard drive technology is going to spread and centralize all home entertainment anyway (gaming systems, DVD players/recorders, perhaps even being managed by your PCs), and so it'll eventually get cheaper.

- Check out this video: "The Evolution of Dance." Inspired idea for a show, and the guy has the chops to pull off just about every famous move. Thanks to Phuoc for the link.

- On Sunday, I finally had the chance to view the classic "More Cowbell" skit from SNL with Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell. I now understand all the pop culture references to this. "Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!"

- Speaking of Christopher Walken (perhaps the unanimous creepiest guy out there?), I was reminded of this music video that was perhaps the most surreal thing I viewed in the early part of the millenium - Walken dancing to Fatboy Slim and really getting into it.

- The Playstation 3 got announced today, for sale in September. Lists for $500, with a 20 GB hard drive, motion-sensitive wireless controller, and blu-ray High-Def DVD player (for an additional $100, you can triple your hard drive space to 60 GB).

- The current gasoline crisis has people looking into alternative fuels, including ethanol manufactured from corn. The article raises some interesting priority questions over what percentage of crops ought to be used for food and what percentage for fuel. Perhaps we Americans just need to consume less energy?

- Want to check out the best websites on the WWW? Here's the list of winners from the Webbys, sometimes known as the Web Oscars.

- One website you won't see on the Webbys, but is still strangely gripping all the same, is one red paperclip. It's a blog chronicling the story of a man who started with a red paperclip and is seeking to eventually barter it into a house. So far, he's been able to trade for items including a jetski, a van, a recording contract, a year in Phoenix, and currently, a night with Alice Cooper.

- Does anyone have links to coupons from Foot Locker or something similar? I need to buy new basketball shoes, and I've kicked around the idea of getting running shoes as well.

Vacation
FYI, I'll be out of town Mon-Fri next week on a family trip. During the one week off between the end of my bro's second year of law school and the beginning of his internship in LA, we're going to drive down California and hit up Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks before reaching LA. Time to take lots of pictures. I'm slowly beginning to go through some of my old pics and post them up on my Yahoo Photos site, which I signed up for years ago but stopped using since I was tired of having to resize my pics manually due to the small storage space. Now that it's unlimited and it automatically resizes images, I'm planning to cull the best of each year and post them up.

Turn the other cheek

DISCLAIMER: I usually try to avoid ranting on this webpage, but I feel like there are some key lessons I need to learn from these recent experiences I'm going to describe. So, I'm making the descriptions as general as possible, and try not to focus on the details but rather what they may be illuminating - I'm still having trouble figuring it out and wouldn't mind any feedback.

It's been a tough evening for my sense of pride. Every time I think I might be getting a handle on this humility thing, God usually finds a way to turn the knife inwards and make me see that there's still a lot of blackness inside that needs some gutting and cleaning. Two situations have contributed to my somewhat-flustered state of mind...

At work, the entire team is currently under a stressful deadline, and while there's still some time, a lot of people are a little bit on edge, and every mistake is magnified because of the potential impact to the schedule. So, when our latest testing (around 6 pm, near the end of the workday) revealed that some files were missing, everyone jumped. As the release manager, packaging everyone's work together is my responsibility, and so I was working with the guy whose team was responsible for the missing files. We determined that the files appeared to be where they should be for me to be able to compile everything together, and so the responsibility was thrown back on me.

Now, I've worked with the guy for years, and he's a great engineer and a totally nice person. But under this situation, with the added stress and the need to stand up for his team, I couldn't help but feel a bit defensive amidst a lot of tension - we still hadn't figured out what the problem was. I intentionally tried to defuse some of the tension with wry smiles and self-deprecating remarks about Murphy's Law, but I was still a little bit fired up - fight or flight mode, I guess.

Late tonight, I logged in again, did some more debugging, and figured out that the problem was indeed from his team (for the Linux geeks, it was a file permissions problem). As I wrote up the email detailing the parameters of the problem, it was very tempting to gloat, just a little bit, because I felt like I had been called out earlier on something that wasn't my problem. As my fingers hovered over the [Send] button though, I thought a little bit more about just how stupid a reaction that would be. It's not me against another person here - heck, I like those guys! - it's a team effort trying to accomplish a team goal under difficult circumstances. Tempers - perhaps just my own - may have flared a little bit, but if I'm going to be taking on more of a leadership role in our group, I need to keep a level head, respect my teammates at all times, and try to set an example of subordinating my own ego for the larger goal. So instead of gloating (and while physically biting my tongue), I described the problem, and closed by saying that I should have caught the problem with better error checking and let them know earlier.

Second situation...

Matthew 5:38-42:
"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."

This revolutionary teaching by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount seems to have at its core the principle of nonviolence in being able to influence others, even your enemies. Both Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. cited this truth as the cornerstone for their own world-changing life philosophies. The thing is, it takes quite the man to actually put this into practice. I figure that given the choice, most people would rather not be taken advantage of, but it can be a stunning example of Christlikeness. However, does anything change when it's a fellow believer who seems to be doing the advantage-taking?

I'm already a person who has difficulty with saying "no" and setting boundaries. It's a weakness I know I have, and that I need to work on - I can't volunteer for everything. However, being able to help people is something I happen to enjoy, and God's blessed me with a good amount of helpful skills and knowledge. Thing is, it's reached the point where if someone asks me for my knowledge and/or time to help, and I don't have a schedule conflict, I feel guilty about turning down the request - even if I don't want to do it. Today, this extended to people that are barely acquaintances who are requesting a favor, in my off-time (on the weekend), without much in the way of compensation, for a relatively thankless job.

"Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The hard part of the latter statement is that you still need to treat them the way you'd like to be treated, even if they're not doing the same. It'd be easier to subordinate the feeling of being taken for granted if it was a friend - friends are (relatively) easy to sacrifice for. It's much easier to just let resentment simmer against people that I don't care for as much.

As with all things, God takes the blade of my tongue and turns it inwards. How many times have I taken friends, coworkers, teammates for granted, assuming that they were working for the same goal as I was, when in fact I was selfishly using people to my own ends? How many times have I glossed over showing my loved ones any appreciation for acts of kindness and words of advice? When I let resentment simmer against someone rather than setting boundaries up front, am I really loving that person and desiring the best for him?

If there's anyone reading this who has felt taken for granted because of my words, actions, or attitudes... I apologize. And please let me know (preferably by email, heh) what that situation was so I can apologize more specifically and be more mindful of it in the future.

I still need to learn how to say "no". Is "I don't want to" a valid reason to do so? Why is it that every time that's the real reason, I feel like I have to come up with a better one?

Tough evening. But, I'm hoping that I'll be able to learn something from it.

On an entirely different topic

Now that I've brain dumped for so long... here's an official validation that Han shot first! I've held off on buying the trilogy (of which I've probably seen each movie 20-30 times) on DVD for several years, but now that I can get the original version... I'm thinking that's a purchase.

The Top U.S. High Schools

Newsweek recently released their rankings for The Top 1000 U.S. High Schools.

In What Makes a High School Great?, they list the following criteria by which they made this year's rankings:
Create good citizens
Celebrate liberal arts
Prepare for work
Help boys and girls succeed - separately
Emphasize Science and Technology
Reach out to everyone

Some notable local schools in the top 500:
26. Lowell (San Francisco)
78. Gunn (Palo Alto) - ranked #53 in 2003
142. Mission San Jose (Fremont)
147. Monta Vista (Cupertino) - ranked #88 in 2003
210. Saratoga (Saratoga)
238. Menlo-Atherton (Atherton)
261. Leland (San Jose)
285. Los Altos (Los Altos)
302. George Washington (San Francisco)
344. Aragon (San Mateo)
357. Berkeley (Berkeley)
473. Lynbrook (San Jose) - ranked #91 in 2003

For the SoCal readers:
181. Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills)
183. San Marino (San Marino)

Honestly, Lynbrook was ranked way lower than I expected it to be.

Passing of time

From the "Friends" episode entitled "The One With The Birth", where the gang is looking at Ross' newborn son Ben:

RACHEL: Oh, god, I can't believe one of us actually has one of these.
CHANDLER: I know, I still am one of these.

Last week, a few of us went up to Sacramento to visit the Miyais and see Christopher for the first time (as well as to play with Oski). In between chowing down on gourmet nachos, playing fetch with Oski inside (sorry Alice!) and outside the house, and watching Lebron's playoff debut, we got to dote on and marvel at the new life God's given them to love, teach, protect, and present to the world as a complete person. Back in March, not too long after Christopher came into the world, my other college friends Andy and Pam had their own new addition, Hannah.

It kinda hit me that my peers were now beginning to move into the "next" stage of life (I define my peers as friends I could have gone to high school or college with - 3 years older or 3 years younger). Peers that I had classes with, small group Bible studies in college, played ball with... are now adjusting to the new level of responsibilities involved with being parents.

My dad once shared a perspective on life that goes something like this. The average lifespan for an American these days is around 77 years. In the first quarter-century of life, you ramp up - you grow from infant to adult, you go through teen years, you discover your personality, your interests, your relationships, you begin your career and start to figure out your place in life. In the next 25 years, many people will begin to move into a steady-state revolving around family - getting married, having children, raising them, all while continuing to mature professionally, personally, and spiritually, with more responsibilities than at other stages of life. The final quarter-century, you wind down - the kids are moved out, you begin to think about retirement from professional life and move into other pursuits. In that respect, I guess it looks kind of like a bell curve:



It's just kind of neat, and maybe a little scary, to see see my friends and peers moving into new stages of life, knowing that I'll presumably eventually do the same.

That about sums it up

A quote from Steven Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:

My goal in life is to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am.