금요일 아침: "tgif"? this wk flew by. it's now feb; it's been feb 4 a few days now. i tried to wake up earlier this morn but didn't really. i told myself last nite that there'd be no advantage to waking up late 2day. i don't have 2 much'f a nitelife these days, so i might as well wake up earlier. in this day n' age, sadly, most young ppl who stay up late prob'ly do so just to be online or to play video games. this is the digital age, man. as much as i am indeed a hi.tech guy, i like to do active things: i wanna get out, get exercise, snowboard, skateboard, whatever. i don't wanna just be online all day, all nite. un4tunately, i didn't do much aktive last nite, just watched tv n' "surfed" the web. why do they call it "web surfingnot to. a web surfer browses the web n' decides when to stick w/ a website n' when not to. is that rt? *shrug* neway, last nite i told myself that 2nite, i don't have much to stay up late 4. do i? i figure 2nite we'll go to our couples bible study n' then just come home n' sleep, rt? otherwise, we could go watch a movie afterward; i dunno. in ne case, i don't c ne benefit these days in shifting my sleep pattern ne later. it's better if i wake up early n' go to bed early than wake up late n' go to bed late. oh yah, i s'ppose since our dish netwerk is off rt now, while ken renegotiates our contrakt, there's really no reason to stay up late to watch good, korean tv or nething. there's nuthin' to stay up late 4.
this morn, while i was walking sooni, a couple'f skateboarding teenage boys passed us on the street, n' sooni got all riled up 'bout them. in the past she didn't like harley.type motorcycles or skateboards. i assume it's cos'f the noise. when i got my new skateboard n' rode it 4 the 1st time, i was reminded how noisy skateboards r. however, on sun, on our way to my mom's house, i kept pace w/ a harleyish cycle on (highway) 85 n' let sooni stick her head out'f the window. she didn't mind it. later, that evening, i took her w/ me as i skateboarded w/ steve n' mason. she didn't mind it. i've gotta take her skateboarding more often; that's 4 sure.
here's an (mildly) interesting article: "Quiet hybrids pose an 'invisible' risk." i 'member when i 1st started werkin' 4 the ol' start.up back in sf, my hiring manager had just had (his wife had just given birth to) twin gurls. he was worried 'bout how the nice sf marina neighbourhood that he lived in had elektric buses which r rather quiet n' that kids might not hear them in then get run over. how's my car? *shrug* i know b4 i got my current car, i'd read in consumer reports that 1 drawback was its cabin noise. i don't think that means so much that the engine is loud but that the wind noise is loud when we're driving on the highway. the beautiful kaela hwang n' i noticed this 1 day; i guess 'twas on our way home from tahoe on our last trip.
here's 'nother mercurynews.com article: "Woman eats 26 grilled cheese sandwiches." the "100-ound woman" was sonya thomas. isn't that the asian.am woman who wins eating contests? i'm guessing she's like a korean adoptee or sumpthin' from the name. here's her website: http://sonyatheblackwidow.com/. oh, i c, she's a hapa daughter'f a caucasian.amerikan air force sergeant stationed in korea n' a korean woman. i c. what's interesting is that after this grilled cheese contest, she had to rush back by train to andrew air force base in maryland to make her shift as manager @ burger king. really? u'd think as a semi.celebrity, she could quit that job, rt? *shrug*
[later] n' that topik sort'f brings me back to my discussion'f the (winter) olympiks from yesterday. i was pting out to kaela last nite that most winter olympik games/events r not team, point sports. the only 1 i can think'f is hockey. they're mostly either racing, individual, or style events. i dunno how curling is evaluated, but i think it's by distance, rt? *shrug* yah, boardercross is now in the olympiks, n' that's kewl. i wish there were more boardercross runs to ride in tahoe. the 1 i've ridden the most is on smokey @ sierra@tahoe, n' it's not that demanding. i'd like more competition.style boardercross runs in tahoe! u know? i really wanna push myself, to c how i'd do on whatever the real competitors race on. would i rather be an olympik snowboarder or an olympik taekwondoist? well, shoot... i think it'd be less dangerous 4 me to be an olympik snowboarder. sure, i prob'ly wouldn't win, but i'd have less'f a chance'f gettin' knocked da #@¢% out, u know? in the past there'd been debate over whether to bring skateboarding 2wards the olympiks. i definitely think that's the direktion it ought to go, while others wanna keep it a renegade hobby. imho, that attitude would make it more'f a loser aktivity. u know tho' that olympik snowboarding isn't like x.games snowboarding, rt? x.games snowboarding is much flashier. i guess i have more respekt 4 x.games snowboarding than olympik snowboarding. in a similar fashion, many taekwondoists have more respekt 4 the takewondo world championships than 4 the olympik taekwondo championships; didju know that? the olympiks differ from worlds in that the weight classes r kind'f skewed, n' some ppl'd say that kind'f puts asian countries @ a disadvantage. *shrug* i dunno. the did that to get more countries involved, i guess; but still korea n' taiwan dominate, w/ the u.s. winning 1nce in a while as well. never 4get the issue tho' 'f how there r so few asian.ams on the u.s. nat'l taekwondo n' olympik taekwondo teams, which makes li'l sense as taekwondo originates from korea. it just goes to show 'gain what a shame it is that asian parents only push their kids to study n' don't care 'nuff 'bout things like sports.
so... now that the olympik winter games r back, we've got the issue'f apolo anton ohno v. korean 김동성 kim dongsung 'gain (in the speedskating sport). i think some militant asian.ams might totally side w/ the korean competitor out'f "asian pride"; but that aktually doesn't make 2 much sense cos they'd be neglekting the fakt that apolo's also asian. he's japanese; his last name just looks a li'l not japanese cos'f the chosen romanisation. i know his dad yuki ohno's japanese, n' he was raised only by his dad in washington; but i'm not sure if his mom jerrie lee's asian or caucasian as that's an ambiguous name, rt? i wonder why his dad's name is yuki, as that cms like a woman's name. i'm guessing it's short 4 sumpthin' longer. back in 2002, when the ohno incident was big news, i wondered if the age ol' korean.japanese disrespekt 4 each other thingy made matters worse. *shrug* sure, discussions'f ethnic background r often taboo in amerikan society; but last nite the nbc olympik feature pted out that this 1 word.record holding speedskater's afrikan.amerikan. it's rather paradoxical, rt? that asian.ams r expekted to shut up 'bout their racial heritage while afrikan.amerikans r expekted to be proud'f theirs? well, it's black history month, n' that's kewl. dude, if ne'f our future kids were to grow up to be the 1st asian.am olympik snowboarder, i'd be heck'a proud; but i guess it ought to happen sooner than that.
[later] 오후: earlier this wk, some1 @ my office sent out an e.mail w/ a link to an article 'bout some1 who used to werk here who passed 'way. i clicked on the link n' read the article. wow! this guy had lived a really full life n' accomplished sooo much. dude, u've gotta check this out: k, 1st, this guy was a decorated oficer in the u.s. army n' fought courageously in panama n' operation desert storm. then we went to stanfurd to get a master's degree in some kind'f ieor (industrial engineering operations research) type program. then, he werked as a manager @ my company. then he retired n' moved to florida. then, he joined the key west police dept. get this: he died @ the age'f 41 while jogging. while talkin' to my cowerker, we guessed he passed 'way'f a heart attack, but i don't think the article sez what he died'f. neway, dude... he was only 41! however, he was able to accomplish sooo much! i can't believe he'd already retired! i guess he werked @ our company during the big tech boom'f the turn'f the millennium as he retired in 2001. i dunno; he werked @ my company 4 @ most 6 yrs, as he got out'f the army in 1995; n' that's assuming he went to stanfurd while werkin' @ my company. as he was born in 1964, he was ~37 when he retired. he had a 12.yr.old son. thus, i guess he had his son when he was 29. wow, this guy did 'lot. as we used to say int he late 1990s, "mad props." here's the article: "In Memoriam: Detective John Piskator" http://www.keywestcity.com/police/news/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=%20595).
u know... sumpthin' else i realised last nite is this: if i were to google up ne'f my cowerkers, i'd find all these akademic papers, awards, patents... if i google up myself? *sigh* well, i get all sorts'f goofy stuff like my own webpage. the only somewhat admirable thing that comes up is a reference on my masters program advising prof's website. her page mentions my masters project. i did notice a couple'f nites 'go that kaela had taken my berkeley diploma n' put it on the wall'f our 'puter room. it's in a frame that s.mike gave me a long time 'go; but the glass frame's chipped. i was hesitant to put the diploma up since bringing it over from my mom's house cos'f that ugly chip. well, it's up; up on the wall. [later] yah, i guess i have a bsme (bachelor's degree) n' an msme (master's degree). however, i don't have a ph.d or an mba. if i had a ph.d., i'd really have a "published werk." i aktually do have a published werk on taekwondo folklore in the uc martial arts program monograph. [a li'l later] however, i can't even cm to google that up. :-/
do u also ever feel unaccomplished? 1'f my good friends in our couples bible study group tried to reassure me that he thinks i've done so much in my life. i told him how i have low self esteem 'bout my career that i guess arose from the hard time i had in my early days in berkeley engrng.