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Crossed my "tees", dotted my "eyes", did a final spell check... 11 pages, double spaced, size 11 Times New Roman font, mucked with the margins a little and my paper on IP Law is packaged and sent. AWAY YOU GO YOU PIECE OF CYBER JUNK!!!

July 31st unofficially marks the end of my school year. Between today and September 18, I get roughly 7 weeks of FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (hop around, jumping up and down, pumping fist in celebration!)

August is gonna be BUSY....with a captial "B". Big things happening in August, off the top of my head...

1. Amazing Race
2. Climb Half Dome
3. Scrub down the jacuzzi
4. Reinforce the gazebo in the yard
5. Install electrical outlets/switches in the house
6. Fix the darn plumbing... (why does it never end?)
7. Rediscover my stroke (DRIVING RANGE BABY!!!)
8. Read an average of 2 non-sports-related books every week
9. Prepare for the overdue housewarming
10. Slim down to 165 lbs of lean muscle (or glorious blubber...whichever)
11. Build up my alcohol tolerance in preparation for France and Italy
12. Plan my European trip!!!
13. Learn French and Italian (at least the words for all the food)
14. Celebrate the inevitable big "2-5." (Denial is a good thing)
15. Furnish the rest of the house
16. Learn to play tennis
17. Fix my computer (was it the HDD or the Mobo that crashed?)
18. Sharpen those Analog Circuit Design skills... (heh...)
19. Cities and Knights (ANNNNDERSON!!!!)
20. Somewhere in between all that... I think I'll sit back, relax, bust open a cold one and enjoy a Giants / Niner pre-season game...

Praise God!! LIFE IS GOOD......

BELIEVE!!

Roughly two years ago, a dear friend of mine came back from Vegas with a souvenier for me. It was a piece of white marble with the word "BELIEVE" inscribed on it. I wasn't sure what that message meant, but he said it really fits me. This friend has since retired, but I still keep in close touch with him. This morning, my manager walks into my office while I was on a telecon and randomly writes the word "BELIEVE!" on my white board. He smiles, then turns and walks away.

Do I give off the impression that I don't BELIEVE? Curious, it is. Think, I must. Hungry, I am.

Spared yesterday...but not today (STAD - Part III)

Yesterday was another Spare the Air Day. Once again, my company was committed to keeping the lights on in California. At approximately 10:30AM, the campus PA goes off, broadcasting that the AC will yet again be shut off from 2PM to 6PM in certain buildings on the campus.

*SILENCE*

Everybody was listening closely as the annoucer read off the building numbers one by one. "157" , "156", " ...and 158" As the final number was read, the collective energy of hope in our building cresendos through the rooftop!! Were we hearing things?? Did our building get spared? The annoucer re-read the annoucement, and indeed, our building was spared!!! But that was yesterday... today, it's back in the sauna for me after 2PM. Lovely....

On a different note, I read an interesting fact from Peter King, renowned Sports Illustrated columnist, talk about parking at a baseball game. He arrived late to Fenway (Boston) and there was zero parking. Finally, he found a gas station about 3 blocks away that was charging a whopping $90!!! Peter King salutes the owner for his entreprenuer spirit and drives off. He ends up parking in an "invented spot" along a yellow curb. After the game, he comes back finding a $25 parking ticket. $25 vs. $90. I think Peter King won...

Having said that, I now feel inspired to launch my third series of soapbox rants. Following "Bathroom Jabbers" and "Why I Like Sports" comes... "Finding Parking."

Spare the Air Day (Part Deux)

Sigh... another day without wonderful, wonderful AC at work. Actually, this is the third time this week my company has shut down AC. But this time I came prepared. Came to work in shorts and brought a little deskmount fan. Thank goodness Monday was the hottest day of the week. Phew.... looking forward to a Winter already!!

From TWA a few days ago...

"Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
but a prudent wife is from the LORD."

--Provberbs 19:14

God has really blessed me with a prudent wife, who loves God, loves me and loves to EAT!!! To me, eating is so attractive... it ranks up there with sense of humor and lack of bad odor for my qualifications in a mate. Thanks to a couple of sisters who educated Joyce in the art of steaming crabs, we were able to satisfy our craving for seafood once again. (Shout out to Candy and Becca!)

We went to Lion City in San Jose to buy our dinner for the evening and the clerk grabs the crab and immediately stuffs it in the bag without letting us inspect it. Immediately, I felt a surge of heat coming from my right side, as if someone turned on the furnace. It turns out, my prudent wife, was giving the clerk the eye of the tiger.

"The crab is dead!" says the prudent wife.

The clerk returns with a dirty look and says, "LIVE! LOOK!" And he hurls it across the chopping board. The crab moves one, maybe two of it's 8 legs for a second, then stops.

The furnace gets hotter and hotter. "It's not moving!!" exclaims the prudent wife.

A more elder clerk walks by and yells, "It's alive!" He grabs the crab and SQUEEZES the bottom of it -- trying to force the crab to struggle. It does, for a few seconds, but returns to a state of dormancy.

"I want another one." grumbles the prudent, but clearly frustrated, wife. Staring down the clerk with her eye of the tiger.

And voila...we have crab for dinner. So delicious to be blessed by God. AMEN!!!

Spare the Air Day

Company wide the PA system goes off saying we're committed to keeping the lights on during summer, and will shut off the AC from 2pm to 6pm for the next two days. I rather have them turn the lights off and keep the AC on. But that's just me....

I am officially melting....

목적이 이끄는 삶 (Purpose Driven Life)

In the midst of the Cold War in the early 80's, Rev. Billy Graham was invited to preach and to the former Soviet Union. Rick Warren, author of the popular book "Purpose Driven Life" has been invited to preach in a stadium in North Korea in 2007. A country that hasn't opened up to Christianity for over 60 years suddenly opening its doors. Some say, Kim Jong Il's will be using this as propaganda. I would really love to be a fly on the wall come 2007 to hear what Rev. Warren will say... Maybe he doesn't have to say anything and the HS will swoop down and take care of it all.

Doing away with coins...

Since childhood, quarters have always been looked upon as my favorite coin. It was my bus fare. It was the price of a pack of gum. It was price of an arcade game. As I got older, everytime we saw a quarter, the words, "Oh! Laundry" would come out automatically and instanteously.

In lieu of buying our own set of washer/dryers, we're still bringing our laundry out to public laundromats. A new one just opened up about 100 yards from our house. And of course, we chose to drive there instead of walk. (heh...lazy we are). Once we got there, we noticed NONE, I say NONE, of the machines took quarters. Just like Dave-n-Busters don't accept quarters for arcades, this laundromat doesn't accept coins. They all used pre-paid cards. And the machines for charging the cards only accept bills!! Whoaaaa...so high.
Funny thing is, other than a sack of quarters, Joyce and I both didn't have any money on us. So we walked out of the laundromat with our tails between our legs. The owner quickly ran after us... "What's wrong?!?" she asked. I told her we're going to the bank to get some bills. Then she said, "Oh! We can give change!!" In all my years of doing laundry, I've never ever given quarters for bills. It's always been the other way around. Anyhoo... we no longer have to hang onto each and every quarter in desperation of needing to do laundry.

On a happier note (a much, much happier note), Joyce and I took our bag of coins, formerly the intestines and innards of my piggy bank, to a CoinStar machine at our local Albertsons. Walking into the supermarket, I asked Joyce how much she thought we have. She guessed, "Around $5." I was a little more liberal (no relation to my politcal views) and said "$8.23!!" We pour in our change and lo and behold...the total came out to $88!!!! It's like Christmas all over again!!!

The cool thing about the Coinstar machine, it filterd out all my foreign coins, my CalPoly Arcade tokens, and most importantly, the machine separated a few silver dimes. Prior to 1965, dimes were made of real silver. Nowadays, they're made of a copper-nickel alloy. You'll notice two colors circimscribing the edge of the coin, red and silver. The pre-1965 dimes only have one color. So if I'm ever in need of casting a silver tooth, I have the metal ready.

$88!!! WOOHOO!!!!

CONGRATS!! And God Bless...

The normally silly and often immature Peter busted out with "Thank you, Uncle...er....Daddy" and the erupted the whole church in laughter. But come time for his vows...Peter turned into the most astute and fine gentleman of gentlemen. As with most exchange of vows, I couldn't hold back my tears of joy. And centered around each and every minute of Peter and Stella's wonderful wedding is our Abba Father. Praise the Lord!!

50 years without change...

As far as I can remember, there are several things I simply do NOT eat...

1. Mushrooms - It's a fungus... things that grow b/w your toes. Things that grow on oranges that you accidentally leave out for a month. Some of them have hair (fur, whatever). And most importantly, those cute little Smurfs live in them. I shiver, just thinking about how disgusting the bottom side of a shroom looks... ugh...
2. Porridge - I can eat rice forever. Gimme a little canned black bean fish, and I can finish a pot of rice for you. Rice is warm, it's filling, it's sweet, it's the one thing you can't do without! But if you add water and dilute my rice, I feel ripped off. I don't get full from it and for some reason, I get the feeling I'm eating pre-chewed rice. Gimme the real deal baby!!!
3. Oatmeal - Similar to porridge. Highly watered down, except it's oat and not rice. I look at it and think...geez, why does it remind me of vomit? I was sooooooo hungry this morning, I actually shelled out $0.50 for pack of instant oatmeal. It worked!!! Cuz I instantly lost my appetite and wasn't hungry anymore. Ended up pouring it away...
4. Chinese Style Steamed Noodles (腸粉) - My whole family loves it. They always order it whenever we get Dim Sum. And I always end up staring at it in wonder. What am I eating? There's no taste to it. It's steamed flour, I think. It's sticky, rubbery and gooey at times. And I get paranoid it'll clog up my throat and esophagus. Ugh... Now, if you pan fry it with some XO Sauce, then I'm all over it baby!!!!

There's probably more, but these are definitely the major ones...

Superman Returns

Truth, Justice and the American way...that's what Superman stands for. After a nearly 20 year hiatus, Superman returns to theaters...and this time, he was larger than life as I saw him at San Jose's Tech Museum - IMAX theater.

The story picks up from the end of Superman 2, where the Man of Steel returns from a 5 year trip in search his home planet, Krypton. To make a long story short, he comes back, fights crime, saves people, nearly dies and in the end flies into space in style. Brandon Routh does a fairly good job of imitating Christopher Reeves, but doesn't do a good job of portraying Superman. Nonetheless, the movie was entertaining for the 2.5 hours.

Personally, if one were to watch IMAX, one should watch it in San Francisco's Metreon and not at The Tech. The IMAX theater in San Francisco is a huge flat screen...whereas the one in San Jose is a dome. Sounds cool...but hard on the neck and eyes.

Superman Returns probably will not reclaim the role of Best Superhero from the likes of the Dark Knight, Batman. But he's still my favorite... and really, that's all that matters.

sigh...

Brazil lost to France again.... sigh......