Bepharitis & growing up...

Doctor: You have bepharitis.
Me: BEPHARITIS?! OH NO!!! ......what is it?
Doctor: (translated from doctor talk to normal talk) You have too much eye poo-poo underneath your eyelids.

So that's the cause of my red eye. It's been two weeks since the corner of my right eye has gone from pink, to red, to uhmmm...red. I first thought it was the dry weather. Then I thought it was cuz the eye drops I'm using are ineffective. Now, I not only need to wash behind the ears, I need to wash underneath the eyelids. Fun fun fun....

Spent most of Saturday at school. The "Intellectual Property Class" went from 8-5PM. It was pretty good. The professor presented a bunch of interesting, landmarking cases. Most of the people there were interested and made good points. I think it's 8 hours well spent. Afterwards, headed over to the Louie's to bid farewell to several youngins' in our cell group. The time they've been here were short. I did not know them well...but I will never forget them. All of them, in their own special way, lives a life of happiness and ambition. They have a yearing to learn more about God, life and continue to battle through the transition from teenager to adult. I'm really going to miss them... but as Guy-guy said, "If the old doesn't go, how will the new come?" May the Lord bless you guys in your on-going journeys wherever He may bring you.

Why I like sports...

I like sports. I can honestly say I spend more time on sports (playing, watching, reading, analyzing, researching, thinking...) then any other leisures in life. On the tail end of Miami Heat winning their 1st NBA championship, I figure I oughta capitalize on this high and scribble some reasons as to Why I like sports...(in no particular order)

1) Giving praise to God. Some do it...some don't. But when they do...I get teary eyed. Dwyane Wade gave all the praise and glory to God as he accepted his NBA MVP trophy. How true is it that everything we have comes from the Lord? Thank you for acknowledging that in front of the world.

2) R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Aretha Franklin sang it... the players demonstrate it. You respect your coach. You respect the other players. You respect the National Anthem by removing your hat and standing up. Respect is 60,000 fans boo-ing Bonds as he comes to plate, only to have that very same 60,000 fans clapping when he hits a Homerun. Respect is Roger Clemens getting a standing ovation as he walks off into the sunset (the first time) during the World Series in Florida. Respect is when a player who gets tackled, gets up, slaps the tackler on the butt and continues play.

3) Vindication... ahhhh.... Montana got forced out of San Francisco, only to come back and beat the Niners (probably the only time I rooted against my Niners). John Gruden destroys the Raiders after being forced out of Oakland by Al Davis. Shaq shows the world he can do it without Kobe and Phil... when the Lakers barely make the playoffs. Don't we all have that same urge to say, "I told you so!!"

4) Miracles. "Do you believe in miracles?!?" Famous words from Al Michaels as the US Hockey team defeats the Goliath Russian in the 1980 Olympic Hockey Semi-Finals. The team that comes out of nowhere to and overcomes the impossible, with the winners, cheering not cuz they just won, but cuz they didn't lose. And the loser being so distraught, they can't even breathe.

5) Cheering in spite of... This is very close to R-E-S-P-E-C-T. But whenever any player gets hurt, the entire stadium stops. Fans, vendors, teammates, opposing team. Every single person stops and starts praying. When will you ever see a bunch of 300 lb men, holding hands, kneeling in a circle, praying for the well-being of another man? And when the injured gets up... winning and losing doesn't even matter any more. All that matters is the person is okay.

6) Get away from it all. People need ways to R&R. A baseball game, or a football game or anything, for 3 hours, helps a person escape from the realities of life to relax that 5 lb tissue in between the ears.

7) It's healthy! Albeit, the steroid (HGH) era is definitely the Joker to this Batman. And sitting in front of a TV with a sausage hanging out of your mouth with a beer in your hand is anywhere near healthy. But playing sports, in the words of YMCA, enriches the "mind, body and spirit." It builds the body. It builds friendship. It builds commamarderie.

8) The halftime show. Franchises have taken the halftime show to a whole new level now. The Superbowl spends more money for that 7 minutes of entertainment than the venue itself (tongue in cheek). At a recent Warriors/Rockets game, the Warriors invited a bunch of Chinese acrobats to perform with Thunder dunking sky high dunks. It's also the perfect time to make a run to the bathroom. (Stadium bathrooms deserve it's own posting, someday).

9) The Underdog. Unless you're part of the fine few, born with the looks of Brad Pitt, the wallet of Bill Gates, the brains of Albert Einstein... you're the underdog. You're always finding ways to get ahead in life. It's you against the world. And anytime there's a team out there who can defy all odds to make it where they are, you can't help but root for them. They can lose, but just the fact they've triumphed over stigma of being an "underdog", they're already winners.

10) It's the ultimate reality show (minus the Vegas stakeholder influence). Is there any other form of entertainment that reveals a person's true feelings? Tears from winning, tears from losing. Anger and frustration from bad officiating. Utter humdrumness from complete insouciance that can flip and flop at a moment's twist? It's pure.

11) The Wave. Anytime you have so many people doing the same thing in unsion, you have to be give props. Heavily despised in baseball... but we'll save that for another entry.

Preliminary list... this list will definitely grow....

New Year's Resolution

At the beginning of this year... I made three resolutions to my cell group. With much confidence, I can say I've succeed in none of them.

1) Wake up at 6AM to have Time with Abba.

Sigh... It's a constant struggle to meet the first (and most important) one. If I want to keep my current work and school schedule, I'll have to wake up at 5AM!! Oh...that means I have to sleep before 10PM. Is that possible???

2) Climb Halfdome with Yao Chung

Climbing Halfdome will also be tough!! Yao Chung is off to China in August and I'm off to Europe in September. Before we know it, Halfdome will be closed off to the public. Better hurry up.

3) Work out at least three times a week.

Today in front of church's office, Andrew pokes at my luv-handles and exclaims, "WOW!! You have a lot of excess fat!!" Ohhhhhhhhhhhh..... how sad..... On an exciting note, that one statement has reignited my fire to keep this third resolution!! I'm gonna lose all that fat surrounding my waist...so I can gain it all back in Paris and Italy...hor hor hor.....

DEE-OH-EN-EE

Phew....

The Real World

In my more naive days as a young buck engineer, I thought meeting and BEATING schedule was important. Especially if it meant coming under the proposed budget. The more I hang out in Systems Engineering, the more I realize that "beating schedule and under-running" is not necessarily a good thing.

Meeting schedule and meeting the budget is what maximizes investment. If you're beating the schedule, that extra time could've been allocated to do other work. If you're running under, that extra money could've been spent elsewhere.

More signs that I'll probably stay technical and avoid management. I can't deal with this stuff...

Playstation 2 - A Travesty

We had a sudden urge to bust out our Playstation 2 a few nights ago. Both Joycie and I aren't gaming avids, suffice to say, we have a huge lack in game selection. In fact, some of the games we bought in our younger years, we really shouldn't even have in the house. Be that as it may, we decided to go search for some new games. We don't need the latest and greatest, most popular kick-butt graphics game. Just something to play and enjoy.

We walk up the row of games at Fry's. We walk down the row of games at Fry's. Repeat that process for about 5 times...and we still come up FRUITLESS!!! Geez... what's up with video games nowadays? Violence, bloody, magic, wizardry, sex.... that's all we saw. I would not want my child to be playing these games. The only category of games that are roughly buyable are sports games. Luckily, we have a vault from which we can lend those games from (aka Mr. Anderson).

The only other game we found buyable was this:

World Cup 2006

I probably can't even categorize myself as a casual soccer fan. I don't play the sport. I barely know the rules. I can probably name 10 soccer players, active and retired. But once every four years... I'll stick to the tube like every other person around the world - outside the US.

My earliest memory of the World Cup came in the '86 Cup where Brazil lost to France in PK's in the quarterfinals. It was soooo nerveracking, my brother and I couldn't stand watching it. We ended up hiding in our parents room and played "Imaginary PK's." Him being Brazil, me being France. And of course...in our perfect world, Brazil won.

I don't remember watching the 1990 World Cup at all. The only thing I remember from that summer was an Italian friend of mine got into a fight with an Irish friend when taunting went too far... Heh... kids....

Then came the summer of '94, which will go down in personal history as one of the best summers I've ever had. I remember that being the first time me and my dad "hung out" together, just the two of us. My brother wasn't into soccer at all. He being older, at that time, was much more interested in girls. So it was definitely good times for father / son bonding. The most vivid memory in 94 was watching Columbia kick into their own goal against the US. Later, the player who committed the unforgivable, was shot and killed upon arriving back in Colombia.

World Cup '98 was another devastation. I watched Brazil get their butts handed to them by France while feasting over some Weinerschnitzel chili cheese fries at Chris's house down in Cal Poly. Next day...I failed my midterm cuz I was so sad....

The '02 World Cup was very bittersweet. Bitter, because I got laid off days before the event started. Sweet, cuz I got to stay up and watch almost every game. Bitter, cuz China didn't even score 1 goal (NOT EVEN ONE!!!!!). Sweet, cuz I got to watch those games with my dad at 3AM in the morning. That night after China lost its first game to Costa Rica... my dad told me, "Son...China just lost. I don't think I can ever fall back asleep..." Oh...the pain he must've been in.

Sigh...on a happier note. FIFA's website currently has the US team ranked 5th overall, with a 40:1 odds at winning the Cup. Funny how much politics get put into amateur sports nowadays. Cuz the line at Las Vegas has the US team at 400:1. Go figure...

More Bathroom Jabbers

The bathrooms by my office are under construction so I've been having to trek down this mile-long hallway to find sweet relief. Yesterday, as I was making one of my daily strolls, I notice lying on the floor outside the empty ladies room a sanitary napkin dispenser!! It's just one of those things you don't think of. WOW!! I mean... it really shouldn't be that astounding. Once you think about it... it's more like, "Duh!" I mean...there are sanitary napkins on airplanes. It's a basic necessity. Then again, they have shaving cream and shavers on airplanes, but I've yet to see a bathroom with those amenities. Anyhoo...it was just kinda exciting to see that.

Not as exciting as the time I was at Seattle's airport in 2004. I was walking by the ladies room. The door was opened, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a sofa in there!! I was so impressed, I even took a picture. Very cool...



This morning, I was listening to KNBR Sports Talk Radio. The host starts start yapping about how humankind is getting lazy with all the automatic faucet, automatic soap and towel dispenser. From my post on Bathroom Etiquette, I make claim that the automatic faucet and dispensers are not due to slothfulness, but for sanitary reasons. I mean, the dingiest, dirtiest place in the bathroom is the faucet handle!! Everybody is touching it with their infected hand. So I shoot an email to the radio station expressing my claim, and within 10 minutes, the host is reading my name and email on the air!! He even went the distance and spelled my last name!! (Of course, he completely dissected it...) It felt good. Felt like I made a difference in many people's lives by enlightening them on some of my insights.

It must've been a very slow day in sports cuz a bunch of people started calling in. One particular guy called in and claimed that the dirtiest place in the bathroom is not the faucet handle, but instead, the handle to the throne. He pointed out that, "Everybody flushes but not everybody washes." He has a point...but I won't sway from my position.

Apparently, there are a bunch of people out there who, like me, sit around and think of these things.

BE BOLD!!

God speaks to me in many ways...

Joycie sends me an email this morning. The subject line is: "Good verse from TWA."
The body of the email is:

From Psalm 127:2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

I think God is telling Joycie to tell me to stop working so hard.

May finally comes to an end. Ended with another long trip to the East Coast. Ugh... flying is such a pain. I'm thinking it's worth paying the extra $80 to upgrade to first/business class. Unless I can weasel my way into the EXIT ROW seats. Sigh....the price of having long, lanky legs.

This weekend, we attended PNC and Stella's wedding shower. Later that day, I found out that my close friend's grandfather passed away, and my other friends' cousin's body was found underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Funny how it takes the greatest joy and the greatest sorrow to bring a family together.

On Sunday, a sister came to visit our church. I vaguely remember her when she walked into the sanctuary but wasn't too sure. After worship, Joycie and I introduce (or reintroduce ourselves) and she says, "YEAH!! We met at PCS. We even sat at the same table and had dinner once." WOW!!! Keep in mind, there were about 200 people at PCS. We were at Breakthrough for 5 days. But the fact she remembered not only our face, but that we had ONE meal at the same table together. That just blows me away....completely puts us to shame. hahahahahah

breathe....

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!