Life with Churry.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The Trouble with Names

"i'm watching beauty and the geek"

"you're not geeky enough to be on the show, so stop dreaming"

"i started watching it half way through last season after chris replayed it on tivo"

"I'm not sure who would be more upset about that sentence - replay tv or tivo"

"that and i think it was actually the cable DVR"

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Alternative Education

One of my favorite games of all time is Fluxx. Playing the game demands a high level of attention, but it's really easy to learn the basics of the game and start playing.
(1) Deal 3 cards to each player.
(2) Someone starts by following the basic rule - draw one, play one.
(3) Take turns playing.
Every card has instructions on it. If you play a card, follow the instructions on that specific card.

Based on a recent e-mail from the company, the buyer from a big department store chain in New York couldn't figure out how to play. The active fan base responded immediately to help fine-tune the separate (not on a card), printed instructions so people might understand the instructions better. One contributer credited his experience with Magic for helping him understand "do what it says on the card."

Has the American education system been infused with such...um...freedom that people don't know how to follow directions anymore?

Monday, January 29, 2007

Asian American

Dude, I am not just excited that there is going to be a sequel to Harold & Kumar. I laughed out loud at some of the fan comments.

Three cheers for social networking for geeks!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

You Get What You Pay For

I don't always read the speaker bios because they pretty much sound the same. And usually pretty boring. The ones that are worth reading are usually for people so famous I already know everything they've done. So for the exact same reason why American Idol shows the painful auditions, I share with you here one of the worst speaker bios I've ever read.

"AKEL E. BILTAJI. BIO

Born in Gaza Palestine in 1941, Akel Biltaji was raised and educated in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He obtained his High School Diploma and the London General Certificate Examination in 1959. In the summer of 1962 he graduated with a Degree in Education and joined the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) the same year.

In the summer of 1968 he left ARAMCO to join the Saudi Ministry of Defense as a Senior Coordinator on the Saudi Arabian Army Mobilization Program. The following year in 1969, Mr. Biltaji joined ALIA, the Royal Jordanian Airlines as a Senior Management Officer. In his 28 year distinguished Airline career, Mr. Biltaji had served in different capacities, the last of which was Senior Vice President.

His Majesty the Late King Hussein appointed Mr. Biltaji in March 1997 as the Country's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, where he continued to serve in this portfolio under His Majesty King Abdullah II till June of 2001 when he was appointed by King Abdullah II as Chief Commissioner for the newly declared Region of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority.

In February of 2004 His Majesty King Abdullah II appointed Minister Biltaji as His Majesty's Advisor on Tourism Promotion, Foreign Direct Investment and Country Branding.

In November of 2005 His Majesty appointed Mr. Biltaji as a member of the House of Senate where currently serving as Chairman of the Tourism and Heritage House Committee. In all portfolios (Minister, Chief Commissioner, Advisor and Senator) Mr. Biltaji had accompanied His Majesty King Abdullah II on almost all State and Official visits abroad. He represented his country in a number of National, Regional and International Forums and Conferences including the World Economic Forum both in Davos and the Dead Sea. Mr. Biltaji is known to be one of Jordan’s strongest Public Speakers especially on issues related to the Country's Image and Protection of Heritage. Mr. Biltaji was decorated with the Highest Orders at home and by a number of Foreign Heads of State."

Now do you appreciate the well-written bios?

p.s.
I have no idea who wrote it, otherwise I would dutifully credit the writer. So I'll just say I received it from the e-mail address MBA-AMEGA@msb.edu.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Networking

I try not to start my posts with "While I was procrastinating tonight, ..." because if I allowed myself that, then almost all of my posts would start that way. So one site led to another tonight, and I ended up here. One of the best parties I went to in college was at his place. We were never great friends, and we've lost touch since. Though I have run into him around San Francisco and in the SF PRIDE parade. He is always inspiring even if I can't imagine doing the things he does.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

$25,000 Anyone?

I think I've been totally desensitized by the amount of violence and tragedy in the movies, on TV, and of course in the news. When I first read this story about a missing Stanford student, I was simply intrigued and wanted to see what clues the police have found. You know, like watching Law and Order or CSI or something.

Then I found out she went to MIT...Why does that make me care more? I almost feel like I can relate to her even though I still don't know her. It reminded me of how parents of kidnapped children are encouraged to talk about their kids in the media. The idea is that the kidnappers would start thinking about the victims as human beings and might be less likely to kill the kids. Of course, this assumes that the kidnappers are not psychotic and that killing is not the thrill they seek.

Anyway, if you have seen this young lady or her car, call the police.

p.s.
You can get a user name and password for the Mercury News and other web sites at BugMeNot.

Update: Sad news

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Cool As Cool Can Be

"Guess what? I'm applying for Mensa."

"How will that affect your image?"

Monday, January 15, 2007

What's Your Claim to Fame?

I woke up early today and thought I'd try to post something on the blog. I had several topics in my head, but it was hard to decide which one to write about when there were RSS feeds to read. I wasn't sure how I wanted to expand on my favorite This I Believe essay, and I didn't have a picture of the two (yes, two!) pay phones we saw on the sidewalk near MacPherson Square. They looked brand new, too.

After about 4 hours of procrastinating, Shahed IM-ed me to tell me he will be on a panel about "Blogging where the Speech isn't Free" at this year's SXSW conference. Turns out he was a front page story of the Austin-American Statesman recently (You can get a password from Bug Me Not.) for starting alt.muslim. The site gets 7,000 visitors every day and 25 million page views a year. Talk about giving back to your community.

Now it felt reassuring when I read in The Tipping Point about connectors knowing a lot of people but not knowing them well. But the connecting only works when I know these amazing things so I can tell people. The challenge is how you promote yourself without bragging. That is an art.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Street Smarts

I was walking down M Street going faster than the bus when the light changed at Wisconsin. I decided to utilize my time by checking out what's going on outside of my bubble. So on this fateful day, I discovered a cardboard box sitting in the fast lane.

The box was in such great shape that I had to wonder if someone actually left it sitting there. It certainly couldn't have fallen off a truck without getting a single dent. Maybe it was empty so that it kind of flew around like a plastic bag a la American Beauty and landed softly in the middle of the street. I briefly wondered if it contained explosives.

I didn't have to wait long to find out. When the light turned green, a van sped through the intersection. The driver must have thought the box was empty since he drove directly over it. Cardboard, glass, and liquid splattered all over the road, leaving intact one standing six-pack and a couple of rolling bottles of beer. Looked like imported beer, too.

Before I had time to figure out if I know anyone who would want free beer of unknown origin, one of the area's resident homeless man stalked straight into traffic and picked up all the full bottles.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Monster Arm



In case you're wondering, this is what happened.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Bias

Laugh at me all you want, but I think Britney still has a chance. And if the music she's blasting in this video really is from her new album, I'd buy it. Sounds better than most of the new music out there.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Choose Your Cult

The first time I attended a recruiting event at Yahoo!, a panel of five enthusiastic employees gushed about why Yahoo! is a great company to work for. To sum up the entire presentation, they loved Yahoo! because they believed that it had and would continue to change the world. In other words, I thought they were freaks.

I like Yahoo!, and I agree that it has played an important role in our increasingly internet-dependent society. In fact, I am a Yahoo! small business customer, I have four different Yahoo! e-mail addresses, two different web sites hosted by Yahoo!, and Yahoo! is pretty much the only web service I access on my mobile phone. But I couldn't imagine fitting in with people who worship the company they work for. I was completely turned off by the presentation.

As always, I told anyone who asked (and several who didn't) exactly how I felt. One of them cleverly pointed out that the problem was me, not Yahoo!. She was, of course, more tactful than I am. The words she used formed sentences that sounded like, "You just don't belong to the Yahoo! cult. You belong to the Apple cult."

Over time, I've grown to understand that I really am a part of the Apple cult. How else would I have found a friend who follows an Apple-designed calendar? And what non-Apple-culter would understand and agree with celebrating Easter on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007? I would worship my company too if I worked for Apple. And I think it's awesome that employees love their company. So the Yahoo! guys weren't freaks afterall, they were simply evangelicals from a different cult.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Happy New Year

"Happy New Year!"

"it won't be the new year until.... the SteveNote! That's the calendar I go by."

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

One Please



Yes, that lemon will last the whole year.

When I wasn't Looking

I remember the days when my tv was on nearly all the time. I'd get back to my dorm room / apartment / townhouse, and I'd turn the tv on. It would stay on until I finished procrastinating (almost never) or until I went to bed. The popular shows were on NBC, the trashy shows on Fox, and my favorites on Nickelodeon.

Then I stopped watching tv. So in my world, NBC has the best shows. Imagine my confusion this afternoon, when I looked up from the mahjong table and caught an ABC ad about all the hit shows they have. Actually, it seemed like they had all the hit shows. When did this happen? How long was I asleep?