Insanely Awe-dical

“’Today is the first day of the rest of your life?’ Well, that's true of every day except one - the day you die..”

- Lester Burnham from American Beauty

Enjoy your life and the things that make you smile.

For those who have recently lost loved ones, please accept my deepest condolences. 

…you missed the 4-episode back-to-back series finale of the best damned show on television.  Arrested Development.  Ron Howard’s greatest achievement, and that’s pitting it against at least one Oscar-winning best movie.  You’re already getting rid of the damn show – at least give it a proper goodbye.  They pitted it against the opening of the Olympics.  Probably 5 Emmys in its pilot season!  What modern brilliant comedy comes close to that?

This show comprises of the dysfunctional family that has so endeared America through shows like the Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle (other Fox hits that are still given their chance to run).  The range of characters and brilliant writing (3 of the 5 nominees for Comedy writing were Arrested Development episodes) lead for hilarious, tongue-in-cheek, ground-breaking television.

For more information of how great this show is, check Wikipedia

...my shiny ipod.  It's 3G, so no video, no pictures, no album covers, no COLOR (please spare me the insults from your wonderful 4G or 5G).  I've had it for while, but never realized how pretty it is.  Kate, I hope you won't be jealous; I believe you would agree.  I never noticed its slender sleekness and soft material until I removed its case.  Mind you, I purchased it in a case, bought a new case, switched cases (in fact added yet another jacket of plastic to complement the layer of "protective sheets" that were already on it), and in doing so, held it in its unprotected form, but never left it out long enough to admire it.  In total, one layer of screen protectors around it, one plastic jacket and my hard shell plastic armor on top of it.  It's a force to be reckoned with. 

The funny thing is that I've never been a stickler for plastic protectors.  I get a new watch or cell phone and the plastic sheets come off.  The sheets get scratched, and I remove them anyways; why delay the inevitable?  With the iPod, my investment was great so I wouldn't want a drop to kill it (as it has killed my very first mp3 player).  The extra layers were included with my purchases. 

I had this thought that it was an allegory of overprotecting your loved ones; their beauty won't shine unless you give them a chance to.  You may want to protect them; even OVERprotect them with shiny plastic coats that protect from superficial blemishes or durable plastic armor to protect from functional damage.  There was some lyric that explained it from poody's blog or facebook or something.  Something about shining when dared.  Whatever.

Okay I found it: "potential shines so bright when never dared" 

Imagine how I'm never a stickler for protecting my gadgets, but investing in an ipod deserves my protection.  Imagine what sort of overprotection I'll bestow on my child, especially if s/he as an ipod as well. 

I even looked up the word allegory to make sure I was using the right word.  Analogy would have sufficed, but allegory seems to be the word of choice. 

..I feel the chafe of my hands.  Sweet aveeno saves the day (thank you love).  It makes me wonder about casino dealers and their hands.  Constantly sliding and shuffling cards, handlings money, chips, dice, roulette balls, and the like.  Luckily the sweet slide of felt helps with that, but I can imagine lotion must be an important addition to their workstyle. 

I have become accustomed to being nice to my hands.  If you must know, I work with my hands on a daily basis.  Nothing tough like carpenters and construction workers, nor nothing rough like the dealers have to work with (if that's rough).  My hands are the connection between my brain and the computer screen.  So stretching them often is essential.  Even on my spare time, my hands are important for gaming/guitar (preferable both at the same time). 

I loved math until the end of high school (which included basic math counting up to 21), but why can't I do blackjack math quickly?  On a similar note, I enjoy roulette math, but I do not enjoy craps math. 

Here's a question: If American has this huge economic yearly deficit/debt, who has the financial surplus?  If the power of currency is any measurement (which is probably isn't, but I don't have much else to compare to), then England must be doing pretty damn well. 

…but I've already had a light workout, filled up on gas, drove from Santa Ana to El Segundo, and I'm already starting work.  This is less than a year from when waking up for an 8am class was damn near impossible. 

…it’s wanting what you got.
-- Sheryl Crow

…than be decapitated by a dull sword.

…talkin about my generation.

I wonder if phrases like "man I just took your ass to school" will sound antiquated when I dominate my son in basketball.

I was reading a document at work describing some Pricing Analysis and experienced something hilarious while reading the following:

"Bases for Price Analysis. Price analysis always involves some form of comparison with other prices. As the contracting officer, you are responsible for selecting the bases for comparison that you will use in determining if a price is fair and reasonable, such as:

• Proposed prices received in response to the solicitation;
• Commercial prices including competitive published price lists, published commodity market prices, similar indexes, and discount or rebate arrangements;
• Previously-proposed prices and contract prices for the same or similar end items, if you can establish both the validity of the comparison and the reasonableness of the proposed price;
• Parametric estimates or estimates developed using rough yardsticks"

IMMEDIATELY I stop reading and think about it.

I imagine myself doing these comparisons.  I go to a hardware store, which is oddly enough, some guy that looks like a fatter Al Borland/Richard Karn in his back yard.  He has a hunting hat and a fishing vest, and looks like he might have just finished doing both.  He is showing me his variety of yardsticks.

Me and my unnamed/no-faced associate are looking at the yardsticks.  My associate grabs one and rubs it against my arm.  "ahh smooth. I'd like to get this one.  But the comparisons call for 'rough yardsticks.'"  Camera zooms to a wooden sign in front of the other yardstick set claiming "Rough Yardsticks"

I'm such a nerd.

…how little time I have?  Sure I work 8-9 hours, and drive about a total of 2 hours a day for my commute (11 hours dedicated to work).  But honestly, assuming I sleep 8 hours at night (bah! I wish!), that leaves 5 usable hours in the day.  Less than an hour used prior to work, means I am at home for 4 hours before I sleep.  In 4 hours, I could cook, clean my room, finish up all the stupid little things I leave on my "to do" list since I didn't finish it yet. 

I mentioned to a co-worker that it is difficult to cook every day.  "Not enough time." 

"What do you do besides work?"

Honestly -- what do I do?

I play video games, but I feel like I haven't been able to play as much as I've wanted to. 

Well I have a commitment to a gorgeous beautiful young lady in UCSD, but she's busier than me (between handling her classes and her volunteer, in addition to all the reading and hw).

I think the problem is that I have less free time than I used to have. 

Then again -- did I?

Work at QLF, Volunteer at Millsys, project classes as a senior in college….

Whatever -- it just seems like my schedule is packed for the next couple of days.

Gym after work, look up CL/LATimes for rental listings, find a doctor/dentist, help mom with the house, dinner, talk to kate, sleep early, go to work tomorrow, repeat…

I guess this is how life gets complicated.  I think throughout Loyola and UCI, I've complained about how life got "so complicated all of a sudden," and now have to realize -- yup, it's just gotte a little more complicated.

Gravitational pull,
I'll have you makin a fool
Out of yourself on the dance floor
Do a backspin, runnin man and more,
Party down with vigor and candor.
-- Gorillaz "Rock the House"

I have a confession to make.

I never made my own pinewood derby wooden car.  I'm a bit ashamed.  My dad helped me a lot (meaning I helped him a little), and you know those engineers -- they know how to build pinewood derby cars.  I won 1st place in my den.  I even went to a SoCal tournament and placed 1st or 2nd -- I don't quite remember.  The best trophy on my shelf, but I didn't really earn it.  I don't know what my deal was.  I was interested.  I honestly was.  I watched the races, and I saw the 2-loss bracket chart slowly fill up to create the final race of 3, and when I won, I loved seeing my name move from left to the winner on the right.

But I do remember one year, I wasn't interested in watching, and I don’t remember why.  I rememeber sitting on an opposite bench reading an Encyclopedia Brown book I've read 10 times already.  Hours later, I had won another year.

I remember drawing the black line on the side of the block, and doing the initial whittling.  I remember helping my dad sand-down the edges of the wheels for a smoother slide.  Minimize friction is the key.  Lower mass to let gravity do more work, but place the more mass in the key position so gravity has more mass to push.  Only 3 wheels touched the ground -- a mistaken unbalance led to a revolution of thinking that one less wheel friction gave my car the edge.

Thanks Pop.  It's not that I wasn't interested in the races.  I don't know what it was -- I just didn't build my car.  I suppose he was interested in a project that was simple enough to be creative and didn't have any sort of job repurcussions, but complicated enough that an engineer would have fun.  Just like math, computer upgrades, and wondering what would happen if the sun and a mass of water of equivalent size would collide into it.  It's fun because it's not super important.  Of course, my dad wants me to win, but if he won the award, that would be lame.  He's probably happier his son won, and that's the pride he can take.  Take this too Pop -- thanks for being really cool.  Even though it is years later, I'll still remember that it's more than just the race or the car.

I hope someday there will be a competition that will give you a simple budget to build a benchmark-destroying computer, and my son will enter, and I'll help him dominate that competition, so he can write a post in his blog 15 years after the fact. 

…but I just spent the last 5-10 minutes at work cleaning my keyboard. I think my computer gadget-peripheral dorkity can be analagous to people who upgrade their car, or their bbq or their sound system. I enjoy computer peripherals. I like different keyboards and mice. I keep seeing laser mice and tell myself -- I do NOT need that. But it looks so cool. Buying that would be equivalent to getting some PSU or heatsink in my computer tower that glows (along with a clear side panel to pimp out my rad interior). Well a mouse would be at performance modifying, but I love my Kensington (why is the cordless one so much less comfortable than the corded one?). But I'm just interested in peripherals. Cordless duos (kb and mouse) or even trios (w/camera), ergonomic, multimedia, scroll wheel (up/down/left/right), touch-sensitive buttons (mighty mouse), trackballs (thumb-ball and index finger-ball), weighted keyboards, weighted mice, adjust sensivitity on the fly, incredible dpi movement (laser is supposed to be scores better than optical).

I just made one of my coworkers feel old because my fast typing is a result of a new computer-aided generation. He related that his children (early grade school) are already learning how to type. I remember learning how to type while my AOL-days. Back when I'd go home, log on, check out EmuNews, check out the WWF boards/news (Lords of Pain baby), and chat. Then everyone got AIM -- Ailla and her friends, Loyola gang, even random people that I knew through people (some BMHS ppl and their friends). Chatting became the thing to do (as I'm sure it is still popular to those who prefer a computer over a sidekick), and my typing skill sprung from there. Add a Freshman year typing course, and here comes my consistently 60+ (even 70+) WPM.

I hope the generation gap doesn't hurt me when I get older. I guess it'll sneak up on me without me expecting. I do listen to Star 98.7, where they boast about how they play Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLaughlin, and U2.

I'm glad my ipod lasts 8 hours. Stays on almost completely during my work day. I think that'd be a good way to know when it's time to go home. My ipod is dead -- time to leave.

"Hey Brian can you stay a little longer to help out?"
"Sorry! (points to ipod) The tunes are gone, so am I. Later!"

Shades come down, the bass/guitar riff bumps, and the Accord with the giant dent speeds away. Vrrrrrrrroooooom

…good mornings, coffee to go please, bottle of water and my multi-vitamin.  Morning talk radio - eating lard with Tatoo on power 106, home improvement and quasi-political banter with Adam Corolla on FreeFm, to relationship discussion with Jamie, Jack and Stench on 987.  Ipod to cruise while I start my work.  My South Beach Diet can of mixed nuts and tons of PDFs to read.  Webmd.com followed by "have a good day", tom@blowmeuptom.com, the drive home, billboards, etc.

Just a sampler of the daily trudge.  I bet you can't wait to work full time =P