Me

Something interesting things about me:

I like to laugh
I like to be funny if I can
I'm decidedly male and I enjoy being facetiously sexist
In reality, I always hold doors for women, whether I know them or not.
My humor is fairly simple, I enjoy the little things
I can go into stitches over a single well delivered line
and I'm not above physical comedy
but I cannot be bothered to sit through nothing but physical comedy
I love Pixar films because the humor is so intelligent and also so simple

I have a strong belief in myself and my abilities
I have been called arrogant
Which is silly, since I do not believe that I am better than anyone else
Though I do not believe I am any worse either
It is more that I am very good at certain things and I don't intend to fail
I am proud of my accomplishments, I am sure in my ability to know right from wrong
though I am not afraid to fail. I am only afraid I do not learn from that failure.
I will admit though, that I am stubborn and sometimes proud to a fault.
My convictions have served me and have harmed me
But I am not afraid to admit I have been wrong at times
and that certain beliefs needed re-evaluation

I try to always do the honorable thing
I try to always go to bed a better person than when I woke
I do not always succeed but I am not ashamed
I will fight for those I care about and walk away from petty quarrels

I am very friendly and always happy to listen
But I will argue and I like to play devil's advocate
Because I find it stimulating, intellectually
I may come across as abrasive and acerbic
but I am never attacking the person, just the statements

Sometimes I appear aloof in social situations
That's just because I'm not comfortable around new people
Sometimes I have a hard time with my feelings
Though that does not mean I do not have any
When in a relationship I am not always so good with the everyday "you're beautiful"
but I like to dazzle on occasion, elaborate and lavish

I treasure my friends - those people that stand by me, in spite of myself
I do the same for my friends
I may not always agree with their actions or their beliefs
but I will always be there to support them, and I will not be shy with my opinions
Because I am fiercely loyal and to do any less would be unforgivable

Hi, this is me
Give me a chance.

Disaster and Tardiness

If you are the type to notice trends, you'd see that my posts here come weekly at about the same time. So this one is quite tardy, and to those who count on seeing something new in this spot at about the same time every week, I apologize.

That out of the way, I had a usual up and down week but this time, one of the "downs" manifested in the form of catastrophic hard drive failure. On the bright side, I have 3 hard drives in my computer and one is reserved for the OS and all programs installed, and it wasn't that one that failed. On the darker side, the one that did fail was my "data" drive. I managed to recover a lot of the data off of it once I noticed things were awry but of course, the folders where I kept the irreplaceable items, like my digital photos, were unavailable to me. Crap.

I dig through my "archives" and find a backup of my digital photos that must have been a year old or more. So while I did not lose everything I just lost everything recent. I also lost some other files that, while not irreplaceable per se, were a big pain in the butt to re-acquire. My beef is that all harddrives nowadays have the SMART feature which is supposed to tell you about immenent hard drive failure. So what of this much touted feature?! If by "warning" they meant 'suddenly, your data will no longer be accessible' then yes, I was warned. Bastards.

While I was a little upset, I was surprisingly calm about the whole thing. I guess I just didn't really care as much as I thought I would. (which kind of saddens me... where is the passion!?) Anyway, I make a mental note to myself, "let that be a lesson to you, make periodic backups!"

So a few days later I come across this magnificent program that actually allowed me to recover all the data that was previously unreachable! I was overjoyed. Lost photos, recovered! Yes! So of course, my next thought after getting everything back was, "Hey, I should back this stuff up." But then I thought... "Wait a minute, now that I have this program... why, I'm INVINCIBLE!"

For those of you that are groaning in the despair of blinding folly, sadly, this is just how my thought process flows. What can you do? ;)

Of March and its Madness

Basketball! Basketball fever is upon us!

First, I'm happy that my favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers have won 2 games in a row on the road. (Dallas and Charlotte,) and that Kobe is shaping back into his usual unstoppable self. I just hope Odom somehow manages to ramp his game up to the levels that he has shown he can play at.

Second, I'm also very happy that UCLA recieved a NCAA tournament berth. We play Texas Tech on Thursday (3/17). I'm hoping for an upset. The team definately has the talent, and I look for them to be quite the force in the next one or two years. Watching what coach Howland has done in the past two years, I'm confident that we will return to our rightful place among the elite teams in college basketball.

I wish I could be so confident in coach Dorrell - but that doesn't mean I'm not at all confident in him. I think he's doing good things, it's just that Howland seems more of a sure bet.

Anyway, this time of the year has always been my favorite... NCAA tournament followed by NBA playoffs. I am rooting for the Lakers to get the 8th or 7th spot and that UCLA makes it at least into the 2nd round. I know those aren't exactly high hopes but it's what I feel is realistic and something I'd be happy with nonetheless. While I'm positive that UCLA will get much better as a team next year, I'm not so sure about the Lakers. They need to make some moves in the front office. Though this year we were missing both Devan George and Vlade Divac to injuries, so they probably would have made a difference. Plus, those 14 games when Kobe was out with the sprained ankle didn't help either. (We were solidly in 6th place in the West before he went down.) So I just have to stay positive I guess. No matter what though, I'm a Laker fan for life!

This past Friday I had my first day "teaching" the high school economics class I volunteered for. I was a little nervous but they were all very nice to me. So I am appreciative. I have to come up with a lesson plan for this week... I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, but I'll definately do my best at it.

Rapier Wit

O! To sharpen the mind!
For Gray matter, fast on its feet.
For Noodles, sharp and deadly.
For Brains, powerful and lithe.
O! To sharpen the mind!

Okay, I just made that up so it's not exactly Pulitzer material but I had to come up with some kind of a hook. And since you're obviously still reading this, it was a brilliant success. :)

But yes, I have committed and engaged myself into a personal mental crosstraining routine. The past weekend has flown by in part because I have spent time attacking, consuming and absorbing logic puzzles. I've started in putting my brain through a veritable obstacle course in mental dexterity. It has been a number of years since I last been inside a classroom, absorbed a lecture or conquered an exam. It is now time for me to shed the fat and apathy of the recent slovenly years. My mind will reform into a machine, a machine that knows no upper bounds to its prowress!

Well, maybe that last bit was really a little sensationalistic but hey, it's always been my policy that if I'm going to shoot, I aim high. :) The next logical question to all of this is why? Why the sudden fire? Why the intensity? I suppose the simplest and quickest way to answer the question is just to say that I am planning on taking the LSAT.

... And the immediate response is "LSAT?! Why the LSAT?" Which is exactly what my parents and the few other people whom I've discussed my decision with over the past few days have said to me. They all would have expected GMAT or GRE (pursuing an MBA or MSCS respectively.) Just to note, I did take the GMAT once before (and scored pretty decently - though I'm sure I could do much better given another try at it.) But the reason for the LSAT is actually not because I've always dreamed of being a lawyer, rather it's because of the LSAT itself.

That's right. I want to take the test because of the test. If there is one thing to say about me, it's probably that I'm logical and reasoning. I've always been good at logic and to be honest, I love logic. Add to that the fact that I've always done *very* well on the verbal part of any standardized exam and it becomes clear why I want to take the LSAT. The entire test consists of Analytical Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. If there is one test out there that I can do well on, this would be it. Plus, I actually think those things are fun!

So my plan is to take the LSAT and see how well I do. If I score very well, I'll pony up the money and apply to a few law schools. If I get in, I'll go to law school and work to be the best corporate/IP lawyer I can be. I know it's a sudden and dramatic shift in my career path, a path that I've always figured to be set with engineering in mind. A path that everyone else has always figured to be set on engineering as well. But what can I say, sometimes you just wake up and the world is different. But, I have yet to take the test, and could very well score terribly and end this foray into the shadowy world of litigation abruptly. So I'm making sure I don't get my hopes up and let my mind run away from the task at hand.

Right now that means I'm conditioning. I don't even consider what I do studying, even though it would seem that way to any casual observer. When you study, I believe that implies you're learning something and what I'm doing now isn't to learn any new subject matter or material. Like I said, I've always been good with logic, reading comprehension and reasoning. Right now, like a person training for the Olympics, I'm working to get my times down. Arguably the fact that you get such little time for each section in the LSAT is a bigger challenge than the questions themselves. I have got to find a method and rhythm so I work quickly but expertly as well.

I just decided and started on this journey not even a week prior, but I can already feel a difference and see a difference. Ever since I graduated from college I've been working, doing what I love to do - programming - but it has been a listless and frustrating experience. I've never felt I actually had a career, always just a job. In the end, I do admit I have been fortunate, I am paid well to do something I love. But I just don't feel that magic, and I want to feel that magic. So I'm excited about this, I really want to do well on this exam. Because this new road still runs along something I love to do and am good at, and I will be able to use my background in engineering as well along this new adventure. So really, it's like having a Diddy Reese cookie and a Krispy Kreme donut at the same time - combining two loves. :)

The interesting thing about this is that when I was very young ( pre-school / early elementary school,) I remember being told quite a few times that I should be a lawyer when I grew up. In growing up, I never gave it any thought (along with my mother's designs to make me a doctor,) since I've loved computers from an early age. I wonder if my life is really shifting. Is this what will light the flame of my passion? For now, I pray I do very well on the LSAT. It just might save my life.

Poker Night Special Report

On an inconsistant basis my friends an I will get 6 - 8 people together for a friendly game of poker. We play a cash game with an initial buy in of 5 dollars. I ended the night with $11.50. And that's not even the part I want to write about.

Allow me to set the scene:

Last hand of the night. Everyone's got what they want to take home with them set aside and their loose change to play with. I get dealt a 8 and 9 of spades. Not bad I think, definately playable so I call the initial bet.

The flop comes. 10 of spades, J of spades and Q of hearts. So I'm thinking, this is great, I have my straight and a flush draw. People bet, I re-raise, some calls all around and the game goes on.

Next card, 7 of spades. At first, my only thought was, hey, I made my flush, that's even better than my straight! Then I looked at it again and realized what I had... 7, 8, 9, 10, J straight flush! One guy puts in a bet of a dollar to everyone's groans because that required everyone to dip into their "reserves". Being that it is a friendly game, I didn't really feel the need to milk every last dollar out of my friend, and I wanted it to end dramatically so I pushed in my entire $7.50 into the pot to put my friend in all in. (everyone else folded and got out of the way.)

He thought about it for a long, long while, but finally I just told him, you really want to fold, trust me. :)
So he did, and I didn't take his 4 dollars he had left, but that doesn't really matter. I got a STRAIGHT FLUSH!!!