sunday

Another day, another day to upload more photos onto flickr, listen to more music, and get some work done. Yes! Work!

Not my usual weekend thing, but hell, I need to get this stuff done. Besides, looking forward to my three week trip definitely makes it a lot more tolerable. And sorry if I can't shut up about my trip. I can't help it. I haven't taken any time off since the week before Chrissmas, and that's entirely too long.

flickr

Yes, I've had a flickr account for several months (actually forgot I had it). Well, I finally uploaded some photos.

Thanks to Carol for randomly reminding me that I should be on the thing a bit more actively. ;-)

back in business

Got my replacement case and motherboard today so I'm back in business. Yeah, $200 wasted, but I can now say that I've had 7 packages shipped to me over the course of a week from 4 different vendors... including an order so big amazon had to use four boxes. Yes... I always strive to achieve.

20:45

I just ran this 5k that the fitness center at work organized. Despite the fact that I felt like crap for the last mile (something with the allergy meds wearing off and asthma in a blooming park?) I managed to finish 2nd at 20:45. I have no idea how this relates to other times I had, but I did find the time for the first 5k I did back in 2002. I think I finished a good 1:40 faster... then again, that was in Pittsburgh with it's crazy hills and stuff. Heh.

Anyway, I'm happy I did it and I'm happy with my time. I might even do another race before the end of the summer... not till after my trip though. My cash situation is pretty dismal with the broken computer, random purchases for my trip, and then some likely obscene travel expenses after I get there. Fun. Good thing I can cook and fix my own car...

coincedence?

You be the judge...

I have to say that I'm not totally anti-Rice. I guess the fact that she had a position at Stanford gives her some credibility. As for certain Yale-grads...

cops

Straight from the mean streets of Compton...

fried

I managed to fry my motherboard today. As a result, don't expect to see me on AIM any time in the immediate future (since I only have my work laptop to use now).

Unfortunately, my warranty for the thing expired two weeks ago. In other words, no "free" slow service to fix it for me. Heck, shipping the thing already costs over $10...

Fortunately, I'm pretty sure that I know what's broken (since this is exactly what happened to it the last time it broke). Yeah, it's a known problem. Only thing is that I need to get a replacement part and I'm having some trouble finding it. If anyone out there could help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Here's what I'm looking for...
I'm looking for a Phase Width Modulator (PWM), RT9202. Not sure if there is any other good drop in replacement. Not sure precisely what it does... all I know is that based on experience and what other people have observed, this is what's broken and needs replacement. Anyone???

toys

The latest... A 4GB MicroDrive for my digital camera.

Just a quick size comparison... Back in 1988, for our first computer, we had a 20MB hard drive that was about the size of a telephone book. Today, I can *affordably* get 4GB (4,048MB) packaged in about the size of a condom (no, I couldn't think of anything else that size).

random links

Random link #1

Some background on random link #2... Onterrio Smith was caught in MSP (Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport) with a few vials of what they thought was cocaine. Since Smith is an NFL running back, there's no way he would be travelling with cocaine! After all, he's already violated the drug policy twice and his next offense will land him a one year suspension. No, it wasn't cocaine. It was dehydrated urine. I always try to keep some in my carry on too... just in case?

make up

To make up for going to bed at 5:30am Saturday (er... Sunday), I woke up at 5:30am today. Actually, the real reason is that I need to be at work at 3am tomorrow, so I might as well try to keep things messed up as much as possible. Hey, I get to leave really really really early that day. Heh.

congrats, laz!

Congratulations, Laz, on completing law school. (This should definitely go into my design portfolio.)

the real reason i'm going to japan

I'll arrive in Osaka July 8th, and I leave July 17th. Coincedence?

Go CMU!

green day

For those who haven't seen Green Day in concert, I highly recommend it. Not only do they rock, but they do everything they can to make sure that the fans are into it. Also definitely worth going if you're into high school girls. I felt like we were the only people there old enough to drink. But overall, two thurnbs up!

Schedule for today:
Finish project - DONE
Compose a gift for Laz - DONE
Consult on making a food booth at an International Festival
Deliver project
Print out and complete gift for Laz
Laz's graduation party

P.S. If you noticed the deliberate spelling error and "got it," awesome. And cultual!

outdated... i mean... cleveland rocks

I was putzing around Continental Airlines' website, and I found some information about Cleveland.

Particularly interesting is the business section. For those who don't know, TRW has since been acquired and their HQ has been converted into an upscale mall and medical facility (yeah, makes perfect sense doesn't it...). OfficeMax has also been acquired. There goes two of the companied that defined Cleveland business. And no, most Clevelanders are not optimistic about the economy (not anymore at least).

The Entertainment section is entertaining too. The Flats are now dead. For sports, the Cleveland Lumberjacks (minor league hockey) team is gone. That's not too bad. The worst part is that they say that sales tax is still at 7%, instead of 8%. Fantastic.

i hate geagle

This isn't a new development, but I hate Giant Eagle. For those who aren't familiar with this, a quick recap:

1. The company is based in Pittsburgh. I'm from Cleveland, so that makes me anti-Pittsburgh.
2. Their prices suck
3. Their produce sucks. On more than one occassion I've thrown out produce in my fridge because it's been there for two weeks and looked like crap, only to find the produce at Geagle looked just like what I trashed.

A lot of people assert that Giant Eagle's prices aren't bad, especially when things are on sale. Today I'd like to disprove that theory.

Yesterday I went to Marc's and Sam's Club on my usual food run. Today I got Geagle junk mail/spam. Let's see...

Marc's regular prices vs. Geagle regular prices

Marc's Geagle
$0.98 $1.69 1 lb red delicious apples (and the Marc's ones are actually fresh!)


Marc's regular prices vs. Geagle sale prices

Marc's Geagle
$2.50 $2.50 1 package NutriGrain bars


Marc's sale prices vs. Geagle sale prices

$0.88 $0.89 2 liter soda
$2.98 $3.99 2 lbs strawberries
$0.25 $0.40 1 ear of corn
$4.98 $5.00 24 can cube o' Pepsi
$1.88 $3.99 1 Dole pineapple
$1.99 $2.00 1 can Reddiwip
$1.33 $1.59 1 package Thomas' English muffins
$1.50 $2.00 6 pack Musselman's apple sauce

Clearly, even a Giant Eagle sale doesn't make it any cheaper than a Marc's sale.

still works!

Two things:
1 - NESticle works on Windows XP, at least version 0.42 does. For some reason I had some of the crappy music from the game "Shadowgate" in my head. That inspired me to go get the NES emulator and get the ROM. Totally legal. I have the game, it's just a backup copy!

2 - My new sound drivers? Clearly, if I can play some high tech Nintendo game on my computer with sound, then my sound drivers must be OK! Right???

To make up for this worthless post, you get a pic of something even more worthless...

Those are some massive tailpipes on this truck! Wait a sec... how come the one on the left isn't attached to anything?

more randomness

As if wielding a chainsaw and moving several thousand pounds of fallen trees over the weekend wasn't good enough, I've managed to get another random task. This time it's consulting on how to run a booth at a food festival. Yeah... exactly. Food service experience. Heck yeah!

On another note, I'd like to thank Microsoft for installing some new audio drivers that make my computer crash when I try to use WinAmp or iTunes. What a great feature!

still cost effective

So I've spent a good deal of money fixing my car this year. Is it still a good idea to have a 12 year old car when I can clearly afford something that costs 5 to 10 times as much? Let's do a quick cost assessment....

Since the beginning of the year, I've driven a little over 4,700 miles. Total cost -- including gas, toll, insurance, repairs, license, parking: ~$1,200. That's about 25 cents per mile... or $400 dollars a month. I think we're still ok.

Of that, about $480 is maintainance costs. The rest is mostly gas and insurance. A new car would have about the same gas mileage (21/28/23 city/hwy/avg) so gas would be the same. Insurance would probably cost more. That means that my car has an equivalent car payment of $120 / month. Not bad.

But yeah, I do have some maintenance coming up. Need to change the oil in a couple of weeks. That'll cost me about $10. Oh no...

But wait! I should be getting $80 in rebates to offset those maintainance costs (thanks, Monroe!). Awesome! But somehow this *still* doesn't justify me spending tons of money on camera stuff.... or does it???

I found some idiot who would work on my car for free. Oh wait... that's me! [halfway through replacing the driveshafts and front shocks]

2001 - When my car was new... to me at least...

only in dreams

You know you've been working on a project too much when you have a dream where a tester bitch-slaps another tester and angrily shouts, "All system test issues go through me!" when he finds out that the other tester opened a test issue herself.

In no particular order, other random selections from the crazy dream:

• Me leaving to go on a three week vacation to Hong Kong with my parents, leaving May 6th, but really leaving May 7th... and me wondering how this snuck up on me without me remembering I was about to leave. After waking up, I realized it's because I don't leave for my three week trip till June 26.
• I noticed a second band on my Seiko Kinetic watch that had a number on it. The number moved every time I moved the watch. Neat, but that's not how the thing really works.
• I wanted to go back to "work" to grab my laptop for the trip. Yes, I keep my crazy pictures in mind even in my dreams. Gotta have the laptop in case I run out of space on my memory cards.
• I opened up my suitcase and it somehow expanded to hold a huge stack of blue jeans. How huge? About three and a half feet tall. They were all exactly the same too. Stylish.
• "Work" was in this random 2 or 3 story house that was really dark (like the Lava Lounge). Yes, Barnes, the Lava Lounge used to be a house. Hint: it's in a residential area, and it's a house.

cheap gas!

When I took this picture last March, we all though that gas was expensive. I also knew that years down the road I can pull this out and talk about how cheap gas was back in 2004. What I didn't realize was how fast it took. 33% increase in a year. Fantastic!

more destruction

So sometime around 2am Sunday night, half of the tree decided to fall down, missing the house (and my dad inside) by just a few feet.

Another angle...

View from the side of the house.

Yes, I'm standing on top of the thing looking down into it.

The "before" shot. The two branches and all the leaves were what fell.

want

If any of you are complaining about how you can't get a good view from the pics, I blame the camera. 35mm equivalent just doesn't cut it. So... next time I'll make sure that I'll have my DSLR so that I can get a nice shot at 28mm. Much wider angle... see more...

Then again, DSLR's don't exactly fit in my pocket when I travel. I *do* plan on getting some sort of bag/sack so I can use it when I hike. And yes, I will hike like crazy this summer. W. PA, WA, and Japan. Hell yeah. Er... might try to slip in VA, BC, and HI while I'm at it... HI only if I miss my flight and I get "stuck" there. That would actually suck a lot.

thanks bush

Knowing this, I'm happy I own a Nokia phone.

winter wonderland

My parents' backyard. Notice the limb(s) on top of the telephone lines. Nice!

Angle from camera 2.

Another limb. This one tried to take out the cable. Somehow our cable managed to survive the ordeal.

Some nice detail on this break.

aging gracefully

According to T-Mobile, this is how I'd look in 40 years. If you're curious to see how'd you look in 40 years (or after the sex change you've been saving up for), you can go check out their site.

overclock?

So after running my computer for about a year, I decided I should try to bring it back to spec...

A bit of background... here's what I bought originally:
AMD Athlon 2400+ Mobile (1.8GHz clock @ 1.45V)
1GB Mushkin RAM (400MHz DDR)

This is how I've been running it this past year:
1.4GHz @ 1.65V
RAM at 266MHz DDR

For those who don't know, that's just retarded, but remarkably stable. In other words, it's running way *slower* than it should be. CPU is 22% under it's prescribed speed, but using and extra 14% power (makes it more stable). RAM is running 33% under speed. It's like buying a sports car, driving under the speed limit, and putting in premium gas when regular would do just fine.

So today I'm fixing it. Back to spec. My computer should now be about 10-20% faster. Yay free upgrade. Boo being retarded.

At some point, I may even decide to overclock this thing (as I traditionally do). Maybe next year when I seek an additional free upgrade. I'm pretty sure I can get another 10-20% out of this (conservative estimate). Not out of line with the typical 40-50% that I've gotten in the past (Dual Pentium II 300MHz @ 450MHz, Duron 600MHz @ 858MHz).

i'm funny

I just found out today that I may have to add another destination to my 2005 travels. Penciling in St. Louis, Missouri for mid-June. That means...

Week 1: Trip to St. Louis (or maybe Chicago)
Week 2: Trip to Montreal
Week 3: Trip to Seattle
Week 4: Trip to Japan

Then maybe sometime in August go to India. And I'll somehow manage to miss elite status for my frequent flier program again... just because... And if I'm really greedy, I may get a random trip somewhere sometime in May? Which call center does Mississippi?

ipod = heart failure?

So I'm not sure what amazon.com is trying to say here. Are iPod owners more likely to suffer from heart failure? or is it just me?

another design

Not enough time to talk about the weekend (ask about 1040EZ and Zyng if you want details). But for your reading pleasure...

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/health/features/11700/index1.html

cops

At about 7:30pm tonight a cop rolled up across the street from our house. Me being me, I peeked out from behind the curtains to see if anything was up. The cop rolled down the window and sat there. Fine... I've got stuff to do. I'm not going to sit around and see what happens...

Now it's two hours later. I've seen at least two or three cars pulled over. I guess they're using tonight to enforce the infamous "double stop sign" that we have for our street.

An explanation...
Our street has a median. To go past it, you have to cross both sides of the street. Nothing special here, except for the fact that there's a stop sign in the middle. In other words, you'd stop twice while crossing. Keep in mind this is a side street with very little traffic... and the median is barely wide enough for you to stop without having part of your car sticking out.

But anyway, if you're ever driving by Washington on Cottage Grove, beware. You might get nailed.

neatness

Links compliments of the UPA.

HP researching new technique to save battery life while improving usability
For those of you who know Spanish - using your eyes to control the mouse

And for kicks, have any of you ever seen the Terminator movies? Thanks, DARPA!

get perpendicular

Does anyone have this song on MP3? I want to jam to it on my way to work. A step up from listening to recordings of people calling into our call center (yes, for quality assurance purposes).

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/research/recording_head/pr/PerpendicularAnimation.html

Thanks, Japan!

biologists are cool

This made me chuckle. It's proposerous. People don't come from monkeys!

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Science/story?id=623557&page=1

Anyway, I saw Sin City last night. I dunno about other people, but I liked it. Very unique, and good, cinematography. I loved the way they used color and contrast and all those camera angles. Plus, I thought the plot was interesting. I have to admit I didn't anticipate much for the plot, so I was OK with three stories strung together. If you like design stuff, you should definitely check it out.

take your pick

Maybe my name does mean something....

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pip&r=f

And apparently we're all dildos covered with fish and chips. Envious yet?

old domain, new domain

I just renewed paulip.com and updated it so that it would forward all traffic to this blog. So for all of you that are too lazy to remember how to find this site, your life just got easier. Go treat yourself to a cookie.

creating a ruckus

Boo issue 1!

NPR story about my friend Laz

throwback

I'm cleaning up my office... since I never completed that task when I moved in (in May), and I probably won't today either. But anyway...

Sometime early 2004 I came up with a list of destinations to choose from for vacations. Today I found this list, and I'm going to throw it out (fine, recycle it). But let's see how I did...

Destinations (ranked in order of nothing):

1. Hawaii - technically stopping by for 6 hours in July
   
2. Europe (UK / Spain / Other?) - Done. One week in the UK in December
   
3. Hong Kong / Japan - Done. 2+ weeks in HK last August. Japan for a week this July.
   
4. New Zealand - nope
   
5. Grand Canyon - nope
   
6. Seattle - Done. Four days last June. Going for another week this July.

So I still have some work to do, but I'm satisfied.

updated shopping list

Done:
Registration for the UPA Conference
Hotel reservations for the UPA conference
Shoes
Macpherson struts for my car
Backup ignition control module for my car
Flashlight
Canon Digital Rebel XT
Sigma 18-125mm lens
Romaine lettuce
Garlic
Dijon Mustard
One loaf of rye bread
More yogurt
Skim milk
Assorted fruit
Light bulbs
1 lb rotini
paulip.com

Left:
Rental car for Seattle
Train ticket from Osaka to Hiroshima
GMAT Registration
2GB CompactFlash card
Crumpler Budgie Smuggler camera bag
Tomatoes
Onion

really, i'm alive

Just in case you all doubted me, I'm back for real. But no, this blog isn't going to get any more interesting. But just to satisfy your hunger for content, I can talk about how Ohio Savings Bank finally pushed me over the edge.

I've been with Ohio Savings Bank since I got I started working at Progressive. In other words I've been with them forever. My first checking account, actually. I wouldn't have remembered this, but the CSR greeted me by thanking me for being with them since 1999. That was nice, but I'd really prefer to not have to call. Heck, that would save me time, and save them the cost of having a CSR handling my call.

Anyway, you're wondering why I had to call in the first place. Just as background, this is the most recent happening in a series of events that have been planting doubts in my mind about this company. Let's start from the beginning...

From 1999 till 2002 I had absolutely no problems with the bank. Sure, it was a low maintenance relationship, but I think we were both happier that way. When I moved from Pittsburgh back to Cleveland I was able to change my address online. It was a breeze. I was happy.

In 2003, they "upgraded" their online banking system. Personally, I liked their old one a lot better. It looked better, it was designed better, and it was more responsive. Then again, I wasn't about to be too picky. I'm sure they did it for a reason. Exactly what reason it was still escapes me, but I do know that it wasn't installed so that people could change addresses easily. So yes, when I moved again in 2003, I had to call into their call center to have my address changed. Sure, it was a bit more of a hassle, but still OK. After all, any new system takes some time to get the kinks worked out.

And they did work out some of the kinks. In 2004 the system was more responsive, which was good. But they still didn't fix the change of address thing. Plus, they started having these random adjustments to my balance. Strange, but as long as I didn't lose any money, I let them do whatever. The one time I did get a random charge they took it off, which was nice of them. Maybe they miss talking to me. Who knows...

Going back to the address thing, when I moved in 2004, I tried calling again to change my address. No go. Apparently I couldn't do it over the phone anymore. Good thing I live one block from the branch. Since banking hours suck, it took me a few weeks to get over there. When I got there, I was a little surprised at the address change process. The teller printed out some random statement and just asked me to write my address "somewhere" on it and it would be taken care of. Seemed a bit odd, but I figured she wouldn't bother asking me to do it if that wasn't the real process. Yes, it seemed a bit odd at the time...

Just like how it seemed odd that my statements kept going to my old address. So I made it over a second time. This time the teller gave me a change of address form to fill out. Jackpot. Done. Funny though... my statements *still* kept getting sent to my old address. At this point I decided to give up. The statements are useless anyway. I can check my stuff online.

Then the recent event: A random $10 service fee. I have free checking. No fees, no minimum balance. One time this happened before because I used my ATM card as a check card and I had to pay some activation fee. Not this time. So I called in. Naturally, I wanted an explanation. I even tried to be nice.

This is what they told me: The $10 charge was because a recent deposit didn't clear. In laymans terms, someone wrote me a bad check. I was a little skeptical since the check was from Greg and last time I checked he wasn't a deadbeat (yet). On top of that, I remember that he asked me when I was depositing the check so that he could make sure he had enough money. The other thing that made me wonder is why I still had the money deposited in my account. I'm not positive how these things work, but I always figured if someone gave you a bad check, you didn't get any money. Otherwise, I'd write myself huge bad checks and pay the $10 penalty and get a ton of free money. I told the CSR that I had the money and it was never taken back. He was surprised.

So what's the resolution? None to date. Someone is supposed to call me back Monday to let me know what the heck is going on. Regardless of what happens, I'm going to switch banks. Too much drama for me. Besides, all I use this bank for is depositing checks so that I can EFT the money to my *real* bank account (at the First Internet Bank of Indiana... they let me use whatever ATM I want and I get interest too. Check em out.). Considering this, I really don't need a replacement bank. But hey, I don't always act rationally.

alive!

In case you've been wondering where I've been, I've been around -- but my internet hasn't worked for about a week. That explains half. I've also been pretty busy with stuff. That explains the other half.

At least I got some letters written. So the question is.... which is better?
Being able to steal someone else's internet connection at low speed
Not having interference so that my internet can go twice as fast

driveshaft

I went to visit Darin and Terence down in DC over the weekend. I had an awesome time. We did a whole lot of nothing, which was refreshing seeing the stressful week I had (notice no posts).

One thing that did happen though was that while I was there I noticed that my car was making some noises whenever I accelerated from a slow speed while turning. I wasn't sure what the issue was, but I do know that one time I almost didn't make it back because the ignition control module went bad (basically the car would randomly stall... not fun on the highway... or anywhere). I was just hoping that I would make it back OK.

I remember on the way back trying to see if my steering would keep working. Heck, losing steering while going 80 down the freeway could be cause death. At first I thought it was really going too. Every once in a while the car would just shift/lurch while driving. Eventually I attributed that to the wind though. After a while, I even figured that regardless of what the issue was, it wouldn't cause me to die, unless I spun the wheel really fast, which would cause an accident anyway.

After some more research I think I may know what the problem is. I still need to jack up the car and inspect it, but I'm suspecting that the CV boots cracked through and one of the driveshaft joints got damaged. I know that the outer boot was already cracked, but my dad told me that I should just replace the whole thing when the time came. I took his word for it.

Today I took a look at what it would take to fix the issue, and it really doesn't seem that bad. Sure, it's a pain in the ass, but it could be a lot worse. I'm just hoping that it's the cheap part that broke and not the part that costs an extra $200 to fix. That would suck. Heh. Something else for me to do this weekend. Hopefully it'll be warm so I can do this in comfort.

So... anyone want to buy me a new driveshaft or two? I could also use some shocks and a spare ICM (just in case).

fuck fuck fuck

I need to go back five years or so and try to change some stuff around (I'll even settle for a few months). I'm serious...

However, unlike these fellows, I don't seriously think it's possible. Can I try before I buy?

http://www.futurehorizons.net/time.htm

compare and contrast

okay... maybe just compare. *try* to contrast.

Product A:
http://www.luxpro-corp.com/e_575d.htm

Product B:
http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/specs.html

shopping list

Registration for the UPA Conference
Hotel reservations for the UPA conference
Rental car for Seattle
Train ticket from Osaka to Hiroshima
Shoes
GMAT Registration
Tickets for the Indians home opener
Macpherson struts for my car
Backup ignition control module for my car
Flashlight
Canon Digital Rebel XT
Sigma 18-125mm lens
2GB CompactFlash card
Crumpler Budgie Smuggler camera bag
Romaine lettuce
Tomatoes
Garlic
Onion
Dijon Mustard
One loaf of rye bread
More yogurt
Skim milk
Assorted fruit
Light bulbs
1 lb rotini

almost famous

I just discovered today that I inadvertently plastered my car's VIN number up for tons of people to see.

Let me explain...

I was working on a project to improve the way help is delivered in Progressive's insurance quoting web site. To go with it, I came up with some content. One piece of content I created was information on where to find a VIN and what it is. To do this, I provided an example - mine. The question is whether or not some goofball out there is trying to get a quote with my car just because my VIN is there for people to copy.

If you want to see it in action, do an quote in Virginia. There's a 50% chance that you'll see it on the second page (it's a test, so we only show it to half the people).

my toy's are outdated :(

The first one that I found out about was the new Canon Digital Rebel XT, the successor to my Canon Digital Rebel that I bought at the end of last year. Smaller, lighter, faster, more features. Same price. Damn... I may have to get one since the smaller and lighter bit are pretty important to me. The faster bit is also *very* nice. I could care less about the 8MP though. 6MP is plenty enough for me. Not to say I wouldn't use the extra 2MP... after all, I *must* shoot in RAW format (for some stuff at least).

Then while reading up on the new camera, I found out that there's a new iPod mini. 50% more storage and 50% more battery life. Same price (see a theme here). I'm ok with this one though. I'm still happy with my mini. 4GB is enough and it hasn't gotten any smaller. I have to admit the extra battery life would be nice, but I only use that when I fly to Hong Kong... and I only do that once every two years or so, and I'm not even going this year. I'll be fine... really, I will.

On the bright side, my 1993 Honda Accord SE is still old, still runs great, and apparently *still* has a market value of ~$6,000. Considering that I bought at a dealer for about $5,400 four years ago, I guess I'm doing pretty well. Just excuse the dent my mom left when she backed into my car last December. Still almost no rust! I can't believe I'm in Cleveland!

My Nokia 6200 has probably been discountinued, but they're still selling almost the exact same phone (it now has a camera, which I clearly don't need on my phone... see above). I'm happy with that. My year and a half old phone is still plenty small, and I have reception. (Damn you, Sprint!)

so i don't pay my dental bills...

I really would pay my dentist on time, but they certainly don't make it easy. They have three addresses (at least), 2+ phone numbers, and no automated billing system.

The first time I got my bill, I wanted to pay it. I really did! This was about 4 months ago? Well, I never did it. You know why? First, I wanted an envelope -- preaddressed. No envelope. Actually, not even an address. How am I supposed to send you payment if I don't know where to send it? I don't know. Maybe call them and find out their address? Oh wait... no phone number. Besides, even if I did have a phone number I know they don't have anyone to answer the phone usually. Oh well... I'll pay it the next time I have an appointment.

Got my second notice today. Same issues. Well, this time there was an address on the envelope. That helps, but who's to say that they would actually apply the payment to my account? After all, there are two Ip accounts (one for my parents). Considering it took them a year (literally) to split my account from theirs (pretty important from an insurance standpoint), I can't say I trust them to get this part right.

So here's the plan: Since I have an appointment coming up this month, I'll just pay it in person. Maybe I'll even remember my checkbook.

It's not that I don't like my dentist (I do, I think he does a good job), it's just the billing process needs some work. Please, make it easier for me to pay you. That's all I ask.

for those who are concerned

It's totally safe!

http://www.rerf.jp/eigo/faqs/faqse.htm#faq12

ong-bak

So I saw the first great movie of the year. Actually, I think the movie was made in 2003. But anyway, the movie is called Ong-Bak. It's a martial arts film from Thailand that features some guy that no one here has ever heard of. Fantastic choreography. Freshest fighting movie I've seen since Police Story was made circa 1985.

If you want to check it out, it's playing at the Valley View Cinemark here in Cleveland. It makes no sense why it's there. I think we were the only Asians within a 5 mile radius of the place. But hey, it's the only place in Cleveland playing the film. It's worth a look.

car show results

Nothing spectacular to report aside from the fact that traffic to and from the car show is horrible. But back to the subject at hand...

Overall, nothing too spectacular. One trend that I'm noticing that I don't really like is how all the car companies are now covering up parts of the engine with metal and plastic plates. Sure, it looks nice (sometimes), but that's just one extra thing to do if I want to change the spark plugs or switch a sensor. In the long run, that's called annoying.

What's worse is that some companies (like Mazda, for example), do a pretty crappy job at it too. Sure, they cover up virtually *everything*, but just handling the panels, it became immediately clear that these things weren't just annoying, but also a liability. Ok... maybe not a liability, but if the panels aren't constructed well enough, they're just going to vibrate like crazy (loud as hell) every time the car idles. Great! I do like the Mazda 3 though. Good looking car, decent performance, and cheap!

So some of you are probably wondering what cars I'd be interested in, so here you are. In the cheaper category (under $20k), my favs are the Scion TC followed by the Mazda 3. The TC is a nice car. Has the most open engine compartment (which for me is a plus), and it's got decent performance mated with a neat interior. The full glass top is definitely a plus (unless I roll over the car.... then I might die.). Besides, it's clearly endorsed by my friend TC Chau, which trumps all. Another good runner up is the Honda Civic Coupe. I like Civics, and they look a lot better than those new Accords. Hopefully when they redesign it for next year it looks as good or better. The concept Civic Si is also pretty cool. A lot better than the current one.

For the pricier category (~$30k), the Acura TSX takes the top followed by the Infiniti G35. The G35 is a beautiful car that has some incredible features. However, Acura still wins because it too is cool, a bit more practical, and I know the car well. If you haven't noticed the trend here, cars get bonus points if they are easy for me to maintain.

Pricing anomaly of the show: The Dodge Charger. $38k. OK. If I had $38k, would I really buy a Dodge Charger? Survey results:

Dan: BMW 330
Paul: Acura TL or TSX (coming in $10k under the $38k budget... may use that to get a Kia Sedona and Kia Rio just to prove to people that you can buy one get one free)
Ivan: Eh... don't remember what he wanted... but it definitely wasn't the Dodge.

car show

I'm going to the suto show today. No, this doesn't mean I'm going to be getting a new car. Far from it. In fact, I'm planning on adding another 15,000 miles on it to get it to an even 150k. 25 miles/day to work plus random trips to DC.

Besides, it doesn't make sense to get a new car if I'm going to be in Cleveland. The roads here suck. If I were to get a new car I'd just be getting it to destroy its suspension. No way I'd want to dump several grand in a new car just to bust it up on the crappy roads. Not to mention the large quantities of road salt. Some parts of the country use other de-icers - not Cleveland. The big salt mine under Lake Erie guarantees we'll be making our cars rust for years to come.

Plus, I like having no car payments. Helps justify the massive amounts of traveling I like to do every year :-)

lucky

So from the last post, you learned that I got a ticket to Japan last night. Today I checked the fares again (since I can cancel, I figure why the hell not?). Nothing cheaper. On the other hand, the price for the exact ticket I got last night literally doubled. This wasn't a cheap ticket either.

Price I got: $1119
Price today: $2347

Naturally, the price went up after they realized that this itinerary had my seal of approval. I'm just that cool.

i feel special

I'm down $1,100, but for some reason I feel priviledged. I have no idea why, but the plane tickets I got can actually be cancelled without a penalty. Such a luxurious feature! I guess this means I can keep looking for cheaper fares and switch if necessary. Sweet!

Plus, it happens that my flight connects through Honolulu... one of the nicest airports to fly into. Yeah, the airport itself if a piece of crap, but I'll take a change of scenery. The outdoor airport would be a good respite while flying across the Pacific.

The other oddity worth mentioning is that I'll be flying across the Pacific on a pair of McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s.

justification

I think I figured out how to justify my insane travel expenses for the year. I'll just imagine that I'm buying a new car (reasonable enough, no?). New cars depreciate about $10k the first year. Oh wow, that more than covers my travel expenses!

I hope this is a good gainshare year...

But face it, I'm not going to get the same opportunities again, so if I had to pay twice as much to go I probably would... then cut corners for the rest of the year. Besides, I don't need to buy food. I can just do what the mice do and eat all the food that people leave around the house.

Or... I can have a million dollar baby. Gonna go investigate that tonight.

updates to the itinerary

So today I got the OK to go to the UPA conference in Montreal this year. I also got the OK to use leapfrog off that trip into my two other trips (to Seattle and Japan). Booked the first set of tickets, now the only thing left to do is to book tix to Japan and also figure out exactly how I'm going to make it to my final destination (some combination of train, tram, walking?). Oh... gotta set up accomodations at all the places too. Fun. Thankfully, my trusty internet should help me out.

we have a winner

For the first time ever, I saw a Cavs game where the Cavs actually won. Incredible! And unlike last time, LeBron James was able to finish the game with his face intact.

But that's not all. Courtesy of Robert "Tractor" Traylor and his 6 points in the 4th quarter, we came away with free chalupas from Taco Bell. This is on top of the free McDonald's meal that we got with the tickets. Yay. I'm a winner.

Then again, something makes me think that I'll just give away the free food. Taco Bell and McDonalds aren't part of my regular diet and I don't want them to be.

bleh

You get a real entry today. Congrat, you win!

I had a shitty day. And I'm going to bitch. Here goes!

The drive into work was pretty uneventful. A definite plus. It was downhill from there. Contrary to my breakfast plans, the janitorial staff trashed my yogurt over the weekend. Yeah, they're supposed to do that, but I really would have felt a lot better if they didn't single me out. Did I forget to mention that everyone else's stuff was left there, only mine was gone? Yep. I'm special. I feel so loved.

One thing I learned today is that when I'm frustrated and tired my internal censorship can sometimes just not work. Unlucky for you, I just slept for an hour so I have the good sense to stop here (in case people at work are reading this... which I doubt).

Anyway, my day did end on a slight upswing. While talking about some text for a project, I came up with a novel solution to this nasty problem that we've been unsuccessfully trying to solve for 2 years. Yay me. Since I was tired as hell, instead of acting on it immediately, I drew it up in an e-mail using ASCII art and sent it to myself to review tomorrow morning. Wait... did I say my day ended on a slight upswing? ASCII art!? What the hell!?

And no, I don't want to work at Deloitte and Touche. No no no no no no no! I don't care if you a referral bonus or not!

confirmed

Japan A-OK. As Duffman would say, "Oooh-yeah!"

mmm... yogurt

I think my yogurt eating habits may be paying off. I'm going to do some focus group next week. Fun times. That'll buy enough yogurt for half a year.....

....

that's sad. I spend way too much money on yogurt...

And happy birthday to my mom!

wow

So I actually made it to the gym on Friday. Got the orientation and fitness assessment, then went over to do some weightlifting for the first time since 2002 (or was it 2001?).

So since that time I haven't done much of anything physical (aside from some hiking, running, and ultimate here and there). OK... so maybe I have. But regardless I thought that my muscles have atrophied, etc. etc. Especially the upper body.

Basically, my expectations were not too great. Without the part time job as a server/busboy I didn't have any regular opportunities to keep my arms in shape. Desk job. Yay.

Thankfully, I was wrong. My legs are still strong as hell, and my arms are about where they were when I lifted last time. I'm not sure if this is just a good omen, or is it telling me that I shouldn't bother working out at all? I will. I'll be good. Besides, I want to do this so I reduce the risk of my body breaking down on me when I do something fun (like ultimate...).

So I was able to find out my maxes on all the machines, and sometime next week I'll start working out for real. Then sometime in March or April I'll start running again. (If I time it right, my knees will start feeling like crap in August instead of June like they did last year).

usps

If you couldn't have guessed, this is going to be rant about the USPS. I'll try to keep it objective by only presenting the facts.

1. We moved into our house at the end of May, 2004. We still get *lots* of mail addressed to the people who used to live here. Not the fault of the USPS, just the fault of the people who used to live here. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that we got a package from the GAP, which was delivered by UPS. Oh yeah, there was also the time Arhaus Furniture came by to pick something up. This happened in the fall, a good half year after they moved.
   
2. We often get mail addressed to 3045 Worthington, Shaker Heights, OH, 44109. Right house number, street starts with the same letter, but wrong city, wrong ZIP, and most importantly, wrong house. This has happened at least twice, maybe three times. Doesn't this kind of mistake require a screwup at at least two post offices?
3. Last week we got a letter addressed to 3045 W. Walnut, Chicago, IL 66012. I'm beginning to wonder if we get all mail addressed to 3045 W.....something.
4. Today I recieved a ballot to vote for candidates for the UPA. I thought it was kind of odd since I thought they had already announced who won. I was also amused at how I was supposed to return it by Jan 1, 2005. Dated Oct 8, 2004. Postmarked Oct 13, 2004. Only took about 5 months. Brings a whole new meaning to first class.
   
5. My housemate Greg had a subscription to Maxim. A few issues seemed to have disappeared?
   

buff mofos

I finally signed up for the gym at work. Considering that I've been thinking of doing it since um... Fall of 2002? I think it's about time.

So the question is will I actually go and work out there? We'll see tomorrow. I have my fun fun fun fitness assessment. Hellz yeah. I get to see how out of shape I am, as well as how I'm still in better shape than most people. Yay me. I still feel weak...

thanks for the mercenaries

No better way to thank our allies than by paying them off. How about a measly $400 million? Just enough to run our military for 3 days. Oh... and you have to share.

For some reason this seems wrong on a few levels...

Firstly, aren't our allies supposed to help for free if they really believed in the cause? Doesn't paying them off make them mercenaries? Crazy metaphor time: Isn't your wife supposed to sleep with your for free? Wouldn't paying her off make her a whore?

Secondly, this almost seems like a way of saying "screw you" to the allies that dropped out. Burning bridges on an international level must be fun.

Thirdly, the amount is so trivial I almost see it as an insult...

Yes, we spend $1 billion each week for our operations. Thanks for your time guys. Here's $400 million. Please split it between all of you. Poland, since your people love freedom so much, you get $100 million. Everyone else can split the rest... You'd get more, but maybe next time you should love freedom more.

shakes head...

Found by Albert...

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E2691638,00.html

What is this world coming to?

leprechaun

While at Scott's place we caught this great movie on Bravo (and I'm not even being sarcastic.... well... not really....): Leprechaun, Back 2 tha Hood.

Just looking at the title I knew it was going to be great, and it was. I never realized that the Leprechaun had ever been to the hood before. He definitely speaks like he's an Irish FOB. But anyway... that's not the point.

The point is that whatever sick genius came up with this idea is just that -- a sick genius. Who else would come up with a way to make random thugs match up against a thousand year old evil Leprechaun? Even I wouldn't be as bold as to say I could come up with something that crazy. The impressive part is that they even did a pretty good job coming up with the screenplay. And why wouldn't I be? These Hollywood magicians were able to come up with ways to integrate hydraulics (including some 3 wheel motion), hollow point bullets, and weed into final battle. For a film that's also known as Leprechaun 6, the story was pretty tight.

Now I'm not saying that this is the best movie in the world, because it isn't. Not even worth a rental. But if you're flipping through channels late at night and looking for some funny action, you should at least check it out. C'mon. Just look at the title. It *has* to be good.

japanese habachi

Today was the first time I've been to a Japanese "habachi" place since sophomore year of high school when I worked at one. It was pretty odd. Thankfully, it wasn't the exact same place that I worked at before, but I totally got this feeling not unlike hanging out with an ex-girlfriend after breaking up. The kind of feeling that surroundings are familiar, but you're playing an unfamiliar role.

Even though it was a different restaurant, the setups of the tables were the same (they always are). Not only that, but the plates were the same size and weight as the ones used at the Samurai. The only difference is that the plates didn't have the gigantix Samurai logo glazed onto it. The sauce containers were exactly the same. Plus, I could see clearly under the table from where I was sitting. Probably no one else paid any attention to it, but I recall clearly that I spend a good amount of time chucking stuff under there while at work.

So instead of being the busboy who cleared the tables, I was one of the customers sitting at the tables chatting away like an idiot. I saw the busboys there doing the same stuff I did... clearing tables, setting up tables. They even wore the exact same stuff as I did (sans the bow tie).

Then there was also the hot surface in front of me. My memories consist of me burning myself while packing up people's food. I passed my hand over it just to remind myself of what burning myself feels like. Nice... I still have the tolerance for it (mental... I haven't become superhuman -- yet).

Then the hostess came by with some warm towels for us to wipe our hands with. Finally, something that was totally different. Funny thing was that after I got the towel in my hands, that along with the hot surface in front of me promted me to think about wiping the cooking surface. I don't even remember that as being part of my job. Looking back now, I do *vaguely* remember that I was responsible for wiping those before (or after?) the restaurant opened. The sidework that we did at that place was awful.

We then got our soup. You would think this would be uneventful, but when I started having the soup I realized that I have *never* had the soup that way before. The soup is usually served with mushrooms and fried onions. But as an employee, what we would do is always mix the soup with rice, or better yet, have the soup with a huge amount of fried onions. I had the soup, but it was definitely better the other way. Just not as pretty.

That was about it. After a while it settled in, and thankfully, things weren't exactly the same as the other place. The tricks the chefs did were different, the food was a bit different, and most importantly the shrimp sauce was *way* healthier than the stuff I was used to. I was actually disappointed. After eating healthy for most of the week, I was totally OK with eating sauce that was almost 100% butter. Too bad it wasn't. Fat's tasty.... mmm....

pikachu, i choose j00!

I came across this while looking at sites for some of Japan's airports. Fun.

Pic 1
Pic 2

it's the hair, dude

For those who weren't watching [adult swim] last night (and for those who did)...

It's the hair, DUDE!

Dumbest real ad I've seen in a while.

stupid idea of the day

This came up in a discussion at work today, but I decided that it might be worth sharing...

Somehow we were on the topic of how unhealthy butter was. Mike was claiming that there's 100 calories in a spoon of butter. So for a 2000 calorie diet, one can consume 20 spoons of butter, equivalent to two and a half sticks of butter. Sweet.

Then I got to thinking that 100 calories isn't really that bad. After all, a can of Coke has 160 calories, and in my opinion, isn't nearly as tasty as butter. Of course Kevin didn't agree. I can understand why someone would value Coke more. Hell, it's got caffeine. That's one area where butter just can't compete. Or can it? Caffeinated butter. That would be pretty sweet. If they can make caffeinated soap, I'm sure they can make caffeinated butter. Then we can kill ourselves even faster! Yay!

et

The infamous Progressive ads from the 1999 Super Bowl have been uncovered. Check them out to see how much they sucked.

http://www.arnellgroup.com/ufiles/agworkmovies/prog_computer.mov
http://www.arnellgroup.com/ufiles/agworkmovies/prog_shuttle.mov

The Arnell Group is also responsible for the infamous (but this time in a good way) Terry Tate, Office Linebacker series. You can find a bunch of those there too.

crazy plans

Here's the tentative plan for 2005:

• Leave Cleveland 6/26 for Montreal, Quebec for the UPA conference
• Leave Montreal 7/1 for Seattle, Washington to hang out with the fam and HIKE HIKE HIKE!
• Leave Seattle 7/7 for Hiroshima, Japan (via Osaka) to hang out with Maia and hike Mt. Fuji
• Leave Hiroshime 7/16 for Seattle, Washington... because it's ~$600 cheaper to fly from Seattle
• Leave Seattle 7/17 for home....

Then about a month later take a 2 week trip to Bangalore, India to hang out with Navin.

It's nice not having car payment. ;-)

bleh...

Working from home today because I feel like crap. Luckily I have some work to do today that really doesn't require me to be at the office. With any luck, I'll get all of it done... that is assuming I don't spend all my time on on okcupid.com or looking up mutual funds.

The definite plus is that I can listen to all my music all day long. Sweet.

compromise

So I had my mini-PE today. PE as in Personal Evaluation (or something like that). Yeah, I can ramble a bit about it, but I won't. That would be inappropriate -- especially since nothing is final yet.

Wasn't this a worthless post? Yes it was.

movies....

I just saw House of Flying Daggers tonight. Quality flick. I still think I liked Hotel Rwanda better, but if you're into the this type of Chinese movie, you should definitely check it out. In the same vein as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

And for Monday, I'd probably be up for another $5 movie. Either A Very Long Engagement or Closer would work for me. Or sledding... Why is everyone so lame? Does no one want to play outside anymore???

the kid ain't mine

I recieved a set of photos from AdoramaPix today I was very impressed with the speed and the quality of the packaging. As I was opening the package I was thinking that I'll definitely use them again.

However, as I opened the envelope I noticed that the color for the top edge didn't seem right. Neither was the rest of the picture. It was of this kid, suited up in a fancy Dale Earnhart jacket. Sweetness. Hopefully at some point I can get my photos.

hotel rwanda

First good movie of the year award goes to Hotel Rwanda. Definitely worth the price. Just don't expect it to be uplifting.

See it at Cedar Lee.

reaffirmation

During the past 24 hours, I've gotten 3 reaffirmations that I should go to Seattle, Japan, and India this summer...

1. Wall Street Journal article on Seattle's new public library. I should go check it out.
2. Alan Bauer giving me a calendar from Japan
3. The US forming a partnership with India so that there would be more flights there at lower cost.

In layman's terms: G-d spoke to me and is telling me to travel.

battle royale

I take lots of pictures. Recently I've actually made an effort to print them out to put into photo albums (fancy that). So far I've ordered stuff from ShutterFly, Yahoo!, and AdoramaPix. Oh yeah... and Sam's Club. I have 55 more pics to print. Let's see who gets the business.

I'll tell you this much -- it won't be Sam's Club. Last time I tried their service I never got my prints. Then again, I'm a jackass for ordering a single print for 23 cents and expecting them to send it to my nearest warehouse club.

confusion

http://united.com/prepaidtravel

wow. i write such good bs...

OK. It's not BS, but imagine if I used my powers for evil...

From my annual performance evaluation:

"Held regular meetings with business owners to discuss progress against the project's goals and objectives."

Sounds fine, right? But "discuss" sounds too generic. "Validate" sounds more action oriented and positive. It also implies that I'm always going in the right direction. ;-)

"Held regular meetings with business owners to validate progress against the project's goals and objectives."

Hmm.... "against" is such a negative word. It's as if we're fighting the project. No no no. We're going "towards" the goal. Smooth sailing straight to our vision instead of roughly riding against it.

"Held regular meetings with business owners to validate progress towards the project's goals and objectives."

Speaking of vision, the word "vision" sounds a lot brighter and forward thinking than just a drab everyday "goal". So let's use that word.

"Held regular meetings with business owners to validate progress towards the project's vision and objectives."

Viola!

....and yes, I've been working on this document for too long....

interesting site

Interesting e-commerce site. Apparently this company actually makes and sells stuff. The music is awesome.

i'm a dork

So yes, I just bought three (yes, THREE) books. I'm not even sure when I'll get around to reading them. And yeah, all historical books cuz I'm a dork.

The Western Experience, Chambers (yeah, the Modern European book)
Romance of The Three Kindoms (yeah, inspired by playing Dynasty Warrrios... worse still)
Le Morte D'Arthur

I guess you can say I decided to clear part of my wish list.

gunther speaks

oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

deep in the night i am looking for some fun
deep in the night i am looking for some love
deep in the night i am looking for some fun
deep in the night i am looking for some love

oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

deep in the night i am looking for some fun
deep in the night i am looking for some love

oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

mmm, my ding ding dong
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong
oh, you touched my tralala
oh, you touched my tralala
mmm, my ding ding dong

For more info, http://www.gunthernet.com

more pics, more travel

I uploaded some pics from my recent trip to England. And after I finish doing that, I'll update that whole crazy travel thing I have on the righthand side. It's a new year. It's time for a new list of destinations! Exciting!

more travel?

So I'm either crazy or I'm a fool, but I just spent the last hour looking at possible travel itineraries (unsuccessfully). Yeah, I just came back from England, but as you may know, I travel a lot.

So... for 2005, I'd like to go to Seattle with the family since that seems like a place that they would love to visit. I'd also like to go visit Maia in Japan.... I'd also like to go to India with Navin. The funny thing is that all three should probably happen in August, and as I just found out, it's almost impossible to get an open-jaw itinerary that goes from Cleveland to Seattle to Osaka to Bangalore and then back to Cleveland. So much for literally flying around the world in a single trip.

browns

So by winning today's game, the Browns managed to lose the 2nd spot in the draft to get the 3rd spot. It just gets better and better.

And yeah, I'm still alive. I know it's been awhile. Holidays and stuff (yes, that's just a lame excuse).

right, right?

Or is it?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=332364&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

snow!

First snow (accumulated) of the year!

captain's wafers are awesome

Back in school we would go out late at night and get food at King's, a crappy 24 hour restaurant that they have in Pittsburgh. The food there sucks, except for the breakfast and the Captain's Wafers.

I haven't had Captain's Wafers since then... till today. Chris' diner on Lee Road. Get some soap. That's where it's at.

work work work

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't updated this blog in about a week. What can I say, I've been busy. Plus, I'm training you for when I'm going to be on vacation for a week.

Yep, that's right. Another vacation. Going to the UK with Barnes for a week. Be back by Xmas.