Agent Black's secrets

Trudging

2010-02-28T21:47:00.000-08:00

I had to finally face the single biggest pain point I've been carrying; something that I have been procrastinating for the past 2 years. At the same time something inside me died; I need to be patient and let time take care of that healing.

Obsession with Pens

2010-02-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

Ever since I moved to Chicago; my lifestyle has changed significantly; lot more time indoors vs. outdoors. Also, I realized I've been doing things that I used to do when I was a kid. For example, I used to make model cars, tanks, etc. So I ended up building this boat...and now my obsessions with writing instruments came back. I remember when I was in elementary school, I will save up money to get one of those parker or cross pens. Even though they were pieces of crap based on my current standards; they mean a world to me. So i accumulated a bunch of dupont, caran d'ache, faber castell, mont blanc pens now...not sure what i'm doing. There's more to life than the 4 walls during winter...thats my key takeaway...I'm counting days to see the sun soon...and eventually more of the sun forever.

2010

2010-01-01T19:53:00.000-08:00

Alright, it's 2010 now. There has been quite a few changes in my life since I last wrote. I've gotten an MBA, lived in Singapore for a period of time, made some cool friends in the process. Also, I moved to Chicago.

Will write soon

Resolution

2008-04-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

I set forth this year pledging to make some major changes in my life. To focus more on my personal life. It's end April and some of my plans are taking shape. I wonder how things will be this time next year.

What is a recession?

2008-01-23T09:31:00.001-08:00

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.

A depression is when you lose your job

Little Princess is downgraded to Little Miss Evil

2007-12-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

Little Princess (A.K.A. Little Buddy), Little Dude (A.K.A. Vickie) and family went cycling at East Coast Park and had lunch at Long Beach Restaurant.

At Lunch, Little Princess failed to finish her food. When further investigated, she quickly slipped down her chair and hid underneath the lunch table like an endangered specie. The committee (Ray and I) has officially downgraded little Miss Princess to the status of Miss Evil. hehehe....

The "Evil" status was first bestowed upon me by Miss Princess since I repeatedly requested to rest my tired feet on her decorative pillow. However, my behavior has been stellar ever since and thus I have relinquished my title to the more deserving Miss Princess.

3 months break and 2 weeks of thoughts

2007-11-30T13:09:00.001-08:00

A lot of things happened in the last 3 months; more than anything else, I treat this blog as a journal I keep for myself if I ever will read what I wrote some time later. I need to do a better job in updating this...

I had two events that happened in the last 2 weeks that has made me think about my life a little more...

2 weeks ago:
I heard a loud crash while I was working from home; it sounded so dramatic that I really thought a spaceship landed in the backyard or some construction was going on. I scaled over the wall of the house and found an overturned minivan and another car in smoke a dozen yards away. I rushed to the minivan. After much struggle, I managed to get one of the doors ajar and helped a lady and her young kid out to safety. At that moment I felt adrenaline rushing through my veins. More interestingly, once I was calmer hours after, I had a feeling of satisfaction from doing something good in my life which I saw direct implications and at the same time felt humbled on how things can be beyond one's control.

Last night:
Talking about beyond your control....
I have probably flown over 1.5M miles in my life..however I have never experienced a flight like the one I was in last night. The embrodier small jet I was in from my flight from SF to OC shook and rattled (both up and down and side to side) so violently, I really thought it was going to be my last flight. This happened suddenly on the pacific coast and lasted for a good 10 seconds. For a few seconds, I thought of my family and particularly my mom...it's funny the thoughts that come to your mind if you have moments to think before your mind and body resigns to the fact that you might not live to see another day. Surprisingly, I also felt very calm like a brahma cow for slaughter...like its fine if I have to go now. Maybe I was calm as I was elated that I do not need to work another day on this hugely frustrating current project I am in...haha. Whatever the case was...I did think about my job and life.

View from the rear

2007-08-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is not a good attempt as the microphone setup caught a lot of wind noises and reverbs but I will be working on capturing better sound sometime next weekend when I get the time. You can actually see the rear retractable spoiler retracting once the car slowed down.

According to the factory manual, the spoiler automatically extends at about 75MPH/120KMH and retracts at 50MPH/80KMH

Visiting home

2007-08-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

I will be going back home to Singapore in September to visit my family. It would have been 9 months since I was last home; one of the longest stretch so far. I've been good about visiting home at least twice a year except this time round. As I am trudging towards finishing my current engagement, I am looking forward to being with my family again.

Congrats to Slick Oof

2007-08-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Oof for being released from the institution with a doctorate degree for fulfilling his sentence and exhibiting good behavior. I thought I will attach a picture of the ticket stub..a little flashback of the one and only rock concert Oof, Alaskan sausage and I went to watch...LIVE with opening from Slick Rick...haha

"you say slick, I say rick'

Housing loan defaults, stock market and mamba2 tragedy

2007-08-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Housing loan defaults are behind the volatile stock markets. I drew out a very simplistic diagram on the effects of discount rate on the stock market. This doesn't directly answer the question on why housing loan defaults affect stocks...but its has a similar effect. Defaults affect interest rates banks give to enterprises to make up for the financial loss of defaults PLUS huge market panic (which is the real culprit more than anything). Stock price is dependent on discounted future cash flows...future means uncertainty....panic and uncertainty don't go well together.

Okie now, just to make sure we understand the topic better..three questions to think about...

If federal rates are cut how does it affect the following?

1. Dow Jones; up or down?
2. Gold price; up or down? (assume oil trade, market demand and supply, etc. is consistent)
3. US currency exchange rate stronger or weaker?

BTW, a kid driving a chevy truck backed into my stationary mamba 2. My heart weeps.... :((((

A Marine Mischief

2007-08-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today I was at JFK taking a flight back to LAX . I was at the lounge working on my laptop and watching cnn by the corner of my eye. A bizarre story was reported that a strange submarine was spotted besides Queen Mary.

On a very random topic (totally unrelated)...

The Turtle was made by David Bushnel, 1776 (USA). The Turtle attempted to attach its 150 lb gunpowder charge to the British flagship the Eagle, but failed.

I bet someone from the institute must be behind this.

P.S. OK; I lost the bet; there are many others outside the instituition who are equally loons..

Excerpt:

NEW YORK — In a bizarre case of "marine mischief," a Brooklyn artist manning a replica Revolutionary War submarine caused a scare Friday morning after police found the strange-looking vessel foundering in a security zone near the docked Queen Mary 2, authorities said.

The handmade wood and fiberglass vessel, at the end of a tow rope tied to an inflatable boat, was spotted by police near the luxury ocean liner docked at the cruise ship terminal in the Buttermilk Channel off Red Hook in Brooklyn.

"It was a strange sight," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Angelia Rorison.

Police held the artist, Philip "Duke" Riley, and two other men, both from Rhode Island, for questioning. But there was no indication the trio meant any harm with the replica of the 1776 "Turtle submarine."

One of the Rhode Island men claimed he was descendant of David Bushnell, the inventor of the original one-man vessel that inspired the replica, police said.

The makeshift sub "is the creative craft of three adventuresome individuals," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. "It does not pose any terrorist threat. ... We can best summarize today's incident as marine mischief."

Some more random pictures

2007-07-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

My nephew and niece gave a demonstration on how much they love teletubbies...maybe not too fond of twinkie winkie

I have yet to post pictures of the trip but this is the scoobie doo minivan we were using..

That's hoover dam from the air I took..whenever I fly from Denver to OC on united. It's nice to see the same place on the ground and from the air. That's panaromic shot of hoover dam too..Megratron is hiding underneath the dam.

Strange men caressing mamba2...:(

Some UCI chick rear ended my car but managed to repaint the scuffs

Mamba2 has another companion in the office...

Disappointment

2007-07-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

Usually the movies that I highly anticipate fail to deliver and the ones I walked into the theater without even knowing whats the story is about are the ones that pleasantly surprise me...Lesson in life; always lower your expectations .

Anyhow, Transformers was a waste of time I think. There was too much of idle human chats and little robot action. Whatever happened to the complex, mind-boggling and twisted Transformer storylines of robots killing each other, showing greed and manipulation for leadership, etc..

My secret love for Transformers

2007-07-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

I've yet to post some pictures of my family vacation. I will do so when I get some time.

However, Transformers the movie is out and as much as I want to pretend to be a matured adult, I can't wait to watch it. As a kid, Transformer was appealing to me as it was the only one cartoon where the good guys did lose once in a while. For some warped reasons, I always supported the underdogs and bad guys..hehe. In Transformers, the good guys occasionally died..as much as it was touching, I felt fulfilled.

I couldn't afford the cool transformer toy as a kid and after scrounging up all my money, I got two (1 crane and 1 excavator) out of the 5 of the green constructicons. I bought them months apart..one of the them made up the head and the other the right shoulder of the big robot once they all merge. I spent numerous hours playing with the head and shoulders imagining how tall and big my combined transformers will look one day if I got the rest of the three body parts. Besides those two, one of my wealthier friends gave me a broken star scream and that was the jewel of my collection. Eventually I sold the excavator to a friend to alleviate my dire financial situation (probably used the money to buy chemicals to make a rocket) and I think I still have the crane somewhere at home in Singapore. Transformers are awesome...its more than meets the eye for sure.

Uncle Thug

2007-06-11T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today Princess P, my little niece, spied on my laptop and found out about my secret blog site (only a few privileged souls know about it; that's you!). She wrote the url on her little pink diary so that her memory won't fail her by the time she is back home. I threatened to steal her diary when she falls asleep..and now she has the diary underneath her pillow while the little one is falling asleep. Such a thug of an uncle i am.

PTO

2007-06-09T21:36:00.001-07:00

These days, I fully cherish every single minute of PTO I earn per year. So this week I am taking my PTO in midst an engagement that is just launching on Wednesday. My sister's family is here visiting California for their vacation and they have gracefully asked me to tour with them. This is day 1 of the vacation and I am typing from the Westin in Vegas after driving 300 miles earlier today. I will attempt scavenging enough energy within myself to try a hand or two at the casino tables at the ground floor.

Nature's propellers

2007-05-27T20:17:00.001-07:00

I was out having lunch at Tommy Pastrami in Irvine with a friend (I was trying to quench my craving for corned beef sandwich) and I noticed the blossom on the side of our table.

The flowers had 5 petals and each petal had a distinctive twist to it resembling a propeller. As I picked one up and dropped it from a height, it started spinning and drifting away from the lift it created from the spin induced by gravity. Not sure what the reason is...maybe to disperse the seeds away from parent plant? (but its a flower..don't they reproduce from pollination?)

Amazing...how we as humans have learned so much from nature and copied some of their designs..from Velcro (from seeds that stick to your socks from those undergrowth) to high strength carbon nano-structures (from "honey combed" structures of bones with amazing strength to weight ratio) to rough hydrodynamic skins on race sailships (from studies that rough shark skins help with hydrodynamics) .

Here's my humble attempt to mimic the flower with my 2-fin paper propeller..it actually spins and works!

Dirty linen on the run

2007-05-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

I think I spoke too soon of the W. Last night, my team spent the final night together at the W lounge. After 3 martinis and other concoctions later, I returned to my hotel room past midnight; ready for the bed as I was planning to get up 6 hours later to go to the gym before work.

I soon realized my laundry wasn't back and things got more exciting that they couldn't trace it. They kept looking for a good 1/2hr keeping me up awake. The manager finally appeared at my room, deeply apologetic. I kept my calm and gave them two options; 1. they return my clothes before i check out at 7 or 2. pay for them. The manager proposed to continue looking for my clothes till 6am, past which they agreed to pay. They also agreed to launder my only remaining dirty shirt i had and hand deliver it to me at 6am.

True enough at 6am sharp, the manager knocked on my door breaking the bad news of my missing linen and returning my clean shirt. I quickly drafted out an invoice; 2 Shirts from Zara {one of which was a gift from mom :( }, 1 t-shirt from the institution {my 2004 graduation shirt :( }, 1 ralph lauren undershirt {time to replace it anyway :) } = approx $150.

They promised me to send a check to my office. W was also graceful enough not to piss off their platinum reward members and gave me 5000 points as a token of regret.

When I got to the office, i learnt that one of my colleagues also lost his laundry at another W...so the lesson is; bring old dirty clothes to the W that you may never want to see again.

The windy city

2007-05-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

So this week I got to work out of the Chicago office after an extended period of detention/exile in the middle of nowhere in Kansas. It reminds me of the line in the Gladiator where the gladiators return to the Colosseum after spending many years in "flea infested filthy towns in the outskirts".

As I was trying to be industrious, the lap top today presented a blue screen of death; much to my dismay. I almost felt like throwing the tablet out of the window but I remembered that I was on a high rise building in the middle of chicago.

It might have been my fault that it's been temperamental. Past weekend I had the lap top running and kept it in my insulated bag and absent mindedly left the bag in the car trunk on a very hot day. By the time I rescued the tablet, it was hot enough to cook an egg on the keyboard. Anyhow, it seems to be running fine now. If not, I will probably be getting my 7th lap top in 2.5 years.

So I got to stay in the W at Lakeshore this week. They seem to play trance and lounge music every where. I actually felt impressed that the hotel played Gabriel & Dresden, David Guetta and the like in the elevator. The hotel room is also artfully decorated...like a window with shutters in the bathroom that a peeping tom in the bedroom could have a front row view of his /her hotel room mate taking an indulging shower; how convenient.

I didn't know the room had a full view of the lake till I woke up in the morning. The ferris wheel at the pier got me nostalgic about the time my folks and sister visited me for graduation 6 years ago and we went on the ferris wheel.

Of cos, no visit to Chicago is complete without visiting the Penang restaurant in China town. I had my favourite rendang and sambal kangkong! :)

The curse of the elusive engine

2007-05-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

The familiar sight of sitting in Maam's white audi A4 with a red ambient dashboard lights while driving home to OC from our soccer sessions at USC is nothing but memories now. Maams has returned to Singapore for good. This weekend, I caught myself almost calling maams for lunch or to find out if he is going out to play soccer; a routine that has been developed over the last three years. Another one of my closest buddies that I am really going to miss.

Meanwhile, back in Kansas, the river that flows besides my hotel swelled. The effects of the bad weather further south was evident.

On my flight back, I took a picture of the jet engine. I'm not sure how many of these pics I have but I just love the sight of it running. That also reminded me to look for that elusive engine of mamba2 that has been well hidden beneath the back of the driver seat. I have yet to see that engine since I bought the car and I was adamant about finding a proof that it exists.

So, I have to drop the convertible top by about 4 inches, unrig the convertible harnesses, remove the leather storage pouch, remove the think sound insulation mat, unscrew the composite engine cover lined with the metal insulator to get into the engine.

No; I didn't figure this out by myself. I had to read a manual. I had no idea that getting to the engine can be such a task.
So there she was...the heart of mamba2...Bellissimo!

It must be the curse of the pandora's box of some nature...the grease I got on my hand refused to wear off even after a day..thats after I used all the solvent I could find at home including rubbing alcohol.

It's been a while

2007-04-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Alright, unlike some people I know from Boston, I will maintain my good habit in keeping my blog up-to-date. Meanwhile, my tardiness has left me a lot of cover succinctly over the span of the past month;

Visit to Boston

I was in Boston once again last week for Thursday night and Friday as I had to attend a recruitment drive. I stayed at the Hyatt Regency on Memorial drive. However, it was disappointing that I did not get a room with a view of the Charles River.

Well, I used to get a million dollar view of the River when I stayed at the dismal slavehouse called the Tang building (E55?). I bitched and grunted to the dean of housing till they got me to Sidney and Pacific. I still remember in specifics that the dean personally told me that the only reason why they allowed the transfer was due to my persistence in ranting..hehe. So it must be bad karma playing out its acts on me.

Anyhow, Oof got me a Nerd Pride shirt. Together with Tuyen, Oof also attended my presentation and asked probing questions. On a side note, Oof's rats were not in the cage..I wonder if he finally ate them.

I was in Venice!! (I wish)

So my client took some time off for spring break. That meant that my team needed to have a professional development program so we can hone our business skills and develop as better agents (just like how Bond proved himself in Casino Royale) What can be a better location than Vegas?

I stayed at the Venetian. The rooms were suites with a living room, a flight of stair to the beds (i tripped once at night)...Gondola trips, great food, spectacular shows, mesmerizing night life and of cos the Casinos!! I think I only got 8 hours sleep in a span of 3 days.

As for the game of statistics. I thought I had good luck on my side as I was up $500 at black jack at one moment but within 1 hour I lost $250. I knew its high time to walk about with $250 up; nothing substantial but at least its in the green. The most Bizarre thing was, I received 7 aces in a single hand; in a row!! It was absolutely bizarre. I continued splitting the cards till the rules didn't allow me further. The dealer had to call the pit boss to report the incident as the chances of that happening is almost next to nothing. When I thought that was just peculiar, the next round of hands, I received 5 Aces in a single hand again!!!!

Mamba gets a companion; BlackMamba 2

This is the heart of BlackMamba 1; a 5.6 Liter V-8 pure engine capable of churning out more than 300 horses.

Before I continue, I just want to declare this firmly; I am not going through a 1/4-1/3 life crisis; NO!

SO this is the heart of my new love, Blackmamba2; 2.5 liter, v6 engine in a horizontal boxster configuration mated with a convertible 2-door body in a mid-engine configuration. The Transmission actually extends to the rear of the rear wheel axles.

Finally united; Blackmamba 1 and Blackmamba2. Both are German cousins whose birth places are not too far away from each other; stuttgart and manheim.

It has always been a childhood dream of mine to drive a Porsche; my arm is sore from me pinching myself to check if I am still dreaming.

Boston

2007-03-05T21:22:00.000-08:00

Over the years, I truly understood the meaning of the phrase "time and tide waits for no man". When I was in junior college, I had a terrific time. I truly believed that my clique of buddies left a permanent legacy of notorious undertakings...I thought the memories will be well preserved by the teachers who will stay behind, the concrete buildings that were our classrooms and playgrounds, the ex-classmates whom I will keep close touch with forever.

Little did I knew that within a couple years, almost no one remembered us. Only once I re-visited the campus. I found out my school building was destroyed and replaced by a new building that was erected about 500 yards away. Majority of my teachers left. The memories of the canteen benches where we played carrom, the secluded lecture theater where we had rendezvoused while truanting, the backyard where we played soccer, etc. were reduced to nothing but vague recollection in my mind. There weren't any physical memento to recount. I am not in touch with a single of my classmates.

I always wanted to visit Boston and my remaining good buddies to recount my wonderful years I spent there during my graduate school. From experience, I knew it might turn out to be a rather nostalgic yet mildly chilling experience. Oof is scheduled to complete his PhD this year; I have to visit him as he was one of my closest buddies there.

The weather was horrific this week as I flew out of Kansas City to Boston. I was grounded in Detroit for a night while I was trying to make a connection to bean town. I almost lost an entire day due to delays on top of piling work that needed completion. I almost gave up and booked for a flight back to LAX. I felt that I was not destined to visit Boston. Miraculously, 10 min before I boarded my plane to LAX, I decided to cancel my flight and persevere my original journey to visit Oof and friends.

The flight was further delayed and they had to spray down the entire plane with de-icer before we were sanctioned to fly. Eventually, the plane took flight.

I spent the weekend walking about and chilling out (literally in the cold yet sunny weather) in cambridge. There were new and unfamiliar sights as well as very familiar ones. It was like finding Wally..."is that new?" That must have been my most used phrase this weekend.

However, I did recognize some staple ones...100 memorial drive, where some of my peculiar friends used to reside. The liquor store on Mass Ave that supplied numerous hours of intoxication and contributed to the wine stains on my tutorial sheets.

I had nee-romien for two breakfast in a row; a delicacy that I used to enjoy every weekend.

However, one memory that was etched in my mind was that of Oof enjoying his drag of cigarette he held from his shivering hands at the corner of sidney and pacific...a sight so complimentary to the background of roaming alcoholics and homeless folks trudging their way to the nearby home.

Dough-nut surprise

2007-01-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

I had to get up at 5am as usual to catch my flight to Kansas. As I was sipping my morning tea in the cabin reading my favorite Technology Review magazine (courtesy of the Institution), I almost spilled the hot beverage over my lap when I recognized the sinister smile from a picture of a peculiar character ....

Lucky guess

2007-01-23T14:21:00.000-08:00

I KNEW IT! ~4.5% on a single day!!

"Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil surged the most since hurricanes devastated the Gulf of Mexico coast in September 2005 after the U.S. said it will double the size of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The reserve will increase from its current capacity of 727 million barrels of oil to 1.5 billion barrels over the next two decades, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said today. Bodman said the U.S. will start buying 100,000 barrels of oil a day this spring to expand the stockpile. Prices rose earlier because cooler U.S. weather will increase fuel use."

PETROLEUM ($/bbl)

	PRICE*	CHANGE	% CHANGE	TIME
Nymex Crude Future	54.90	2.32	4.41	16:38
Dated Brent Spot	55.04	2.33	4.42	15:04
WTI Cushing Spot	54.02	2.91	5.69	16:02

Good time to buy a barrel?

2007-01-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

Good time to buy now? I'm thinking about the same too. It might slide further down but it should be golden within the next 1-2 years for sure. Don't quote me please.

Mom's treasure box

2007-01-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Took a picture of some of my mom's property in the kitchen; cornerstone of Indian cooking. I don't even know the name of the one at 10-11pm position.

All good things must come to an end

2007-01-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

That's the title of the Nelly Furtado song I like which she sang with Chris Martin from Coldplay. However, I am also talking about the abrupt end of my blissful vacation in Singapore. The first week of my vacation was greeted with torrential downpours, perennial monsoon weather for the region except monsoons were not very frequent in the last 10 years. The weather in the second week was just amazing; I went to pierce reservoir a few times to make the best of it.

I am sitting in the admiral's club in Tokyo airport waiting for my connection to Dallas. I will post some pics of my trip when i get the time.

Neverending rain

2006-12-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

It's 6am in Singapore. I've been getting up consistently around this time for the last three nights probably due to the jet lag that I am suffering and also partly due to nitemares that I am having about my bed floating in a pool of water. It's been raining non-stop in Singapore. I have never seen so much rain in my life.

In a way it can be pleasant as rainy weather is awesome to laze around in bed but I've been a home body since I got back because of the rain. I wonder why rains promotes lethargy..my conclusion is that the sound of rain drops, the cooling effect and the mental images of wet ground pyschologically promotes torpidity.

Anyhow, I'm excited that Oof will be coming to town later this week; really something to look forward to.

Inspired by Palin

2006-12-22T00:31:00.000-08:00

I've been watching Michael Palin's travel adventures with BBC production. The first one of his if I recall correctly was from Around the world in 80 days. Palin's wit and cynical humor just makes the entire episode rivetting to watch.

I've been inspired and been thinking of doing my own small travel adventure. Just off the back of my head, I think I would like to buy / rent a cheap-ass land rover..like discovery or defender or something and drive around West Malaysia or Drive from Singapore all the way up to Calcutta and ship the vehicle and myself from Calcutta back to Singapore. Whatever the route is going to be..i think it will be a lot of fun. Anyone interested let me know..I'm serious!!! :) I will probably take a couple of months no-pay leave to do this.

Fellow Agent wins Survivor series

2006-12-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Yul Kwon, an agent from my firm wins the survivor series. There is light at the end of the tunnel to alternate employment outside the firm..i am thrilled!

(12-17) 20:35 PST New York (AP) --
His former competitors awarded Yul Kwon, the "godfather" of the CBS game
"Survivor: Cook Islands," with the $1 million top prize Sunday in a
classic finale that pitted brains vs. brawn.
Kwon, a management consultant who was the soft-spoken strategic whiz in
the 13th edition of the game, bested Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth, the effortless
athlete who dominated physical challenges as the game neared its end.
With the money on the line, it was a 5-4 vote.
"It's the first time I've ever felt bad that somebody didn't win," host
Jeff Probst said. "It was so evenly matched."
Kwon, a 31-year-old management consultant who lives in San Mateo, Calif.,
was the brain with degrees from Stanford University and Yale Law School.
He controlled the strategic aspect of the game, particularly after he
found a hidden piece of jewelry that guaranteed him one-time immunity from
being voted off the island.
"The key to winning the game is maximizing the good luck and minimizing
the bad luck," he said later.
Lusth, who has two years of Santa Barbara City College on his resume and
works as a waiter near the surf in Venice, Calif., mastered the tropical
game's challenges. He won two very different ones on the show's final
two-hour telecast Sunday: winning a race to complete a complex puzzle, and
showing his endurance by standing on a tiny platform for two and a half
hours.
For the first time, "Survivor" brought a third contestant into the final
vote, but 28-year-old Rebekah "Becky" Lee was a non-factor.
For a game that began in racial controversy, it turned into a showcase for
the nation's diversity, according to Kwon.
"Survivor" producers were criticized for segregating four, four-person
teams along ethnic lines at the game's start: white, black, Hispanic and
Asian American.
The game's final four contestants included a black woman, Mexican-born man
and two Asian-Americans. The fourth was Sundra Oakley, a 31-year-old
actress from Los Angeles.
Those four people made up the game's Aitu tribe, which at one point
competed against the eight-member Raro tribe. Methodically, that core
group of four voted all eight of the others out of the game, the final one
Sunday being Adam Gentry, 28, a copying machine salesman who lives in San
Diego.
Lee hoped to garner votes by convincing her former tribe members that she
had mastered the social aspect of the game, in order to survive so long.
They weren't buying it, particularly after Lee and Oakley had to compete
in a tie-breaking contest that required them to build and sustain a fire.
After an hour failing with a flint, Probst gave them matches. Lee won
because Oakley ran out of matches.
"After 35 days out here, you should both know how to make fire," Probst
scolded.

The Metro

2006-12-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

I just got back to the OC from my mission in S.E. Asia. It is actually quite chilly in Southern California and the worst part is my block had a power shortage last night and since the heating and stove in my apt runs on electricity, I not only ended up skipping dinner but froze myself to death last night. Plus, I had to skip my shower too cos the water was freezing. Though its not snowing here, I can fully emphatize with Alaskan Sausage now.

So this is a picture of portion of Metro Manila from the office. Metro manila is huge, I was really impressed. It is the third most populous metropolis in the world with 11M people or so.

Some other pictures from Manila. The gun piece you see is a WW2 Japanese installation found near the spanish walls. The gun was installed by the Japanese when they briefly ruled the Philippines before Gen McArthur returned as he promised to. All Japanese installations were destroyed but this one was only recently discovered as Marcos hid all his gold here and rigged up the entire place with explosives. The well-like structure you see is a spanish installation to provide drinking water to its settlement. It is also where they brought prisoners to be tortured and recently the gold was also hidden there.

The vehicle that looks like a tin can is the famous Jeepini. You see them running everywhere in the metro. They have Japanese engines and transmission mated with locally made tin / steel body.

Live life..

2006-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

BTW, I was on my way to my parent's place in Singapore from Changi airport. I was checking my blackberry and the next thing I heard a loud bang and instantaneously my black berry and I flew towards the driver seat.

Thank god, I made it out in one piece but with a nasty headache... life is fragile and live without regrets. That was the lesson for me that night.

Mercedes hospital / Cemetary

2006-12-01T06:18:00.000-08:00

Before I left for Manila, I had to get my car to pass the smog test. California has strict anti-emission laws for vehicles and any vehicle manufactured after 1985 needs to pass periodic smog test. Mamba failed the initial test. I suspect the motor was burning too lean . The EGR valve was a little clogged up and wasn't feeding accurate data to the O2 sensor thus causing NO2 level to be a tad too high.

I had to bring it to the Benz doctor. It was fun to see Mamba's cousins sitting there. As you can see below, all models of Mercedes were there at Mike's place in Huntington beach.

This one is prolly from the late 60s not sure what the model is.

This one is mamba's sister vehicle; the SEC series. Its the S-Class coupe series which same motor as the SEL.

This one below is the popular W123 series from the 80s. It is the most popular mercedes ever; having sold over 2.5 million all over the world.

This one below is mercedes major attempt to make an affordable sedan; the 190E series.

Below is the v-engine of a 80s SL. The CAM cover is stripped and you can see the timing chain and overhead cam shafts of the V-8 motor.

Update; still alive

2006-11-16T03:40:00.000-08:00

I'm still alive; been working 100hr weeks but the work has been very interesting and extremely high profile. One of the biggest highlights so far is dining with one of the richest guys in south east asia. I've met quite a few affluent people in my life but this meeting just blew my mind after I found out he has 5 personal jet planes and over 150 cars in his collection. Part of the collection includes mclaren f-1, over 10 ferraris, 30 over porsches including a porsche gt!, rolls royces, mercedes. We aren't talking about the dime the dozen 2008 S class ...we are talking rare 70 year old mercedes benz that is valued at a couple of million a pop. I only visited one of his 7 garages but I managed to see some of these gems and they were all emmaculately kept. This meeting totally humbled me and at the same time made me wonder why those people who eventually make enough to buy just one of these car behave like they rule the world..:)

That's all for now; will share some pics some other time.

Off to the Philippines

2006-11-03T22:50:00.000-08:00

I have been confirmed on a secret mission in the Philippines. Its going to be an intensive 4-week stint. I will post some pictures if I am left with any time to breath.

Cool ant farm

2006-10-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

I was a bad uncle as I didn't get any new cool toys for my nephew and niece this time round. So I went to my favorite discovery store this past weekend and bought an amazing hi-tech ant farm kit. The gel, derived from a NASA Space experiment, serves as both habitat and nutrition for the ants - allowing you to watch as they turn a brick of aqua-blue gel into a fascinating colony of tunnels. Check it out!

"ANT FARM

In a recent survey, 4 out of 5 ants perferred the AntWorks Ant Farm Habitat over the more boring dirt farm. This space-age habitat allows you to study the behavior of ants in a unique, self-contained environment. Its special gel is full of nutrients specially formulated for the needs of the ant (formulated by a certified ant nutritionist). Because the gel is clear, you can actually see the ants dig their tunnels in 3 dimensions. AntWorks includes a container with a special gel formulation, magnifying glass, 20 page booklet detailing fascinating ant facts and a special ‘extreme magnification lens' with which you can even see hairs on the ants! Live ants are not shipped with this product! You'll receive a order form to send away for your ants. Shipping of the Ants is $3. Just make sure their new home is ready when they arrive. "

Pictorial update

2006-10-29T21:14:00.000-08:00

I've been missing for a while. Partly because I've been busy travelling cos of work (Amsterdam, Orange County, Chicago, Singapore and back to Orange County) but also partly because I just wanted some time by myself. I only met up with a couple of people outside of family when I was in Singapore. For those who have been trying to get hold of me, my sincere apologies.

THE NETHERLANDS

Amsterdam is full of canals and the houses or building by the canals have a very dinstinctive architecture. The front wall or facade of the building is slanted forward. I am not sure if that's visible from the picture but this was by design to facilitate cargo that could be hoisted up to the attic for storage from the boats on the canal.

The second picture shows part of the building of my training center. The original building is about 200 years old but the rest of the training center is brand new with state of the art facilities. The center was located about 1 hr south of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam had other interesting sights. For example, there were people stoned and lying down everywhere (my friend took that picture, btw.) There were also "public" toilets on the street. Besides such sore sights, I have re-iterate that it is a beautiful city with beautiful architecture.

CHICAGO

I would highly recommend to stay at the James hotel if you visit the windy city. It is a boutique hotel right in downtown area. The bathroom has tasteful designer faucets. The main room has very comfortable bed, nice furnitures, and flat screen TV. It also came equiped with a decent bar in each room.

SINGAPORE

I was in Singapore cos of work and had a week of vacation at the tail end. Any true Singaporean will know Kickapoo joy juice. I remember drinking this home made soda when growing up. It has a tangy kick to it; almost like mountain dew.

Back at home, my mom cooked up a feast for deepavali and I took a picture to remind myself what I am missing now. Serangoon road or Little India was bustling with busy sales and beautiful lighting for the festive occasion.

The colonial looking building is the Fullerton Hotel. It used to be the old Singapore Post headquarters or something and is now converted to a luxurious hotel. I will recommend staying there even though I have never actually experienced staying there. I was there for the wedding of an old college friend from the 13th floor (Joule will know this person).

Mamee and KAKA are also momentos from the 80s. These two snacks were my favorite growing up in Singapore. KAKA used to have plastic cheap toys enclosed with each packet to help market the toxic MSG enriched snack but I did'nt find any this time. They must have gotten rid of it to save cost and probably do mother earth a favor as the toys will probably end up in the trash anyway.

SINGAPORE

I was in Singapore cos of work and had a week of vacation at the tail end. Any true Singaporean will know Kickapoo joy juice. I remember drinking this home made soda when growing up. It has a tangy kick to it; almost like mountain dew.
Back at home, my mom cooked up a feast for deepavali and I took a picture to remind myself what I am missing now. Serangoon road or Little India was bustling with busy sales and beautiful lighting for the festive occasion.
These two pictures are also nostalgic to me; two little school boys playing soccer underneath the apt building aka void deck. I didn't really play soccer that much growing up; I played hantum bolla instead (dodge ball). The last one is a picture of the Singapore Kuching; the famous singapore cat. They are everywhere. These are the stray cats of Singapore.

Knowledge

2006-10-10T02:52:00.000-07:00

This past month have been very interesting, enlightening and at the same time quite draining for me. I just completed 3 weeks of MMBA in the Netherlands; a short crash course to MBA for those who did not formally go to a b-school. I learnt corporate finance, microeconomics, operations, strategy and marketting from the world's leading b-school professors and the firm's covert agents.

Besides calculating Weighted average cost of capital (WACCs), ROIC, Cash flows, and other such technical entities, I also learnt more abstract concepts on marketting and strategy. At times, I felt reassured that the capital world can indeed be quite manipulative and evil. Game theory or Nash Equilibrium was another interesting concept. My key take away is to make decisions that avoids conflicts and shoots for a win-win situation. At the same time, I felt it was a non-risk taking approach. It was a lot of fun during the three weeks. I was also locked up in a training center with Phds, Law and Medical school graduates from Harvard, Yale and the like. So there was no shortage of competitive people but I did manage to have good fun and made lasting friendship with some amazing people.

I will post some pictures when I get the time. Its just that these days I feel quite drained, emotionally and mentally. I think I do know the answer why but I am avoiding it.

Alien Contraptions

2006-09-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

One of the things I find very appealing about travelling to a new place is observing the type of products they uses in their everyday life. By this, I mean the type of cars, buses, chairs, tables, cutleries, flatware, glasses, shower heads, etc. It must be the engineer in me as I love studying designs.

I am currently in Amsterdam, Netherlands and among many things, I took pictures (with the little time I am given; this is eating into my sleep time actually) of two objects to illustrate my point.

So the first picture, make a guess what this wierd eloborate electric powered object is.....

It is a door stop that works on electro-magnet with a on-off switch.

This is an easy one as its obvious from the picture. I find it interesting that the Ving card is this plastic card with holes punched precisely where the matching pins are on the on locking mechanism. I bet if I trace out the holes, I can duplicate these cards quite easily.

A trip to Antiquity in LA

2006-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I made a trip to the Getty museum. The museum is nestled in the valleys of Santa Monica; an extremely beautiful and affluent neighborhood of the LA county. It is located on top of a hill overlooking the city and also all of the ludicrously expensive villas that are perched on the top of nearing hills (probably owned by steven speilberg, tom cruise and the likes).

It became quickly apparent that this is one damn rich museum. The art pieces that it carried were all high profile and created by very famous artists. Nothing surprising, its congruent to the socio-economic status of the denizens of the city that the museum resides in.

In LA and OC, people wear expensive labels all the time; purposefully touting their wealth and probably not taste. The words Gucci, Fendi, Dior, LV etc. will be written in bold letters all over their clothing and accessories even if the clothes dint match. Compare this to the people in Milan, most of them could not really afford the pradas, gucci and armanis; their native fashion labels. Yet they are dressed very fashionably without a single label up for public viewing.

I am digressing here but some similarities applies to the museums. Some of the European museums aren't as wealthy and dearly guard the one or two work from the masters. However, their curators and guides know their valued possessions better than the back of their hands. The guide at Getty wasn't all that impressive and quoted the wrong dates, etc. All she talked about was hollywood and how much the paintings costs, etc.

I know very little about art but I did study art history in college (antiquity to 1100ad) and appreciate anything aesthetic.

I particularly liked this painting as the artist was able to impeccably capture the different textures on canvas; the (rather plump) human skin, fur, marble and linen.

Monet is a true master; his paintings portray complex renditions and the more time you spend looking at it, the more you observe the appreciate the fine details that you mighht miss on initial attempts. These paintings are greater than life and viewing them in real life is a huge difference from looking at prints.

When you look at the painting up close, it has a lot of texture to it and carefully accented colors and when you look from far and at different lights, the painting comes alive. The different hues definitely gives a complex set of dimensions. Btw, this particular monet is of the Rouen Cathedral and monet did about 20 portraits of it before bringing it back and coming up with this one.

Of cos, the flag ship painting of the museum by van gogh whose native country that I am sitting in now while I write thi; the Netherlands. The irises is one true master piece that the museum paid $55million back in the 90s!!! The painting is worth at least 3 times of that now; talking about good invesments. I had a poster of the irises in my bathroom for the longest time but you have to see it in person to truly understand why mine cost $6 and this cost $55million.

The signature van gogh swirls in the oil paint and deep textures makes this painting greater than life. Van gogh painted the irises while he was in the asylum. By then, he already has cut off his ear.

This is a 1600 spanish sculpture of a saint made entirely from a wooden medium. It is so life-like that it is freaky. It probably was the madam taussad of the past. I believe this one was done by a female lead royal sculpture back in the spanish kingdom so there are some similarities with Madam T.

In shakespeare, you will read about the sarcophagus a few times. People back in the days had a lot of time to create such work of art for the side wall of coffins but not for everyone of cos...only for those who can afford one.

This one is cool as I remember reading about this back when I studied art. This is a copy of the marble roman sculture about a dude and two of his sons consumed by a serpent from the trojan war chronicles. It is 400 yrs old nevertheless.

I thought this rendition of Mercury looked cool!

I highly recommend the getty museum to anyone visiting LA. Its FREE! You have to pay for parking though and $3 for an audio tour accessory which I recommend too.

Which is worse?

2006-09-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Just an observation with no inclination to comment:

Bali bombers get 8 years jail vs. 8 Australians sentenced to capital punishment by firing squad for trafficking controlled substance.

The Wedding

2006-08-31T23:05:00.000-07:00

Oof shared with me the great news that Mama-G is expecting a baby-g. We have more good news from the institute...

Sexy A from the institute got married last Saturday in Seattle and it was my honor to be there to witness the occassion as one of the groomsman. I flew into Seattle on Friday morning from Connecticut while the Alaskan flew in from..Alaska. It was nostalgic to see the usual suspects from the infamous lab reunite after 2 years in exile.

I was also asked by Sexy A to propose a toast and I felt honored to do so. I wanted to make sure the toast was succinct, humorous, and touching. I rehearsed with the rest of the groomsman a few times but I realised the best speaches are the ones which are most candid and I just went with the flow. I heard laughters occasionally and claps so I felt I dint mess it up too bad. After the wedding, we had great indian food for dinner and danced for a couple of hours. I had a lot of fun dancing with the little flower girl.

The next day, both the Alaskan sausage and I were feeling kinda morose and moody. I wasn't sure why. We both acknowledged that we arent in the best of mood and started rationalizing it. The truth is, we were very happy during the wedding but the next day something hit both of us hard.

1. I felt nostalgic and maybe a little left out that Sexy A has left us
2. I felt sad I will be flying off the next day as I had a lot of fun with my gang
3. I started thinking about myself and what to do with my personal life

Weddings are fun to attend. I have not attended that many as I am seldom around physically to attend any. But whatever the case, No more wedding for me and the Alaskan, we pledged.

Ford in disguise

2006-08-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

This week I got the Volvo S80 as a rental and I felt reassured that god definitely loves me. But I felt doubtful soon after I started driving it.

I quickly recognized that it is a shoddy piece of junk steel. It felt like a Ford and if I closed my eyes, I would think I was in a Ford 500...freaky. If you look at the engine compartment, you can see its all plastic and looks cheap. The joints have bad tolerences and for sure its very different from the V70s I have been used to. I rented a V70 for two weeks in Germany and that was a totally different car. The transmission was jerky and will sprint forward unpredicably as u step n the gas pedal like a rabies infested wild dog on a leash that was out of control.

Nevertheless, I thanked god that I am alive and in good health and that is the biggest sign that she loves me.

Pivotal point

2006-08-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

I am currently presented with two opportunities that I am having tremondous difficulties making decisions. More than once, I've heard people in my life remark that I help make decisions for multi-million dollar companies and I have a lot of difficulties making simple decisions in my own person life.

The KL office wants me for 1 full-year for their biggest petroleum and energy client in South East asia. 1-yr in my firm's timeline is about 1/2 the tenure of average people come and leave. This will be an amazing opportunity to be back home still under the u.s. office and will make me a firm expert in petroleum but I am not sure if I want that label. Especially when I am trying to associate myself more towards venture capitalism, private equity, etc.

The other option for me is do a private equity rotation program for 6 month. It will definitely kick the heck out of me as I was warned about how intensive it can be but I have to bite the bullet and learn as much as possible in that 6 months.

In either case, I need to be making some quick decisions. I know this is one of those red vs. blue pill moment that could change my life forever. There were a few of these before in my life. Of cos, the biggest so far has been the day I decided to go to the U.S. for college. Let's hope I choose the right pill. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Nordic Seafood

2006-08-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

Seafood in Sweden is really good and I highly recommend it. This was not because of the way it is cooked but more because of how fresh it is and also because they are caught in the wild in the nordic seas. You would not get the sambal, chilli or pepper crab, etc. you get in Singapore. The seafood is cooked very plainly as with most food in sweden. If you can fine tune your taste buds to enjoy the subtle taste, you will love the freshness of the food sweden has to offer.

The cold sea water for some reason has some part to play. I read in wikipedia that the cold water only allows ceertain breeds of wild shrimps to survive and you don't find any jumbo tiger shrimps here. The shrimps in Sweden were kinda small but very chewy and slightly sweet. As you can see some semi-devoured examples of the sea food. The shell comes out easily coupled with meat that is a little tough, peeling the shrimp is a simple affair.

Above, you can see a seafood salad with pasta (made specially on my request) with some white fish, shrimps, crayfish, oyster, etc. and Mariestad, my fave Swedish beer in Gothenburg.

Below, what is left of crab and shrimp dinner.

Is this worth it?

2006-08-10T12:37:00.000-07:00

Just thinking of the aiport and travel is enough to motivate me in finding an alternate career. With red alert on flights all over the U.S. due to our creative foes having nothing better to do with their lives but giving the rest a headache, I just checked in my bag as I had my fave cologne ($50), nivea deo ($5), toothpaste ($5), contact lens solution ($5), etc. in my bag. I could have chosen to throw away about $65 of stuff and carry my bag on board to avoid the hastle but I chose to check that bag in. I just hope my bag gets there as I just realised that I have my ipod, bose headphones and my digital camera in that bag together with 5 pairs of shirt and my pair of dress shoes and my jeans and my chargers and my.....ARGH!

Meyers Briggs profiling

2006-08-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

The firm puts heavy emphasis on the Meyers-Brigg profiling as a way to study team-member chemistries and how to effectively work together. You have to understand that every couple of months or so the agents are staffed on a completely new teams with new members, managers, leadership, clients, industry, functional expertise, location, etc. To work together, you need to understand the personality of your fellow members and get some work done as soon as you hit the ground.

I took my test some time last year and took the same test again just recently to see the difference. Your personality can change under situations and thus a the Meyers-Brigg is not your profile for life but those border line traits can change. I was quite impressed that how consistent the results were. Another thing I feel is the M-B profile is also dependent on location and environment. I am probably more of a extrovert outside of the u.s.

Anyhow, this was my profile last year:

TOTAL RAW SCORE (2005)

E: 11
I: 18
S: 5
N: 18
T: 16
F: 7
J: 10
P: 16

Predominant profile: INTP

TOTAL RAW SCORE (2006)

E: 15
I: 14
S: 2
N: 18
T: 15
F: 8
J: 9
P: 19

Predominant profile: ENTP

It is pretty interesting self awareness excercise. I learnt that my NTP is very strong and I am a borderline extrovert. The profiles for ENTP and INTP are as shown below....so my take is I am inbetween Weird Al and Tiger Woods in terms of personality.

So this is the profile for an INTP

INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them.
Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. While annoying to the less concise, this fine discrimination ability gives INTPs so inclined a natural advantage as, for example, grammarians and linguists.
INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.
A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.
Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages, computer systems--potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay. Accomplishing a task or goal with this knowledge is secondary.
INTPs and Logic -- One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor logic -- apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of overlooking details or of incorrect context.
Games NTs seem to especially enjoy include Risk, Bridge, Stratego, Chess, Go, and word games of all sorts. (I have an ENTP friend that loves Boggle and its variations. We've been known to sit in public places and pick a word off a menu or mayonnaise jar to see who can make the most words from its letters on a napkin in two minutes.) The INTP mailing list has enjoyed a round of Metaphore, virtual volleyball, and a few 'finish the series' brain teasers.
INTPs in the main are not clannish. The INTP mailing list, with a readership now in triple figures, was in its incipience fraught with all the difficulties of the Panama canal: we had trouble deciding on:
1) whether or not there should be such a group,
2) exactly what such a group should be called, and
3) which of us would have to take the responsibility for organization and maintenance of the aforesaid group/club/whatever.
A Functional Analysis -- by Joe Butt
Introverted Thinking
Introverted Thinking strives to extract the essence of the Idea from various externals that express it. In the extreme, this conceptual essence wants no form or substance to verify its reality. Knowing the Truth is enough for INTPs; the knowledge that this truth can (or could) be demonstrated is sufficient to satisfy the knower. "Cogito, ergo sum" expresses this prime directive quite succinctly.
In seasons of low energy level, or moments of single-minded concentration, the INTP is aloof and detached in a way that might even offend more relational or extraverted individuals.
Extraverted iNtuition
Intuition softens and socializes Thinking, fleshing out the brittle bones of truths formed in the dominant inner world. That which is is not negotiable; yet actual application diffuses knowledge to the extent that knowledge needs qualification and context to be of any consequence in this foreign world of substance.
If Thinking can desist, the INTP is free to brainstorm, calling up the perceptions of the unconscious (i.e., intuition) which are mirrored in patterns in the realm of matter, time and space. These perceptions, in the form of theories or hunches, must ultimately defer to the inner principles, or at least they must not negate them.
Intuition unchained gives birth to play. INTPs enjoy games, formal or impromptu, which coax analogies, patterns and theories from the unseen into spontaneous expression in a way that defies their own comprehension.
Introverted Sensing
Sensing is of a subjective, inner nature similar to that of the SJs. It supplies awareness of the forms of senses rather than the raw, analogic stimuli. Facts and figures seek to be cleaned up for comparison with an ever growing range of previously experienced input. Sensing assists intuition in sorting out and arranging information into the building blocks for Thinking's elaborate systems.
The internalizing nature of the INTP's Sensing function leaves a relative absence of environmental awareness (i.e., Extraverted Sensing), except when the environment is the current focus. Consciousness of such conditions is at best a sometime thing.
Extraverted Feeling
Feeling tends to be all or none. When present, the INTP's concern for others is intense, albeit naive. In a crisis, this feeling judgement is often silenced by the emergence of Thinking, who rushes in to avert chaos and destruction. In the absence of a clear principle, however, INTPs have been known to defer judgement and to allow decisions about interpersonal matters to be left hanging lest someone be offended or somehow injured. INTPs are at risk of being swept away by the shadow in the form of their own strong emotional impulses.
Famous INTPs:
SocratesRene DescartesBlaise PascalSir Isaac Newton
U.S. Presidents:
James Madison
John Quincy Adams
John Tyler
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Gerald Ford
William Harvey (pioneer in human physiology)C. G. Jung, (Freudian defector, author of Psychological Types, etc.)William JamesAlbert EinsteinTom Foley (Speaker of the House--U.S. House of Representatives)Henri ManciniBob NewhartJeff Bingaman, U.S. Senator (D.--NM)Rick Moranis (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids)Midori Ito (ice skater, Olympic silver medalist)Tiger Woods
Fictional INTPs
Tom and Fiona (Four Weddings and a Funeral)Dr. Susan Lewis (ER)Filburt (Rocko's Modern Life)

This is the profile for ENTP

"Clever" is the word that perhaps describes ENTPs best. The professor who juggles half a dozen ideas for research papers and grant proposals in his mind while giving a highly entertaining lecture on an abstruse subject is a classic example of the type. So is the stand-up comedian whose lampoons are not only funny, but incisively accurate.
ENTPs are usually verbally as well as cerebrally quick, and generally love to argue--both for its own sake, and to show off their often-impressive skills. They tend to have a perverse sense of humor as well, and enjoy playing devil's advocate. They sometimes confuse, even inadvertently hurt, those who don't understand or accept the concept of argument as a sport.
ENTPs are as innovative and ingenious at problem-solving as they are at verbal gymnastics; on occasion, however, they manage to outsmart themselves. This can take the form of getting found out at "sharp practice"--ENTPs have been known to cut corners without regard to the rules if it's expedient -- or simply in the collapse of an over-ambitious juggling act. Both at work and at home, ENTPs are very fond of "toys"--physical or intellectual, the more sophisticated the better. They tend to tire of these quickly, however, and move on to new ones.
ENTPs are basically optimists, but in spite of this (perhaps because of it?), they tend to become extremely petulant about small setbacks and inconveniences. (Major setbacks they tend to regard as challenges, and tackle with determin- ation.) ENTPs have little patience with those they consider wrongheaded or unintelligent, and show little restraint in demonstrating this. However, they do tend to be extremely genial, if not charming, when not being harassed by life in general.
In terms of their relationships with others, ENTPs are capable of bonding very closely and, initially, suddenly, with their loved ones. Some appear to be deceptively offhand with their nearest and dearest; others are so demonstrative that they succeed in shocking co-workers who've only seen their professional side. ENTPs are also good at acquiring friends who are as clever and entertaining as they are. Aside from those two areas, ENTPs tend to be oblivious of the rest of humanity, except as an audience -- good, bad, or potential.
Some Famous ENTPs:
Alexander the GreatConfederate General J. E. B. StuartSir Walter Raleigh
Fictional:
Mercutio, from Romeo and JulietHorace Rumpole, from John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey seriesDorothy L. Sayers's detective Lord Peter Wimsey
A Functional Analysis -- by Joe Butt
Extraverted iNtuition
ENTPs are nothing if not unique. Brave new associations flow freely from the unconscious into the world of the living. Making, discovering and developing connections between and among two or more of anything is virtually automatic. The product of intuition is merely an icon of process; ENTPs are in the business of change, improvement, experimentation.
The attraction Extraverted iNtuition has toward the real and physical amounts to a cosmic non sequitur: theory is drawn to practice. Such encounters are clearly puzzling. Both parties--the intuitor and the realist--are aware of a xenic quality in their meeting, with reactions ranging from recoil to reverie.
Introverted Thinking
Thinking is iNtuition's ready assistant, an embodiment of the sort of logic found in laws, boards and circuits. Thinking's job is to lend focus and direction to iNtuition's critical mass. The temporary habitations of changeling iNtuition are constructed of Boolean materials from Thinking's storehouse. Ultimately, Thinking is no match for iNtuition's prodigiousness. Systems lie in various states of disarray, fragmentary traces of Thinking's feverish attempts to shadow and undergird the leaps of the dominant function. One can only suppose that Thinking must continue to work during REM sleep pulling together iNtuition's brainchildren into integral wholes.
Extraverted Feeling
To the extent that Feeling is developed, ENTPs extravert Feeling judgment. As a result, it is not uncommon to find affability and bonhomie in members of this species. Tertiary functions are potentially utilitarian. Their limitations appear in their relative underdevelopment, diminished endurance, and vulnerability. ENTPs may harness Feeling's good will in areas such as sales, service, drama, humor and art. ENTP loyalty often runs high and can be hooked by those the ENTP counts as friends.
Introverted Sensing
Like a tail on the kite of iNtuition, Introverted Sensing counterweighs these beings drawn to nonconformity and anarchy. These shadowy sensory forms, so familiar to SJ types, serve as lodestones which many ENTPs employ Herculean measures to escape. "Question authority! (then do exactly what it tells you)" sums up the dilemma in which ENTPs may find themselves by attempting to best the tarbaby Sensing. Occasionally acknowledging awareness of norms and abnormality could, in theory, be potentially freeing.
Additionally, I've noticed that ENTPs have the need to have areas of expertise/excellence/uniqueness in which one is second to none. I've never beaten an ENTP at his/her own game--not in the final analysis. (e.g., just tonight, my neighbor who is recuperating from an illness received a call from an ENTP friend offering his special recipe for tea. The instructions required only the finest ingredients, a particular brand of orange juice, tea made with a ball--none of those horrid teabags--..., which will of course make the best tea of which he himself drinks 50 gallons each winter!)
A Few More Famous ENTPs
U.S. Presidents:
John Adams, 2nd US president. [Adams appears to have been competing with Thomas Jefferson to see who would live the longest. ("Jefferson surv...")]
James A. Garfield (who could reportedly write Latin with one hand and Greek with the other, simultaneously)
Rutherford B. Hayes
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt
Thomas EdisonLewis Carrol, author (Alice in Wonderland)Julia ChildSuzanne PleshetteGeorge CarlinValerie HarperJohn CandyJohn SununuWeird Al YankovickMarilyn Vos SavantAlfred HitchcockTom HanksDavid SpadeCéline DionMatthew Perry, Chandler ("Friends")Rodney Dangerfield
Fictional Characters

Some images

2006-08-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Time flies; I just noticed that I started writing nonsense here exactly a year ago. I probably had one of the worst weeks at my job this week; little sleep, 4 plane flights in 4 days, worked past 100 hours and to top it off there were some client issues. Well that is all behind me now...so some long due pictures now.

I miss the balcony of my apartment; i used to sit here have a glass of pellegrino and fix my toys (mountain bike, etc.)

P.S. I will update more pictures later, this is taking too long to update

Silent prayer answered

2006-08-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

God must be listening; after close to two years of perennial luck in ending up with Ford Taurus, Chevy classic and the like, I finally got the rental car of my dream...an AUDI A4!! I ended up at Hertz and the only cars they had with GPS were Volvo, Jaguar and Audi. Of course, I took the Audi but the unfortunate thing was I had to reject the Audi convertible as I have to be discrete as a code of conduct for a covert agent.

2.0T engine with responsive transmission, immaculate black leather interior...I hope not to wait another 2 years to get a rental like this. Fellow agents in Europe get to drive such cars as rental all the time; one close comrade in Munich got an A8 as a rental as he drove from Munich to Stuttgart.

Meanwhile, I will sleep tonite looking forward to my drive tomorrow.

Trudge

2006-07-21T02:17:00.000-07:00

A trip to Singapore is always a humbling experience for me. When I see my parents and siblings working hard for a living, it grounds me and gives me a wake up call to turn my life around and be passionate about life. This time round, I was back because of work and drew a lot of insights from my short trip which I might write about some other time if I can spare some minutes.

It can seem pleasant working for a good firm and the perks are always there with respectable salary, benefits, etc. but at the end of the day you are simply a slave. All corporate companies are disguised business running on a pyramid scheme; the ones lower in the chain slave for the few on the higher echelon. Though I relatiate being part of this but I rationalize my current duty as part of an apprenticeship period in-lieu of a better and more fulfilling life in the future.

I've been seriously putting some thoughts into my own businesses. I firmly believe in commodities as a base business before venturing into tetiary products and services. My little knowledge and instinct in turning businesses around (something I acquired as an agent), once more refined should be enough to allow me to penetrate into a chosen commodity market I am passionate about. For instance, simple bottled water industry. Commodity companies that do well have usually few key things in common; excellent operating principles and strong marketting. Using such a business as a base, it would be easier to open up tetiary business (sticking to the water example; you could market and sell sparkling water that u could custom adjust the carbonation level to your preference by a button on the bottle, patent pending..hehe)

Maybe eventually, I can start my own Toy factory(with micro remote control submarines that be used to chase the smallest fish in the aquarium)...even if it doesn't make money but just for the fun of it...but meanwhile, I will crack my head over my seed businesses.

I will end my writing for now..I hope to stop procastinating. Kick me in the head please.

Abducted

2006-07-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am back in Sweden from Singapore. I do have to make a last trip to Copenhagen before heading back to the U.S. I should be back in the Netherlands in a months time for another mission. Folks in the U.S. have been emailing me as they are worried that I was abducted. My disappearance from the OC for the last 2 months just shows how excited I am about that place. Anyhow, I do miss my "home" but I guess I really miss mambamobile. The battery must be flat by now though.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

2006-06-19T09:55:00.001-07:00

Sand bagging is an all american slang that I hear a lot and eventually decided to look up at urban dictionary.com and ended up enriching myself with very interesting description of it and of many other terms and acronyms. I am quoting some of the interesting definitions I came across there:

sandbagging

13 up, 2 down

in corporate sales: when reps report a much lower deal opportunity than actually exists. reps do this so that if the deal doesn't go through they don't look as bad and so at the end of the quarter when the company has to make their number the rep isn't selected to perform a high pressure last minute sales job.
this market looks small for us, unless the reps are sandbagging us again.

harvard

19 up, 8 down

An elitist university where one would go to waste "$150,000 on an education you coulda got for a buck fifty in late fees at the public library." For example: "I just wasted 150,000 dollars last weekend in Vegas!""That sucks, but I went to Harvard and it took me four years".

MIT

187 up, 57 down

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prestigious and cool university in Boston with incredibly hot girls and a generally laid-back student body. Example: These people are much cooler than the stuck-up bastards at my school in the other end of Cambridge...
Dude, let's check out the kick-ass frat parties at MIT tonight.I'm going to cross-register at MIT to get away from you assholes.

There are a lot more interesting terms I learnt ...which I will let it to the readers discretion to find out by themselves. Happy enriching of your vocab; your high school teacher will be so proud of you, I reckon.

Toilet with a view

2006-06-05T02:38:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of flying on Scandinavian Air and love the view that came with the toilet though I did make sure no one was peeping at 35,000 feet before i used it.

Maams and Jon graduate

2006-05-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Two postings in a day; I'm wasting too much time but today is special. Maams and Jon graduated from USC and we had a party to appropriately celebrate the academic feat. We had a bbq, we went to Spundae with Markus Schulz spinning the trance tracks and came back to continue our bbq to quench our hunger cravings at 3am and I drove back at ungodly hours to the OC being faithful to my bed.

Last week in Santa Clara

2006-05-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

As my mission in Santa Clara was trudging to a finale, I began rewarding myself for my work (I learnt that you need to reward yourself graciously when its appropriate as no one else will; whereas people are always enthuastic in berating you at the slightest opportunity)

I decided to stay at the Valencia Hotel in my favorite Santana Row. Actually that happened by consequences of the Sheraton, my usual hangout, being overbooked. Valencia is quite a trendy but rather pricey hotel (rated at $500/night). The hotel is tastefully decorated and presents a warm and sophisticated ambience. I highly recommend visitors to the valley to spend a night or more there.

As usual I dined at the Straits Cafe, the Singaporean-fusion joint that sells up-scale prata for $10, a 1500% mark-up of the $0.60 authentic version you get back home. I decided to have hokkien mee ($14 version) with 2 bombay martinis. Santana row, a street where the affluent denizens of san jose parade their wealth blatantly, gets terrorized by the high pitched screams from the engines of the Ferraris that roam the blocks. Even my deaf ears were beginning to hurt while I was having my dinner as I sat in the veranda that amplified the echoes of the italian demons.

I also fulfilled my desire to watch a major league baseball game. I got to see the SF Giants play against San Diego at the Giant stadium in downtown SF. As you can see, the bunch of guys in kayak and a radio just waiting to retrieve any balls that end up on the water. They went home disappointed that evening as Barry Bonds didn't deliver.
I also liked the apt lofts just opposite the stadium; interesting architecture with floor to ceiling glass windows. They appear to be 2-storey apartments giving outsiders a cutaway view of the entire apartment. Maybe one day....hehe :)

A vague recollection

2006-04-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last blogged. Let me recall...over the last few weeks, I've been doing quite a bit of things. For example, maams and I took part in a drunken revelry in LA. I went to visit Maams for once.He has graciously drove down to the OC to hang out with me quite periodically. Maams has a really nice bachelor's pad. His housemate as you can see in the picture after a couple of drinks of black label was spinning some great tracks infront of the altar of alcohol. I vaguely remember the wonderful taste of johnny with soda and heading to Spundae for some spectacular trance music. (Yes, the bottle was brand new when the three of us got it.)

What else...I was in Vegas last week for the firm retreat. Spent 4 days there and it was absolutely awesome. Though we lost the soccer game, I won more than a few hands of blackjack. The cirque de soleil show was a visual feast. Besides that, clubbing in studio54 was an experience with aerial trapeze artist suspended above the dance floor. Another drunken revelry that I am experiencing difficulties recollecting now.

This week, I've been getting my equipment up to date. I threw my old cell phone together with my sprint contract and welcomed the razor with cingular. I got the bluetooth with it. I will be getting a brand new model of blackberry. I also got my old lap top replaced with a brand new one with wireless broadband card that allows me to surf the net from pretty much anywhere that u can get a verizon cellular signal. I also recently acquired a brand new S80 canon camera. Visco boy was amused by my rudimentary equipment when he met me last fall. I had a beat up laptop that was peeling paint, carried my beat up phone and wallet in a plastic bag and kept my appointment calendar on a tattered paper notepad. He is in for rude awakening now.

The flashback of pain

2006-03-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today, I played soccer; two days in a row. Kums (pronounced as "Cuums" like vaCUUM) made a guest appearance today after MIAing since his marriage. Everything was going well till I reached for a ball that was definitely not within my reach. I managed to stop it with my left foot but I lose traction and braced myself for a nasty fall....180 pounds on my right ankle in an awkward fall was enough to tear some ligaments. Kums who was close by heard some noise from the rapturing of ligaments. I was in immense pain...recollections of my frequent torn ligament problems from the days of OCS (officer cadet school) 10 years ago started flashing by. I saw whiteness as the pain was unbearable. It was not quite the flash that people report during a near death experience of all the bad things you did in your life but was close. I know my flashback will be exceptionally long like a 4-hour movie bcos of all my misgivings but I have been trying to be good these days.

I remember spending 4 hours a week at the military rehab at tanglin. I've never had ligament problems for a while since. It used to be so bad that just walking on a level ground casually is enough for my ankle to give way and I will trip. Maybe it is really time for me to hang the boots...but while I was in pure pain..i was trying to salvage the situation and wondered if I could get back to the game. The rational side of me took over and I realized it was not worthwhile. Now I have problems just walking...so good thing I dint.

I am going to stop soccer atleast for 2 weeks since "big Maams" is visiting me from Houston this coming weekend. I hope to recover soon and I emphatize with Maomi fully now.

I suspect the talofibular ligament is torn.

Tribute to Mamba

2006-03-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't written about my dear mamba in a while and I felt it will be timely to do so at this moment in time (while she is still alive and kicking). Everytime mamba seems to fall ill and I prepare myself to face the grim fact that I might have to put her to sleep for good, she springs back alive.

Mercedes Benz vehicles till probably 1990 were made with spectacular build quality. The cars were way over-engineered; thicker gauge steel body shells, well designed and built automotive parts with long service life, etc. None of the cars these days can match the quality and pride the factories took in producing these vehicles back in the years. Over the last decade or so, the Stuttgart based manufacturer had cut corners to proliferate profits in leu of quality. The reputation of the german manufacturer began to suffer as a result. Mercedes has since committed itself to revamp its quality; its getting better now but there is still a long way to go I feel.

Meanwhile, I was doing some routine maintenance and recorded a clip of the 300Bhp V-8 engine. Click on the picture below to listen to the roar. It is actually quite deafening in person. That engine is capable of hauling a 5000pd car to 60mph in under 7 secs!! Now you know why I am complaining abt gas money. I wish I could keep this car forever! :)

Manufacturer: Daimler-Benz (Mercedes-Benz)
Production Plant: Sindelfingen
Mfg. Suggested Retail Price: $80,000.00 approx. (back in 1987!!!)

Engine Code: 117.968
Engine: 5.6-liter
Engine Cylinders: V-8
Engine Type: 4 Stroke gasoline
Power: 220 kW / 5000 rpm (300 hp US, 299 hp Metric)
Torque: 455 Nm / 3750 rpm (336 ft lbs)
Displacement: 5547 cc (338.5 cubic inches)
Bore: 96.5 mm (3.8 in.)
Stroke: 94.8 mm (3.7 in.)
Compression Ratio (1): 9.0:1
Compression Ratio (2): 10.0:1
Battery: 12 V / 92 Ah
Alternator: 14 V / 80 A
Cooling System: 13.0 liters (13.7 qt.)
Engine Oil: 7.5 / 5.5 liters (7.9 / 5.8 qt.)
Plugs: Bosch W9DC
Gap: 1.0 mm (0.040")
Transmission: Automatic four speed torque converter

Chassis Code: 126.039
Gross Weight: 2290 kg (5,049 lbs, 2.5 US tons)
Curb Weight: 1830 kg (4,034 lbs, 2 US tons)
Wheelbase: 3070 mm (120.9 in., 10 ft.)
Overall Length: 5160 mm (203 in., 17 ft. long)
Overall Width: 1820 mm (71.7 in., 6 ft.)
Curb Height: 1446 mm (56.9 in., 4.7 ft.))
Turning Circle: 12.30 m (484 in, 40 ft.)
Fuel Tank: 90 liters (23.8 gallons)
Reserve Fuel Tank: (Included. above)

PERFORMANCE

Acceleration (0-100 kph): 6.9 sec.
Top Speed: 250 km/h (155 mph)
Fuel Consumption City (~40 mph): 12 mpg
Fuel Consumption Highway (55 mph): 22 mpg
Fuel Consumption Highway(80 mph): 18 mpg
Coefficient of Aerodynamic Drag: 0.36 Cd

CONVERSIONS

1 cc = 0.0610237441 cubic inches
1 kilowatt = 1.34102209 horsepower
1 kilogram = 2.20462262 pounds
1 millimeter = 0.0393700787 in
1 kph = 0.621371192 mph
1 US hp = 550 lbf.ft/s

Disgrace

2006-02-26T21:52:00.000-08:00

I just got back from my weekly game of soccer. As a mama (Singaporean slur for indians, means "uncle" in tamil; I can't believe i am explaining this), I feel like I am disgracing my fellow tamilans by not playing good soccer.

Indians are known to skillful soccer players...atleast in Singapore. I think it might got to do with the congruent fact that my indian buddies I know are pretty creative with stories or rather coming up with excuses and imaginative stuff..hehe. Soccer, has some parallelism..like when u dribble past opponents, you have to fake and use your imagination to wriggle them off by being witty. Whatever the case, I wish I could improve my soccer even though its way past my time to hang my boots on the wall.

I will continue working hard on it..meanwhile..its time to sleep. I have a flight to catch in the morning.

Honey, get me some redbull and ipod from the vending machine.

2006-02-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

As some of you might know, I'm staffed on a project at Geek central; Silicon Valley. It is working out quite well for me as the commute isn't that long compared to the long flights to Puerto Rico. However, I had a situation last evening.

The American flight from San Jose to Orange County got cancelled due to technical problems. We had to deplane and coincidentally all the other flight were delayed, sold-out and cancelled due to weather problems in Chicago. My colleague and I made the decision to drive a rental!!

HAha..not funny actually. It took us 6 hours to get home and I got to bed at 2am and got up at 6 am for work.

However, silicon valley has some interesting sights. Like the picture below of a vending machine in my hotel. It sells redbull, food, ipod, etc..yes...IPOD and the price aint that bad either. $200 for the black Nano..very tempting.

Who lives in a Pineapple under the sea?

2006-02-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

I started loving sponge Bob square pants before he started getting famous (so proud of myself now..haha). I remember when I worked for Dell in Austin, TX (back in 2001). I will spend my weekends watching Sponge-Bob thinking; "this cartoon is actually quite amusing". I am even more so glad that it wasn't just a fiction and there are real sponge bobs...this one probably got washed ashore..not sure where.

GHETTO SPONGE BOB

Memories of Towner Road

2006-02-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

Not many would have heard of Towner road but that street has special memories for 6 of us in my family. My siblings and I grew up in Towner road in the early to mid 70s in one of the Terrace houses there. I was probably 2-4 yrs old then but I remember very vividly the fun I had in that spacious house and during my increasingly lonely weekends in the OC, the touch of alcohol further irrigates the already fertile effervescent mind of mine, propagating pleasant thoughts of growing up on the streets of Towner Road.

The two-story house was huge and contrastingly furnishing was spartan and mininalistic. I remember a couple wooden furnitures but none of my siblings had a bed. All of us had rattan mats to sleep on.

The row of houses were of colonial style and built in the 1920s. The house had a peculiar architecture and layout was even more so enigmatic. Outhouse toilets, detached kitchen, a huge open space in the back, a concrete tub for bathing, a refreshing veranda with rattan blinds, spiral stairs...the list goes on.

On my trip back to Singapore after graduating from the instituition, I paid Towner road a visit after many many years (probably 22-23 yrs?). I learnt that the houses are still there and renovated back to its glorious past. They are owned by the Far Eastern group and are up for lease being marketted as the "Towner Ville" housing project. One of my high-level "to-do" list in my life is to buy that property back one day and live in that very house that I grew up.

Writing blogs

2006-02-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

This whole blog thing started as a clandestine operation for me to write random stuff without revealing too much about my identity. The truth is everyone knows its me and I have to be quite careful about I write here which is precisely what I was trying to get away from.

However, I feel the initial attraction of writing a blog has worn out and couple of my friends are no longer updating them.. (you mofos know who you are!). I enjoy writing so I spend 15 mins at a time writing B.S. here. I try to write about random stuff without getting..

1. Too personal
2. Without harping on disheartening issues
3. Giving opinions that would be political
4. Pissing people off

The amazing thing I realised is that I got a bunched of interesting comments on the article I wrote about girls being evil. I've always been someone who don't enjoy upsetting others but it was an eye opener for me to be honest. Anyhow, I will try to continue writing to keep this alive.

Sailing

2006-01-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

After a successful morning getting my vehicle back in order, we took the partners 37' yatch out to the sea. The pacific seacraft 37 is fully fitted with sophisticated marine electronics on a classic well built boat. The trimmings were made out of the best teak wood from burma with cleats and wondows made specially by factories in New zealand with top of othe line rigging equipments. Pangaea as she was fondly named can host up to 8 people comfortably with a spacious cabin that boasts the full amenity of a small studio apartment.

I reckon it was much more complicated than sailing my model boat on the lake but when I took the helm..I felt the tommy hilfiger moment with that distinctive stars and stripe in the background..haha.

The missing bolt

2006-01-22T13:45:00.000-08:00

A partner in my firm offered to assist me in fixing mamba so I drove her to his place in Laguna beach. We took the wheel apart to inspect the calipers. While I was anticipating a complete brake system overhaul, within 5 mins it became obvious that one of the two bolts securing the calipers to the main body was missing.

This caused the calipers to have some play and binding the rotors when the wheels moved backwards. Easy to fix? Maybe...but it took us 2 hrs to find the right bolt. The Germans and their damn wierd metric bolts with abnormal threadings. Finally, I put some threadlock on the bolt and screwed it back and MAMBA is alive again!! I was so elated that I wanted to drive back home in reverse. I spent a couple of minutes talking / consoling her when I got back. Old age is catching up with her.

Temperamental Mambamobile

2006-01-17T13:27:00.000-08:00

All good things must come to an end and likewise my holiday was over. I got back to the OC after being on the plane for an eternity as it seemed like. My plane landed and to beat the jet lag, I called my soccer kakis at USC and decided to drive down 40 miles to play soccer immediately. Mamba started like a charm on the first twist of the ignition key with a roar. After about 45 mins I got to USC and as I tried to parallel park the beast..I realised something was amiss.

As I engaged the reverse gear, the car refused to move. I felt the power transmitted to the rear axle but the car refused to bulge. I stepped on the gas heavily and the car dragged itself slowly backwards. I had no time to think about it as I had more pressing issues...to kick the football with my new pair of Adidas.

I returned back to the car after an exhausting session of soccer wondering if I would make it back home to the OC. I did have to get up at 5am the following day to catch the first flight to Puerto Rico, a 12-hr journey. The car started making thumping noises as I put it to forward gear. The noise seemed to disappear once I hit past 50mph. I drove non-stop at 80mph and reached home. I forced the car in the reverse gear and dragged to its parking lot.

When I got out, I noticed severe skid marks with thick traces of rubber from my brand new tires on the tarmac from the front left tire. As I thought about the problem and emailed Joule for some advice, it became apparent what the problem might be.

There are usually two brake calipers for each wheel for a disc brake system. I believe one works effectively for braking forward movements and the other for backward movements. The caliper must have been stuck into a engage position as I left the car in "parking" position for two weeks. Mamba must have felt neglected from my affections. I hope it is not a case of a faulty caliper pistion like Joule diagnosed. I intend to take the brake apart and clean it and hopefully mamba will be satisfied.

So...I emailed my colleagues for help and if someone could loan me their spare car. My fellow agents are seldom at home so the odds are pretty good. I have recived three offers so far... Old range rover, Toyota corolla, MG mini...I responded to the first good samaritan (haha..more like the car I liked the best). So..I might be driving my friend's mini for the weekend while I try to get mamba back to action.

Retrospection....

2005-12-18T12:38:00.000-08:00

Man vs. Waves

Melting words (ADAMR is sexy appeared mysteriously infront of blg 35 @ the Instituition)

Wells (array of micro embossed wells, part of my thesis)

Urban Color (view from my room in Singapore)

Castle in the air (Bavaria, Germany)

Monster of steel (2000 MW generators)

Facades (N.Y.C)

Paradise in the carribean (Coast of Puerto Rico)

Heaven and Earth (Hay field reclaimed from the coal mines of TX)

Living City (Singapore Skyline from New Asia Bar)

Evolution (My primate friend at Pierce reservoir near my parent's place)

Steel pipes (Powerplant at TX)

My patio in California

Rays of light (At the plaza near Milano Duomo)

Shoes of pride (While I wait during my graduation from the Instituition, wearing a pair of shoes my mom bought for the occasion)

Piercing the sky (Toronto)

Abraction in sheer distance (view from the glass floors of the sky needle)

Glass ceiling of flight (At a mall in Toronto)

Voices (Boston)

Micro Institute (Specimen from my thesis project)

Girls are EVIL!

2005-12-17T23:37:00.000-08:00

Post Mortem on wheel

2005-12-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

Camber is the measurement of how perpendicular the wheel is to the ground. This is an important specification. Most cars will have a slight negative camber. This is to make sure the car has more control during braking and also to make sure the car goes straight..An analogy of this will be skiing..when you ski, you tend to dig in and make sure the inner blades have more pressure in the snow by bending your knees. This gives you more control and also makes you go straight...exaclty same principle.

So why I am saying all this is..the wheel that went flat looked precarious..i mean it was already flat but what I meant was it gave me clues that the other tires are gonna go any moment. The inner rim wore out much faster and basically ate the rubber to its steel radials. The Negative cambering might be a little too steep and thus prematurely wearing the inner edge.

I brought Mambamobile to a tire shope to get the tires replaced..the other tires were also cracking, etc...sigh..$400 was the damage..

If I didnt make that stupid mistake on the stocks...this would have been covered in my earnings..!

Interesting fact

2005-12-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

I observed an interesting fact...that..4 out of the 7 (57%) Victoria Secret's models from the fashion show are BRAZILIANS!!

Joule...if you ever quit your job..you will be in great demand for wearing satin thongs infront of millions of viewers...and please pull Milky boy into it too while he is on a two-year sebatacle...

Flat tire and almost a grand lost....

2005-12-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

Today has been one of my worst days in a while. This morning as I was rushing to get into work by 7:15am for my meeting, my left tire felt heavy...I know that feeling. Every single car I owned in my life (6 of them so far) all had flats and I had to change tires for all of them. Likewise, Mamba had a flat and thank god I had a full sized spare in my trunk, and was wearing my best pants and shirt..argh...and I thought that was bad.

I checked the price of a stock I recently purchased..It had appreciated 5% yesterday and today another 5%!!!!! 10% in days is an amazing feat...($18.9 - 20.6) and so I thought I made $1.7 per share for half -lot I purchased...I checked my trading account cos I was about to cash out my shares and my half lot was missing!!!! To my horror I realised my stocks were sold the same day I bought, a week ago..."it can't be...it must be a mistake..no way..ameritrade fu#ked it up"...I checked my trade history and realised I put in an order for $17 on limit...and NOT stop limit...ARGH!!!!! Usually its my habit to put a stop limit as soon as I purchase stocks to -10% of principle amount to safeguard my investment as I've been burnt before...but stupid me in a rush put an order for just limit. So all 500 shares were dumped immediately at the price I bought and I LOST $850 of potential earnings!!!!!!!!!!! I can't be pissed with anyone else but just me..

:((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

An exciting package

2005-12-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

A big brown box came to my office this morning and I was excited. It contained my Lego Superbike among other Lego pieces that I am going to use for my client training on implementing pull system for manufacturing....yawn..

Anyhow for the more interesting topic..

Tah-Dah!!

That is my Superbike with contents. Finally I got myself Lego Technics...I could never ever afford them when I was a kid. I wonder which 10yr old kid in Singapore that Lego was marketting towards to spend $150-$200 over dollars on his/her toy. Actually I will take that back...kids nowadays have really expensive and sophisticated toys...

I was trying to fit the connecting rod of the lego engine with my Ferrari piston* but somehow it wouldn't fit.

I found out why...the Ferrari piston head* was out of specs with the Lego ....

Check out the crank shaft on the V-4 engine and the interesting thing is Lego got the firing sequence reproduced accurately. 1-3-2-4, ...not bad. There were no valves, cam shafts, cams or whatsoever but I didn't expect that for a $50 Lego. In the other picture you can see the engine block.

One day when I strike the lottery I will buy the Lego Mindstorm and the bigger technics set with pnematic cylinders....

* Thanks to Giorgia, she managed to get me and Visco two authentic Ferrari race piston heads each from Italy...and Visco almost embezzled mine by not mailing it over for almost a year. At least we are one step closer to owning a real Ferrari..hehe.

A reason to stay on the job...

2005-11-23T11:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was busy at work and my colleague Kris, whom I spent 8 months in the coal mine with came over to my desk. "Do you have some time now", he asked. "Not now dude, I need to complete this client document.....wait!, did you just get your new car?". Kris nodded his head. We scrambled down to the parking lot behind my office....There she was...gleaming in an aura of autoerotic glory..a brand new custom built 2006 model AUDI S4!!!!

Kris is very exquisite in his taste of material possessions. He had the car in the fullest options available...totally decked out, including full Bose sound systems, carbon-fiber trim which is not offered to Americans and he had to bug his agent to get it from Germany. The car was built to order for his specs all the way from Germany including GPS systems, specific colors of interior bottons, leather recaro seats, fog lights, trims, etc.

Here are the manufacturers specs....

Engine
Type:V8
Displacement cu in (cc): 250 (4163)
Power bhp (kW) at RPM: 344(253) / 7000
Torque lb-ft (Nm) at RPM: 303(410) / 3500
Redline at RPM: n.a.
Brakes & Tires Brakes F/R:
ABS, vented disc/vented disc
Tires F-R: 235/40 R18
Exterior Dimensions & Weight
Length × Width × Height in: 178.9 × 69.1 × 55.7
Weight lb (kg): 3659 (1660)
Performance
Acceleration 0-62 mph s: 5.6
Top Speed mph (km/h): 155 (250)
Fuel Economy EPA city/highway mpg (l/100 km): n.a. (13.3)

We took the car for a spin. Kris was gracious enough to let me drive her. The steering wheel initially felt really light (drive by wire) and it probably was utilizing servo mechanics. The interesting thing is the wheel got heavier as the vehicle picked up speed. It had a 6+1-speed manual transmission using short strokes gearshift. The car glided to ridiculous speeds with ease. Within 6 seconds I was driving past 55mph..I did not even know I was doing 90mph as it felt like I was doing 30mph. You have to remember that when I drive past 80mph on mamba...the floor will be shaking and the wheel will have a mind of its own and you will have a hard time differentiating between a Californian earthquake and mamba's gasp for air. S4 ...took very tight corners, sport tuned suspension forgives any abrupt manouvers u make. The aluminum chasis definitely improves the power to weight ratio though I wonder if it plays any part in evening out the roughness of the ride.

We popped the bonnet once we got the car back. It was amazing to see a 4.2L V8 engine squeezed into that small engine bay. Look at this picture!!! Just for your info, I think the "V8 4.2" to the Audi badge towards the driver is about only 2 feet!!

Did I also mention that the headlights steer around the corner with you? That was a technology initiated by the BMW 5 series if I remember..

"I got this car so that I have a more binding reason to continue working for the firm to pay for it", reasoned Kris.

Sounds like a good reason to stay on the job.

High school chemistry

2005-11-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

During high school, I had a love-hate relationship with the chemistry lab classes. The hatred came from the fact that the lab classes were awefully long and we had to do mundane experiments like titration to determine the number of moles of ch3cooh or NaOH in a sample. I mean these experiments were cool but doing them 100times over and over again is a little boring. Secondly, I was sent to detention class once for misappropriating some magnesium ribbons with my other classmates...That left a bitter after taste after I was mentally and physically abused by the evil prefects during detention class.

I had more fun squirting ionic water on my friends with the squeezy bottles or running my own experiments when the teacher walked out of lab for a second. Magnesium ribbons and acid, Magnesium ribbons and fire, Potassium Permanganate, etc. were more interesting to play with. There were some colored chemicals that I will use to stain on my friends' shirts and will demand a ransome before I gave them the oxidant to reverse the damage.

There were some prodigies in my class but... I was thoroughly impressed with the one who remain anonymous to this day for his feat of brilliance...The one who discovered the 4th law of newton. ...when I was bored in class as usual and started playing with the bunsen burner wooden blocks and noticed some writings on it. It was written....

Newton's 4th law of motion...
The angle of dangle is proportional to the thrust of the bust provided the mass of the ass is constant

The law was way beyond comprehension for most 14 yr olds in my high school.. including me...even now, I only partially comprehend the law. Remarkable is the display of utter geniusness that resides in the minds that lament structured education. If the Singapore government can unleash the practical implication of this law, it might solve the crisis the nation is facing in creating more babies.

Dresden and Gabriel

2005-11-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Vim's house mate John (a party animal) had a hook-up with the local trance clubs in LA and we managed to get on the VIP list for a night with Gabriel and Dresden!!!! The club (club circus) is located on Santa Monica Blvd (1hr from OC).

I met Vim and all his buddies from USC. These guys were already prepped for the night (80% drunk) . The music was OUT OF THE WORLD!!! The trance music got the crowd crazy...all this time I am at the OC i realized the losers here only listen to Hip hop and trance music apparently is almost treated like small pox or something. I was so rejuvenated to see 1000s of brothers and sisters in LA appreciating trance music. The beauty of trance music is, the music captures your soul..and people are out there to dance and have fun....unlike hip hop clubs where dudes are just trying to look cool and normally you will see a hoarde of guys oogling at girls to make a move....something i loathe; just wanna have pure fun listening to music.

The music was phenomenon, everyone had a real good time. The lasers lights were gyrating to the beats. The beats were tantalizing...the tempo (takt) in sync with your heart beat and in tune with your soul...I started jumping around and i've no idea where I got my energy from. I almost felt I could decipher the mathematical equation from the sound from the complex harmonics of electronic synthesis. The effects of the constructive resonance waves were ecstatic, the propagation of sound waves was in sync with the pulsating laser lights; slight phasal difference in recieving these audio-visual effects from a near distant disillusioned and mesmerized the minds of appreciators...It was near perfect...no wonder trance appeals to geeks.

Vim's housemate John was like a duracell bunny...he had so much energy you can rig some cable to his skin and power the city block.

Anyhow, all good things must come to an end..i drove back at 4am and made it home safely..my ears were still ringing all the way back.... thanks to the singapore artillery....

Amazing weekend..and it was nostalgic to be in touch with my clubbing past.

Driver License on public server!!!

2005-11-14T08:35:00.000-08:00

This is quite ridiculous. I just spent the last 1/2hr removing all my personal data from the internet. Read an excerpt of an email my friend sent me...

"Check for your driver's license . . and remove it! I definitely removed mine. I suggest you all do the same. Now you can see anyone's driver's license on the Internet, including your own! I just searched for mine and there it was...picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security! Go to the website, and check it out. Enter your name, city and state to see if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked "Please Remove". This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement. Please notify all your friends so they can protect themselves, too. http://www.license.shorturl.com"

BALDing

2005-11-12T02:25:00.000-08:00

Okie since some of my mofo friends love talking my head and hair when I was innocently talking about my headphones, I shall appease them with more knowledge on the topic.

Male pattern balding (MPB), which I guess what I am beginning to have is a natural process with guys..especially macho guys with high levels of testosterones. The correct testosterone will be DHT which is dihydroxytestosterone, a metabolite of testosterone. Eunuchs (pansies with no balls, literally..maybe Joule?), who have low levels of testosterones, do not lose scalp hair. In addition, men with a genetic defiency of 5alphareductase (enzyme that converts testestorone to DHT) also do not suffer...

There are some medications out there like Propecia or Finasteride which s a competitive inhibitor of that 5alphareductase and thus lower the DHT levels.

Up to 2/3 of guys experience MPB. I never thought I might be balding because my parents have full set of hair. It occured to me one day 4 years ago when I remembered my maternal grandfather was bald. He lived and died in India (bless his soul) so I did not spend much time with him. Thus, I was quite oblivious to the fact. On deeper recollection, my maternal uncle in India is also balding...hmmm....god dammit..F$%K! I just resigned to the fact that I have high testosterones and I refuse to take those medications that will punish my precious nads.

Anyhow I enjoy having my hair short anyway. If really my baldness becomes bad...i will spot a bruce willis hairstyle or rather the lack of it.
According to this chart..I am probably in the early stages. All I could say is I better enjoy my life more before I have that whole in the middle of my head!

Sound of Music

2005-11-06T18:18:00.000-08:00

Audiophiles like Matlov have strong opinions on their musical instruments, headpones and such. I recently purchased the Bose noise cancelling headphones against Mat's recommendation. The Bose headpones are a must have to fit into the business cabins of the jets of Corporate America. Honestly, I don't give a damn about that; more importantly I want to protect my hearing and also listen to some good music.

I swear, music has never ever sounded this perfect before. Crystal clear resolution with good bass. When you switch on the noisecancelling, it blocks off all the ambient white noise. It is a must have for you guys with girlfriends who chat nonchalantly. For me, it makes me appreciate music better.

7th year for the Deepavali Rambo

2005-11-01T10:08:00.000-08:00

I'm a veteran deepavali Rambo meaning I'm a one man show who never spent deepavali with my family for the last 7 years. I remember when I was a tiny kid in Singapore, deepavali was always a holiday in November when the chinese kids will use the break to study for the impending final-year exams during the november period and the malay kids will use it to play soccer in the void deck. I could have celebrated it with lesser inhibition if not for the fact that my exams will be a few days later. Nevertheless, it was nothing like mom's cooking, new clothes and basking in the happy ambience. I will be waiting by the kitchen so I could have the first shot in getting the food competing with my sisters. My mom will ask me to buy a bottle of Pepsi from provision shop downstairs to celebrate. I will unwillingly take a break from guarding the precious food and head downstairs.

During that phase in my life, drinking pepsi or coke was something extravagant. Probably equivalent to popping a bottle of Crystal Champagne or Moet Chandon or something. I will negotiate with lightning speed the flights of stairs from the 10th floor to head down (remember the food might be ready any moment). On the way up, I will step into the crowded HDB lift with some chinese families. The parents will be talking to their kids in chinese. I will be oblivious to the conversation till I hear "#@%...apu neh neh..@#$". Maybe they were discreetly wishing me happy deepavali or MAYBE they were disciplining their kids that if they don't behave the "apu" will get them. Apu neh neh or neh neh pok or whatever I was glad that I got some street credit on the block cos all the kids feared me..the formidable black mamba or rather the black mama..hehe!! :)

The blackberry's kiss of death

2005-10-30T01:02:00.000-08:00

I had 20 mins to drive to Laguna beach from my apt. I rushed out in a hurry to attend my friend's wedding and when I flicked out my blackberry to check for directions, the handheld device slipped out of the holster, bounced on the floor and.....landed into the canal along my walkway!!! Infront of my very eyes, I witness the black berry sink into the 3-5 feet of water.

I reached for the blackberry in the azure water..I felt the canal bed and got hold of it and...it was vibrating!! I let out a sigh of relieve only to later be decieved. The black berry died!!! The vibration was probably its last breath before its demise. I quickly removed the battery to prevent any possibilities for short circuit. Surprisingly the battery compartment and the SIM card slot, etc was bone dry. I flicked my hand and removed as much water as possible.

5 hours later I tried reviving the little fella...no luck.

9 hours later..I tried again...this time...a miracle...the hour glass symbol appeared on the screen..the system booted up and my blackberry seems to work...for now.

So folks...here you go...proof that the black berry is err...waterproof..dont try it at home though.

The 80s...

2005-10-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

80s was definitely my favourite decade. I was watching the "I love the 80s in 3D" show last night and it was hilarious. They have a series with every year 80,81,..to 89 going through all the crazy things that went on in the 80s. I saw the I love 81' and 82' show that featured guys in fishnet shirts, the behemoth sized VCR players, Cats the musical, Toto singing Susanna (the band member was dating Susanna Arquette then) and "I love candies" song video that had euphemism for cane candies to phallic symbols etc. The show was done really well with comedians reminincing their experiences. Watch it if you can.

Things on two wheels

2005-10-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

It occured to me that I do have an obsession with things on two wheels. Something mystical about them. I guess just seeing them balance on two wheels and also its is the most fundamental way of mechanized travel. An engine and two wheels, simple and raw energy transfer. No wonder that no car has the acceleration to a match that of a race bike's.
These are my two mountain bikes. The Scott Thermoplastic Carbon-fibre Endorphin with mostly XTR parts. The Norco fireball with XT parts in Singapore. Both bikes are amazing and have very different characteristics. The fireball having made of aluminum flexes more than the carbon fibre bike. The carbon bike is more responsive with its stiff frame but can be a little uncomfy on the bumps. Mat love and Visco Boy always try to hide their envy of Endorphin.

These are pictures of a remote control motor bike I created for an undergrad design project. The design was done on Pro-E and prototype was constructed on a SLA machine. The actual prototype as you can see jumped off a ramp and kept its balance on two wheels. The project was KICK ASS! The wireframe and solid models you see are screen shots from PRo-E and you can also see the actual prototype.

I like this one, the bike is doing a wheelie..

This is the 3-spoke design I chose for the front wheel. Simple and classic.

The design for the chassis was important. It houses the batteries, motor, transmission gears, remote control system, servos and attachments to the steering systems. You can see the annulus for the gyroscope system on the rear wheel. The lead annulus spins ~4.5X faster than the rear wheel. It has a plastic clutch that allows the annulus to spin even if no power is sent to the wheel. The annulus stabilizes the bike.
The bike is attempting a stunt now. Doesn't it look like Ducati Monster??
You can see the exploded view of the bike. Also you can see the resin parts from the SLA machine. It is amazing..the machine is like your laser printer. You send your CAD drawings to the "3-d printer" at the click on your mouse button and a day later, you have your parts!!!

This bike runs on gas powered engine and is made by an italian company and costs an arm and a ball.

Who needs perfect decisions?

2005-10-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

What is a perfect decision? Can a computer do that for us?

Arbitrating commodity trades and other decisions that best optimize probability of successes are currently permeating towards the use of sophisticated computer programs that run on state of the art number crunching hardware. I was reading a magazine that was mentioning that computers might soon take over stock traders in better handling bull-sell decisions. Humans are inevitably susceptible to emotions. I know for sure that when I listen to techno, I drive like a maniac. I know for sure that when I received a hefty speeding ticket 4 months ago, I started splurging my money on myself to make myself feel better. However, the science of probability is arcane. For example, in the casino, I knew the house had a calculated advantage of 5.4% for the game of black jack but that number comes from pure science. It might be true, if I played with a cold-hard-computer brain, making all the "right" (who knows what right is) decision for 1,000,000 games, the house might have that 5.4% advantage. On the contrary, I played with emotions, I doubled down when I shouldn't and won. I hit when I shouldn't and won and I played right and hit when I should and stayed when I should and lost. So there isn't a right or wrong decision. A computer can't be better than me in making these decisions. Same applies to arbitrating trades, selling stocks, making decisions to send cruise missiles to a vital installation as a strategic decision backed up by computer simulation. There is a limit to what a cold mechanical machine can decide for you. The limit on what a human brain that is typically clouded with thoughts of beer, cars, sex, relationship, food, soccer, TV, etc. can do is almost boundless.

Driving down I-35

2005-10-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to Breathe by Telepopmusik on my ipod. It brings back memories of driving at breack neck speed (excess of 130 mph at times) in my red eclipse from my apartment in North of Austin, TX to downtown Austin during the weekends. I used to hang out at this street close to UT Austin that was known to attract an eccentric crowd. There were a bunch of coffee shops, video arcade shops, etc. I will play Breathe on my CD player inaddition to Oakenfold, etc., while I downshift the stick-shift transmission to overtake a Texan truck. The roar of the engine will be in background while the car pounces forward, executing a perfectly seamless manouveur as it changes lane in high speeds.

Also brings sweet-sour memories as I remember Bubutummy visiting me during those times. Driving down to San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans..all the way to Orlando! I lived in Austin for about a year...right now when I think of it, it almost appears surrealistic. I almost feel like it was a dream. I felt really isolated during that year; a period of deep self-reflection...

I'm flying home to California tomorrow. I've spent 2 nights at my apt in the last 5 weeks. I am indeed lost in translation.

More than doubled my money

2005-10-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get back the money I spent on my sushi dinner; I felt it wasnt that good and had the strongest contention to get my money back. I went back to the casino with my fellow agents. Armed with some strategy and techniques I changed $50 worth of chips into $5 chips.

I won some and lost some but more importantly I won more than I lost. I disciplined myself to walk out of the table when I doubled my earnings..I eventually did with $120. Net net....$110 for the weekend. That helps make up for my excessive spending this weekend on food, gellato, drinks and souvenirs.

Back to work tomorrow..getting up at 5am for a 3 hour drive..i better hit the sacks rightaway.

Doubled my money (almost)

2005-10-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

The temptation was irresistable. I went down to the casino with my fellow agents. I observed the blackjack table for awhile before I decided to partake in the decadence. I changed $50 worth of chips and played in the smallest table ($5 per hand). Sting's song came to my head as I started playing....

"He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for the respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance"

I started calculating probabilities and played accordingly. Even though I lost a few hands I was up by $50 at one point...then it went downhill and I was even again. I was about to give up but I tried again...this time I got back to +$40. I forced myself and left the table with my earnings!! :)

There are some strategy for the game and sourced this chart on-line. Apparently this was devised from millions of simulation even though some doesn't make sense, in the long run, one must have the discipline to follow this.

Bringing down the pants and the house

2005-10-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

I did not play a single hand at the Casino. I was observing the tables and I got reminded how the odds are so grossly tilted in favor of the house unless I had the coveted ability to count cards. I walked around San Juan and got back to my room tired.

Back in the Instituition, there was this girl who worked in a lab adjacent to mine. It took me a couple of months to realise that she was a girl as I initially thought she was a a guy..she was very tall, extremely lanky and had really short hair..anyhow...among her other impressive achievements, she caught Agent C from my lab sitting on the potty totally naked!!!!

Agent C was training for the marathon then and came back to the lab all wet from sweating. We have only two cubicles on our floor, one for female and one for male. Often times we end up using the female toilet if the male one is used as there are only like 3 girls and 40 guys on our floor. I remember I was using the male that faithful day. I heard someone go into the female toilet as the door opened and closed but did not hear any locking noise. Agent C proceeded to the female and removed all his clothings to cool down and forgotten to lock the door. Just at that moment, the girl on the floor opened the door and caught him in his vulnerable position.

We later found out from the graduate adminstrator that the particular girl was one of the crew members who was part of the famous MIT card counting team that worked in teams to defeat the casinos of their money with their superior card counting mathematical abilities. You can read about their acheivements in the book "bringing down the house".

Anyhow, she was able to decipher the codes well and bring down Agent C's pants...hahaahaha

Ritzy Ritz

2005-10-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

I just got to the Ritz. It is probably the most opulent hotel I've stayed so far. The four seasons in Shanghai was pretty good too. The facade is grand with reflecting pools breathtaking landscape. You can see some of the pictures from here: http://www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/san_juan/

There is a casino on the ground floor that I might check out. I don't feel like losing money but I might try a few hands of 21. Poker might be a little too much for me. The fridge is full of small alcohol bottles; I counted 30 different bottles!! A little tempting but things are really expensive here. I will be heading out for a relaxing dinner before checking out the casino...

Engine Capacity vs. Car ownership

2005-10-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

Since we are on the topic of cars, I was just thinking about the 5 cars I've owned before. There is a noticeable trend between the chronological order and the engine capacity.

The order:

1. 1998-1999, Subaru Viki, 800 cc
2. 2000-2001, VW Golf, 2000 cc
3. 2001-2001, Mitsubishia Eclipse, 2400 cc
4. 2004-2005, VW Jetta VR6, 2800 cc
5. 2005-present, MB 560SEL V8, 5600 cc

I don't foresee owning anything bigger than 5.6L as I am bleeding money paying for gas. I probably might get a hybrid or solar powered car next.

Ford Taurus

2005-10-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

Ford Taurus is a piece of junk on 4 wheels. I knew that long time ago but I just got reminded as my rental this week is a taurus. The interior is revolting; lap joints everywhere inside. Cheap plastic with huge in-built tolerence to make up for the horrific assembly qualities. The wheel has so much play that I could yank about 30 degrees to each side and that doesn't affect the linearity of the car. The seats look like huge couches. I really dread driving that trash back to my hotel tonight.

This is a list of some of the rentals I remember driving and my personal preference (best to worst)

Volvo S70
Toyota forerunner SR5
Toyota Solara
Jaguar
Honda Accord
Mazda hatch back
Mazda 6
Toyota Camry
Toyota Corolla
Jeep Liberty
Nissan Xtera
Mitsubishi Galant
Dodge stratus
Dodge Interpid
Dodge Neon
KIA Amanti
Ford Focus
Ford Explorer
Ford Expedition
Ford Crown Victoria
Grand Marque
Chevy Malibu
Ford Taurus
Chevy Classic

Mambamobile and BlackMamba honored for being around the block

2005-10-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Alas, I got back to Orange County after being away for 3 weeks. I had to try hard to remember my way around and had a difficult time finding my car keys. I went to office at 6:30am as I was suffering from jet-lag and couldn't sleep. I found surprises waiting on my desk...

My dear Mambamobile (below) and I were rewarded for our achievements. Mambamobile recieved a package from MBUSA. It came in a nicely packaged white box with a letter that read:

Dear BlackMamba,

Congratulations on joining the growing circle of Mercedes-Benz owners who own vehicles that have traveled far enough to qualify for high mileage status! Such an achievement requires both as incredible vehicle, and a very special owner who is as dedicated to maintaining a vehicle as we are to building it...blah blah..(you can see the accompanying letter below)

The box also had a certificate, a black certificate holder that looks better than the one my MIT cert came in and also a hood emblem for the lettering 250,000 KM written below the trident.

Now for my surprise...to my honor or rather shame...I have made it..I have travelled over 200,000 miles on American airlines and they have presented me the coveted "EXECUTIVE PLATINUM" status!! I have been on just plain platinum status for months and so I recieved a beautiful booklet with my new cards.

Ironical, mambamobile got her recognition for 250,000 km and I got mine for 200,000 miles...but it took me only 1 year to get mine...heheh

Escape from the instuition part II

2005-10-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

I got up early this morning to work on my GMAT. I'm back in Puerto Rico after spending two night in Boston.

Nostalgic; the buildings were there, the weather was there, everything looked familiar except for a starking difference..the people I knew and had a great time with were absent. Thank god Visco-boy, MatLove and his gal and a bunch of other Singaporean jokers were there.

The first thing I got to Cambridge, I looked for Visco-boy's red junk bike so I could kick it to the ground and outline it with chalk to signify its impending demise but I couldn't find the bike. Visco-boy must have known I was coming.

I went to see my professor and had a good chat. He is such a true gentleman as always. He brought me down to the lab to show me generation II of my machine. The appendix of the machine, a heat-exchanger that pumps 45 gallons / min of mineral oil fluid for heating and cooling is about 5X5X6' !!! Apparently that thing leaks oil and causes mist that stinks up the entire floor. Not surprised, my lab is known for causing health damages for the last 20 years probably.

I called matlove to know i landed. On my way the non-newtonian fluids lab to see ....tah-dah..100+boy (visco-boy), I met Giorgia. I warned her that I was on my way to torture the pigs. Visco-boy looked as gay as ever with his two pigs. I was so happy to see him man; brought back my best memories for the time I spent at the instituition. I played with all the contraptions he had..from his 911 turbo car to the pigs-torturing shafts. The pigs were naturally hiding on the other side of 100-plus boys desk, conditioned to stay away from the ogre.

After the info-session, I met Mat-love, his gal, visco-boy, Cyborg and some new cool Singaporean students for Mar-lah. After which we went to Mat-loves pad. I realise the tolerence on the driveway to his parking lot is about 4 inches bigger than his car. So if you drive probably 5 degrees off tangent, your paint job will be on the brick wall. Mat-love as usual had a bunch of tech gizmos he bought from craigslist and ebay. He never fails to entertain me with them.

Next day I met Sexy-A in the morning and he brought me to the lab again and he chatted for a while. I had to be back at Au Bon Pain for the info session. I met up with Sexy-A again, his fiancee, and his really cool in-laws for dinner at my fave thai place in porter square. We had some great fun chatting over dinner and had ice-cream at his new place. His new place is awesome; he has the whole house himself and his fiancee. It was great catching up with him and his new family.

I had to leave as it was time for SOCCER!!!! Sexy-A drove me in his amazing car. Sexy-A is one true genius; he hooked up a computer in his car and even fabricated all the housing, the buttons, the hot-keys, programmed an OS and a touch screen 6" (i think) LCD monitor. It plays MP3, DVD, has awesome GPS, capability to connect to internet and ofcos...play porn (Sexy-A's favorite past time) while you drive!!!

Soccer was great. Visco-boy organized it and we had to sneak to get into the mac-court. The last time I was in the mac-court was during my graduation. I was surprised to see almost 9 aside; we never had so many people playing for a while. Visco-boy as usual played defense and I played against him for a while. Mat-love played an awesome goalie and Ali, our senegal import was also there. Visco-boy caught me failing in my attempt to do a rain-bow (flick the ball wedging it with your back heel ) but i pretended that I tripped over the ball. It was great fun..!!!

We proceeded back to Sidney-pac like the good old days and tried the rum I brought. As usual, we chatted about everything under the sun and finished half the bottle. I got back to my hotel and set the alarm for early morning to meet Visco for breakfast. Mat-love couldnt make it.

I also met up with Adam for my second breakfast before heading back to Puerto Rico..

I left instuition reminding myself of all the crazy things we did...all the crazy things we did in the lab with Sexy-A and Alaskan Sausage, walking back from back-bay in boston half-drunk, drinking bottles of wine during the weekdays while we do our homework (some of my tutorial had wine stains). Playing soccer, eating mah-lar, cooking curry, playing pictionary, and torturing kwang with anal-pears, etc.

Would love to have Mat-love, his gal, Visco-boy, Sexy-A, etc. visit me in the OC. Meantime, I am planning to go back again so I can perfect my rainbow during soccer....hehe...

My regrets

2005-09-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Regrets are the natural property of gray hairs", Charles Dickens

It’s no wonder that I have so many gray hairs now. Regrets however can incarnate to burning passions to appease one in correcting his muddles of the past. Here are some of my regrets:

Not picking up soccer earlier (primary / high school)
Being unable to play musical instruments (could have been a rock star)
Being hot-tempered growing up (root of many situations)
Stealing just one piece of magnesium ribbon instead a jar during high school ( it got me detention class anyway)
Sleeping during chapel service (no real regrets yet..hehe )
Using cheaper charcoal instead of powdered carbon powder to make gunpowder (explosive wasn’t as effective)
Making explosives as science project (burnt down a park accidentally)
Collecting miniature alcohol bottles in primary school (teacher called parents up)
Getting into a fight with Dinu growing up (he later passed away in the Army)
Day dreaming in class (a habit that is stuck with me for life)
Fighting with my siblings for food (my mom now complains there are no one at home now to try her cooking)
Setting up a chemistry lab in my room (Probably permanently damaged my health I still have a jar of Mercury in my room)
Not wearing hearing protection during army (Turning ipod’s volume full in planes is not enough now)
Playing “Daytona arcade game” wasted hundreds of dollars on it
Losing touch with my homies in Singapore (lost most of my friends in Sg)
Riding my bro-in-laws 1200cc Harley without license ($5000 worth of repairs and busted knees and elbows)
Procastinating living LIFE (ongoing regret with my career ambitions)
Being a private person (trying to open up myself now, might be little too late)
Hurting the ones I cared for the most (especially Bubutummy)

Back in Puerto Rico

2005-09-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

I am back in good ol' Puerto Rico and will not be going back home for 3 weeks!!! That makes my appartment the most expensive room per day basis. $500 per day!!! based on the number of nights I will be at my apt this month. Sometimes I wonder why I bother having an appartment compared to staying in a hotel.

Well the most exciting thing is I will be back to MIT next week for recruiting!!

I'll be at the Marriott at Cambridge, its close to the T and its at MIT, so thats great!! I've already old 100+ boy but I need to let Matlove know...these are my objectives for the 1.5 day I will be there before I fly back to Puerto Rico again...

I've instructed 100+ boy to quit school for 2 days so we can hang out. IF I ever see him lighting a stick, I swear I will stuff all the nicotine gum up his #$$%

GET MY long due FERRARI pistons from 100+ boy!!!!!
play soccer / tennis
roam around at mit/harvard square/boston
have dinner with the gang
visit my professor and my lab
see the state of my "time-travelling machine"
say "hi" to missy and pinch her
get drunk with 100+ boy
i suppose help out with recruiting

Gillette break through shaving technology

2005-09-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

I got this article from the onion.

Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades
By James M. Kilts CEO and President, The Gillette CompanyFebruary 18, 2004 Issue 40•07

Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of shaving in this country. The Gillette Mach3 was the razor to own. Then the other guy came out with a three-blade razor. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the Mach3Turbo. That's three blades and an aloe strip. For moisture. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happened—the bastards went to four blades. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling three blades and a strip. Moisture or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to five blades.
Sure, we could go to four blades next, like the competition. That seems like the logical thing to do. After all, three worked out pretty well, and four is the next number after three. So let's play it safe. Let's make a thicker aloe strip and call it the Mach3SuperTurbo. Why innovate when we can follow? Oh, I know why: Because we're a business, that's why!
You think it's crazy? It is crazy. But I don't give a shit. From now on, we're the ones who have the edge in the multi-blade game. Are they the best a man can get? Fuck, no. Gillette is the best a man can get.
What part of this don't you understand? If two blades is good, and three blades is better, obviously five blades would make us the best fucking razor that ever existed. Comprende? We didn't claw our way to the top of the razor game by clinging to the two-blade industry standard. We got here by taking chances. Well, five blades is the biggest chance of all.
Here's the report from Engineering. Someone put it in the bathroom: I want to wipe my ass with it. They don't tell me what to invent—I tell them. And I'm telling them to stick two more blades in there. I don't care how. Make the blades so thin they're invisible. Put some on the handle. I don't care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!
You're taking the "safety" part of "safety razor" too literally, grandma. Cut the strings and soar. Let's hit it. Let's roll. This is our chance to make razor history. Let's dream big. All you have to do is say that five blades can happen, and it will happen. If you aren't on board, then fuck you. And if you're on the board, then fuck you and your father. Hey, if I'm the only one who'll take risks, I'm sure as hell happy to hog all the glory when the five-blade razor becomes the shaving tool for the U.S. of "this is how we shave now" A.
People said we couldn't go to three. It'll cost a fortune to manufacture, they said. Well, we did it. Now some egghead in a lab is screaming "Five's crazy?" Well, perhaps he'd be more comfortable in the labs at Norelco, working on fucking electrics. Rotary blades, my white ass!
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we should just ride in Bic's wake and make pens. Ha! Not on your fucking life! The day I shadow a penny-ante outfit like Bic is the day I leave the razor game for good, and that won't happen until the day I die!
The market? Listen, we make the market. All we have to do is put her out there with a little jingle. It's as easy as, "Hey, shaving with anything less than five blades is like scraping your beard off with a dull hatchet." Or "You'll be so smooth, I could snort lines off of your chin." Try "Your neck is going to be so friggin' soft, someone's gonna walk up and tie a goddamn Cub Scout kerchief under it."
I know what you're thinking now: What'll people say? Mew mew mew. Oh, no, what will people say?! Grow the fuck up. When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top. Which Gillette is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, five blades, sweet Jesus in heaven.
Stop. I just had a stroke of genius. Are you ready? Open your mouth, baby birds, cause Mama's about to drop you one sweet, fat nightcrawler. Here she comes: Put another aloe strip on that fucker, too. That's right. Five blades, two strips, and make the second one lather. You heard me—the second strip lathers. It's a whole new way to think about shaving. Don't question it. Don't say a word. Just key the music, and call the chorus girls, because we're on the edge—the razor's edge—and I feel like dancing.

The legends and fables of Hedonism

2005-09-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

I did not know that within my lifetime, my era will be recounted as a legend. Shows that my greying hairs are not just a fiction of my imagination.

Just like how Homer's Iliad and Odyssey gave us some insights of the Trojan war, the periods of hedonism when high school friend J helmed the empire is recounted in this article (100-plus boy some-how found this article and brought to my attention). 100 plus boy insists that I belong to the "chinese-speaking, non-cheonging, christian group". Alas, I'm busted, my truth known...

http://pinkshoefetish.blogspot.com/2005/03/purdue.html

My dismal trip back

2005-09-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

I just got back all beaten up from Puerto Rico. After eating Mofongos (mashed plantain fattening piece of junk) and the likes for 2 weeks I was looking forward to visiting my Brazilian friend, Joule in SF. I havent seen that dude since college but my plans got squashed..just like that mofo mofongo. I drove an hour to Mayaguez airport or aeropuerto to take the twin propeller plane to San-Juan for connection till the storms ruined my plan. I waited in the airport for an hour or so before deciding to rent a car to drive for 3 hours or so in torrential downpour to San Juan. I missed the connecting flights and was left with two pathetic options.

1. Stay a night at the ritz in San Juan and fly out the next morning reaching Cali at 2 pm
2. Take the last flight (8pm) out of San Juan to NY (JFK), spend a night there and take a morning flight to LAX reaching there at 10am

I chose the latter.

The 767 to nyc got delayed too. I ended up relaxing at the admiral's club lounge, bought some fridge magnets for mom, bought Don-C Rums (2 bottle actually, one for my friend, Wallstein. I need to be nice to him, he might get me a ticket to world cup matches in Germany as he has all the german connections), chilled at the bar drinking Tanqueray on the rocks with Pellegrinos . FINALLY, I boarded the plane 1/2 past 9 and reached NYC past midnight. I was SO GLAD that I got first class but got a bloody headache from sitting with some woman who had a reeking scent on her. I was too tired to read or do any work. I ended up doing fuck-all playing poker on my black berry throughout the trip; not bad, at one time I was $70,000 in the green. Maybe one day I might hone my skills enough to make a trip to vegas.

Since all the hotels in the NYC regions were taken up by UN delegates, I ended up in a comfort inn in Queens!! NYC was nostalgic, I got reminded of my trip to NYC with bubutummy in summer of 2003 and so I gave her a call and we chatted a while about our adventure together. I got to sleep at 1:20am and got up at 5:00am to catch the 6-hour flight to LAX.

The wonderful omlette and chocolate chip cookies was the highlight of my flight. I managed to get business class sheer luck, so no complains. I spent most of the trip in a state of concussion from sheer fatigue.

I got Jim pick me up in his limosine though I am not a big fan of lincolns. For 150 quints, you get a black car service, better than taking a united express shuttle plane . An hour later, I was in office and that was the end of an ordeal...

My expenses came up to $3500 for two weeks...as I inch towards getting enough points on my amex card to get that bose noise cancelling phones. I need that thing before I lose my hearing in total from all these trips. As it is I am partially deaf from my macho days of not wearing ear-plugs during my military / artillery days.

I am back so I can fly out again on Monday to Puerto Rico again!!!! DAMMit. My dismal life is representated by my 1/4 million miles just on American airlines.

What a catch, yawl?

2005-09-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

WTF...

I found my poison tonight

2005-09-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

My fellow agents left the island today and I've some extensive plans for this evening...eeeh Haah! Sorry, I forgot I'm no longer in Texas.

For once, I plan to chill out at the private beach at my hotel and before that, I will ingest my FAVORITE wine!

100 plus boy will be envious to find out that they have a GOOD selection of Spanish wine here. They have....ta-dah... Muga Riserva, Rioja 2000, in the local restaurant here! (see proof ).

Okie, as I was scrambling out my room at dawn this morning answering to duty-call, I saw something blue staring at me from my balcony. IT came to my attention, reminding me that I have an ocean view....