1. I don’t like the taste of alcohol.
2. I save a lot of money.
3. I don’t think peer pressure is a good reason to do anything.
4. I want to be in full control mentally, physically and emotionally.
5. I don’t want the risk of getting addicted to it.
6. I don’t like throwing up.
7. I have no inclination whatsoever to experience hangovers or drunkeness.
8. I don’t want to forget.
9. I can have a good time hanging out with friends without it.
10. I don’t want to rely on it.

I don’t mind or care if others drink. I can still enjoy their company. Although there may be some good side effects of drinking, I don’t have a good reason for forcing myself to drink something that I think tastes bad. That being said, I’m still happy for those who enjoy and celebrate life regardless of the presence of alcohol.

On a separate note, Happy Birthday, Guy!

We had a time of much celebration in July. Went to CA for 2 weekends, 2 weeks apart for our birthday celebration and two weddings. I didn’t have much time to go through the entire weekend in my last post so I’ll just touch upon highlights.

I love getting my family on both my mom’s side and my dad’s side together for my birthday so I can have as much of the family celebrating together as possible. I wasn’t able to get rid of the creepy pope head from the pope room but I was able to overlook it’s presence after a while. I stuffed myself. The large portions are ginormous. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

It was also the first time I saw Bianca. She is so adorable and precious. She slept the whole time so I didn’t get to see her eyes until the second trip but it was nice carrying her. I keep a video of her on my phone as it always cheers me up. Funny thing is that I’m not big on babies but I’m especially attached to Bianca.

Congratulations to Dave and Joyce as well as Al and Jen! Both were wonderful weddings and it was nice to catch up with old friends again. It’s also the only times Henry and I get to dance anymore. 

I got to catch up with some ppl from GRX, a group that used to be a huge part of my life. It’s a bit sad that a things have changed but its nice to hang out with old buddies.

I also really treasure the fact that my connection to old college friends and some HS friends are still alive. Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate our birthdays with us! I know I’m not the best at keeping in touch it but I do treasure the friends I have.

In the second trip I even got to squeeze in some Go Karting at Malibu Castle with Henry’s friend Mark and my younger siblings Nikki and Sean c/o Henry’s treat. Thank you Henry!

Back in NY we did a few bday celebrations with some friends.  We went to Dave and Busters for our birthday.  Al and his gf got to join us and Helen, Andrew, Ed and Dave as well.  Andrew brought a couple of his paintball buddies so we shared our birthday with some strangers o.Oa.  Later we did meet up with Andrew and Amy for a dessert celebration.

We also got to celebrate with Henry’s family at Kum Gang Sang.

Galleries:

• H&M Birthday Celebration in CA – 07/15/2010 to 07/18/2010
• H&M Birthday Celebration in CA (Family) – 07/15/2010 to 07/18/2010
• Dave and Joyce’s Wedding – 07/17/2010
• H&M Birthday Celebration at Dave and Busters – 07/24/2010
• Henry’s Bday with Lee Family – 07/25/2010
• H&M Birthday Celebration Andrew and Amy – 07/25/2010
• SF Visit – 07/30/2010 to 08/01/2010
• Al and Jen’s Wedding – 07/31/2010

StarCraft 2

StarCraft 2 came out on July 27. I got a collector’s edition for Henry’s birthday and I got one for myself too. Henry got me a netbook, something I wanted for the longest time. I love it and I love having the ability to be connected to the internet via my LG Ally Android Phone, Asus Eee netbook and laptop. Thank you, Henry!

StarCraft 2 went above and beyond my expectations. It’s no longer just a game. It’s a whole world! There is so much to do and it appeals directly to my need for achievements. It goes along my life motto of leveling up. I just love how Blizzard came out with this pleasant surprise.

I do feel like this strategy greatly increases it’s appeal to the masses, which is great because it means more people to play with and more people to share the gaming experience with. I highly recommend it to everyone. Not just RTS players but to everyone.

Most people started with just the campaign but I was more interested in honing my skills as quickly as possible. The first thing I did was unlock the achievements with custom games vs the AI just to get used to what I can build and get a good feel for the other races.

Then I started wanting to unlock portraits even though I like keeping my Devoted Fan Night Elf portrait up. I went through all the exploration achievements from Guide 1 to 3. Meanwhile, I played my first multiplayer game – a 4v4 with Mod, Foo and Ben on my side. We went 5-0 I believe and we got platinum. =)

I had to play my first few 1v1s to unlock all the guide achievements so I went ahead and did it. To my pleasant surprise I was able to rush though 5 of the 6 placement match games to get myself to Platinum. =). I love zerg!

After that I started playing the challenges. I got to Silver with some effort although I got the final rush challenge in Gold right away. Getting to Gold on all challenges took a lot of effort but I got through it all in one long day (post NY TL LAN) at Andrew’s place.

My Battle.Net Profile Link: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/740020/1/mnm/

Anyway, I digress a bit. July just flew by and most of August has been a mix of working late, skipping out on Ultimate, watching some 24 and So You Think You Can Dance, and most importantly, squeezing in as much StarCraft 2 as possible before I have to go to sleep. Work Hard, Play Hard!

2. Sum up your SC:BW life in one TL text line.
Started with 3v3 BGH (ling rush), 1v1 since ’02, WCG Quals in ’04, Coverage til ’08/’09, SC2 in ’10

3. Two movies that will tell someone everything they need to know about you.
My Sassy Girl and 300

4. Two TV shows that will tell someone everything they need to know about you.
Battlestar Galactica and 24

5. Two books that will tell someone everything they need to know about you.
Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guinn. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown.

6. You cheer for…
California Bears (Go Bears!), NY Giants, USA

7. The two qualities you possess that got you onto TL staff:
1) Obsession with documentation 2) Interest in SC events

8. Name two professions: one that you’d love to do and one that you’d hate to do
Web Producer/Developer (I already do what I love). Video Personality/Interviewer (Had a love/hate thing with this).

9. Your ideal last meal.
Grandma’s Homemade Giniling Omelette, Steamed White Rice, Elderberry and Rhubarb Juice from Gugelhof (Germany), Carvel Cake, Crumbs Red Velvet Cupcake, Mrs. Fields Milk Chocolate Chip Nibblers, Ben & Jerry’s ”Imagines Whirled Peace” Vanilla Ice Cream

10. Two games that will tell someone everything they need to know about you (besides SC).
Ultimate Frisbee and Snowboarding and Paintballing and Guitar Hero… When it comes to games, how can you even narrow down to just two?

Left work a bit later than expected so we had to change our flight to the day after. Went home and Henry ordered for delivery from Kumo since I had a Salmon Teriyaki craving and watched 24. Ate some yummy Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for dessert. Henry managed to top off my day with his present – a mini gift of a gorilla-style light and the main gift of a sweet Asus Netbook. I’ve been wanting a netbook for a long time and he got me just what I wanted!

Henry and I got to Cali a bit later than expected but I still made the most out of my day. We had a great home cooked lunch thanks to my grandma’s cooking. I got to eat my favorite dish ever made only by her – giniling. Can’t ever go wrong with that. Sung had picked us up from the airport and joined us for lunch. I’m glad he got to hang around with my family too.

Went shopping at Tanforan a bit. Got to see my lil sisters future place of employment – Hollister. Wanted to buy some clothes but got distracted by the Verizon Wireless booth and by Mrs Fields Milk Chocolate Chip Nibblers

Went back home to drop off Nikki who was driving us (good practice for her driver’s test and headed off to drop off our stuff and pick up Mod at his place. I was about an hour off schedule getting to Jason’s place (with no help from rush hour traffic) but we got to hang out a bit with Jason, Brian and Dan.

We headed out to Ginseng Korean BBQ for our dinner celebration. Met up with Sung, Luke, Kris, Anton, Jiong and Susan there (12 ppl total). Had good food with lots and lots of all you can eat meat across three tables. The Galbi was best. Thank you to the group for paying for the meal for Henry and me! We took a group picture cuz those just make me and my gallery happy =).

After that we went to the best ice cream place in mountain view nearby (#1 apparently because it was the only one). The line was longer than the line for the club next door! Had yummy Tiramisu and Caramello Crumble Chocolate ice cream. Luke paid for the ice cream Henry and I got. Thanks Luke! I was full from dinner but it was worth it to squeeze that dessert in.

I had a blast hanging out with my HS/college friends again. Thank you all for coming out!

I received it on Tuesday and I was happy that I didn’t have to pay a cent for it. It took me a bit to get used to but now it feels like second nature to me. It wasn’t too long before I set up my google accounts and started downloading a bunch of apps on it. I am hoping this new change will help me stay in touch with friends more and keep me organized, resourceful and entertained.

So far so good. I’m at the Poconos right now with Henry’s family for July 4th weekend and this phone has been a great companion to me. I’m hoping I’ll be able to post more often too!

This happened Sunday, June 6, 2010 around 9:30-10pm.

[11:33] Sung: mnms!~
[11:35] Sung: wtd happened??
[11:50] Me: deer jumped in front of us
[11:50] Sung: where were u?
[11:50] Sung: i cant imagine there are deers in nyc
[11:50] Sung: o.O
[11:51] Me: connecticut
[11:51] Me: =[
[11:51] Me: there r deers on the way to ny
[11:51] Me: =[
[11:51] Me: bbl lunch
[11:51] Sung: dam crazy
[11:51] Sung: glad u and hank were ok
[12:56] Me: yeah so
[12:56] Me: deer went over the divider
[12:57] Me: apparently it made it through the oncoming traffic on the other side
[12:57] Me: we were on the left lane
[12:57] Me: i saw it jump over the divider
[12:57] Me: next thing i knew, we hit, i saw it flying above us then landing on its side then moving counterclockwise towards the right side
[12:57] Me: we swerved a bit but stayed straight and henry stopped at the lefthand side median
[12:57] Me: found out the deer hit the passenger side
[12:58] Me: henry called 911
[12:58] Me: didnt see the deer anymore.. it was too far back
[12:58] Me: the state trooper came
[12:58] Me: we had henrys sis behind us so we at least had another car
[12:59] Me: she managed to not hit us when all this was going on
[12:59] Me: he told us to get off on the next exit
[12:59] Me: i was trying to get back in to the car via the driver side bec i didnt think the passenger side was safe
[12:59] Me: but henry was telling me to get into the car with helen
[12:59] Me: i didnt wanna go through her passenger side and the state trooper was in a hurry
[12:59] Me: he screamed at me to get back into my car
[13:00] Me: he thought i was helen even if we told him several times that i wasnt her
[13:00] Me: i headed over to her passenger side anyway n got in
[13:00] Me: we parked once we got off the exit and inspected the damage
[13:00] Me: henrys shoes were went apparently there was some liquid that pooled when we stopped earlier
[13:00] Me: wet*
[13:01] Me: i found out that the state trooper had some friends of his die because they were at the median of the highway thats why he screamed.. he apologized.. through henry
[13:01] Me: state trooper reported the incident
[13:01] Me: henry called his insurance. he got a tow truck. it came pretty quickly
[13:02] Me: i found out i couldnt open the passenger side door (i went through the drivers side earlier in the highway)
[13:02] Me: we moved all the stuff from henrys car to helens car
[13:03] Me: insurance covers only 50 miles so we decided to bring the car nearby. the tow truck guy said he knew an auto mechanic/owner of an auto place and was having dinner with him just then so he was okay with taking the car at that hour
[13:03] Me: it was about 9-10pm
[13:04] Me: so we were lucky that the other car was with us and we were lucky that the auto mechanic was open to taking the car for repairs near the area and we were lucky that the airbags didn’t deploy otherwise that would have blocked vision and caused a bigger accident
[13:04] Me: we dropped the car off n got home by 12-1am
[13:05] Me: so we don’t have a car now and the estimate is about 2 weeks before it gets fixed but we aren’t even sure if we could get it back because the damage might end up more than the cost of the car (it’s 10 yrs old but it was in good condition)
[14:22] Sung: dam thats nuts

Update is that the mechanic is fixing up Henry’s car so it should be ready by the end of the month *crosses fingers*. We were lucky that Henry’s insurance is covering the cost minus the deductible.

Weekly Schedule:

• Sunday – NYU Classes 9-6pm (for Advanced Web Development Certification)
• Monday – Work (Focus on iPhone Production). iPhone Weekly Update by EOD.
• Tuesday – Work (iPhone, MTV Development and Production); Hellgate Ultimate 6:30-9:30pm
• Wednesday – Work (Complete tasks for the week for all projects). Weekly Update by EOD.
• Thursday – Work (Focus on Nick Games); Hellgate Ultimate 6:30-9:30pm
• Friday – Work (Nick Games, MTV Development and Production)
• Saturday – Ultimate Spring League 12pm-5pm

Calendar:

• May 14-16: Chicago Trip (Ryan’s Graduation)
• May 23: California Trip (Ate’s Baby Shower) – NEED TO BOOK!
• May 29-31: Memorial Day Weekend- NEED TO PLAN!
• June 5: Rhode Island Trip (Stephanie’s Graduation) – NEED TO PLAN!
• June 20: NYU SCPS Classes End.  Weekends should be free again after this date.
• July 17: California Trip (Birthday Weekend/Dave and Joyce’s Wedding) – NEED TO BOOK/PLAN!
• August 30 – September 3: Hong Kong Trip
• October 23: Chicago Trip (Karen and Kevin’s Wedding) – NEED TO BOOK!
• January 22, 2011: California Trip (Maria and Dion’s Wedding) – NEED TO BOOK!

You would think things would ease up after the holidays but instead, work picked up to the point where I’m constantly swamped with multiple development and production projects (iphone apps, flash games, tentpole websites, etc) and I added on continuing education classes at NYU with the goal of achieving certification in Advanced Web Development by the end of June. I have a love/hate relationship with my current situation. I welcome opportunities to improve and expand my skills with open arms but I’m constantly in the brink of burning out. I just need to remember to breathe once in a while and just relax, calm down, and enjoy life.

NOVEMBER 2009

Oct 31 – JFK->Berlin

4 – MTV EMAs

It was so great to be at the actual event location in O2 world. Even though we were working throughout the show, it was so worth it to sneak backstage whenever I could to hear and feel the performances of all the great artists live.

7 – Berlin->JFK

Despite the Euro trip being mostly work, Berlin was still such as a great time for me.
Some memorable moments:
* EMA After Party (great European Dance music, great dancing, great company). We spotted Daniel Merriweather, an australian singer and British Actor Paul Danan hit on me o.Oa.
* Getting fake interviewed by Joss Stone and MTV Germany VJ Joko Winterscheidt during Red Carpet Rehearsals
* Grabbing lunch at the cafeteria of the o2 Arena and passing by Katy Perry while getting food.
* Watching/Hearing artists during rehearsals (especially Shakira, also Beyonce, Tokio Hotel, Foo Fighters, Leona Lewis, etc) and hearing them play live from backstage.
* Having Tokio Hotel walk by me as I headed towards Pete Wentz (from Fall Out Boy) at the All Access Backstage area.
* Delicious food at expensive restaurants, especially Gugelhof Restaurant (great server, awesome juices ever – will never forget Elderberry and Rhubarb and Sour Cherry)

21 -Paintball at Cousin’s, Long Island

21 – Star Wars Concert (Henry’s Surprise to me)

23 – Redeemer Hip Hop Class By Henry

26-29 – Thanksgiving Holiday

28 – Thanksgiving Day

29 – Hat Tournament – My first hat tournament ever and we won first place!

30 – Massage from Water Front Spa – Needed a sports massage badly. I found that massages are like workouts. They really work on the sore muscles and it hurts a lot during the process but it’s good for the body in the long run and the after effects make it worth it.

DECEMBER 2009

4 – Hellgate Christmas Party

5 – Katrina’s Baby Shower; Sean’s Birthday (Happy Birthday, Sean!)

9 – mtvnAZN Christmas Party

17 – MTV INTL Christmas Party

18 – Allen’s Bday Dinner at Delmonico’s Steakhouse

19 – H&M Christmas Party

20 – Ate’s Webcam Conference Baby Announcement

Wow.. I was so shocked and surprised to find this out. I know our family isn’t the greatest at showing our emotions but we probably just don’t know how to best express it. I was so happy for my sister for the wonderful miracle she was blessed with. It was such a new thought to me – that our family tree was branching out in that way, that there was a life growing inside my sister’s tummy, that I was now an aunt. I know this is all new to my sister too and I wish nothing but the best for her and the family she is creating for herself.

25 – Christmas

I could never stop loving Christmas. It brings me such joy just to think of what could possibly be the perfect presents for everyone. I love seeing people get excited and touched over gifts. I love how kind and generous people become. I’m thankful that the Lee Family shares their Christmas with me. This year, I got three guitar hero games for the Xbox 360 from Henry! Thank you! I got him a GPS – mostly a gift for Henry but also, since I am Henry’s primary navigator, sort of a gift for myself . =)

31 – New Year’s Eve at Andrew and Amy’s Place

JANUARY 2010

9 – Movie: Sherlock Holmes (Thumbs Up); Movie: Youth In Revolt (Thumbs Down)

15 – JFK-> SFO

16 – 5th Year Anniversary Celebration at the Tonga Room

17 – Dad’s Birthday Celebration (Happy Birthday, Dad!); Dad and Sean Arrive in SF – Welcome to America!

It was great having Sean and Dad in the US. It was a great reunion that was long awaited. I just wish Sean will stay open minded about living in the US. I know he has great hesitations because he isn’t comfortable here yet. I just hope he finds genuine friendships here since that seems to be what matters to him a lot and of course a means of providing for himself too. I’m looking forward to having Nikki join us. I hope both Nikki and Sean and the rest of the Martinez family will end up feeling at home in the US just as I did.

18 – SFO-> JFK

22 – (Work) Hope For Haiti

23 – Musical: Mary Poppins (Thumbs Up); Henry’s Mom’s Birthday Celebration

The coolest thing about this musical was the magic from the movies coming to life on stage. It was a great musical that left us the classic songs stuck in our heads.

26 – Visited Shawn at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital

It’s great knowing that Shawn has a lot of support from his friends. He is the type of person that is so nice and kind to others that people just flock around him and shower him with love when he needs it the most. I wish I had that kind of impact on people. I’m so glad that he’s done with chemo and surgery. I hope he is well and is going through a speedy recovery.

FEBRUARY 2010

2 – Lost Season 6 Premiere

4 – Tango Class

Watching all these dance shows I get obsessed with such as Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance makes me want to be like them, want to dance again. I got some ballroom classes from a groupon offer and Henry was up for these. We settled on Tango classes but Henry got sick for the next two months and we couldn’t do the Tango class every week. The first beginner Tango class was mostly walking. When we took all the make up classes at the last week of the 4 week cycle, it ended up being great for Henry and I since we could pick up the steps faster (Henry naturally picks up choreo quickly since he was a pro dancer and all I had to do was follow). In the end, it was a good deal for us to get a sampling of different types of ballroom. I don’t know if I would stick to any of them though, it doesn’t seem quite as exciting in class as it is on the show.

6 – Capoeira

It was great doing Capoeira with Helen and her friends. I just wish I could commit to going more often. Every Saturday is hard, especially with weekend classes and with Ultimate coming up. It’s always a great workout and always fun though. We’ll see if I could go again someday.

7 – Superbowl

17 – StarCraft 2 Beta Released

20 – H&M 1st SC2 Game

Oooh man Henry and I have been waiting for this for a long time! We were hooked once we started playing. Towards the end of the day we started going on a 1v1 rematch rampage. Just like old times. I really do wish I had a lot more time to play this game. I haven’t had much time because of the late nights at work. All I know is the 1 hat queen build to roach rush (thanks to Insane). I have yet to play my ladder matches. I hope I can make time for this one of these days.

21 – NYU SCPS – Advanced Client Web Development 9am-6pm; Chinese New Year Dinner with Henry’s family

23 – West Coast Swing Class

24 – Hustle Class

25 – Tango Class

MARCH 2010

10 – JFK-> DEN

12 – Snowboarding: Winter Park

13 – Snowboarding: Steamboat

Snowboarding was surprisingly warm but the snow was still great. Every year I come to Colorado I revive my love for Snowboarding. I had the same initial fear as I shook off the rust but I soon felt one again with the mountain. It’s such a perfect sensation to feel like you’re gliding down smoothly down the slopes. I was so proud that I could carve into the mountain now. I still slide down right after my turns but I can dig my board into the mountain to the point where it reduces friction and the snowboard just moves naturally. Henry tells me I have graduated to Advanced Beginner. =)

13 – Strawberry Park Hot Springs

I was so skeptical about the hot springs experience. I just heard that it was pitch black, outdoors in the freezing cold air and the springs itself was really hot. Frankly, it wasn’t a very appealing thought but I didn’t want to dismiss it completely and I’m glad that Henry and I went for it. After we waited in the cold for the ticket guy to tell us all the rules, our group fumbled in the darkness with two flashlights leading the way towards the springs. We stripped to our bathing suits in the cold air and headed for the rocks that served as steps leading into the springs. It was so hot that I was freaking out but as I went in further, I started to get used to the temperature and it became soothing after a while.

It was actually a nice feeling to have the body submerged in the warmth while the head felt the slight coolness of the air underneath the clear and starry sky. Never mind the fact that there were some naked college kids moving about since you could hardly see them anyway. I told Henry that I felt a bit left out whenever people tell me about experiences they have had that made me feel like they have lived life and I had not but this very night made me feel like I was doing just that – living life, feeling a unique experience. Overall it was great for our sore muscles too after two days of snowboarding. After about an hour, our group headed back to the car. It wasn’t so cold anymore since the springs heated up our bodies. Our bodies felt so relaxed after. It’s definitely worth trying out.

16 – DEN->JFK

21 – NYU SCPS – Advanced PHP and MySQL 9am-6pm

22 – Dancing With The Stars Season Premiere

23 – Musical: Lion King (Thumbs Up)

This is one of those musicals that gets me listening to the songs over and over again right after. That opening scene just blew me away. We had such great seats and it was good that Henry’s family could commit to watching this early enough for me to get those at a special discount. This is easily one of the best musicals I have ever seen. Much props to Rafiki. She was probably the most impressive.

25 – Karaoke with Henry

26 – Movie: Green Zone (Thumbs Up); Mom and Dad’s Anniversary (Happy Anniversary!); Nikki learns of her UC Berkeley Acceptance (Congratulations Nikki! Go Bears!)

What’s in store for the future? I foresee a lot more work, more demand to manage time, Ultimate League I signed up for starting up, more NYU SCPS classes, more time needed for family, a trip to Chicago in May, a Chicago wedding in October, a HK trip to plan in the fall, a great need for more gym time during the mornings before work, more time needed for SC2, and a plan needed to organize my life again because that is the only way I feel like I can be on top of all this craziness. At least I always have our birthdays to look forward to in July =).

I was getting a “Code signing profile doesn’t match developer certificate” error.  After much troubleshooting.  I am able to set the Code Signing Profile in Project Info but the selection was greyed out when I was editing Active Target.

Finally fixed the bug by updating the plist!

Post by joni:

There were so many steps, I’m not sure I remember them all, but here are the parts I do remember, in case this helps anybody:

- I had two “System” keychains, so I deleted one of them
- I set the “login” keychain to be the default, so that new keys would be added there (it should show up bold when it’s the default)
- deleted the old public and private keys for my developer identity, and the wwdr and iphone developer certificates (in both the login and system keychains)
- quit keychain access and restarted it
- generated completely new keys, certificates, app id, provisioning profile
- made sure everything got added to the login keychain, not the system keychain
- in xcode deleted the old provisioning profiles from the Organizer and the device
- added the new profile to xcode and the device
- updated the info.plist (since I’d changed the com.yourcompany part of the app id in the new profile)

After verifying it worked with beta 4, I upgraded again to beta 5, did a clean rebuild, and everything still works fine.

“” is the Byte Order Mark (BOM) of the Unicode Standard. Specifically it is the hex bytes EF BB BF, which form the UTF-8 representation of the BOM, misinterpreted as ISO 8859/1 text instead of UTF-8.

Probably what it means is that you are using a text editor that is saving files in UTF-8 with the BOM, when it should be saving without the BOM. It could be PHP files that have the BOM, in which case they’d appear as literal text on your page.

The Unicode Consortium’s FAQ on the Byte Order Mark is at http://www.unicode.org/faq/utf_bom.html#BOM .

Horrible first post of the year I know but hey Henry suggested I post my bug zappers online and this is something =P.

Goal: 6 Meals A Day => 1400 Calories

8am – 100 calories – Breakfast (Waffle)
10am – 140 calories – Fiber One
1pm – 300 calories – 1st Half of Lunch
5pm – 300 calories – 2nd Half of Lunch
8pm – 510 calories – Dinner
10pm – 150 calories – Cereal

Henry has gotten me into playing Ultimate. At first casually when the summer came around and we tossed the disc around in Central Park. Then he started finding groups that were more organized so we could play with more people. The first group at Central Park was okay but we found an even more organized, bigger, friendlier group at a better, closer location in Hellgate Ultimate in Astoria Park.

Indoor Ultimate in Colorado – 2/12/08, 2/6/09

The first and second time I’ve ever played Ultimate in my life occurred when Henry and I went on trips to Colorado the last two years. My first game was on 2/12/2008 in an indoor soccer field where the Ultimate rules were adjusted due to the location. It kicked my butt. I did not have the lung capacity for that game (at that altitude!). But it was fun nevertheless. We played for a few days in that trip and again for a day on 2/6/2009 when I got my first Ultimate injury. I hurt my back or hip or something and learned to stretch out my hips and my back every time I play sports or do something active.

Central Park, Great Hill Ultimate – 6/16/09

Around June, Henry started getting our friends to go to Ultimate. Here’s his recap of one of those days (6/16/09):

Michelle & I arrived @ GreatHill around 10:45am and they were already in the midst of 4v4 with 3 people subbing. I warmed up & tossed with Michelle, then Chris arrived and joined us in warming up & stretching.

The field was mostly grass except for the patch of dirt in the middle (of course). Luckily it didn’t rain on Friday so it wasn’t muddy.

After about 20 minutes, the game grew to 6v6, with 6 subs forming a 3rd team for quick 1st-to-score-2 point games -winning team stays. The 3 of us were quickly recruited to play on the 3rd team.

All guys except for michelle and 2 other girls. One of the other girls was decent, the other was barefoot so ineffectual. Our team wound up winning 3 straight before a picnic group who purchased a permit for our space forced us to relocate to the backup field 2 blocks away @ MorningSide park. Norman joined us just in time to relocate haha. We lost some people due to the relocation, but had 6v6 1-2 subs until we finished at 2pm. Even the slight drizzle was refreshing!

Here’s their house rules: 2 cones at each end to score in between, but no back boundary & no side boundaries. no stall count. i think it caters well to casual players with limited space. i would say 90% of the players had fair to decent flicks. there were 5 guys that play club (they also wore cleats).

I prefer this group WAY more than Dust Bowl. Better field, no dust, slightly higher level of play. So when it comes to playing in Central Park, this meetup.com group is definitely my pick from now on. Afterward they all went to a cafe to eat, but our group of 4 decided to go to Chipotle =)

Astoria Park, Hellgate Ultimate – 6/27/09

We started playing at Astoria Park on 6/27/2009. The people were very welcoming to Henry and me as newcomers. Henry also had a high school friend who introduced him to the group, Nathan, who I re-met a few weeks later. Henry’s impression of Astoria Park after the first visit: “Astoria Park Pick Up: Better field, better organized, better players, and they observe all the rules (ie. stalls)!” We went again for three Saturdays in July – 7/11, 7/18 (our birthday weekend) and 7/24. Towards the end of the month, Henry started going on Thursdays as well.

Henry’s 8/4 recap:

So in preparation for White Mountain Tourney, the women were holding a special ultimate clinic 11am! I wanted Michelle to take part despite her reluctance, so as soon as Chris arrived we immediately drove out to get there on time.

Sure enough, at the earliest i’ve ever seen, people were already tossing and warming up @ 11am! Apparently not just the women were asked to arrive for clinic, but the men on the roster were asked to arrive early to prep for the upcoming tourney too!

After warming up, michelle chris & i started tossing, but shortly after, all the women were gathering to start the clinic. Michelle didn’t wanna go, but after some encouragement, she reluctantly left us to go to the far end of the field with the 11 other girls while Chris & I continued tossing.

I couldn’t help feeling like a dad leaving their kid to preschool for the first time haha, because after an hour of clinic, Michelle was like a new Ultimate player!! and she said it was really helpful!

I don’t know what they did, but it worked… later in-game, Michelle had a krzy diving interception, caught a high float jumper in the air with 2 hands (not a clap catch), had 2 give&go’s that led to her scoring! it was pretty sweet watching from the sidelines =)

All our sessions on offense & defense strategy also paid off cuz she seemed much more comfortable in the stack, timing her breaks, and better covering her mark on defense. way to go Michelle.

We had 3 teams of 7 round robin to 3pts, 4 guys, 3 girls per team. Chris did pretty well too, getting the hang of the zones I reviewed with him during warmups using my cones as marks hehe. Hopefully Chris gets his cleats soon b/c it def makes a huge difference! Michelle was happy breaking in her new cleats!!

I’m really seeing a huge difference in my conditioning. I was able to run much faster for longer periods of time! My vertical jump has started returning too! it’s been helping me grab discs earlier in the air! I had a couple nice back breaks that led to some scores, plus some good handler cuts that made one guy come over and compliment me on making him really work to keep up haha.

Plus it’s been great to start getting to know more people. they’re starting to see that i’m serious about coming regularly =)

Looking fwd to playing again this week! can’t wait!!

We kept going every Saturday – 8/8, 8/15, 8/22. I’ve also started going on Thursdays. The last few weeks I’ve been leaving the field on such a high. I started feeling like I wasn’t such a noob anymore. I can run faster now and have higher endurance. It came at a price though. Because my cardiovascular system has caught up to my activities, my heart and lungs can take more but my body isn’t used to going as fast as I was running so I started getting shin splits last week. I didn’t ice it or take care of it enough so I started icing it this week so that it could heal better. The injury still lingers a bit but I’m hoping it will go away over time (and maybe with enough icing). I keep telling myself the pain is worth it for the joy and exercise I get from playing.

So the last few times I went to play, I felt like I was growing and getting better. Getting to play, catching a disc, scoring a goal seemed more like a normal thing instead of a huge success anymore. This was just telling me that I’ve gotten to the next level. I knew that Tuesdays and Thursdays are more hardcore and my high streak couldn’t stay high forever so today I felt the effects of my lack of experience and my not doing my homework. I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I still scored a goal. I still was able to defend and catch up with the people I defended. I was able to block a disc throw. But I was off my game. I felt lost in the field. Didn’t know where to go on defense or offense. I didn’t have a good handle on how to play zone. I felt like I just needed to study more. I sat out of a few games and people noticed and they were very encouraging. They said not to take Ultimate too seriously and to have fun with it. I noted that I just needed to learn more. I do realize that a lot of this comes with experience but I want to supplement that with just knowing more about the game. I need to read up on this stuff.

Resources to draw from (mostly c/o Henry):

• http://www.kelownaultimate.com/content/5/the_ultimate_lingo_dictionary.php
• http://www.upa.org/ultimate/rules/11th
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFYwfvFJ2qM
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZw2gJRDSNU
• http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/
• http://groups.google.com/group/hellgate-ultimate/files

Here’s a recap of how the year 2009 has been for me so far…

I ended 2008 with a trip to London for work (EMA 2008) and a trip to Germany for World Cyber Games 2008.   After four years of serving the StarCraft community, I decided to take a break from it all and just be a regular gamer.

I thought I was done by 2007 but during my family vacation in Denmark, MYM ended up snatching me up and sending me to BlizzCon.  How could I say no?  And after I realized I was going to be in Europe already when WCG was going to be there, I decided to hop on over and go for the sake of going, this time representing nobody else but myself.  I realized it might be my last hurrah so instead of just documenting the event from an outside perspective, I wanted to be part of the event, taking pictures among people and talking to people more so I could at least say that I was there and I met some good people.

Taking a break from the community meant being able to take a step back and looking at the bigger picture, having more time to focus on other goals and progressing in other aspects of life.  According to Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” it’s called “taking time to sharpen the saw”.  That is exactly what I did:

• Physical – Exercise, Nutrition, Stress Management
  • I went snowboarding in Colorado.
  • I was part of a group dance/skit performance that took four months to prepare for.
  • I took  Breakdancing Classes from Ms. Vee and Lyrical Classes from Derek Mitchell at Broadway Dance Center.   This is where I get most of my flexibility training.
  • I’ve been going to the gym before work three times a week.  This is where I get my strength training.
  • I’ve been playing Ultimate as part of an organized group once or twice  every week.  This is where I get my cardio.
  • I’ve managed to stay pretty consistent with my physical training.  Because of my regular routine, I would say I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life.
• Spiritual – Value Clarification & Commitment, Study & Meditation
  • I’ve been learning from Tim Keller’s sermons at Redeemer every Sunday morning.
  • I discuss the messages with Henry and note applications of what we learn.
• Mental – Reading, Visualizing, Planning, Writing
  • I’ve opened up recently to opportunities to learn how to be more successful in life through reading books/magazines and going to work sponsored workshops.
  • I took a month long Advanced Flash Programming class at work.
  • I’ve been learning web development techniques and enterprise solutions through self-teaching and exposure to the tech team and I’ve been getting a lot of practice programming.
  • I’ve also been writing a lot more blog entries.  I’m trying to expand outside of just writing about the daily grind to writing more thought provoked entries.
  • Planning is just something I do on an almost daily basis.  It’s a part of me.  I can’t help but plan and organize or else I will feel overwhelmed by chaos.
  • Taking Chinese classes not only helps me communicate and understand Henry and his family more but it also trains my memory.
• Social/Emotional – Service, Empathy, Synergy, Intrinsic Security.
  • Back in 2005, I struggled to break out of the shy/quiet shell I had built around myself. I have since learned so much about interacting with others.  I open myself up to opportunities to meet people once in a while through work, through sports, through friends.  I see people as interesting beings that have a lot to share about their lives, their interests and their knowledge now.  Although I am still introverted by nature, I am no longer bound by that nature.
  • Even though I am half a world away from my family, they are still a big part of my life.  I went back to Asia at the beginning of the year and intend to go back early next year.
  • I have expanded way beyond my team at work.  I work very closely with other teams, so much so that they can consider me to be part of their groups as well.  I put a lot more effort in talking to people and to be quite honest, it has become something I enjoy now rather than dread.
  • Watching TV and Movies isn’t exactly a social activity but just this very act gives me a lot to choose from in terms of topics to talk about with others.  I’ve gotten sucked into Battle Star Galactica, How I Met Your Mother, Lost, Dancing With The Stars, America’s Best Dance Crew, So You Think You Can Dance, America’s Got Talent, Deadliest Warrior, Two and a Half Men and WSOP.  I also got hooked on a few games on the Xbox 360 – Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty 4/5, Guitar Hero World Tour – but this is less of a topic to discuss among people I encounter.

StarCraft doesn’t exactly fit into the above categories but I do still play.  I did take a break for a few months (unfortunately, this also deleted my account and my record and my friends list on USWest) but I’m back to my old 3v3 BGHing ways.  I do miss playing 1v1 though.  I don’t have enough time to dedicate myself to training my 1v1 game.  I wonder if I would be able to find anyone my level anymore out there.  That may just be a goal for another time.

For now, my sights are set upon pushing myself further in life, going to the next level at work while keeping everything else in life balanced.    I want to improve.  I want to achieve.  I want to succeed.  As I mentioned in my blog before, I just want to level up.

I finally got a taste of some freedom outside of work when we launched virtually bug free! It was a great accomplishment for MTV International. I was so happy that I could leave before 8pm today. I know it won’t last long though since tomorrow, we will immediately start working on Phase 3 launch.

The EMAs is the biggest project my team produces every year and work continues until the show goes live November 5, 2009.  The cool part of the job is that we do get to go to the event location to do live updates on the website.  My team should be going to Berlin, Germany the week of the event.  It’s always fun to throw myself into completely unfamiliar territory once in a while and soaking in the experience. The unfortunate part is that I will be busy for a while. ]]> http://calbearmnm.com/mnm/journal/2009/08/25/ema-2009-website-launch/feed/ 0 http://calbearmnm.com/mnm/journal/2009/08/24/never-settle-for-mediocrity/ http://calbearmnm.com/mnm/journal/2009/08/24/never-settle-for-mediocrity/#comments Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:03:39 +0000 mnm http://calbearmnm.com/mnm/journal/?p=1901 Motivation is what drives me to succeed.  It is the force which pushes me to circumstances that I was afraid to go into.  I have started venturing into roads that I never would have thought I would taken before.

How did I get here?  Looking to my past, I didn’t push myself at first.  I used to be easily satisfied.  I never questioned anything happening around me.  I never thought of improving life.  I was fine with maintaining status quo.

I didn’t see it before but a seed was planted in my mind.  As a young child, oblivious about the workings of the world, all I learned from were examples before me.  All I could learn from was really my family.  My parents did teach me foundations – the difference between right and wrong.  Besides them, I grew up learning from my sister, Ate.

As with most siblings, I always fought and bickered with her.  I tried my best to run the opposite direction from her path in life.  When she focused on her social life, I focused on my academic life.  When she focused on beauty, I focused on the unimportance of it.  As much as I treasured my unique identity, I couldn’t help but be influenced by her.  After all, I did spend about 60% of my life with her.

I realized that as my sister learned and repeated things she wanted to remember out loud over and over, I learned alongside her.  Pondering the source of my motivations, I realized that her motto that she used to repeat to herself had stuck to me as well – Never Settle For Mediocrity, Strive For Success.  Maybe it was in the back of my head all this time as I grew up.  Maybe this mentality pushed me to reaching for success in my academic life.  Whether it was the motto or just a coincidence, we both ended up go-getters later in life.

I cannot deny the role Ate played in being a positive influence in my life.  I witnessed her set her sights upon  reaching great achievements.  I know how much effort she puts into trying to attain the highest goals.  I see how her efforts do not go to waste and I commend her for her motivation.  I learned never to settle for mediocrity and strive for success.

Thank you, Ate, for being a good role model.  I hope you will continue to reach for the stars.

Happy Birthday, Ate!

Portrait Of A Good Thinker

• Seeing the Wisdom of Big-Picture Thinking
• Unleashing the Potential of Focused Thinking
• Discovering the Joy of Creative Thinking
• Recognizing the Importance of Realistic Thinking
• Releasing the Power of Strategic Thinking
• Feeling the Energy of Possibility Thinking
• Embracing the Lessons of Reflective Thinking
• QUestioning the Acceptance of Popular Thinking
• Encouraging the Participation of Shared Thinking
• Experiencing the Satisfaction of Unselfish Thinking
• Enjoying the Return of Bottom-Line Thinking

August 18, 2009 Workshop

By DDI – Development Dimensions International
http://www.ddiworld.com/

The Value of Teamwork

Working Together > Working Alone

Stages of Team Development

1. Getting Started – Getting to know members, learning about skills and expectations.  Defining goals, tasks and roles.

2. Going in Circles – Not able to meet goals, not working together, blaming each other, not working towards getting tasks done.

3. Getting on Course – Progressing towards goals, moving forward with ideas, constructive feedback, setting ground rules.

4. Full Speed Ahead – Progressing with speed and efficiency, working together, utilizing feedback, finding ways to improve.

Team Success Factors

• Purpose - Something to strive for.  Gives team members direction (confidence in decision making and knowledge of what is important) and identity (team’s needs ahead of own needs, single voice).

• Process - How to get things done.  Identify problems, develop solutions, analyze data, reach agreement.  Planning and organization.  Problem solving.  Setting ground rules.

• Communication – An exchange of ideas and feelings based on respect.  Honest and sincere.  Encouragement, cooperation, conflict resolution.  Keeping everyone in the loop.

• Involvement – Encouragement of participation and contribution.  Benefit from skills of all members.

• Commitment – Giving 100%.  Member goals meet team goals so personal commitment supports team effort.  Sense of ownership and identity.

• Trust - Ability to rely on others.  Allows risk taking, trying new ideas and taking initiative.

Derek asked the class what we wanted to learn the most.  We had only two classes left and he wanted to make sure we got what we wanted out of the class.  Of course, our class said we wanted to really get our turning technique down.  This was something I really wanted for myself.  I need to get the push off, the spotting, the balance, the momentum and the form down.  So far, I could do PK turns all the way from the left side of the room to the right but doing any sort of combination messes me up as I found out today.

Our across the floor exercise consisted of: Chaînés Turn, Coupé Turn, PK Turn, Compass Turn, then do the same turning the other direction.

We also learned how to do a Lyrical Pirouette.  He noted that it was especially important to get the prep down for this to work.  We prepped with a Tendu to second position, Demi Plie in fourth, then Passé.  After getting this down, we replaced the Passé with the actual turn.  Its pretty similar to what I had in a youtube video from my last posting on the Dance category.  Execution was hard for me to do.  It was most important to spot.  Overally I think I can execute turns fine as long as I have good socks and I take my time.  I can’t do it one after another very quickly though =/.

Our Routine:  Beautiful Disaster (Live) By Kelly Clarkson

1. Jeté leap towards the Right
2. Coupé
3. Chaînés Turn towards the Left
4. Rond de jambe right foot towards back to prep.
5. Floor Roll on butt towards Right.
6. Passé left foot up
7. Crouch down.
8. Dance step right then left foot clockwise from back to front.
9. Relevé left foot while right foot does a Développé forward.
10. Compass turn counterclockwise back to front.
11. Passé right foot up.
12. Point right foot forward.
13. Step backwards on right foot dragging left foot pointing forward.
14. Step backwards on left foot dragging right foot pointing forward.

Covenant Love – 10th Sermon in Series: The Life of David – Commitment

2 Samuel 9:1-13

David and Mephibosheth

¹ David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”² Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They called him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”
“Your servant,” he replied.

³ The king asked, “Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet.”

⁴ “Where is he?” the king asked.
Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

⁵ So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.

⁶ When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“Your servant,” he replied.

⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

⁸ Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

⁹ Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ¹⁰ You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

¹² Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. ¹³ And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was crippled in both feet.

My Notes:

How is Christianity different from other religions in their teachings/beliefs?  They all teach about loving one another, etc.  In Christianity, we are taught to LOVE YOUR ENEMIES (Matthew 5).

In groups, people sacrifice in order to commit to something (flourishing of the group, committing to activities, etc).  It takes this sacrifice in order to gain.  We want a God who can have control over our lives but it takes complete submission.  This is the only way to perfect freedom.

`Tis not that I did choose thee, For, Lord that could not be;
This heart would still refuse thee, Hadst thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old thou hast ordained me, that I should live to thee.`Twas sov’reign mercy called me and taught my op’ning mind;
The world had else enthralled me, to heav’nly glories blind.
My heart owns none before thee, for thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love thee, Thou must have loved me first.”

–Josiah Conder

How do we give up our freedom?

Saul was to annoint David as successor king, not his son Jonathan.  David and Jonathan had a covenant of friendship.  Jonathan gave his life and lost his throne for David out of friendship.

We have a friend who lost his heavenly throne and lost his life for us.

Christian commonality in love for Jesus.

Henry’s notes:

C.S. Lewis = “Abolition of Man”

- All religions of the world the same ETHICALLY (How we live) -> don’t lie, steal, murder, honor family, etc… They differ subterraneanly (How we’re SAVED)

EXCEPTION

“Love Your Enemy”! – unique ethic to Christianity. No other religion.

BUT -> Don’t make it easy for enemies to sin against you.  Do not confront, humiliate, condescend.  Must be loving.

King David

- Didn’t “purge’ old enemies from regime (who could kill him)

- “Adopted” his enemy, generously gave and reached out, made enemy his son.

Christian Ethic to do this? Based on how we’re saved.

How can we do such a thing? Commit or Consume? Commit! Must sacrifice freedom to experience covenant love of peers.

Covenant love -> King Saul’s son Jonathan (rightful heir) -> relinquished trhone to David while “loving” him, protecting David from his father Saul. Eventually laid down his life.

What did Jesus lose and sacrifice for us?

“Christianity is a band of enemies, living with each other through Christ.”

Step 1: Identify Problems (Introspection)

What are my current complaints? What have I done to improve thusfar and what do I need to work on next?  The automatic answer for me is EVERYTHING!  Who doesn’t want to level up and be better at everything?  Since it is unrealistic to improve everything at the same time, what should I prioritize?

There are certain aspects of life that I have previously focused on and have integrated into my regular routine so I don’t have to think about it anymore.  I wanted to be better, faster, stronger, smarter.

• Physically, I’m doing great.  Three days a week of Strength training at the gym before work integrated into my routine.  Cardio and Flexibility from Ultimate on Saturdays and Lyrical Dance on Sundays.  I’m pretty satisfied with my current efforts to keep my body toned and healthy.  I do believe I did get faster and stronger than before.

• Financially, I’m on track.  I am meeting my savings goals towards a future downpayment every month and I’m putting enough money into investments and retirement.  More money would always be good but I’m doing good for what I have now.

• I’m very happy with my current Employment.  I love my job at MTV and the current dual role I have of being part of the production team and part of the tech team.  Even though it is a lot of work, I feel like I get the best of both worlds.

• My Relationship with Henry is very strong and solid.  We thoroughly enjoy each other’s company and we contribute to each other’s growth in so many ways.  We put open communication first and foremost and it has helped us through good and bad times.  I look forward to going home to see him every day and I find it hard to leave his side every morning.  We complement each other very well.

• I have grown to love my current Location.  It’s great living in New York City.  Sure it’s crowded with too many people, the streets and subways are dirty, the weather goes to extremes, the people generally have a ‘hard attitude’ compared to California.  But the place is rich in culture and diversity, the city never sleeps, the transportation is fast, convenient and better than any other transportation system I’ve been on, and it never really gets boring out here.

• I also feel like I’m back on track Spiritually with Henry and I committing more to going to Redeemer on Sunday mornings at 10:30am.  I don’t think there is any other speaker quite like Tim Keller.  I love his organization and academic approach.  His points are always clear and presented well.

Those are all things I am happy with in my life.  Now what do I feel like I still need to work on?  What is bugging me?

• My Friendships with people need work.  I’m not a big phone person so the only real friend time I get is through IM or hanging out.  I’m finding it hard to develop close relationships with people especially since I keep myself busy all the time.  Sometimes I acknowledge that it can be a good thing that I don’t get too close with people because that can be dangerous but at the same time I feel like I get so distant from people that I don’t know if I have friends anymore.  My issues with friendship comes at multiple levels.
  • Inner Circle of Friends: I am slowly losing contact with my friends from California.  Out of sight out of mind.  I don’t mean for it to be that way.  I do treasure a lot of my friends.  It just takes so much effort to keep in contact with everyone.  And it takes a lot of money to keep flying back.  Please don’t forget me, my friends!  You guys are still my friends, right?  Do I have friends out there?
  • Outer Circle of Friends: I need to work on developing friendships with people that I meet and encounter regularly.  It’s not easy for me to go beyond the regular acquaintance level of relationships with people.  It takes a lot of one on one time.  It takes me feeling like the other person actually enjoys hanging out with me and talking to me.  It takes me genuinely feeling interested in other people’s lives and stories.  I do feel good that my ability to socialize has increased a great amount especially since I have more energy from exercising.  I still feel like I could do better though.  Maybe I just don’t see the results because it takes a long time?
  • Middle Circle of Friends: Then there’s the people in between.  The people I see all the time and I have no problems calling them friends but I don’t really know much about them on their own besides getting used to them being there during group hangouts.  It would be nice to develop friendships with these people more but frankly, I don’t know how to do it.

• My Career path could use some work as well.  I have no complaints about what I’m doing right now.  I am learning a lot both in the tech and production field.  However, I don’t want to get stuck at just being where I am.  I want to work myself upwards.  I want to be viewed as a leader.  I want people to have faith in my capabilities.  I want there to be a positive perception of me.  It is my hope that people can see me easily transition into a Producer or Senior Developer role.  Perhaps even a Technical Producer if there was such an option.  I want my boss to keep me in mind if she thinks of promotions.  I want the tech team to know that I can be just as knowledgeable as them.  I want to have a clearer path in mind.  Whether tech or production, I feel like I will always want an aspect of both.  My present position is supposed to be already a Managerial level role but I want to be able to go to the next level.  If I want to improve, I need to see myself in that next position.  Since my paths are really dictated more by opportunity, I will maintain flexibility in my interest and thus I will set my goal to being a Senior Developer/Producer.  How do I do that?

Step 2: Finding Solutions (Brainstorming)

I suppose nowadays I’m more proactive with the last problem I mentioned.  What have I been up to?  I’ve been meeting up with people and getting feedback.  I’ve been trying to milk suggestions out of people on how I could improve myself.  I’ve been trying to take initiative as much as I can and just doing a good job at work.  Technically, I’ve been exposing myself to learning from developers I interact with, from tutorials online, from feeds and books, from classes offered by MTV, and learning on my own through the web or through practice.    On the producer end, I’ve been trying to keep everything about the project organized, making sure tasks are delegated when they need to be, keeping updated documentation, communicating updated information, getting questions answered and keeping to schedule for that which is under my control.

The next steps I would give myself would be to single out topics to discuss with mentors that I need to learn about to advance myself to the next level.  Perhaps I could pick out bits and pieces of previous conversations and build upon that.

As for developing friendships, I would like to put in more effort into talking to people and keeping in touch.  I want people to know that I value them as friends and it would be great to really get to know them.  People are interesting!  I have more topics to talk about and interests in common with people than I tend to think.  It is just my hope that efforts will be reciprocated.

Step 3: Do  (Execution)

Many times I will get stuck in the problems and planning stages.  Everything just stays in my head.  I don’t see any improvement because I don’t take the steps that I plan to take or I get stuck on trying to find the best solutions to my problems.  I don’t have all the answers yet.  But even baby steps with the little things I think about would help.

Step 4: Check Results (Evaluation)

Its often an achievement to get to the point of doing something to ‘fix’ a problem I target.  I would usually assume that there are results even if I don’t see them.  How do I know how effective the solution I proposed is unless I analyze results?  Once in a while I need to stop and ponder whether I am actually getting anywhere.   Its easier to see physical results when I look at my body and see if my muscles are showing or my fat content has dropped after a period of time.  Its harder to see results that are not quantifiable.  I suppose that is how soliciting feedback from others comes into play.  Can they see a change in character in me?  Has their perception changed?  Can I see a character change in myself?  Can I see results from people’s interactions with me?

Step 5: Tweaking (Adjustments)

As a result of my evaluation, I would need to adjust my plan of action in order to optimize results.   If nothing else within the local scope can be fine tuned, then I look once again towards the bigger scope – myself and my life.  What else about me can I improve?  Then I go back to Step 1.  And the cycle continues…

I would say that right now, I’m lingering between step 2 and 3.  After writing this entry out, I have a clearer idea of what I want to work on, but now its all about coming up with solutions.  Hopefully these books on success can help point me towards a good direction.

Highly Recommended - List Compiled From Multiple People

• The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
• The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
• The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
• As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
• Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
• Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (I’ve read and highly recommend this)
• The Magic of Believing by Claude M Bristol
  
• Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone
• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy
• See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar
• The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard

List By Success Magazine
http://www.successmagazine.com/25-Books-for-Success/PARAMS/article/141/channel/15

• The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman
• Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson
• The Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman
• The Laws of Success by Napoleon Hill
• The Seasons of Life by Jim Rohn & Ronald Reynolds
• The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
• The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer
• Chicken Soup for the Soul series by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen, with other contributors
• Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell
• Good to Great: Why some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins

List By Danny Welsh
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=679811

• Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
• Please Understand Me by David Keirsey
• How to Make Millions with Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy
• What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know about Cash Flow by Frank Galinelli
• Action! by Robert Ringer
• How to Make Maximum Money in Minimum Time by Gary Halbert
• Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini

List By MTV The BEAT Leadership Workshop
http://calbearmnm.com/mnm/journal/2009/06/29/the-5-simple-attributes-of-an-effective-leader/

• The Extraordinary Leader : Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders by John Zenger and Joseph Folkman

List By Tom Butler-Bowdon
http://successtheory.com/tips/top50successbooks.php

• How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
• Robert Collier Secrets of the Ages
• Jim Collins Good To Great
• Henry Ford My Life and Work
• Benjamin Franklin The Way To Wealth
• John Paul Getty How To Be Rich
• Les Giblin How to Have Power and Confidence In Dealing With People
• Baltasar Gracian The Art of Worldly Wisdom
• Earl G Graves How To Succeed in Business Without Being White
• The Official Guide to Success by Tom Hopkins
• Born To Win by Muriel James & Dorothy Jongeward
• The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes
• The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz
• Pushing To The Front by Orison Swett Marden
• On Leadership by Donald T Phillips Lincoln
• The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity by Catherine Ponder
• Take Time For Your Life by Cheryl Richardson
• Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
• Secret Door to Success by Florence Scovell Shinn
• The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J Stanley
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Made in America by Sam Walton
• The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles
• Jack: Straight From the Gut by Jack Welch
• Coaching For Performance by John Whitmore
• The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman

List By Nhat Nguyen
http://thoughtsforbarter.com/wordpress/2009/06/25/library-to-success/

• FireBug
• IE Developer Toolbar

Flash Content Embed

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flashembedcagematch/

“How can you best embed Flash content?”

It should be a simple question, but is likely to evoke a lot of different opinions and arguments, as each of the many available embedding techniques have their own pros and cons. In this article, I will look into the complexities and subtleties of embedding Flash content and examine the most popular embedding methods to see how good they really are.

The key ingredients of a great Flash embedding method:

• Standards Compliance
• Cross-Browser Support
• Support for Alternative Content
• Avoidance of Flash Content/Player Mismatches
• Auto-Activation of Active Content
• Ease Of Implementation

http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/

What is SWFObject?

• Offers two optimized Flash Player embed methods; a markup based approach and a method that relies on JavaScript
• Offers a JavaScript API that aims to provide a complete tool set for embedding SWF files and retrieving Flash Player related information
• Utilizes only one small JavaScript file (10Kb / GZIPed: 3.9Kb)
• Is the successor of SWFObject 1.5, UFO and the Adobe Flash Player Detection Kit
• Intends to unify all existing Flash Player embed methods and provide a new standard for embedding Adobe Flash Player content

Why should you use SWFObject?

• Is more optimized and flexible than any other Flash Player embed method around
• Offers one solution for everybody: It shouldn’t matter if you are an HTML, Flash, or JavaScript developer, there should be something in it for everyone
• Breaks the cycle of being locked into vendor specific markup and promotes the use of web standards and alternative content
• Uses unobtrusive JavaScript and JavaScript best practices
• Is easy to use

- It is really easy to start off enrolling as an absolute beginner student.  The dates are available and the newsletters keep people up to date.  However, the process is much tougher for levels beyond absolute beginner.  As someone taking a second class after the absolute beginner class, it took a long time to get myself into a class since response times were slow for my evaluation and scheduling over email and over the phone.  There are no clear dates of enrollment and no place on the web to see when the available dates and times are.  If it was possible to post information on classes (languages, levels, dates/times and teachers), this would greatly increase productivity for the website and increase ABC Language’s overall enrollment.

- Books can make a huge impact on the class as well as seen with learning from Active Chinese (with web accompaniment) and Far East Chinese For Youth.  Both books have their pros and cons.  Active Chinese is a bit more scattered in teaching.  The learning is conversation style and there is less organization in the book.  However, the web accompaniment was a great help – flash version of the dialogue, audio, pdf resources of vocabulary, and the homework/tests.  Chinese For Youth is more colorful and entertaining.  On top of that, it is also more organized so it is easier to learn the basics all at once.  However, the student is pretty much on their own outside of the book and the teacher.  There is no guide unless the student purchases the $30 audio cds per book.  The CDs aren’t as helpful as the Active Chinese website but it is a small outside resource that could help.

- I found that classes can differ greatly according to teachers so if there was a section of the website with reviews and recommendations of the teachers, it would be very helpful.  The feedback could even be filtered by ABC Language so that nothing is overwhelmingly negative and every teacher has equal numbers of pros and cons shown so there is equal chance of enrollment.

- That being said, Mavi Graves is one of the best teachers for learning the Chinese Language.  Having learned it herself as a native English speaker, she knows best the tips and tricks on how to learn words and learn how to pronounce them as well.  She may not have as deep of a background with the history of Chinese but she is a great person for teaching beginner Chinese.  She has a lot of patience with the students and paces them well.  It was much easier to learn vocabulary with Mavi’s help.  The homework was useful as well even though not everybody in the class was consistent with this.

- Wendy is a good teacher for learning correct pronounciation which is critically important in learning how to speak Chinese.  She also has background information on the culture and even the history of the characters which makes her a great resource when learning about writing and remembering characters.  The drawback is that Wendy is not a native English speaker and this is apparent by her accent.  It is sometimes hard to understand her and it is sometimes hard for her to understand questions from students.  She may also go too fast sometimes in speaking which makes it hard for students to keep up.  Her teaching style is less organized so some chapters of the book may be repeated for multiple weeks and she many times begins her class with teaching random Chinese words and phrases.  Since these random words aren’t used often after they are presented, they are quickly forgotten.  It is harder to learn vocabulary with Wendy because not enough time is spent on learning the words.  As said before, her forte is pronounciation so a lot of time is spent on that thus students gain a lot more out of this.  Wendy may be a good teacher for Advanced levels of chinese where practice and pronounciation is needed the most.

- One thing that made the last class tougher to handle was the changing class levels as more students trickled in.  The class started off a bit beyond my level but I eventually caught up.  However, new students that showed up to class had increasingly higher levels, thus the average level of the class increased to a point where it went far beyond my skill level within a short amount of time.  If there was a way to categorize levels and students (perhaps by the number of years they have learned the language), it would be better for students to keep in pace with the class.  Other students at my level who started at the same time as me were equally overwhelmed with the increased level of new students to the point of deciding to discontinue taking Wendy’s class in the end.  The teacher needs to maintain the level of the class to the level she started with with the students who have been around the longest.

It is my hope that the next time I contact ABC Language for furthering my studies, I will have a much easier experience finding the appropriate class for me.  I fully support and recommend ABC Language Exchange and I hope that its services will continue for a long time.

I got the results for my physical exam yesterday:

Weight: 98 lbs (previously 102.4 lbs)
Blood Pressure: 90/60, 102/53 [previously 110/70 mmHg] (Normal less than 120 systolic / 80 diastolic)
Cholesterol: 62/77 [previously 65/78] (Ideal is >40 good cholesterol / <130 bad cholesterol)
Triglycerides: 53 [previously 41] (Ideal is <150)

I don’t know why but I get excited to get these results, like getting a report card.

I have two blood pressure results because I got it taken twice on the same day, about two hours apart. I was surprised at how it changed. The latter one isn’t as accurate though.

Some fluctuation in blood pressure is completely normal. Changes of 25 to 30% during the day are not abnormal — they reflect the fact the body is a dynamic, changeable organism. Many normal things can have large effects on blood pressure. Walking 20 feet can raise systolic blood pressure by 10 to 15 points. Your stress level, how tight your shoelaces are, what you had for breakfast, and how well you slept last night can all change your blood pressure, too.

- http://highbloodpressure.about.com/od/quickfacts/f/pressure-swings.htm

I’m glad my bad cholesterol went down a bit but what does it mean when my good cholesterol goes down too? Is that a bad thing?

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance in the blood which, if elevated has been associated with heart disease.

Total Cholesterol: A high cholesterol in the blood is a major risk factor for heart and blood vessel disease. Cholesterol in itself is not all bad, in fact, our bodies need a certain amount of this substance to function properly. However, when the level gets too high, vascular disease can result. A total cholesterol of less than 200, and an LDL Cholesterol of 100 or less is considered optimal by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The levels that your doctor will recommend depend upon whether you are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

As the level of blood cholesterol increases, so does the possibility of plugging the arteries due to cholesterol plaque build-up. Such a disease process is called “hardening of the arteries” or atherosclerosis. When the arteries feeding the heart become plugged, a heart attack may occur. If the arteries that go to the brain are affected, then the result is a stroke.

There are three major kinds of cholesterol, High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) , Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), and Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL).

LDL Cholesterol is considered “bad cholesterol” because cholesterol deposits form in the arteries when LDL levels are high. An LDL level of less than 130 is recommended, 100 is optimal, values greater than 160 are considered high risk and should be followed up by your physician. Those persons who have established coronary or vascular disease may be instructed by their doctor to get their LDL Cholesterol well below 100. You should ask your doctor which LDL target he or she wants for you. There are two ways to report LDL. The most common is simply an estimate calculated from the Total Cholesterol, HDL, and triglycerides results. This may say “LDL Calc” . A directly measured LDL Cholesterol is usually more accurate, but more expensive and may require that your doctor specify the direct LDL.

HDL cholesterol is a ‘good cholesterol’ as it protects against heart disease by helping remove excess cholesterol deposited in the arteries. High levels seem to be associated with low incidence of coronary heart disease.

- http://www.amarillomed.com/howto.htm

I wasn’t happy about the higher triglycerides value but I blame that on the fact that last year, I was pretty good about not eating for more than 12 hours before my physical but this year, I slipped and I ate ice cream 11 hours before my physical, right before going to sleep =[. Having read up on this though, not fasting seems to only affect Glucose, not Triglycerides…

Glucose: This is a measure of the sugar level in your blood. High values are associated with eating before the test, and diabetes.

The normal range for a fasting glucose is 60 -99 mg/dl. According the the 2003 ADA criteria, diabetes is diagnosed with a *fasting* plasma glucose of 126 or more. A precursor, Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG) is defined as reading of fasting glucose levels of 100 – 125. Sometimes a glucose tolerance test, which involves giving you a sugary drink followed by several blood glucose tests, is necessary to properly sort out normal from IFG from diabetes.

Be aware that variations in lab normals exist. Also, Europeans tend to use a 2 hour after eating definition of diabetes rather than a fasting glucose. Using the European standards tends to increase the number of people who are classified as having diabetes.

Triglyceride is fat in the blood which, if elevated, has been associated with heart disease, especially if over 500 mg. High triglycerides are also associated with pancreatitis. Triglyceride levels over 150 mg/dl may be associated with problems other than heart disease. Ways to lower triglycerides: 1) weight reduction, if overweight; 2) reduce animal fats in the diet: eat more fish; 3) take certain medications your physician can prescribe; 4) get regular aerobic exercise; 5) decrease alcohol and sugar consumption—alcohol and sugar are not fats, but the body can convert them into fats then dump those fats into your blood stream 6) restrict calories – carbohydrates are converted to triglycerides when eaten to excess.

- http://www.amarillomed.com/howto.htm

I asked again about getting a blood test to determine my blood type. Apparantly years ago, they stopped testing for this since they found it to be an unnecessary cost. The suggested way of finding out is by donating blood. Unfortunately, I am below the limit. You need to be at least 110 lbs to donate blood! I don’t think I will gain 10 lbs anytime soon. I asked how much it was and Dr. Lyon said it was around $100. I was shocked at the price. How can something that used to be free so expensive now?