rkchang (at) cryptio (dot) net
Spouts
Dennis Miller has his rants, and since then, it seems like every homepage has a page full of rants (and even more recently, blogs seem to serve this purpose). Even more so, whoever puts these pages up tend to title them rants, as well. Therefore, in my need to get a few things off my chest, and in my effort to be a little different, here's me spouting off. Consider this my first spout.
The things posted on this page may be completely silly, and often just plain ridiculous. On the rare occasion, I may post something serious.
I guess in a strange way, this is my online journal, but of course I'm going to be extremely selective of what I choose to post in here (please allow me the delusion that people are actually interested in reading about me). In case you were wondering, I do keep a private journal, but that's for my eyes only. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know how often I intend on posting on this page. Nevertheless, have fun reading. If you feel the need to respond, please email me.
7-Sep-2008
Baltimore/Washington's Best Eats
You knew it was inevitable. After following up our Atlanta's Best Eats page, we had to start up a Baltimore/Washington one. So without further ado, here it is:
http://bwbesteats.wordpress.com
20-Aug-2008
After spending 5 months of customer service hell with D-Link, I felt the need to write and spout off about this. After looking at what I had written, it turned out that this was an incredibly long log of my D-Link ordeal...much too long to take up space on this page. However, I couldn't let all that long writing go to waste, so I've given it a special page (complete with tags, so that any one who tries looking up D-Link customer service information will hopefully find this). Anyway, without further ado...
My Beef with D-Link (aka, 5 months of hell)
30-Nov-2007
Dissertation Defense: Passed!
Who's a doctor? I'm a doctor!
29-Oct-2007
Wai and I had been talking about doing this for quite a while...embrace our inner food critic. If you've taken a look at my recipe page, you'd know that I love to cook. Well, Wai and I also love to eat out. Given our move to Atlanta, we've been wanting to compile a list of our favorite restaurants. Wai did something similar while she lived in Phoenix, so here's our Atlanta equivalent.
17-Mar-2007
The Year in Technology
Yesterday, after my digital camera of 5 years died, I realized that this would likely be the year of technology for me. It's only March, and I've replaced two sizeable pieces of technology that have been by my side for quite a while (well, 3 if you count the academic year). Somehow, I don't think this will be the last. I figured, I'd keep a blog of the big replacements so far. Expect this entry to get updated as the year goes on.:
September 2006 - Handspring Visor Deluxe --> Palm Tungsten E
After several months of my trusty Handspring Visor (which I originally bought around August 2001) refusing to sync up with my computer, I used some money that I had earned from helping my dad sell a Treo that he never used to buy myself a Palm Tungsten E over eBay. The eBay seller was great...although he shipped it off relatively late, he was nice enough to toss in a 256 MB SD card. I don't know what I'll do with all that storage for a Palm Pilot, but it was a nice little addition. Now, I finally get to see all my Palm stuff in color-glory. :-)
January 2007 - Apple iBook G3 700 MHZ --> Apple MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83 GHz
Almost literally after the new year started, my iBook died. My iBook had served by my side since August 2002. Via a website diagnosis, it looked like the logic board somehow died, and it wouldn't have been worth paying almost $400 for something that would likely only last another few months. So, I gave in and bought a new MacBook. It's an awfully pretty machine, and it's been quite kind to me ever since. A damn good purchase, if I do say so myself.
March 2007 - Fuji FinePix 2600 --> Canon Powershot A540
While on a trip out to Point Lobos with Wai, I accidentally dropped my digital camera on its lens, thus destroying the zoom mechanism. This camera had been with me since I received it for Christmas 2001. It was a bitter-sweet ending, as although I loved the camera, I had been pining for a new one for quite a while. Thus, it was the perfect excuse to buy a new one. After having been jealous of Wai's Canon Powershot A75 for quite a while, I decided to buy it's more contemporary 6 megapixel cousin. I ordered it yesterday, and I'll post more info on it once I receive it and have a chance to use it for a bit. Plus, it looks like I'll finally have something to use that 256 MB SD card for.
UPDATED 14-Apr-2007:
After a few weeks of using my camera, I can truly say that this thing is marvelous! I'm still figuring out some of the more advanced features.
UPDATED 23-Jun-2007:
June 2007 - Toshiba MV20FM4 20 inch TV/VCR combo --> Samsung TXS3082WHX/XAA 30 inch Widescreen Slimfit HDTV
This is the true sign of a different phase of my life. The TV that stood by all throughout graduate school, then through internship - the first television that I could truly call my own - is now sold in preparation for my impending move across the country. Of course, I had to send off my TV in style, so what movie do I view as its swan song? Untitled, the so-called bootleg cut of Almost Famous. So why the huge significance of this change in technology? Well, it's the first major shared appliance between Wai and I, thus symbolizing are impending life together. So far, I have yet to personally experience the new TV, as Wai moved out much earlier than I did, and is currently experiencing it for herself, but soon...very soon, I'll experience the beauty and magic that Wai has been raving about for the last week or so.
UPDATED 10-Dec-2007:
December 2003 Hawking Technologies HPS1U Print Server --> D-Link DPR-1260 Multifunction Print Server
This was a much-delayed replacement. Basically, towards the beginning of grad school, as I started using a laptop more and more, I got lazy and wanted a print server so that I didn't have to keep plugging and unplugging my printer into my (then) iBook. As time went on, this print server lived a full life...to the point that it was often over-heating. After my move to Atlanta, and with Wai and I combining electronics, each one of our desktop computers ended up becoming print servers (she had her printer, I had mine), since the HPS1U pretty much burned its life out. Finally, after seeing some major discounts at Circuit City, I was able to find this D-Link toy for half the regular retail price...how could I pass that up?! I found out that with a little fiddling, this little toy was an incredible tool that lets me share not 1, but 4 printers (hence not even Wai's desktop computer has to endure countless boots just for simple print jobs). Additionally, my all-in-one printer can finally be fully shared among all computers on the network...even scanning! Granted, the documentation leaves a lot to be desired for (especially for Macs), but this thing is a godsend!
27-Dec-2006
Guitar skills do not translate to being a Guitar Hero
Today, as I was walking around Best Buy trying to figure out how I would use my coupon, I found myself taking a gander at the Guitar Hero (2?) demo that was set up. Now, I'm not a huge stranger to Guitar Hero. I have, of course, heard about it, and during previous Best Buy visits, I've seen throngs of people huddled around the Guitar Hero demo station. Hell, I've been one of those people staring at the dude rocking out with a mock-up Gibson SG and wondering how someone's supposed to accomplish so much with 5 buttons. But I have never actually tried it myself.
Today, for the first time, the station was actually empty, so I decided to give it a shot. Mind you, I do consider myself a guitarist. I'm no Eddie Van Halen, but I do pride myself on having been able to master a few impressive solos here and there (e.g., Randy Rhoads' "Goodbye to Romance", Def Leppard's "Hysteria," etc.). I take a look at the miniature SG mock-up and peer at the buttons and the setup. I think to myself, "Cute." I go ahead and fire away. Now, I go ahead and set the difficulty level at Medium, as opposed to Easy, thinking, "Yeah, this thing's gonna have a learning curve, but hey...I'm a guitarist!" I look through the song list and settle on the Black Sabbath classic "War Pigs," as it's a song that I can play (somewhat) on a real guitar. Plus, the song basically centers around 2 chords. I watch as the monitor depicts me as a guitarist, interestingly enough, with a Bullseye Les Paul, a la Zakk Wylde. The song starts and...well, I'm fumbling around on this fretboard expecting to be able to do some slides and power chords, but colors on the screen indicate otherwise. Apparently, I can't follow the rhythm well enough to really do that well (I play more around feel than rhythm). Thankfully, as the song progresses, I'm able to fall into the groove somewhat, and I end the song with a somewhat respectable rating, with the dude on the monitor shouting back at me, "You rock!" Yes, I do rock. I rock enough that by this point, some people have gathered around me to see me barely make my way through the song.
A line has clearly developed by this point, so I hand the flimsy fake-guitar to the next person...a little kid who looks to be no more than 12 years old. The kid turns his baseball cap around and takes the guitar, and I watch as he immediately flips the difficulty level to Expert. I stand by as the kid then picks the very song that I was struggling to make it through. The kid then proceeds to blaze through the song, hitting every note, and the screen lights up in ways that it never did for me. He finishes the song, and turns to me with a smug look. I got schooled...I got schooled big time! Feeling a little dejected and bitter, I offer, "Yeah, but can you do that on a real guitar?" He shrugs and gives me a look that seems to say, "Dude, I just smoked you. What the hell do I care?" Ooh, that pissed me off. Part of me wanted to grab this kid and take him to my apartment, so that I could show off what I could do on my Stratocaster. Then I realized, how sick and mildly deviant that sounded.
Feeling mildly depressed, I instead ventured over to the Guitar Center down the street and picked up a Telecaster and bust out Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing." Finally, I felt somewhat redeemed.
But damn that kid...
20-Jun-2006
The Importance of Fresh Sneakers
I've never been a hardcore jogger. Over the last 4 years, I've done the sporadic jog to keep my heart healthy when I don't have time for a full bike ride. Consequently, I've never invested that much into my sneakers. Hell, I'm still wearing the same sneakers I wore in high school. I always figured that as long as they're holding together, why bother spending hard-earned money on new sneakers? (my poor grad student mentality) Seeing as how I live incredibly close to Nike Headquarters, I've been meaning to take advantage of their nearby outlet store (as well as the local lack of sales tax). This morning after my jog, that yearning became a necessity, as my sole popped open. I thought it was incredibly interesting to look at the insides of my shoe, so naturally I snapped a photo.
click on image for larger version (in new window)
19-Apr-2006
For the last several weeks, Kevin Smith's online story of how his friend Jason Mewes' made the trip from drugs to recovery has completely gripped me. It's a story not only of drug recovery but also of friendship and family. I feel man enough to say that after reading this story and watching the accompanying video clip, tears were streaming down my face, and I wanted nothing more than to give both Smith and Mewes a huge hug. The saga takes place over 9 chapters, and the first one can be found here: http://silentbobspeaks.com/?m=20060328.
27-Nov-2005
High School Reunion
This weekend, I attended my high school's 10-year class reunion. I think it was Joan Cusack's character in Grosse Pointe Blank that described her own reunion as seeing that everyone had swelled. That was definitely the case for mine...at least for the men. It seems that they all packed on a few extra pounds since high school graduation, myself included. The women, for the most part, seemed to have slimmed down and become quite sexy. Regardless of the size and shape (and hair) changes, it was a great experience to see again many of the people that I shared my high school experience with. Some had grown up, and some (unfortunately) did not. Still, it was also interesting to hear how some of my classmates, especially some of the ones that I was never that close to, explain to my girlfriend (who was brave enough to attend the event with me) how they regarded me in my high school years and how I had changed since then. It was also interesting to find out that some of the people that I was merely acquaintances with pursued some genuinely interesting and exciting projects. It kind of made me wish that I had talked to some of them more during my high school years, as these were actually pretty cool cats.
During my 11-hour drive back from SF to Portland, I decided to make a pre-New Year's Resolution: I resolve to keep in better contact with some of my pals in high school (or at least attempt to do so, as I know this is a 2-way process). To my recollection, this is the only resolution that I've ever consciously made. We'll see how this goes.
1 word: Serenity
2 words: Simply Amazing!
3 more words: Go see it!
Quite a few funny Bush-related images have cropped up in the last few days, so I've decided to post a couple of my favorites. The first comes from a comic artist named Jim Borgman:
And here's a screen grab from Skynews in Ireland. It was meant to be a statement about Hurricane Katrina, but...well, see for yourself:
Firefly/Serenity
Typically, if I enjoy a movie or a TV show, I'll just add a link to my links page. I feel that Firefly deserves an additional nod. My girlfriend recently loaned me the dvd set, and I immediately became hooked. As with any Joss Whedon creation, this series is incredibly well written, and the characters pull you right in. Too bad Fox has no taste and prematurely cancelled the series. Anyway, I'm definitely geared up for the upcoming Serenity movie.
(Yes, I know that this entry is a bunch of promotional plugs, but hey, it's stuff that I'm very much into)
Important announcement to those come to this site looking for rare CD/DVD trades: Sorry folks, but life (grad school, job, practicum, girlfriend, etc.) is getting busy, and something's gotta give, so I'll be scaling back my trading. Until further notice, I will only accept trades from people who can offer me somthing off of my wish list. What that translates to is no more 2-for-1's. Don't worry, this is not likely to be a permanent change, but a necessary one at this point. For those who have already requested a 2-for-1 trade, don't worry, I will still get to your trade...it will just take a little longer than expected.
|
Gung Hay Fat Choy or Gong Xi Fa Tsai! (according to whichever you dialect fits your fancy; personally, I'm for the latter) For the uninformed, Happy New Year! Okay, I know that's not the literal translation which is something closer to "Hope the new year brings you fortune!" Regardless, it's time to celebrate the Year of the Rooster! I'm not sure why it's so, but I somehow feel closer to my Chinese heritage this year. I guess why that's why I actually remembered to put in a Chinese New Year entry this year. |
The death of a rock radio institution?
I recently returned to the Bay Area for the holidays to visit family and friends only to find that the favorite rock radio station of my youth, 92.3 KSJO no longer exists and has now changed its format to Latino music?! Major bummer! Nothing against Latino/Hispanic music...I can enjoy a good salsa when I'm in the mood, but my heart lies with rock and roll. Not only that, but KSJO was a major character in my youth. I remember moving to the Bay Area when I was 13 and was gung-ho about Guns N' Roses. KSJO actually played bits of Use Your Illusion before it was actually released. With my first real job, Lamont & Tonelli (and Sully) provided the banter for my early morning commute, then Mikey would accompany me on my ride home in the afternoon. While other rock stations in the area would usually isolate themselves to a single time period and eventually die off (ahem, KOME and KRQR), KSJO provided a good mix of old and new rock, which I thought would guarantee KSJO's existence until the demise of western civlization. I guess this is just one more way Clear Channel can use its power to strip away the rock radio pillar of my youth.
Screw you, Clear Channel, and RIP, KSJO!
A moment of silence...
"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott
20-Aug-1966 - 8-Dec-2004
http://mena.typepad.com/dollarshort/2004/11/canada_20.html
It's a day of mourning.
Ironic, considering my prospective career, isn't it?
Man, I had forgotten what an incredible live band Aerosmith is. I'm just now waking up after a late night groovin' out to Aerosmith's performance at the Clark County Amphitheater. This is the second time I've seen them, the first being almost ten years ago (various scheduling conflicts, cancelled gigs due to sickness, and 9/11 have kept me from seeing them on their last few tours). All I can say is that even at the age of 50-something, the boys still have it! Especially Joe Perry! The dude just exudes coolness just by standing in front of a Marshall on stage with a Les Paul in hand. And when he strikes those strings, hair on your arms just start to stand (even in the rain). Although I could have done without "Fever", "Cryin'", and "The Other Side", and I would have preferred, say "Last Child", "Seasons of Wither", and "Hangman Jury". I can't complain too much about the performance, though. It was definitely an excellent performance!
I guess I'll go off on a little tangent here, but there was a drunken prick next to me who could barely stand up straight and was causing a few problems with the people around him. He actually had to be pulled off of a girl quite a few times. One guy threatened to beat him up, which I also thought was a little irresponsible, but possibly necessary to give the guy a wake up call. Finally, the dude just left, making the concert a lot more enjoyable for the rest of us. While I'm all for having fun at a concert, I think it's pretty stupid to get so wasted that all you end up doing is making trouble for those around you. You just end up annoying people, and ruining the experience for others.
My inner-geek has been asking myself why I don't simply take advantage of what my web-hosting co-op offers and convert my spouts to the more modern blog page. I've wrestled over this for a little bit, and I've come up with a few reasons (including the fact that I'm too lazy to look into how to set up and use the Movable Type blogging system, even though it's probably easier than I expect). The main reason is that since I am an psychologist-in-training, I need to maintain a level of distance from my clients: I can't self-disclose too much. Hell, some might say that my web-site, itself, exposes a little too much of me. I have no idea who may venture onto my page. For all I know, one of my clients has already ventured onto my page and learned something about me that offends him/her. I don't really want to take that risk.
The other reason is that I'm deluding myself to thinking that I've escaped my tech-geekdom. Of course, the very notion of me typing this out onto this page invalidates that claim.
This isn't to say that I'll discontinue posting here. I have no idea when my next post will be nor what it will be about. Besides, if you've kept track of the posts here, you'd notice that they're few and far in between. For the few posts that I make, I don't really mind writing the raw HTML.
I do have to say that one of my guilty pleasures is viewing other blogs, often by my friends. It keeps me abreast of what they're doing. Since many of them are tech-geeks, themselves, it sometimes allows me to vicariously get in touch with my geek-nature...that is if I understand what they're actually blogging about, which I sometimes don't (see? I'm escaping geekdom!).
Wild conspiracies abound! I've come to the conclusion that restaurants are not necessarily out to give you the best food for your money. That's probably a secondary goal, but their primary goal is to expand the capacity of your stomach, thus making you buy *more* food to fill it up.
Perhaps this is just a wacky theory, but hear me out. Most reasonably priced restaurants serve enormous portions for each meal stage. They usually advertise appetizers as serving X number of people. The actual number it serves is usually one and half times that amount. Appetizers meant to be shared by 2 people, are typically more comfortably shared by 3. Same with group dinner packages. If you go to a restaurant that has a dinner package that's supposed to feed 4 people, it usually turns out that it will actually feed 6.
Secondly, when you order entrees, the waiters and waitresses usually neglect to tell you that your plate (technically meant for just one person) actually feeds half of Cuba. I don't know about you, but I was raised with the idea that it's rude not to clean off your plate. This goes into a little sub-theory that restaurant owners work in conjunction with mothers to feed you lines such as, "There are starving children in Ethiopia who would gladly eat that!". Hence, the eater is burdened by guilt and pressure to eat every last morsel, despite the fact that the last bite could quite mean the difference between a full stomach and an exploding stomach.
It doesn't stop there! Finally, even after the entree is done, and even if the waiter or waitress notices that there's a rude fellow who has left a speck of sauce, they still push the dessert menu! And they don't necessarily ask just once. Even if you refuse, they follow it up with, "Are you sure?", as if to suggest that you're some weird freak for not partaking in the delectable sweets. Some restaurants actually try to induce a heart attack by rolling out a dessert cart, that causes your tongue to roll out onto the floor. They actually bring out temptation! Some are sly and, even if you refuse dessert, ask you if you'd like as a substitute or complement to the dessert, coffee or tea, as if to suggest that they are not part of the normal dinner! I don't know if you remember your general chemistry, but an increase in temperature (hot liquids, damnit!) also causes an increase in volume. (Remember PV=nRT?)
If you manage to ingest all of this, congratulations, the house that was your stomach has just added on a new room to accommodate the growing family of food happily living there! As you're being rolled out the restaurant door, they politely invite you to "come back again soon." Do this enough times, that house becomes a mansion! Of course, the each time, you need to pay more to fill up this mansion, thus the restaurant industry makes a bundle off of gastric expansion!
I had previously believed that Valentine's Day was created not to celebrate love, but to taunt those who had not found it. Probably even worse, I believed it was a slap in the face to those who had found love but for some reason or another could not spend that blessed day with that true love.
I think all that has changed now. Without divulging too many details and without jinxing myself (the day still isn't quite technically over...oh screw it!), I have never had such an enjoyable and heart-warming day such as today. Definitely my best Valentine's ever, possibly even best day ever!
After talking with a friend that I hadn't talked to in years a couple nights ago, I realized that the period immediately following college is a pretty damn chaotic period. With so many impending life-altering decisions to make, there's almost no certainty in anything. Too many of my friends (who are, of course, similar age to me) are going through the tribulations of trying to find their niche in the world. For many of us, it means finding a job that is both profitable and personally satisfying. For probably even more of us, it means a spending a few more years of education through some sort of graduate school, be it medical, law, or some other institution. In a sense, a lot of us choose grad school simply because we have become institutionalized. You might disagree and say that grad school is to create a more profitable future or to create a foundation for a more prosperous career. To a certain degree I agree, but I theorize that most of us who choose grad school subconsciously do so because we know nothing else. For most of us, we've spent practically our entire lives in the classroom. We've come to rely on that environment, as sick as it may be, as our support system. It's the only thing any of us have ever known. Grad school, of course, it just another way of delaying that inevitable and all-too-frightening notion of entering "the real world" (and I don't mean that stupid MTV show that depicts what the real world most certainly is NOT). I quote someone whose name I can't quite recall (and probably never knew): "Grad school is the snooze button on the alarm clock of life."
Seriously, puberty was tough, but this period is just brutal.
Okay, so it's been an insanely long time since I've posted anything here. I never thought I'd have so little to spout off about. Actually, I have a few things, but due to a busy schedule and a busy mind, I don't think I'd be able to spout off about them in a cohesive manner, but here's my best try.
Not that I think the whole Sept 11 tragedy is meaningless, but I'm certainly tired of the news covering nothing else EXCEPT the tragedy. Hell, even on the day of, I found it unbearable to watch TV, so I ended up getting off my butt and marched myself to the nearest hospital to donate blood. I'd like to know what the country is doing, besides recovering from the tragedy. Granted, that is a major activity for the country, but I know there's more going on. Furthermore, is it a requirement for television journalists to take some class in emotional manipulation? I've heard about many of the heroes and victims of the tragedy. Yes, I think they've had to go through a lot, but the reporters make it seem as if the viewer is not human unless he/she sheds a thousand tears for each hero and victim covered. They're still doing this almost 2 months after the tragedy. Even things like weather and traffic reports are littered with dramatic pauses. There's only so much of this a guy can take!
Secondly, this past week, two new IRTA's joined our team. Strangely enough, they're both named Kate. Come to think of it, I do know quite a few Kates, Katherines, Katie's, and Cathy's. There's the next name to go on that list: Katherine (and personally, I don't care how you spell it, since they're all pronounced the same).
This week, I began sharing my office with the newest addition to our team, Erin. This makes the third Erin/Aaron in our office. I think this qualifies me to add this name to my "Way too many people in the world have this name" list. Currently, on the list are the names Jennifer, Jeffrey, Thomas, Joseph, Michael, and Elizabeth (and of course all of their derivatives, so that includes Jenny, Tom, Liz, Beth, etc). Don't get me wrong, I have nothing wrong with people with these names; some of my best friends have these names. I just think that several years ago, too many people decided to become parents and didn't have enough imagination to come up with really cool names that stand out (like Delilah or Skylar or Beastman; and by the way, I'm reserving these names for my future kids). Consequently, you can walk into a crowded room, shout one of these names, and 70% will turn around thinking you're talking to them. So, to recap, if you are going to be a parent soon, please do not name your kid any of the following names:
- Aaron
- Erin
- Thomas
- Jennifer
- Jeffrey
- Joseph
- Elizabeth
- Michael
- Delilah
- Skylar
- Beastman
- Richard (okay, it's not officially on my list, but please, it's just a cruel name, for obvious reasons)
rkchang (at) cryptio (dot) net