Aramark Airline Cleaners Set to Strike at Logan Airport

Aramark airline cleaners are set to strike in Logan Airport. "They are worth more than $9/hr," said the union rep while citing other workers who make $14/hr. I remember interning for $10/hr and having to actually work - crunch numbers, perform financial analysis, run reports. Who knew I could've been paid more just cleaning!

I still think the time for unskilled unions are long gone. I'm cool with skilled trade unions, but other than that, unions hinder free market.

Two Rail Passengers Killed After Complaining of Humming

Hmm...so a guy is humming to his music a bit too loudly. Three passengers confront him to complain. A fight breaks out and the three passengers gang up and wrestle the music-listening guy to the floor and proceed to beat him. The man manages to pull out his knife and stabs all three. Two die, one is recovering. Man with knife goes to jail. Why do I not feel any sympathy for any of them?

Well, for one, I am never a fan of people ganging up on one person. If you're going to be "man enough" to fight, then fight one on one. Don't grab your "crew" and/or your "boyz". Just honorably tell the person to step outside. And unless your life is in danger, no biting, no kicking where the sun doesn't shine, and don't kill the guy. I have no idea how society in general degrades into animals when fights break out. But anyway, that's why I have no sympathy for the three people who decide that humming is an act that deserves a beating. I understand that it might have been annoying, but unless it was against the rules there's really nothing you can do about besides asking politely for him to stop.

As for the knife guy. He might be able to argue that he was acting in self-defense. It is tough to determine if three guys beating you up is out for your life. And who knows what happened when he pulled out his knife? Did he tell them to stop? Did he say "back off or I will protect myself"? Beats me. For now, it'll stand that he went beyond what was necessary to protect himself. I wasn't there, so I can't really say. But he must have went for some vital points for one guy to die at the scene and another to die later that night.

In the end, all this could've been avoided if the three people requested the man to stop humming. And if he didn't, then they should've sucked it up or move to another car. There's no way to justify beating up the guy for humming. That's just ridiculous.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest

If you have been following any news at all, I'm sure you are aware that one of our local police department is under the spotlight after the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. The arrest has somehow become a racial issue, and we have all heard from the supposed representative of all things racial, Rev. Al Sharpton. My issue is that there ISN'T a racial issue to begin with!

Let's breakdown the events leading up to the arrest minus any racial cues. A thoughtful neighbor witnesses a man attempting to wedge a door open. She calls the police. An officer arrives to find a man in the residence. What would an average person do? Duh. The officer asks for identification. Man in residence refuses and starts yelling. Officer attempts to calm man down. Man continues to yell. At some point, officer and man exit residence. Man continues to yell at the officer. A crowd builds; public peace has been disturbed. Officer arrests man.

Reading the simple facts, there appears to be nothing wrong with the arrest. The officer was in the process of investigating a supposed crime in progress. The man did not cooperate with the officer. The man then proceeds to disturb the peace. Open and shut case if you ask me. So what went wrong? Well, the man was Henry Louis Gates. He was black. Second part? The arresting officer was Sergeant James Crowley, a white man. There you go. State of the nation. A white officer arresting a black man better have overwhelming evidence or Al Sharpton will be on your a**.

Now, I'm no racist. I'm Asian, and I've dealt with racial crap throughout my life. I just have it easier because Asians are stereotyped to be weak, quiet, and really really REALLY good at math. Blacks on the other hand have a harsher stereotype. It sucks. But it doesn't mean we have to walk around with a chip on our shoulder. If I just broke into my own home, and a cop comes into investigate, of course I'll prove to him I live there. Go take my ID. Check the pictures in the house. I'll even identify what's in the fridge. Why the heck would I say things like, "This is what it's like to be an Asian man in America!" How does that help anything?

As law-abiding citizens, we are required to work with police officers. They are doing their duty to investigate crimes, even if it's stupid. That's what we pay them for. What would we rather Sgt Crowley do? Should he have thought, "Oh man, this guy is yelling really loud. I should leave and let things take it's course"? Of course not. He was answering a breaking and entering call. It was his duty to check it out and to verify identities.

I admit, I can get pretty heated when some idiot comes up to me and makes fun of my native language. I can be annoyed when people do the stupid slanted eyes thing. And I get embarrassed for the other person when they mistaken me for another Asian race. But I always try to take a minute and make sure if they've just made a horrible embarrassing mistake. You have to place yourself in their shoes and see what they were thinking. Take the stupid chimpanzee cartoon a few months back. Stupid Rev. Al Sharpton started this whole thing about the cartoonist making fun of President Obama. The TARP act was written by Pelosi and a chimpanzee just died. Where did President Obama fit in?

Maybe Sgt. Crowley should have slowly backed down. Maybe the arrest shouldn't have taken place. But Mr. Gates should've cooperated when asked by a law enforcement official. There was no need for yelling. No need to claim racial prejudice. And definitely no need for our President to claim the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly." In fact, I am ashamed President Obama has chosen to put himself into the issue like he did, especially since he admitted he doesn't have all the facts. He is our President; our face of the nation. He no longer represents one race or one friend (The President and Mr. Gates are friends, for those not in the know). Just as there is still racism in the world, we have to be careful not to let that turn into reverse racism. An officer cannot do his job if he needs to second-guess himself before he arrests someone.

I know this might be offensive to some, but this is how I feel. We are one world, one people. One. Stop all this race, class, gender nonsense.

Disclaimer: I am basing my thoughts on what I have read in the news and police report as of this afternoon. I may or may not have the full details of the Gates arrest, so please forgive me if I have interpreted things wrong.

Don't go cheap on razors

So, I was at Target restocking on everyday items. I was out of razor cartridges for my Mach 3 razor (No Fusion for me, the three blades work just fine). I pick up a pack of 8 cartridges and it was $20.49 or something. Unit price was $245.00 per 100 count. I look down at the bottom of the shelf and saw a pack of 8 disposable Gillette three bladed razors. Unit price was nearly half. I'm thinking, "Shoot, I change cartridges all the time. Let's try the disposables. I also had one or two disposables lying around at home too.

Cut to the next day when I had to shave for work. Every stroke was torture. My dull cartridge was better that the new disposable. So I'm thinking, maybe it's because I'm not in the shower (I usually shave in the shower). So this morning, I wait a bit longer after applying shaving gel. No such luck. It didn't hurt as much, but I definitely notice a difference in the quality of the shave. Just not up to par at all.

In conclusion, the price difference really is warranted. The quality of the shave is much better with a non-disposable razor. So, don't go cheap! Or if you have, try the cartridges. It's niiiicce.

I hate the "It's my life, I'll do what I want" people

It's Wednesday again. I hate hump days. The past weekend is but a memory, but the coming weekend is still pretty far away. You know what else I hate? The people who think they don't have to wear a seat belt or a motorcycle helmet because it's their life and they'll do what they want. Their argument is usually that it doesn't affect anyone else. But you see, it does!

Take seat belts. Say you get in an accident. If you die, great. But say you survive, and your injuries are so severe you exceed your coverage on your insurance. Maybe you have enough personal money to pay your medical bills. But if not, you apply for Medicare. I now support your sorry butt, because you didn't wear a seat belt. Say you don't exceed your coverage. But you just added to number of claims that the insurance company pays out. Next year, insurance companies adjust premiums all across the board to cover their potential losses. I pay for your mistake. This is the same for motorcycle helmets, although if we're all lucky, your head explodes like a melon and no one needs to pay for your poor decision-making.

Another scenario in the seat belt issue is this: What if you get ejected from your car during an accident? What if I was just walking along the street when you smack me and kill me? Or what if you're sitting in the backseat and you fly over the seat and break the neck of the person sitting in front of you? Of if you were sitting in back of me? I don't want to die because the dumba** in back of me didn't put on a seat belt.

So stop complaining if the government passes another seat belt law or helmet law. Yeah, we might be infringing on your right to do as you please, but I don't want to be paying for your stupid mistakes. Wear your seat belts. And if you ride, wear a helmet. You don't want bugs in your teeth anyway.

I hate stupid people!

I hate a lot of things, and one of them is stupid people. They annoy me to no end. You can try and break it down to them, but they would just look at you with a blank expression.

A while ago, I had gone to KFC with a $3.00 off coupon. I picked a family meal with sides that was on the menu for $32.49. I asked the girl behind the counter if she took the $3.00 coupon, which I printed off the KFC website. She said sure. She took the coupon, wrote $34.11 on it and did the math for the $3.00 coupon, bringing the total to $31.11. Simple enough; the $34.11 was obviously the meal price plus tax. She then proceeded to manually type $31.11 into the register and hit the pre-programmed total button. The screen flashed $32.67. She looked at me and asked for my payment. What ensued boils my blood till today:

Me: Why is it $32.67?
KFC idiot (looks at register then at me confusedly): Oh, we add tax.
Me: But you already added tax. (points at coupon with math)
KFC idiot: No, I didn't.
Me: Why did you write $34.11 on the coupon?
KFC idiot: That's how much the meal costs.
Me: Wait, how much is the meal? The menu says behind you says $32.49.
KFC idiot: Right, $34.11 is the meal plus tax.
Me: Okay...then you take $3.00 off for my coupon, put it into the register. How did it become $32.67?
KFC idiot: That's plus tax.
Me: But you already added tax!

At this point, the girl next to her is listening to the conversation.

KFC idiot: I don't understand. That's how we always do it for these coupons.
Me: Okay. How much is my meal?
KFC idiot: $32.49.
Me: Okay, why did you write $34.11?
KFC idiot: That's the meal plus tax.
Me: Fine, you take $3.00 off for the coupon. You type it into the register. Why is it $32.67?
KFC idiot: Because you add tax.
Me. You just said it! You added tax twice.
KFC idiot: No, I didn't. That's how we always do it.

Now the girl next to her is beginning to suspect something is wrong. She mumbles something to the idiot about what I'm trying to say. I am getting pretty heated now, but I don't want to lose my cool over something sooooo effing stupid. KFC idiot tells me she'll get a supervisor/manager. What's worst than dealing with a stupid person? Dealing with TWO.

KFC idiot supervisor: Sir, that's how we always do this with the coupon.
Me: But you're adding tax twice. (At this point, I don't understand why they can't press the button for the meal, total it, and use a coupon function. I used to be a cashier, though not at a KFC. But it's simple procedures.)
KFC idiot supervisor: No, we're not. This is how it works.

I go through the whole step-by-step thing. It's so simple, it hurts. They look at me like I'm crazy. At this point, I wish I had a pen and paper and I could write the stupid steps for them so their stupid heads could understand. But I had stood there for 10 minutes over $1.57.

Me: You know what, I don't care. It's a dollar something, just get me my food. I'm wasting too much time.

They get me my food. I look at the girl who's still pretty confused about the whole thing. I tell her not to worry about it and that I don't even care for the dollar something. As I leave, I contemplate writing to KFC. Or contacting the IRS or Attorney General, because if they do this to everyone that uses a coupon, they are cheating people out of their money and they are way off on their meal taxes that they pay. But I think to myself, that this is a battle I'm not gonna pick and that I'll let it slide. Besides, that KFC if pretty close to me and they haven't disappointed me in the past. I'd hate to to have to drive farther for my heart attack in a bucket.

I guess what gets me is that the girl behind the counter is at least high school age. What is so hard to understand about the whole thing? It bugs me to no end who stupid she was. Then her supervisor? Man oh man... But whatever. I feel better ranting about it.

Work ethic or just genes?

I was out to dinner last night, and my sister was telling stories about high school and stuff. You can probably imagine a lot of drama there. Anyway, there was a pretty funny moment when she mentioned that a neighboring city's high school doesn't seem to rank as high as our city's high school. She mentioned that A's high school's 2008 valedictorian only (haha) went to Brown University, whereas B's high schools top three went to Princeton, Harvard, and MIT. As a joke, I plainly said that cause B has more Asians:

Me: Is B's number one Asian?
Sis: Yea...
Me: Is B's number two Asian?
Sis: Yea...
Me: Is B's number three Asian?
Sis: Yea...
Me: Is A's number one Asian?
Sis: Yeah...
Me: Is A's number two White?
Sis: Hahaha....Yeah...

And there you go. Now, before you go off and claim I'm racist, I am NOT racist. I'm just pointing out a fact. Currently, Asians seem to work harder right now. Even when I was in high school. The majority of the top ten of my class were Asian. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we are fresh immigrants rather than the other "Americans" who immigrated here much much earlier. Because of our "fresh" status, our parents whip us to strive and succeed in school so that we can make a place for ourselves and our future generations. The others already have their place.

You know what it is? They gone soft. I mean, how else can you explain that 75% of my high school English AP class was Asian. Shouldn't the real "Americans" be kicking our butts in their own language? Shouldn't we only be doing well in math? Just based on B's high school graduation results, it has nothing to do with money. It has nothing to do with where the kids grew up. It has nothing to do with genetics (I know, my post title was misleading, but I've met some stupid Asians too so you can be rest-assured that the world won't be taken over by Asians who will then proceed to kill themselves because they got too jealous and competitive by each other's accomplishments). The reasons I think Asians do well is because 1) our parents really kill us if we get less than an A. Seriously. And 2) people look down on us.

I'm not deaf. I'm not stupid. I know not all "Americans" like us. I hear things. I read things. "Eww...City of B is going down. There's too many Asians." Or "Don't move to B, or your kids might wind up speaking Mandarin." Who's racist now? The funny thing is, most of the Asians I know are Americans. Whether naturalized or actually born American. But people don't see past our yellow skin huh? Well, because of this, we work harder, faster, better.

So if you sit at your kid's graduation this summer and wonder why the top ten of the class are mostly Asians, don't kid yourself. It's not because we're Asians and it's in our genetics. It's because we work harder and your kid is stupid. Well...maybe we're smarter too.

By the way, you're racist if you do the following:
-Ask me where I'm from and then be surprised when I say "Boston". What did you expect? "Oh my motha come from Hong Kong, but we weely like Amelica!" Do I ask you where you're from and then go, "Oh, I meant your great-great-great grandfather that immigrated here on a steamboat. Was it Italy?"
-Tell me that you had a Chinese kid stay with you for some foreign exchange student program, as if that makes you cool.
-Tell me you knew this Asian person once. Do I go up to you and go, "Hey, I used to live near this Caucasian family. They were really nice."
-Tell me you like Chinese food and order chicken fingers and General Gao's chicken. We made that stuff so you people would buy it and feel special that you're so culturally experienced. At least smarten up and know it's really American Chinese food:

(At my part-time job during college)
Coworker 1: Hey Dan, how come I never see any Chinese people at the Chinese restaurant down the street?
Me: 'Cause that's not Chinese food...
Coworker 1 to Coworker 2: I told you!

Audio from US Airways Hudson landing

The FAA released the transcript and the audio conversation between Flight 1549 and controller at TRACON, which handles air traffic after they depart from New York airports. Captain Chesley Sullenberger and first officer Jeffrey Skiles were very calm and smooth. Captain Sullenberger even did the honorable thing and walked the aisles twice to make sure nobody was left on board before he evacuated. We need more honorable and courageous people like the crew out there. Play the audio as you read along with the transcript. Riveting.

Not you too, Carbonite!

So, I was doing my daily routine of checking out the headlines when I ran across this: "Carbonite Stacks the Deck with 5-Star Reviews". So in the wake of the Belkin mess, apparently, Carbonite has posted some positive reviews of themselves to manipulate the ratings. I find it very disappointing that Carbonite had to resort to this.

I've been a customer of theirs for nearly two years, and I have used the recover backup functions at least four times (twice for my HP, once when HP wiped my laptop to "fix" it, and once when I replaced my HP with my Aspire One). Each time I recover, I am very thankful that my data was backed up offsite. Sure, I would've achieved the same results with an external HDD, but say my apartment burns down and destroys both my computer and my HDD. Or if someone steals my HDD, and later I lose my data on my computer. That's pretty bad. And with an HDD, you have to remember to plug it in and do regular backups. I've said before, the two keys of a good backup is: 1) regular backups and 2) store offsite away from your computer. My backup is in the "cloud" with Carbonite and it syncs automatically whenever my computer is on and connected to the internet.

I just bought a 500GB external HDD (500GB for $115!) so I can move some video files over there. I'll probably do another copy of my files there too as a secondary backup, but I don't plan on cancelling my Carbonite subscription. If anything, I got the HDD to backup some nonessential files (videos) so I don't have to backup those to Carbonite. And since I don't really care if I lose some videos I've already watched, I can save time if I need to recover my data again from Carbonite.

Again, it's a shame Carbonite had to do what they did. Unlike Belkin, their product is actually good.

Ideal driving according to...me

I've been meaning to express how I feel about the way people drive for quite awhile. Usually, when I've been out driving and noticing what people do. I've been driving ever since I got my license way way back. And ever since I got my own car, I have pretty much driven every day. Needless to say, I have quite a few hours under my belt. Now driver's ed was great and all, but they don't really teach you much about efficient driving.

Like most people, I was quite the crazy driver when I was younger. But after some interesting experiences, I mostly pride myself on trying to be a smooth and efficient driver. Whether this includes using the brake and gas pedals only when needed or timing traffic lights and turns, I like to put my passengers at ease. A carsick passenger resulting from my driving is a sign of failure. Braking hard is a sign of failure. Braking more than twice in a span of 3 seconds is a sign of failure.

I like to be always aware of the driving situation all around me. I check my 3, 6, 9 quite often during a drive. Which brings me to my first rule for all efficient driving: Check ALL your mirrors frequently. Don't just check it when you're changing lanes. Don't just check it when you're backing up. Check it routinely. Know that you have a way out if something funky happens in front of you. Know that you need to adjust your driving depending on who's behind or next to you.

This brings up a second rule: Don't be a righteous b*st*rd. If you're driving in the passing lane of a highway (there is no fast lane, but one can argue someone is passing all the time), and you see someone driving faster than you behind you, don't think, "Oh look, a crazy guy speeding. I'm already going pretty fast, so I'm just going to stay in front of him and block him." This only leads to two things: traffic and road rage. Best thing to do is, move over one lane. Let the "lunatic" through, switch back. Not only have you kept your place in line, the highway has become more efficient.

Another rule: Don't tailgate. Not only is it dangerous, but tailgating invariably leads to you tapping your brakes a lot. This will cause the person behind you to brake, probably because he was following you at a distance that he thought was fair, not knowing you were tailgating. The person behind him might brake because he sees brake lights. You can see where I'm going with this. You tapping your brakes can cause traffic behind you. I know, I know. Why should you care about traffic behind you. Well, next time you sit in traffic. Think that it might have been less bad if people timed their acceleration and deceleration accordingly and used their brakes only when needed. This is why I say using your brakes twice in 3 seconds is probably a failure - a failure in judgment. Remember, when you're going highway speed, letting off the gas will slow you down a bit. Apply gas only if the situation calls for it and if it will prevent an accident or dangerous situations.

I have tons more thoughts on driving, but I guess the most important rule is to drive safe and practice defensive driving. Keep in mind that the above rules are my thoughts only and not the absolute word. You are responsible for your own actions and resulting consequences.

Don't need to be a hacker to hack an email account

I'm sure most of you have heard that GOP vice-president candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo account was "hacked" into. Well, apparently the hacker didn't even need to resort to actual hacking. The hacker with help from the group he belongs to used Yahoo's password recovery feature. It's a pretty standard one. You set security questions and answer them. Once correct, it lets you in and you can change your password. Palin used questions that referred to her birthdate and where she met her husband. Quick searches on Wikipedia and online yielded the answers.

So what's the lesson? If you are famous or just pretty active in the online community (Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc.), try not to use questions with answers that can be researched quickly. My favorite strategy is to pick a random question like "What is the name of your dog?" and answer it with a totally unrelated word. So the name of your dog could be "Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken" or something equally ridiculous like "Your mama". That should do the trick.

In this day an age, you can't be too careful with your online security!

Budweiser no longer American?

This is pretty old news. Anheuser-Busch, one of the US's largest breweries was taken over by In-Bev, a foreign brewery that brews Stella Artois and Beck's. It was a pretty big deal when that deal was announced. A lot of people were pretty annoyed that another US company is being taken over. Well, some people are suing to try to have that deal blocked. It makes some sense.

In a time where people are paying more attention to the economy than ever, this is a time to try to keep businesses. With this takeover, we are funneling even more money away from the US. We don't export much anymore. We're importing more than ever. Then we have all those outsourcing/offshoring jobs. We have a lot of manufacturing in China. I mean, what do all these moves sound like? Sounds like the big business men padding their wallets without any regard to the bigger impact they are making on the others and the US economy.

I'm not saying that blocking this deal would solve our economic crisis right now. There are so many factors that pushed us into this situation. I have no idea how we are going to fix this. It just sucks to lose a large US corporation. But then again, what do I care, I drink a lot of imports and drive a Toyota. But my Toyota was assembled in the US. Does that count?

American or Chinese?

With all this hubbub of the Beijing Olympics, I can't help but contemplate my nationality and ethnicity. Being born and raised in Boston, the law and myself considers me an American. But with parents and grandparents that still heavily associate and identify with the Chinese people, things get...tricky, especially when issues involve USA and China.

For example, I was watching the men's and women's gymnastics. I rooted for the USA team. But I can't help but feel this nagging feeling that quite a bit of Chinese people in American were rooting for the Chinese team. This reminded me of the time I went to a Celtics game many years back. It just so happened my brother bought tickets to a Boston-Houston game. As we were going up the stairs to our seats, people passing by would ask if we were rooting for the Celtics. We were pretty confused. Who else would we root for? However, by the time we took our seats and the game started, I saw exactly why we were asked that. Half the center was filled with Chinese people. They were rooting for Yao Ming.

Every Olympics, the press invariably focuses on the medal count. These Summer Games were about how many medals USA would get versus China. Again, I would root for USA to get more. But when I went home for dinner this past weekend, I heard my family saying that China got quite a bit and they were pretty happy about it. I know I'm Chinese, but I just don't see the point of rooting for or siding with someone just because of their blood. I mean, these same athletes are part of a country where a lot of controversy had surfaced (faking performances, possibly violating the age requirement, protests). I like Chinese people and all, but I'm not a big fan of China. I was born American, and I feel great pride when the National Anthem comes on. Heck, I would think even nationalized citizens should feel that way. Why else be nationalized and swear an oath of loyalty?

I guess everything boils down to race and the issues that still surround it. Most of the time I forget I'm Chinese. I forget that to bigoted people that I am different. They see a yellow face and they think, "Oh, he's not American." But America shouldn't have a single face. To me America is a pot of stew. Many different ingredients, but together, very delicious. I don't like to choose between my nationality and my ethnicity. I like to think that as an Asian American, I add a diversity and different strength to all that is America.

But I guess if it ever comes down to it, I would bleed red, white, and blue.

Mob mentality blows

Apparently, people in Montreal hates the police as much as some people in the US does. A fatal shooting by the Montreal Police sparked riots where dozens of people were arrested and an officer was hot in the leg. Too bad the neighborhood where all this happened is called the "Bronx of Montreal". Now I don't know exactly what happened when the fatal shooting occurred. And I don't think anyone will except for the people involved, the officers, and witnesses. And I know there are police officers that abuse they're power a bit much. But what I hate about hearing things like this are the people who take advantage of certain situations and do certain bold things that they wouldn't do otherwise.

Say this guy is stepping up to you. What are the chances you will start something? Probably slim, unless he crosses the line. Now say you were with 5-10 of your buddies. Makes it much easier to say something you normally wouldn't right? What annoys me about this is when people take it to extreme. People who think they are really tough because they got their "crew" with them. Or people who do things because no one is looking. I really hate that. If you are not brave enough to things alone, don't do them otherwise.

Take the riots in Montreal. It sure is easy to attack police officers when you grossly outnumber them. And I am so sure that the mob takes advantage of the fact that the officers won't use lethal force on mobs because THEY have to be the responsible ones. I mean, have you ever seen those police videos on TV where hundreds of people attack dozens of police officers? It's insane. Sure, the Montreal Police MIGHT have acted out of line with the fatal shooting. But we don't know what happened. Let the board investigate. Let due process take place. These people have this skewed view of police and brutality that they jump at anything to punish them. And if any civilians are hurt, guess what happens? "Police use excessive force" or "Police brutality injures civilians" It's really bullsh*t. We give so much crap to the people who risk their lives serving the public. Then when something happens, we run to them for help.

I hate it when a group of people mug someone. I mean, they're such cowards for outnumbering someone. You can't be tough if you can't do it alone. I hate it when people do things when they know they can get away with it. You know, the people on internet forums who are so tough. Or the people who shout insults at you from a moving vehicle. Or kids who throw Gatorade on your car because they think no one is looking only to sheepishly apologize when I run out and confront them for it. Oy!

I'm not even sure if this post is coherent anymore...

How long can you hold on?

On Pandora:
Radiohead - "True Love Waits"


Ever press the palm of your hand to the faucet and then turn the water on? Most times you can stop the water for a brief second before it sprays in your face. Even if the water flow was just a trickle. Ever grab a handful of sand at the beach and hold on really really tight? You can never keep it all in huh?

I feel like things are like that in life. You can try to get a hold of things, try to keep them the way you want to. But you can't stop an unyielding force, no matter how small. It just eventually builds up and goes everywhere. Try as you might to control things, to correct things. It never works if you're pushing against the flow. Take having too many people in one living space. Friction will occur. It's inevitable. What can you do? Keep being the middleman and mediate things? It may be natural to keep solving problems, to keep fixing things. But sometimes it's just plain broken. Or take someone that is leaving. Can't hold them back. No way. Just gotta let them go.

Blegh. Mindless rambling...

Will I be a good father?

I think about life a lot, as I'm sure everyone else does. And naturally, I think about who I am as a person and how I'm doing. Specifically, I wonder if I'll be a good father.

Having been raised in a household where my parents worked most of the time and my grandparents taught me most of what I know, I didn't exactly grow up in a conventional American way. In fact, I would think this is how most first-generation Asian Americans were raised. My parents immigrated here and worked their butts off to provide my siblings and me with the best opportunities. It was a tremendous sacrifice on their parts to uproot their lives and work menial jobs in the US. Take my father. He leaves home no later than 8AM and doesn't arrive back at home till 9:30PM or later. My mother still works six days a week. They showed their parental love for us kids by working and making sure we have a roof over our heads and food on the table. To compensate for their absense, my grandparents took care of us and taught us the basics of life.

When I was 11, my mother had my sister. The difference in our age made my relationship with my sister different. Early on, it was mostly a sibling relationship. I enjoyed helping take care of my baby sister. We'd watch tv together, played together, and ate instant ramen together. But as years went by and I went from middle school to high school to college and to adult life, I found myself more and more in a parental role. My grandparents were getting older and didn't have the patience to raise another child. My parents were still in their work-and-make-money mentality, and they didn't really have a lot of parental experience. That left a lot of the teaching and raising to me. It was tough. It wasn't exactly a parent-child relationship, and that made it very difficult. When should I be a brother and listen or hang out? When should I be a "parent" and teach her lessons in life? The line was very blurry and I found myself going back and forth. It even caused friction at times. The only saving grace is that she is getting older (she turned 16 recently). I'm going from telling her what to do to guiding her. With age, she becomes closer to being a peer, a truer sibling.

But going back to my original thoughts. This little foray into parenting got me thinking. How will I fare when I have a child? I would be fully responsible (hopefully with a partner) for the upbringing of a child. How would things turn out? Will they rebel and turn into punks? Or will they appreciate my efforts and sacrifices as a parent? Then I think about Richard E. Hoyt Jr. and his father. Now that is an amazing story.

Rick has cerebral palsy and cannot speak or walk. But after entering a charity race with his father pushing him in a wheelchair for five miles, they've been in over 950 races including 25 marathons. Here is a link to an article Rick "wrote". There's also a video of their experiences. Now if that doesn't bring a tear to your eye. I don't know what will.

In the end, I don't know if I would have the courage and strength that Rick's father had. But I hope I would be a balanced father. Someone who would make sacrifices like my parents to provide for my children, someone who would teach and raise them, and someone who would take time to be there for them. Whether I'm out rolling in the grass or reading "The Little Engine that Could" for the hundredth time. Whether I'm teaching them how to ride a bicycle or yelling at them for little mishaps, I want to be there.

It's raining again...

It's raining again...well a brief thunderstorm anyway. Now I'm not sure about anyone else, but I like rain. I love it, actually. I just don't like getting my sensitive stuff wet. Back in college, I would never bring an umbrella. Never needed to, cause I like the rain. I would walk to classes in the rain and get absolutely soaked. Before class, I would go to the bathroom to wipe down my hair with paper towels.

I watch the rain sometimes. Just gaze at the thousands of droplets pelting the ground. Watch as the trees sway in the wind. It's very peaceful and calming. Next time it rains, or if it's raining right now, go here and listen to Craig Armstrong's "This Love" while you look out the window. Powerful stuff. Not the most uplifting, but almost moving. And yes, I found it on Pandora.

Countdown to vacay

It's funny how when you know you're going on vacation that you start counting down to it. No matter how much work you need to get done prior to it, there's a little kid inside bouncing on all the walls screaming, "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!!" I mean you know how it is. There's all this daily work that builds up, so you're working to clear out what's existing, because you don't want to come back to a mountain of work. A little molehill yes, but no mountain. So I'm working on overdrive. But you can still feel this buzzing inside. This little desire to scream out, "YES!!!" It's a funny feeling.

I already know how I'm going to feel the day I come back too. I'm going to feel sucky for having a nine-to-fiver. I'm going to feel extra motivated to brainstorm ideas to get out of the rat race. I'm going to wish I was in a better place. Then I get back to my cage and run on my hamster wheel. Ahhh...the routine of life.

"Education, not isolation"

If you're in the Massachusetts area (and probably outside too), I'm sure you've heard about the so-called pregnancy pact scandal in Gloucester. In a town where the average teen pregnancy rate was at 4 per year, they had 17 this year. That's more than quadruple the norm. What was shocking about this number besides the increase is that there was a supposed pregnancy pact where the teens, most under 16, agreed to get pregnant and raise their children together.

As details emerged, a few points popped out at me. One, the school nurse had tried to implement a program to supply contraceptives at the school. She was overruled, and she resigned in protest. Second, the closest medical facility is supposedly miles away. So there really is no other way for the teens to get contraceptives. Then some are arguing that movies like "Juno" and "Knocked Up" are glamorizing pre-marital pregnancies, and celebrities like Jamie Lynn Spears are making it worse. Now, I sure as heck am not a supporter of Jamie Lynn Spears, but to blame the film industry for "corrupting" our kids is just plain silly.

Personally, I think the lack of education is contributing to the increase of teen pregnancies. I understand that providing contraceptives might come off as supporting teen sex, but guess what, the teens are doing it either way. As one observant teen from Gloucester said in this article, http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/16692720/detail.html, 17 teen pregnancies proves that teen sex is happening. So why not provide contraceptives. If anything, why not spend some money and teach abstinence, BUT also let them know to use contraceptives when abstinence cannot be adhered to? A lot of places either cut sex ed (I know of one city that's done it) or teach abstinence without providing contraceptives. Most people spend so much time shielding their children from "adult" things that most teens don't know how to deal with situations when it comes up. I mean, how dumb do you have to be to not realize that you can get pregnant if you don't use a condom? But as a 14 or 15 year old with no exposure, that can happen ("When she's on top, she can't get pregnant. It's gravity!").

In closing, I say talk to your children early. Or have your schools implement a program where they teach abstinence but also provide contraceptives. Besides, kids nowadays are spending money on clothing and cell phones. So let's make it easier for them to prevent pregnancies.

How much is 50 cents to you?

I'm sitting in my cube at work the other day when one of my coworkers told me that there's pastries in the kitchen, courtesy of our CEO. So naturally I run over and nab a piece of a canoli and a cookie. Mike's Pastry, if you're wondering. Anyhoot, I comment to our office administrator that I always walk out of Mike's Pastry, because I can't wait that long for a cookie. And here's where the story kicks in.

She tells me that our CEO was in the city presenting a proposal when the meter that his car was parked at ran out. A helpful young man passing by saw the meter person and stuck his own 50 cents into the meter to prevent the ticket. He then left a small note on the windshield kindly asking for repayment of the 50 cents. So my CEO sends a box of golf balls and a note to the young man thanking him for his help. And next thing you know, we get pastries from Mike's Pastry delivered to our office thanking my CEO for the note and gift. Not only this, he's requesting to meet our CEO.

Now, I'm not sure if he would meet the young man, but can you believe this exchange all started with two quarters that would've just wound up in a change jar? Now imagine if our CEO does talk to the young man. He just bought face time with the CEO of a regional company to talk and share ideas...all for 50 cents. Now that's 50 cents well spent.

In other news, I went back to the gym yesterday! It was a pretty good first day.