陳培勇的世界

The Snob Effect

"Mac users, apparently concerned with self-image, were found to buy tooth-whitening products at a far greater rate than PC users." I want a Mac.

posted by John @ 12:12 PM Comments: 1

The Love of my Life

I think I am gonna lie in front of it and do nothing until next year. It's 65 inches of pure 1080P goodness.

posted by John @ 11:36 AM Comments: 0

Safety from SMS

I've already mentioned this numerous times before but it was brought up again as my cousin's phone rang off text messages. It's just pure bliss to have your phone stay silent on a holiday. No more wasted Happy New Years. No more emotionless Merry Christmas. No more, "Did I text that person Happy Kwanzaa? Not sure, I'll text him again." I know you cell phone companies want more money but it's evil to charge for unwanted incoming texts. So it was nice knowing that at least one person, my cousin, whom is in the high school teenager regime of lighting speed texting but does not do it. And then Kim called to wish a Merry Christmas. My sister told me one of her friend's texted here Merry Christmas 3 times this year.

posted by John @ 7:32 AM Comments: 0

Office Space kind of day

My boss walked up to the cubicle next to mine one day and said, "...ummm... yeah...." to which he received a roar of laughter as red staplers and paper-eating fax machines flashed across my mind.

posted by John @ 2:55 PM Comments: 0

My Affair with 880

It's been a rocky road, a sly and cunning road. It was a very conniving and emotional road. For years, its staple diet has been rubber from my weathered and withered tires as well as from millions of other weary travelers that approach its unpredictability. I had the grand fortune of patience. If your main mode of function is to drive, you damn well better like it. I drive, therefore, I am. Otherwise, amiable interactions with any social contact you may have become tired and cumbersome. Highway 880 was wallpaper attached to the four corners of my mobile inhabitance for eight hours a day. It's change was only due to driver anonymity. With subtle change day in and day out it was basically the same static backdrop: a dreary saddened mess of an engineering project they would like to call a freeway. It's a joke made more convincing along the deadly MacArthur Maze. A name so given due to it's labyrinth-like structure and ease at confounding even the most seasoned yokels. I spent many a day and quite a few sordid nights speaking to this non-entity. While it may seem to lie dormant in its restful slumber, its agitations can hardly be ignored. A slight sway in one directions leads to a massive pileup between Marina and the Colosseum. A twitch to the right could mean another A's game letting out with another 25,000 vehicles pouring into the onramp. Your seemingly open and secure route back to where you heart is now becomes a nightmare of brake lights and near collisions from less than apathetic neighbors. My approach at this daunting corridor was a simple one. Embrace it like a brother but watch it like an eagle stalking prey. Never become complacent. Never let it leave your watchful gaze. For if you blink even for a moment, your commute will lie in ruin. Your hot date becomes irritated at your tardiness. Your errands become tomorrows and next weeks. Your life at least for that day and any immediate relational dates turns to a discombobulated mess. It feeds on your negativity and it grates on your nerves. It lodges itself in the deepest darkest part of your psyche preserving itself like a cancer. That's why my approach was appropriate, at least for me. It never found a foothold in my inner being. I was able to dispose of it in daily rituals of self-torture and mutilation. Now, four years displaced from first contact, its terror-hold on me can be lifted. My route in life has taken a physical turn to greener pastures up north where the cows would graze if the concrete jungle hadn't plastered over their grass. So see me well as I seed my soul in some other city. I bid thee adieu 880 for you have been a formidable and merciful foe. I will still cater to your whims should the need arise but only on the once holy days of Saturn where few free spirits wander your narrow gauntlet. But don't see me as a felon at the completion of time served because I am only displacing my prison with another. The elder brother of 880, the infamous highway 80 becomes my new playground. Would knowing that I lie in the Pacific end of a continental divider with the Atlantic end lying a few thousands miles east in the Big Apple woo me into submission? Only time will tell.

posted by John @ 8:24 AM Comments: 0

Christmas Eve 2007

My cousin Kenna came to visit me for Christmas. It feels extra nice when someone is willing to travel a super long distance to just visit you. I'm sure she has way better things to do. So this morning we packed up the Subaru and headed on up to snow country. We brought along Loc at his mother's request. I figured I could show him a typical American past time. He only just arrived a couple months ago. I am sure he must be bored cooped up at home. His demeanor reminds me of myself when I was his age. Kinda quiet and laid back. Completely emotionless unless you have a new gadget to play with.

It was absolutely the best snow I have ever seen. Not too many people since it was Christmas. On expertise, I would say Loc is better than Kenna at skiing. For their first time, both did quite well. Unfortunately, Loc isn't much of a... I don't know what word to use. But basically, he sat there the whole time. Even though he did better than Kenna, he didn't seem to enjoy himself. Alright, I thought, not everyone likes skiing. Maybe he'll do better boarding.

We went to Boomtown for buffet afterwards. It no longer surprises me anymore. You see, you'd think people coming from a third-world country like Vietnam would appreciate the land of the plenty that is the US. But either my cousins are royalty in Vietnam or there isn't much of a shortage on luxuries over there. I was born cheap. We didn't get an allowance. New Year's money was a joke. Clothes? Hand-me-downs, please. So when I grew up those habits remained. So while I debate buying a phone or getting one for free, my cousins are asking me to get them the $200+ smart phones. While I drive an old Corolla, my cousin gets a new Honda Accord. While I would wait until something is on sale or just buy it online to avoid sales tax, my cousins say give it to me now. Poor? Hardly. So at the buffet, I am stuffing myself silly because you can't waste a buffet. Gotta make the place go negative on you. Loc meanwhile gets one plate and announces he is full. Sonuva... Kenna is sorta like this too but she has my appetite. So she spends but she also gets the full benefit.

My goal in bringing Loc is so I can show him around a bit and help offset the attention a little. I hate being center of attention and he could bring some outside conversation. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to enjoy himself skiing and he hardly talked. Looks like I failed on both accounts.

posted by John @ 12:03 PM Comments: 1

Sweet Success

I woke up this morning to pick up Kenna from the airport. She looked much taller and skinnier. I was commenting on that when she said she wished she was shorter. What kind of backwater country did this girl come from? Oh yeah, Vietnam. Anyway, I disregarded her statement knowing full well she will one day how lucky she is to tower over people. Or is that just a dream I once had?

I proceeded to the supermarket to pick up some canned corn, au gratin potatoes, chips, and a pumpkin pie. The turkey was already in the over and roasting something fierce. I also had a large sirloin in there for kicks. I realized that there is absolutely nothing to do today but wait until around 5 PM to start cooking. Kim called for some uber grub at a new place she found but I already had lunch with my sister at Pho Tau Bay. "See ya later diet!" as I wolfed down a large Bun bo hue. The rest of the day was spent watching TV and lazing around. My sister arrived at 5 with her husband and his mother.

I have to brag. That was some mighty fine eatin'. The turkey came out tender and juicy. Didn't even need gravy. I normally don't like the turkey but I had to actually stop myself from eating too much of it. Everyone doubted me but I showed them. The sirloin came out medium but was hard to cut. My sister said I should cook turkey every thanksgiving. Thanks for the compliment but I am a lazy fool. My cousin liked the au gratin potatoes. Go figure. All in all, another successful cook out courtesy of yours truly. I love cooking. If only there were more days off like this for me to do it. Merry Christmas!

posted by John @ 7:06 AM Comments: 3

Brine

It means to let your meats sit in a bath of salty water. Work gave me a $25 coupon for a turkey so I took the opportunity to buy one for Christmas. Family is celebrating Christmas tomorrow night instead of the 24th to accommodate my travel plans. Since the move was for me, my sister insists that I take care of the cooking. No problem. I can do this. The secret to tender moist turkey is brining according to my friend who works at HP. Yeah what does an IT guy know about cooking? Well for one, he's not your average skinny Asian nerd. He's a bit hefty. In fact, his parents are a bit hefty. It's a healthy sign that he's a good eater and/or a good cook. Anyway, he made the absolute best smoked turkey I have ever had in my life. It tasted like jerky. You don't even need gravy, it tasted so good. I don't have a smoker but maybe I can add a bit of liquid smoke in the bath. It is salt so if you're worried about sodium, this might be a problem. Although, if you have to add gravy or some other sauce to it later. Wouldn't that be the same thing? I don't know. Let's see how things turn out tomorrow.

posted by John @ 8:50 AM Comments: 0

Gingerbread House

If only I had my camera with me, I could've taken a picture of it. The last time I made a gingerbread house was in 7th grade for home economics. I remembered I piled as much candy onto the roof of my house in order to bring as much candy home as possible. I repeated the same tactic this time around. We made gingerbread houses for my bible study fellowship. Not sure why. I guess it was another mini xmas party thing. We had good food and just played around. It was a good end to my extremely stressful week. I was able to finish my work in time. I hope our clients are subdued by my feeble efforts. Now, I can enjoy my vacation. Tahoe, here I come!

posted by John @ 8:47 AM Comments: 0

Another Wedding Already?

Ack, more money. Disgusting how fast I change my mind. Just two years ago I lamented how I never get invited to weddings and how fun it would be to get dressed up. It's the too much of a good thing syndrome. After six weddings in the last 365 days, I am done. I now thank my lucky stars that I wasn't invited to three other weddings that occurred during the same period among other friends I am not that close to. I am already out almost a G. There are three more scheduled this year. I've only been invited to two of them. I'm just not gonna talk to that third wedding person until she gets married.

Yes, I am a cheap. So what? It's not like a life-long bachelor like me is able to collect on these investments.

posted by John @ 3:29 PM Comments: 0

This is lunch

Testing out the macro features of my new camera. Looks juicy huh? My dad's pretty cool. He noticed, I've been eating his leftover fruit that he cuts and peels for work. So now he cuts two bowls of fruit. One for me.

posted by John @ 3:30 PM Comments: 0

How do I know?

That's what I said in my head when people asked me about the status of a project I am involved in. I am extremely busy with a deadline to meet Friday morning. I have to get a complete list of parts with corresponding solid models. To help you understand the scope of what I am up against. I have 5 months to produce optical testing components. The steps to do that are:

1. Draw up preliminary designs in solidworks.
2. Go through a design review of your models.
3. Create detailed engineering drawings of all dimensions.
4. Send the drawings to the machine shop for fabrication.
5. Finally test and verify all components are made up to specification.

If you really think about it, steps 1-3 are the most time consuming and arduous task. It was stipulated that engineering drawings be delivered 15 days from signing of contract. Yeah, 2 weeks to cram in 3+ months of work. Thanks guy. Someone really dropped the ball on this one.

And to top it off, my trainer is out of town on a business trip. I am the goto guy for some of his currently running projects. As if I didn't have enough to do already.

So I am sitting working quietly on my models. Person 1 asks me what is going on with Part A on the production floor. I said, "I am finished with it and will take it off the machine ASAP." Person 2 comes in and tells me Part B is ready for testing. "OK, I'll take of it." Person 1 comes back and tells me Part C needs to go on the machine. "Arrrggghh, OK, I'll do it now." Then my manager comes in to check up on my modeling. Counter all that with pain in my tooth and hunger from this lousy yogurt diet and you have a very stressed out Pung.

posted by John @ 3:24 PM Comments: 0

Baptism

Nothing dramatic. I don't like being center of attention despite what Nam says. I plan on going through this dangerous water maneuver one of these days. Now seemed like a good one. Some people expressed disappointment later after they found out I went through it. They wanted to know why I didn't let them know about it so they could attend. One, I hardly remembered. Two, I don't like being center of attention. The less people the better. I thought it was supposed to take place on a Saturday among close friends and relatives. Since I had none to invite, I thought it would be a small gathering. But the big wigs at church in their infinite wisdom decided to hold the ceremony during Sunday Service. My stomach burped up butterflies for a few hours afterwards. Anyway, being quite emotionless the event was... for lack of a better word, uneventful. I wasn't hoping for miraculous change. I was hoping for "sameness." And I got it. Good, I hate change too.

posted by John @ 3:19 PM Comments: 0

Parking Ticket

Grrr, I guess if it's once per year. It's okay. Sorta. Got another ticket today to eat butt pho ga. I didn't know what it was and for some odd reason there was no English translation on the menu. So I thought, why not? Give it a try and see what happens. I got 7 pieces of chicken butt in my noodle. There are actually sick people out there who specifically want chicken butt? I mean, I thought people ate it so that it doesn't go to waste? At least the broth was good. $36 ticket + $7 bowl of chicken noodle = one damm expensive but still really good lunch. Pho Ga on story across from Walmart. You should check it out. But don't park on the street. They'll get you.

posted by John @ 3:20 PM Comments: 0

Andrew is home

Look, he knows he's in trouble.

Sister has been leaving Andrew overnight here a lot. I don't mind him staying all that much. I mind her shirking her responsibilities to take care of her own child. She claims he's bored at home with nothing to do. Also, my mom wants him to stay. Oh really? I don't know. My sister just has it too good.

posted by John @ 7:01 AM Comments: 2

This is work

I don't want to get in trouble for showing too much. Guests are generally not allowed because of proprietary optics techniques we use here. Anyway, take a look at that slice if outside I get in front of my cubicle. It's not much but it's what I always wanted. An office with a window. Too bad I never specified how big of a window. And before you ask, yes, those are cookies. Don't you worry about my diet. I've got it in hand.

posted by John @ 3:19 PM Comments: 1

ESL Christmas Party

Oh my. This is my 4th Christmas Party. One was at my group fellowship. Two was company party. Three was at my friend's intimate gathering. Now the class I am helping teach has one for the students. Sure is a Merry Christmas explosion for me. How much xmas cheer can I get? I couldn't eat much due to my painful teeth. My grandma seemed to enjoy herself well. Linh reminded me I will baptized this Sunday. Woops, totally forgot.This Peruvian couple brought a tuna fish mashed potato roll thing. It was delicious and I could eat it without pain. Very lemony. There were other international delights as well in the potluck but nothing else stood out to me. That and of course, they were mostly Asian dishes that I am familiar with. It's still kind of odd to have people come up to me and say, "Thank you, teacher, Merry Christmas." These people are MY students. MINE. Mine not like, oh I have something nice and you don't. Mine in that I was able to help these people. Why would they look up to me, that scared little bashful kid in the corner? I know I shouldn't care too much about what people think of me, good or bad. Let me try to shake off the pride and rest up for next year.

posted by John @ 3:21 PM Comments: 0

Refill Drugs

I am now a bonafide drug addict! Well, okay, I just learned more about the drug prescription thingy. Seems everyone knows how it's done but my dads always picked up my prescriptions. I don't know how it's done at all. I just know it's expensive. So I had to actually learn that you use a drug prescription card to buy your drugs at Walgreens or something. It's cheaper that way, huh? I see. I can calculate terminal velocity of an object falling towards earth. I can determine distances between stellar phenomena. But buying drugs? Not the foggiest idea. Had to ask my sister and have her give me that patronizing look. Not unsimilar to the look I give her when she asks me to fix her wireless network. I do that look a lot. I didn't know I look that much like a jerk.

Today, I was about to run out of my current bottle so I ask my doctor for a longer prescription maybe 6 months to a year. I don't want to go to him every month. Oh? It's written on the prescription that I get a certain number of refills? Quite convenient. I just call up Walgreens a day before I go pick it up. Seems so simple. No wonder they make such a big deal about drive thru drug pickups. Thanks for welcoming me into this drug addicted country that is America. Oh yeah, I am taking prescription to kill off bacteria. Not to get high.

posted by John @ 3:28 PM Comments: 0

Blood test results

Cholesterol is 237. Norm is 100-200
Doesn't bode well for me. Gonna have to die sooner than later.

posted by John @ 3:17 PM Comments: 0

2 Nights at Hyatt or Embassy Suites

Nam brought me to the realization a year ago. I tried to refute it. I tried to deny it. I tried to ignore it. But I can't anymore. My luck is changing. "I've never won anything in my life." I officially can't say that phrase anymore. I couldn't say it before today because I had won a couple of large items recently but they were so infrequent you could relate them to a fluke. I went to the company Christmas Party figuring I'd have a nice dinner and get to meet some coworkers outside of work. But I was shocked to receive this. I love work. There was a large number of prizes to give out. I wouldn't have minded not winning. Just knowing that my company thinks about morale like this is wonderful. You know, as opposed to my sister's place which just went through another round of layoffs. My company is raffling off a week's paid vacation to Hawaii plus time off.

Also had a delightful time with Y-Y. She knows how to press my buttons for the positive. I don't think she understood a word I said about wave theory. I mean, I am not a good teacher and the natural sciences isn't exactly her cup of tea. But she seemed to listen intently. Maybe she just wanted to know more about what I do. And in order to understand my work, you have to understand the properties of light. We talked about other stuff too. It's nice to know that I can still put my guard down and just ramble on about anything to someone. If only responsibility didn't get in my way, we could've had some doll noodles in Richmond. The good Richmond in Canada. Not the crappy one I work in.

posted by John @ 8:55 AM Comments: 0

Not bad at all

I did it! Not a perfect recital but I played fairly well. Stumbled a bit but everyone else did too. I wanted to talk to my teacher afterwards to thank her for the quarter but she barely glanced at me. I guess I didn't make much of an impression on her. Oh well, I really liked her too. There was a final to do also. Just had to recognize some musical notes and stuff. It turned out more difficult than playing in front of public. I don't think I will be taking the class again next quarter. There was the crazy woman who played with emotion and fire. You could see the music stream out of her body. She was writhing with the somber mood of her piece. Amazing site to see. Wonder what she was doing in our beginning class.

posted by John @ 8:51 AM Comments: 0

Grim eating

Doesn't look like I will make it out eating. Still rather painful. I can talk fairly well now at least. Have to practice some more for my piano recital. This is gonna hurt, mentally and physically.

posted by John @ 7:23 AM Comments: 0

Too Loud

Had trouble sleeping last night. The TV was so loud. I mean really loud. I refuse to tell people to turn the volume down because I hate it when people do it to me. I am told to turn the volume down just about every day. I can even anticipate my mom and dad. They tell me as soon as they turn in for bed. So one time, I turned it down way low. Like it couldn't go down much more. My dad walked by and told me to turn it down. On instinct he walked in front of the TV. On instinct, he knew I rarely listened to him and would have to turn it down himself. As he was turning away, he noticed it was completely silent and raised the volume again.

Anyway, I struggled to sleep and then heard my sister tell my mom to turn it down. Oh my gosh. You go to someone else's house to tell them to turn down the TV. Quite quite rude.

posted by John @ 7:15 AM Comments: 0

It's already brought on

Had a short design update with the higher-ups today. Gosh, my jaw hurts to talk. They have so many ideas to update existing design. I know they know that I don't have too much experience in this area. So why are they asking me to make improvements on existing designs? I don't even have the foggiest idea of what the purpose of the existing design is. They are expecting too much from me. But you know what? The sadist in me still says, "Bring it on!"

posted by John @ 8:37 AM Comments: 2

Gone Missing

Looks like you can't hold onto stuff at work. The cart holding my test equipment was taken one day with everything on it. I had to go through the whole company to gather all equipment back. The cart wasn't important. The tools in it were. Quite a waste of my time and company time. So you would think taping your name to things with a extension number might provoke people to be less hesitant. It worked until today. Lost my cart again. More time wasted trying to find my stuff. I actually found the piece of paper with my name on it with my work instruction binder hidden in a corner. I happened on it quite by accident. I had already given up looking for it. Geez, if you're gonna take my cart, at least leave the things in the cart out in the open for me to find. Couldn't you at least call my extension and tell me you needed a cart desperately?

Later, I went to the fridge to get my yogurt for lunch and it was gone. How rude!

posted by John @ 7:05 AM Comments: 0

Making it all up

Been contemplating this for a month or so and haven't decided on what to think yet. Here's where I am. I have placed two of my friends a couple of pegs lower in my internal how shall we say "worthiness" rank. This all happens automatically. I don't have live coverage of it in my head or anything. I'm not crazy. When I meet someone and they become a friend, I internally rank them. Like, if they are trustworthy or responsible. Or if they are party-going or easy to talk to. You know, so when you go out hiking you call the athletic guy not the couch potato. When you want to talk about your feelings, you call the person highest ranked on your able-to-listen category not the person who gossips about entertainment news. You wouldn't want to call the guy who is always late to pick you up at the airport. Usually, best friends, fit the bill for first-to-be-called for just about everything. But I don't have a best friend, so this is what I do.

I like to analyze people, figure out how they think. I wonder why they would do stupid things like ignoring their friends. Or how brilliant they are when they are able to juggle a stable relationship with friends and their significant others I see a lot of pattern in the people I meet. They seem to repeat the same mistakes I see in others. And there are almost always tell-tale signs to it. I am both blessed and cursed with an easy listening personality. I often get stories from both sides of the equation. From that I am able to put myself in their shoes and get an inside look on how they are feeling. As close as possible without being them, of course.

When I say cursed, I mean I am a gossip. I admit it. I like to make up fantastic stories to describe people and their feelings. Oddly, they often come out true. To me, it's just like math: 1+1=2. That's why I tell people not to tell me things. I have a wild imagination and when I start going, I don't know when to stop. But people don't listen and tell me stuff anyway. They end up hating me in the end because I blabbed about them being this or that. I used to blame myself and thought I was a terrible person not worthy of being anyone's friend but that is just detrimental to my self-esteem. I decided to place at least half the fault on the person who informed me of their secret. Hey, you shouldn't be gossiping about other people either. I already told you so. I think the reason I have a problem with this is that I am an open book. I can easily divulge volumes of personal information about myself to a complete stranger. Go ahead, tell others what I told you. I actually feel complimented when other people talk about me. Wow, I am so interesting, I become a subject among people. How cool is that?

Sadly, I've paid for my mistakes and have had a pretty bad track record for being friends with someone for maybe 6 years max. And I mean really really close friends. After that duration, that person hates me or has no other contact with me. Friends that don't get too close, however, I stay friends with them pretty much indefinitely. That's why I no longer put too much stock on friendships. It just makes me sad. Luckily, there has been one exception to the rule. There is one person, I can consider a friend for life. This leads me to believe that there may be others out there that can stand me. I should be put in, can "under"stand me.

I digress, back to the original point of this post. The two people I have placed on a lower peg actually think I make up stuff about people to be malicious? I don't know. make up stuff to spread around? Make up stuff because I think it's the truth? Make up stuff because I have an agenda? I have no idea. But if people can't tell what I say is pure speculation, they are complete idiots. I don't have a better word for it. If you personally know a rich old man that goes out with pretty young woman, what would you think? And is what you think the truth? Maybe not but you'll gossip about it anyway. Well, I'm talking about serial gossipers anyway. You holy Christians might be able to refrain. Smart people will know that what you say is gossip and purely speculative. Idiots will think you are preaching truth and some will even wonder why you are being so mean.

I also admit. I am biased. Favorable reviews go to people I peg as reputable. Less favorable goes to people I don't know personally. Basically, conversation is the most important feature I look for in a relationship. If I can't talk to you frankly and openly having to stumble over my words, then it will be difficult for me to hang out with you. So as the great Chris Tucker would say, if you can't "understand the words that are coming out of my mouth." then you are not as good a friend to me as I thought.

Rereading this, I appear to sound all high and mighty about doing something that can clearly be labeled as negative. Tough. Some aspects of yourself, you can change. Some aspects stay with you. You can be sad about how short you are. I choose to tolerate it and try to buy taller shoes. Have to at least try to be a better person or taller for this example. But I look at the situation with the most positive attitude. No one's perfect and to be stuck on one aspect will just bring you down.

posted by John @ 7:32 AM Comments: 4

Fat face

How embarrassing. People look at your swollen face and wonder what the heck is wrong with you. It's tough not being able to eat but then again I'm supposed to be dieting on yogurt. Not speaking is the tougher part of the day. I think will sleep in tonight. Too weak and tired to do anything else.

posted by John @ 7:30 AM Comments: 2

Zzzzzzzz all day

Slept away the weekend. Quite nice. Not much to eat. Can't eat anyway but it helps along my diet. Y-Y called. She probably got her big screen TV. Would be nice to play some Halo on it. But I know her. She'd just stare at my jaw and laugh. I would normally just make fun of her back but I can't talk right now. Oh well, Andromeda is one crappy series. But I can't stop watching because of Lexa Doig. She is one hot computer avatar. So I have plenty to keep me company this weekend and the next.

posted by John @ 2:28 PM Comments: 0

Vicodin is good

Yes, very good. I think I am going to save some of these for later. My dentist prescribed them to me for pain. It's nice having medical insurance. All this stuff I am having done would've cost hundreds of dollars. The cute pharmacist at Walgreens processed my prescription ahead of others because she could see my swollen jaw and that I was in a lot of pain. All girls working there. Cute ones too. Wish I was sick enough to order drugs everyday.

posted by John @ 2:25 PM Comments: 0