#1 Nicest Thing

I'm thinking this is more of a entire body of work of nice things, but this goes to my sister Linda. She used to work as the promotions director for the local ESPN radio station in Milwaukee (1510). As I clear Chicago on my drive back to Milwaukee for the holidays, I start to pick up the Milwaukee station. My sister calls and says Pat McCurdy (a local guy who does a music/comedy type thing in Milwaukee, and he's very popular... I used to go see him back in school!) is going to be on the air. As I'm listening, my sister tells them that it's my birthday, and Pat makes up a birthday song for me and sings it on the radio! I have a clip of it here (it's about one minute long).

Linda has also done numerous other really nice things for me, including:

1. Planning a graduation party (including the tent, the invitations, and ordering the food)
2. Getting a bunch of Green Bay Packers from the '96 Superbowl team to sign hats for me

And much more.

Just goes to show how blessed I am for what wonderful friends I have, and these are just the top 5. There's a whole long tail of stuff people have done for me, things like keeping up with my job search, helping me with my dating life (i.e Dave and his BCS ranking method), continuing to encourage me in all of my goals, inviting me to dinners, etc. I hope to do the same for all of you!

Why we love Wisconsin

So I'm still here in Wisconsin, as a snowstorm hit yesterday during my scheduled flight back to Ohio. I think my plane did leave, after a 2 hour delay, but I decided to take advantage of Skybus's relatively cheap change fee ($40) and flight prices and change my ticket to leave today instead. I took advantage of the additional time here in Wisconsin and with my family to do something I haven't done in a long time... build a snow fort with my sister, just like the old days!
















We think it kinda looks like the Alamo!

Quite a popular day

December 23, 2007... My 30th birthday, which is quite a milestone I guess. But there will be a plethora of reasons this day will be special to some of my friends and family this year.

First, I got to celebrate my 30th birthday with the Zeroth birthday of my friends Jason and Linda's twin daughters. She was being induced for the 22nd, but I was rooting for the 23rd just so I could have the same birthday as them... and my wish came true (I'm sure Linda's didn't!) when the labor lasted until 3AM on the 23rd. I don't know why, but I feel really honored to share my birthday with their daughters!

This morning I got a text message from Amit, saying he was "officially" engaged. I guess I need to confirm that it happened on the 23rd, but nevertheless I'm very happy for him. He was obviously very excited about it all week, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Then to top it all off, I got word this morning that my cousin Delson had proposed to his girlfriend Julie. Delson had been getting a lot of slack because my sister had gotten engaged this August. So congrats to him too!

So my 30th birthday, a birth day (literally), and 2 engagements... If that's not karma, I don't know what is!!!!

#2: The Promotion Dinner

#2 on the list of nicest things people have done for me... This goes to Tom and the promotion dinner, which made Tom's top 6 list of best dinners. I was probably one of the last, if not THE last, person in my new hire class to be promoted. So when it happened, it was that much more sweeter. Tom, along with Dave, Jim, and many others, continued to give me encouragement and a chance to vent throughout the winding road that has been my career.

Tom suggested celebrating at the Precinct, an upscale steak place. It was great to be able to get Dave and Jim (and their spouses) all at the Precinct that night. Karen was 8.9999999999 months pregnant at the time, which actually worked in our favor because that meant she couldn't schedule any outings and therefore was available on short notice. So we were able to get some good company!

To top it off, we were somehow given a private room with service fit for kings. I believe when Tom made the reservation, he mentioned it was for a promotion. We speculated maybe they thought some newly anointed CEO was celebrating with a dinner there. Nevertheless, it was a great dinner with great friends. Thanks to Tom for having the thought to set it up!

Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... #3

As I near my 30th birthday, #3 nicest thing someone did for me was for my 21st birthday. I didn't really drink before I turned 21 (I guess growing up around all that beer desensitized me), and with my birthday being so close to Christmas, the campus was pretty deserted when it came time for my birthday. Gretchen, one of my Chem E classmates, insisted that we do something on my 21st birthday. So around midnight on December 22, after exams were all done, she and I bundled up (it's really cold in Wisconsin in the winter) and headed down to the Nitty Gritty, which is known on campus as the Birthday Bar (they sing a very annoying birthday song to everyone who celebrates a bd there... "Happy Birthday... Happy Birthday... Happy happy birthday to you!" over and over again). There I had my very first legal beer... A Leinenkugel's Red (I still drink this beer). I also had some fruity shot, the name I can't remember, some other shot, and I was required to do a "muffdiver" which was a shot of something buried in whip cream and I had to down it without using my hands.

This was about as much alcohol as I had ever had in my life. I called it a night after shot #3,
and was OK enough to board the 2 AM free bus back to my dorm (appropriately named the "drunk bus"). Gretchen took a cab back. Back in my room, I looked in the mirror and saw the most bloodshot eyes ever! But all in all, I did surprisingly OK and I don't remember stumbling around or anything.

But to this day, I still remember how Gretchen insisted I go out on my 21st birthday, even though she was the only person I knew who was still around campus. She even didn't let me pay for anything, saying I shouldn't be buying on my birthday. Probably one of the most lamest 21st birthdays by most standards, but one that really sticks out in my mind!

Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... #4

#4 on the list is Jim and Karen acting as wing-man/woman for me about a year and a half ago... I think I blogged about this back then. The story is Jim and I went to a middle/high school science fair to be judges for the kids science fair projects (no, we did not attempt to pick up a high schooler). We got hooked up to this particular fair because Karen's friend was a teacher and had some students in it. After the fair, Jim and I sat down for some lunch and Karen's friend came over to talk to us, along with a female colleague of hers (who Jim pegged as looking like Elisabeth Shue, of Karate Kid/Back to the Future fame).





(This is a picture of Elisabeth Shue)








After they left, Jim shot me a look of "so, what do you think of her?" I said yeah, she's pretty attractive. Jim goes "I'll mention something to Karen." I'm thinking, all right, worth a shot.

This was Saturday afternoon. Monday afternoon at 5 PM, Jim called me and gave me her name and phone number. This had to be record time, because it had to go from Jim to Karen to Karen's friend to Karen's friend's friend, back to Karen's friend, Karen, and Jim in the span of 48 hours. Anyways, we ended up going out a few times before she moved away. But the bottom line is, it's very flattering to have Jim and Karen be so willing to go to bat for me. And this doesn't count the countless other attempts that Karen (and apparently her grandma too!) has made as well. So in honor of this and all of her other attempts, this is #4 on the list.

Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... #5

Thanks to Tom's blog post for providing the inspiration for this...

I racked my brain and thought of the Top 5 Nicest Things People Did For Me... These were blow me away, wow that was REALLY nice type things. I know there's a Long Tail (see future post on what that is) of little things people have done for me that I also treasure very much, and maybe other big stuff that I just haven't thought of yet. This list also does not include anything my parents did for me (which of course would fill a book, starting with #1: Giving me life) or ex-girlfriends (gets kinda awkward). So this will be a 5 part blog, starting with #5.

#5. High school graduation gift

My good friend Jason, who I was best man for in his wedding, gave me two tickets to a Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concert for my graduation present... one ticket for me, and one ticket for my girlfriend at the time. Back then we had talked all the time about women (or womyn, as he liked to call them) and our trials and tribulations. We were in this weird coincidence... He started dating a girl. They broke up a few months in, and within like a week I started seeing this girl (we met in the pit orchestra of our school musical, she played the flute, I played the violin). So he was happy for me, but with a bit of a heavy heart. So it was incredibly thoughtful of him to spring for these tickets, giving me and my date a great time at a very appropriate event (since we met because of the orchestra).

Before you feel sorry for him, to complete the coincidence, the girl broke up with me after a month of dating. And I think it was maybe that weekend when his ex-girlfriend came to talk to me (we were also good friends) because she wanted him back. They are now married, with a beagle named Bucky and twins on the way. And you know how my dating saga goes since then. :)

Some pics from Dallas

So who do you think I was rooting for? Answer: I was completely torn. I confused a lot of fans with this outfit.

Here's my dad and I at the infamous "Grassy knoll" (the place where JFK was shot). They marked X's in the road where the shots took place. The museum was awesome, got to look down from where Lee Harvey Oswald was perched when he took the shot (or did he?). Then for good measure we drove down the same road on the way home. Freaked out my sister. :)

Twentysomething: Why I regret getting straight A’s in college

Interesting post on a blog...

Twentysomething: Why I regret getting straight A’s in college

One interesting thing, note how deeply ingrained the idea of getting good grades is in our heads... This guy makes some very good points, but some of the comments he got were pretty scathing.

An email to Office Depot customer service

I wanted to compliment the service I received today from store number 287 in Blue Ash, OH. I had lost my receipt for a Lenovo notebook computer for a rebate that was worth $70. The store manager, I believe her name was Bev or Beth, offered to look up the receipt for me and print up another copy. When she found out that the computer was purchased at another store, she said that I needed to go to that store to pick it up. Then she thought of a better idea, and called the store herself and had them fax over the receipt, saving me a trip.

I wasn't expecting to be able to get this receipt, but the store manager not only solved my problem but went above and beyond to contact the other store to have the receipt faxed to me.

Please recognize this store employee as a shining example of great customer service.

Dallasblog

Just sitting here in the Dallas Ft. Worth airport, waiting for my dad, sister, and fiance to arrive here in Dallas. I still haven't figured out who to root for, guess I'll just go watch the game and see what happens!

Some interesting quirks about DFW... it's got like 4-5 islands spread out over a few miles, so you have this shuttle train thingy that carts you back and forth. All throughout the terminal, it's very hard to find a plug next to seats for people like me to use my laptop. I ended up finding a plug near a set of seats in a side hallway near the gates.

I've already seen a couple here, with one with a Favre jersey and one with a Romo jersey. I ended up bringing Milwaukee Brewers and Wisconsin Badger memorabilia. And I'm wearing a plain, nondescript shirt.

Of course one of the unfortunate headlines with this game is how NFL Network is televising it, but only 1/3 of the nation gets the games. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had the CEO of NFL-N and president of Time Warner Cable Wisconsin write letters in. They are here and here. It really sounds like a presidential debate where lotsa mudslinging and name calling are going on (the NFLN guy sounds just like a politician... starts off by saying he's a Wisconsin graduate and keeps calling the cable compaines "Big Cable"). For some reason I'm really against NFL N. Not sure if it's bias or based on fact. I think basically the cable company says they're charging too much, the NFL N says the cable companies are bundling too much.

I like the solution that the cable guy presents... make it available on Pay Per View and give all the revenue to the NFL until they hammer out a deal. I'm not sure why NFL-N wouldn't do that, except maybe they feel like they can make more money if they hold out. I have an even better solution. You take the PPV revenue and put it in a escrow, so neither the cable companies nor the NFL-N get the money. They can then donate the money to charity or give it back to the fans in a rebate when the conflict ultimately comes to an end.

As I'm typing this, someone has plugged in next to me and is sitting on the floor. I was tempted to do that too until I found this place!

Cars

So I have had a renewed vigor at looking at cars, thinking maybe it's time for a pre-emptive strike while the Camry is still running well. I've decided to target the Acura TSX, which gives me the right combination of style, ride, do-hickeys (bluetooth phone), reliability, ability to get me home in a snowstorm, etc. The price point is a little higher than I'm aiming for, but we'll see how good my negotiating skills are.

I've done a lot of research on Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book. I came across this article on Edmunds where they sent a reporter undercover to become a car salesman. At the end I felt better educated about the tricks they try to play on customers, but also some respect for what they do. It's a long one:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html

A new attitude in textbooks

Found this on notthebookstore.com

Everything seems to happen at once

Hello again all... I've returned from attending my grandpa's funeral. Thanks for all of the kind words. It was definitely very difficult, however it's amazing how it brings a family together.

On a lighter note, recently a lot of things have been happening all at once, my grandpa notwithstanding. It started with my basement getting wet from the storms that happened during my trip to Georgia, so I had to rip out the carpet in my basement. Then garbage disposal is now stuck and not working. My home laptop died in Calfornia. Being here in Cinci for over 7 years now, I think I'm at the point where things are needing to be replaced.

Anyways I'm typing on my brand new Lenovo laptop... Just got it tonight. Still getting used to it, I'm using my backup service to restore the files from my old laptop. Since it does it over the internet, that might take days. One annoying thing I'm trying to get used to, is the "Fn" and "Ctrl" keys are switched in the lower left hand corner, and when I try to skip through words by holding down Ctrl-shift-arrows, I get the function key by accident and I start increasing and decreasing the volume.

One interesting feature of this thing is face recognition... it uses the webcam to recognize the face of someone signing in, so I don't need to enter the password.

OK, so now to tackle the garbage disposal...

Thought I'd share

We were all asked to provide a little write up for my grandpa's memorial service. It's kinda apropos to share it in a blog, since I consider this my version of a journal that I want to be able to read this again in the future:

My grandpa was a great inspiration to me to continue to develop myself and to work toward my goals. I remember him taking English writing classes when I was in elementary school, and it really made an impression on me that my grandpa was taking classes voluntarily! He continued to learn new things, as he later took up ballroom dancing.

I learned later why he was so passionate about writing; he wanted to leave a legacy for his family. He regularly wrote about significant events, thoughts, and feelings in his journal, and eventually published his memoirs. The most memorable writing he had was an essay on the story of my dad’s miraculous birth, in his second language no less. I hope to emulate this drive in my life, as I strive for my own goals.

Another favorite memory of grandpa was his undying passion for the Los Angeles Lakers. He once showed me one of his journal entries about Eddie Jones, his favorite player. He had a newspaper clipping attached to this entry with a picture of Eddie Jones going to the basket. I don’t remember why Eddie Jones was his favorite player; I hope to find out!

I sincerely believe my grandpa is in a better place. The passion he had for his family was so obvious, in his writings and in the look in his eyes. My grandpa had six grandchildren; he lived to see all six graduate from high school, five graduate from college, and one engagement. I’m so proud to be able to contribute my part to make him proud. Grandpa, you have definitely left your legacy on us.

A first for me

I've been very lucky in the fact that I've never had to deal with anyone close passing away. My grandpa on my mom's side passed away when I was 1, so it didn't affect me. Last night, my other grandpa passed away in his sleep. He had been in pretty bad shape for the past year or so, and he was in his 80's, so it wasn't unexpected. Since this is a first for me, I really have no idea what to expect. I don't feel sad, I feel almost that it was time and my grandpa had "graduated" from life and has moved on. I'm sure my dad feels differently, and I wish I were back in Milwaukee to be around him. I take comfort in the fact that tomorrow he will fly out to LA and join the early arrival family members. I also take comfort in the fact that we have 17 family members who will be there mid next week for the funeral.

This just reminds me how wonderful it was that we were able to all gather last Christmas. I even went back and read my blog entries from that time... what a gift to have those! One thing I didn't mention was my sister had compiled a DVD of all the old family pictures and videos she could find, set to music... as black and white pictures of each aunt, uncle, dad, and mom came up, the present day version of each person raised their hand and cheered. The highlight of the video was the clip of the goofy uncle (every family has one) who, after a canoeing trip, mooned the camera. It brought down the house. I'm not sure if my sister had meant for it to happen, but that video basically could have been entitled "Grandpa, this is your life!"

Visit to the doctor summed up

So I leave to go on vacation and we have a long debate about health care! Here's my two cents:

I think we're all in agreement that we want to take care of people who are sick. All of us are compassionate enough human beings that we want see people taken care of. The question is how best to do it. I think Tom's point is we need to focus on Health Care (and how to make sure the best health care is given to the most number of people) versus Health Insurance (which is one tool or one method that can be used to accomplish the above... but not necessarily the only way or even the best way). I tend to agree on that.

The waiting room experience is a symptom of how there are definitely opportunities to improve on the system. It may be the doctor who's not scheduling properly to maximize a patient's time. But a deeper cause may be the doctor needs to because his rates are dictated by the insurance companies. So universal insurance is probably not the best answer here either.

So what's the best way to get the best healthcare to the most number of people? Many of us have bought into economic theory (read the book Naked Economics), which says that if allow market forces to drive it, the most optimal way to use your resources will naturally happen. I'm in the camp that our health care system could use a little more optimizing in this fashion.

For those of you that have read Naked Economics or other books similar to it, they propose solutions where you try to align people's motivations and therefore get the most out of a scarce resource. I'd be interested to see what ideas we can come up with that would improve this system...

Visit to the doctor - And a question

So today I went to visit an ear, nose, and throat specialist to hopefully help me get rid of this perpetual stuffy nose I've had for a month. I was impressed that I was able to get in an appointment so fast, which was imperative because I'm leaving for Stupidfest Atlanta on Sunday. The lady who took my info said that I should arrive at 3:45 PM, and my appointment was for 4 PM. I said great, although one of my pet peeves is when doctors ask that patients be on time, but then make us wait while they're running late.

So I arrive at 3:42 PM (although I was shooting for 3:55 PM just to spite them). I'm at the desk filling out forms when a lady next to me checks in for another doctor. She asks how low he's behind. The guy behind the counter says, about an hour. She says, what really? He says that's pretty good, he's usually 2 hours behind. The lady asks if it's OK for her to leave and come back in 30 min. The guy says he can't guarantee anything and she may lose her place in line if they call her while she's gone. At this point I say pretty loudly, half joking, "So we hafta be here 15 minutes before our appointment, but the doctor can be an hour late?" Three or four of the patients in the waiting room laugh. The guy behind the desk seems to have a case of selective listening and didn't respond (when I first got there he greeted me, said to sign in... so I did, but then he went back to his work... I asked if I needed to fill out any forms, but he didn't say anything... then after like 10 seconds of silence he says, oh, I don't work for that doctor). Anyways I get to see the doctor at 4:45 PM, he pokes and prods me for 5 minutes and send me off with a stack of prescriptions and says if it doesn't get better come back and see him.

So here's the second part, which will lead to my question. I go off to Walgreens to cash in my stack of prescriptions. I hand them off to what looks like a college aged pharmacist. She tells me it'll be 15-20 minutes. OK, I've always wondered but now I hafta ask...

WHAT ARE THEY DOING BACK THERE THAT TAKES 15-20 MINUTES?????

Counting out pills? Grabbing stuff off the shelf? Why does that take 15-20 minutes? Maybe I need to look up Mrs. Sachs...

Not allowed to rip on marketing

I got a call from Alejandro the marketing guy at work a few weeks ago. He said to stop ripping on marketing people on my blog. I told him I'm an equal opportunity ripper, I rip on engineering just as much if not more (why does this feel like I'm in a Dilbert cartoon?). Let's see if he's still paying attention as I vent about this:

On our project team, we have two choices in terms of a package: A cheap boring one, and an expensive cool looking one. So how do you decide which one to use? Well, you figure out which one makes you the most money right? Apparently that's not how it works. Everyone's rejected the cheap boring one, saying "but it's so boring!" So if the marketing guy is reading this, tell me why we don't run tests to see how much more product we sell or how much more people are willing to pay for the cool looking expensive package versus the cheap one? Are we in business to make money or to make cool looking stuff? Maybe this is a better question for the Finance guy. If he's reading my blog I'd be stunned, bc I can't get a hold of him at work much less on a blog.

Anyways, by now you should be able to get Swash anywhere in the US on swashitout.com

Packer Tickets Update

As promised, here's the latest season ticket update:



I am number 45842, "gaining" 544 spots since this time last year. I do wonder what happens to those 544 people. I speculate that maybe these are the people who get taken off the list because they didn't keep their mailing addresses up to date. Anyways, if you extrapolate gaining 500 or so spots each year, that means 85 years or so before I get my tickets.

Phoenix airport badinage

So I'm sitting here in Phoenix airport, awaiting my connection to San Jose, where I will be attending anonymous (aka Dean's) wedding. I'm flying Southwest, so people are up and getting in line to get themselves a prime seat. I hold a "B" card, meaning I get to go in the second group. I held a "C" card on my initial flight here from Indy, but still got my preferred window seat. So instead of waiting in line, I'm gonna blog!!!

One thing I can't help thinking... computer chips get faster all the time, doubling every XX years (Morse's law?). How come my flight from Indy to Phoenix still takes 4 hours? I think it's always taken four hours since the invention of the Boeing jets. The one attempt at a faster plane, the Concord, is being taken out of service. So why can't I get from Cinci to San Jose in less than half day? Why can't I get there in 1-2 hours? Aren't we smart enough to figure out a way to do that?

As much as flying has improved, it's still a necessary evil. It's kinda neat to see all the food options that the airports have to offer. But I still prefer a non-stop flight less than hour, without all the security and stuff. And when they say "We hope you enjoyed your flight" I always chuckle because I don't think anyone really enjoys a flight.

I also found out that the Packers play the Bears on national TV on Sunday. I fly out of San Jose at 1:35 PM local time and don't arrive Indy until 11:00. Which means I get back to Cinci around 1 AM. So I wanted to see if I can take an earlier flight (I was concerned about a potential long night, so I didn't want to wake up at the butt crack of the dawn in Sunday to go home... but now there's a football game!!!). Of course, that's like a million dollars to do.

So if I had a lot of money, I would:

1. Offer up a prize for someone that could get me from Cincinnati to California in 2 hours at a sustainable, economic price

2. On this said airline, I would allow everyone to go on whatever earlier or later flight they wanted to, if we had seats open. Such a simple concept!

Cincinnati Community Orchestra Schedule

Hey all... The CCO schedule for this season is out. Our first concert is on October 20! More info on www.cincinnaticommunityorchestra.org

October 20, 2007 - 7:30PM

Church of the Saviour United Methodist

Map & Directions

• Georges Bizet - Symphony in C
• Charles Stanford - Irish Rhapsody No. 1
• Leroy Anderson - Tribute to the Leroy Anderson Centennial Year- The First Day of Spring, Summer Skies, Blue Tango, Serenata, Sandpaper Ballet, The Minstrel Boy, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Belle of the Ball

Blog of conscienceness

Hey all, I realize it's been a while since I've blogged. Yes, life was a bit busier in the past week, but it's not like I didn't have time to sit down and blog. When things get a bit busy I mentally need a break from stuff... So I figure I'll just give you a whole bunch of little snippets of things I would've blogged in the last two weeks but was too mentally tired to...

- I had someone reply to a blog I had done a while back about my goal of getting 4 dates this year... he or she called himself/herself anonymous and said he/she had surpassed me in this goal. This is either: 1. A random person with no life who replied, or 2. Martha. If it's 2, congrats Martha! Next up is hitting .600 in softball.

- So two weeks ago I was in Columbus opening up the Swash store... Not sure how it's going, I've been meaning to head back up there sometime.

- Last week I was in Wisconsin recruiting. You know you've been gone a long time when you ask your LITTLE sister what there is to do in Madison and she says, "Oh boy, it's been too long. I don't even know anymore." I always love being the one who breaks the good news of someone being asked to interview, and then being the follow up person if they are offered. I think it's the mentoring/teaching part of me coming out.

- So far football has been kind to me. The Wisconsin Badgers, the Green Bay Packers, and the Dallas Cowboys are all 3-0 so far this season. Oh, I got my latest season ticket update. I'll hafta post it in a later blog.

- The Brewers over the weekend fell to 3.5 games out of first place with 8 games to go. Since then, they've won three in a row and are now 2 games out with 5 games to go. This team never pulls away with the lead, but then just when they're about to tank they start winning. This is the epitome of jerking me around!

These guys crack me up

Gotta be the most nerdiest string of postings ever... the best part is how deep they go with this conversation. Fantasy football combined with fantasy role playing:

I put in a waiver for Wynn. You'll have to pick up Morency after I drop his stupid butt.

I considered having the entire 3 headed attack of Green Bay, a Cerberus if you will. Although Cerberus is way cooler and would average more than 2 yards per carry.

Winston

____

agreed. i'm putting in a claim on cerberus, hydra, chimera, and any other multiheaded creatures from greek mythology. dropping drew bennett...
my team will be unstoppable.

Chris
____

I have a feeling hydra would get a lot of personal fouls called on him and chimera has had a history of off the field problems. Cerberus just fumbles too much.

Centaurs? Now we're talking.

Hana
_____

rules question: would a centaur need to get all 4 feet down in bounds for it to be a considered a catch? i should start a poll...

Chris

Blog power!

At our extended team meeting at work today, the question came up as to how the Swash e-store as doing. They said that the top referring link was THIS BLOG. So go you guys!

New product launch!

So those who recall my last project, where it took 1.5 years to launch a more concentrated version of Downy, would appreciate this... The product line I'm working on now launched in 5 months. Granted, it's only on the internet (until the store opens next week!) but it's still pretty exciting! People in Ohio can buy our new product online at swashitout.com!

And on Friday, the Swash store will open in Columbus... I've been managing the renovation of this store for the last month or so after coming on to my new role. If anyone's around, come up for a visit!

Hometown fodder

-This could be something they put in the movie "Major League." So the Brewers are tied for first place again after dropping out of it for a bit. They took on the Reds yesterday, and before I could get settled in were down 10-0. They should've seen signs that it wasn't gonna be their day when they were hitting in the first inning. The inning ended on a caught stealing at third base, which you NEVER do in baseball with 2 out. Why?

"I had a mosquito bite in a certain spot and I was itching it, and Nick thought I was putting the steal on," Brewers manager Ned Yost said, referring to third-base coach Nick Leyva.

- Headline: Millionaire US Rep Wins Lottery Again. The US Rep in this story is James Sensenbrenner, who was famous for his role in the Clinton impeachment trials, and happens to have an office in and represents my hometown of Brookfield, WI. He apparently spends $10 a week on lottery tickets, and the article says he's won the lottery three times... once for $250,000 and twice for $1,000. I give him the $250,000. That's winning. The two times for $1,000? Sorry, he still doesn't come out ahead, since in a year, he spends $520 in tickets. So unless he's played less than 4 years, the lottery is still making money off him.

Insomniblog

OK, so I realize this will pale in comparison to some of Dave's sleep stories, but it's foremost on the mind RIGHT NOW...

So the last few weeks, I've gotten into an interesting sleep pattern. I'll fall into a deep sleep immediately, but then after maybe 30 minutes I'll wake up... and then can't sleep again. The worst day was last Tuesday, when that happened and I didn't get back to sleep until 4 AM. It happened again tonight... went to bed about midnight, fell asleep, even started dreaming... and then popped up. Not sure if this is related to the fact that my power naps have been great... I fall asleep, and half an hour later I wake up refreshed. So I seem to be power napping when I should be outright sleeping. Could it be because my body doesn't really need all the sleep I'm getting? I figure I average about 7-8 hours a night (a little less on the weekdays, a little more on the weekends).

The best part of not being able to sleep at this time of night is I get to chat with my Pacific Time buddy Winston. Only today I've already chatted with him as he was driving back from visiting northern California. Isn't it weird that driving from Northern Cali to Southern Cali is about the same time as driving from Cinci to Wisconsin?

John Madden's Back!

So football season's back, that means the always lovable and usually annoying John Madden is back (you may recognize him as the guy that Frank Caliendo imitates). He's on Sunday Night Football, and I got to watch him tonight. A couple of "highlights":

- "His percentage when he throws outside the tackle is over 100%." He was talking about Donovan McNabb throwing outside of the pocket. OK, he meant the QB rating, in which the max is I think 152.6 or something screwy like that (why don't they just normalize it to 100?)

- Madden has picked a new thing to be annoying about this year, and he's talked about it I think 1822 times so far this season (and I don't even think I was paying that much attention to the other game he did already!). Before, every time someone knocked down a pass, Madden would talk about how great of a play it was for the guy to have the presence of mind to jump up and knock the pass down (geez, what a genius... the ball is coming at me, what should I do?). This year, whenever there's a pass that's overthrown, he says it's because the receiver turned around to look at the QB instead of running down field. Somehow I don't think that's the reason why EVERY overthrown ball was not completed, in fact I'm not sure how you're supposed to catch the ball if you don't look back at the QB.

Sunday Night Badinage - 8/27

To answer Martha's question from the last blog... The marinade the intern used was a pre-made one bought at the grocery store (I taught him well... the easier the better!)

My trip to the aquarium last weekend inspired me to return to the pet ownership world... I got myself a couple of goldfish for home and a betta for work. I had goldfish bowl that was more fat than tall that I used for their initial home. One committed suicide while I was at work last week... so this weekend I went out and got a stereotypical fishbowl and another fish. Both fish are doing well, very active, and very hungry (they gobble up the food really quick). The betta just looks bored or aloof. Just kinda sits there, and when its fins and tail droop down it looks as if it's sitting in a boring meeting. A corporate betta... perfect.



Today I went to my very first board meeting for the Cincinnati Community Orchestra. Was pretty interesting to see the behind the scenes workings of the orchestra. I'm probably the youngest person in there by 15 years. One thing I might be able to influence is getting them to get more younger females...

Sunday Night Badinage - 8/19

Quite an interesting weekend... Was able to take another step towards one of my goals this weekend, namely to go on 4 dates this year. Got to go on date #2 of the year last night... I actually broke a record with this date, unfortunately it wasn't a record that Jim would be proud of... Saturday night was the shortest date of my life! I was home by the 6th inning of the Brewers/Reds game. Quote from my sister and the intern who's staying with me (more on that later): "Back already???" Sigh, I'm quite disappointed... looks like date #3 will most likely need to be with someone else.

P&G interns stay on the Xavier University campus; however, they must all move out in early August to make room for the fall students. So that leaves many of the interns out in the dust. This year I'm housing one for two weeks. The cool thing is he's a tennis instructor, so we've hit the courts a couple of times and I've learned a great deal. One thing that I surprisingly was able to coach him on is cooking! He's been at my side learning as I grilled burgers and steaks. Quote: "Wow, I'm never going back to Lean Cuisine!" It's almost like I have an apprentice with me. Now he's graduated on to chicken, and he's got chicken breasts marinating in the fridge right now. He says this is the only thing he's learned from a P&Ger in his whole internship.

Book reports

So I have three books that I have finished... Here's a little blurb, and a rating out of 5. Five stars means life awesome, life changing inspirational. Three stars is worth reading. One star means I couldn't or could barely finish it.

The Dip (***) - Typical Seth Godin book... they tend to be short and good. This one was short, probably could've used a LITTLE more content. But the concept was interesting, talking about the concept of a "Dip" (a tough part that successful people work through) vs. a cul de sac (aka a dead end).

Mavericks at Work (***) - Audiobook - Had some good stories about the role of mavericks in the success of companies. It was more corporate and less rebellious than the title might indicate - talked a lot about Southwest Airlines (which book doesn't?) and even talked about the guy at P&G who developed Connect and Develop (maybe revolutionary amongst P&G, but hardly a new concept). It had its moments, but I did find my mind wandering while listening to it.

The Art of Innovation (****) - Story about IDEO, the company that corporations hire to provide innovation. Some products they've helped invent include the mouse and the palm pilot. Had some great stories about how they held company soap box races, used foam blocks instead of cubicle walls, and other fun anecdotes.

Sunday Night Badinage - 8/12

-Winston asked me how I was doing on my other non-softball goals for the year. Well, one goal was to have two websites up making $1000/month in revenue. I do have two websites up, www.thelunchboard.com, and www.notthebookstore.com. However, neither are remotely close to the $1000/month. Not the Bookstore is up and active, just started advertising for the fall season at XU. The exciting thing is I also am in the middle of preparing for UW-Milwaukee, who my sister is going to do the promotion for me. Another goal I had was to go on 4 dates. Current tally is 1 (a lunch setup that wasn't a good fit). I guess there's still 4 months left in the year... hopefully I meet my goal by getting more than 3 more dates with one person.

-Bucky the Beagle made his Cincinnati return this weekend. Still spry and active, still begs for food constantly. He actually had a little incident prior to the drive out here where he swallowed a whole chicken drumstick. They had to take him to the vet, where they had to induce vomiting to remove the chicken bone. Then he went on a 7 hour car ride here (he hates cars).

- As you might have noticed, I have listed the books I am currently reading and books that I have finished. Figured it was a good conversation starter.

Final softball stats

Goal for this year:

Average: 0.500
Slugging: 0.650

Actual:

Average: 0.651 (#1 on the team)
Slugging: 0.857 (#3 on the team)

Softblog and stuff

Been a while since I've softblogged... but tonight we played a doubleheader that started off in 100 degree heat, and between games had a rain shower that wetted down the field and cooled things off. This was the last week of the season, and I ended with a very successful hitting year. I look back and marvel how far I've come, and it feels really good to be able to work on something and have it come to fruition. Hopefully I'll be able to parlay that into some life achievements. Next step: improve the throwing arm!

I got to my car yesterday and someone had left a note on it saying that she had damaged the right front bumper. She had called it into security and everything and offered to pay for the damages. I went over to look at it, and saw a scratch. I looked really hard and honestly it didn't look that bad at all. Ironically, I noticed on the other side there was a similar scratch that I hadn't noticed. But I figure I should acknowledge when something positive happens, like someone who's willing to be so brutally honest about something like that. I ended up emailing this person and telling her not to worry about it... I got an email back saying real nice things and that I had made her day.

I blogged at work today! My new department had set up a blog for stuff... there were some postings, mostly of articles about innovation and stuff. So I figured I'd take a shot at it and blogged about what I'm working on, and included some pictures of the site. I must say it was a lot more interesting than the other stuff on there (except for the guy on the team who blogged that he was adopting a child and was in Africa doing that... I think he got me beat).

Sunday Night Badinage - 8/5

One of my life goals was to learn to play Gerschwin's Rhapsody in Blue. For perspective, this is a piece that professional piano players play. Not only am I not a professional piano player, I'm not even a piano player. I recently learned Minuet in G, and then moved on to "The Happy Farmer." So getting a little ambitious, I recently purchased the music for Rhapsody in Blue just for the heck of it. Well I started playing it last week... I'm getting there on the first two measures. I plan on skipping the next two measures because I physically don't know how to play it yet, and maybe hitting 2-3 measures after that. So there. I can at least say I started it!

Today we booked tickets to the next Stupidfest, which is slated to be in October and will be in Atlanta and a beach (probably Alabama or Florida Panhandle). One awesome thing about Atlanta is the great fares... I booked a non-stop flight from Dayton to Atlanta for $158. Any suggestions as to what to do in Atlanta, feel free to let me know!

Congrats to my little sister Linda, as she was proposed to on Friday and is now engaged. She is the first one in my generation to be engaged, and of course the entire family is very happy for her. I'm looking forward to the destination wedding next August! This picture is of them in front of an Ohio Sonic restaurant when they visited me in May.


Also looking forward to my good friends Jason and Linda arriving next weekend to go see the tennis tournament that my fair city hosts each year. And with them will be the return of Bucky the Beagle to Cincinnati!

Jersey Mike's Follow Up

Just to close the loop, I received an 4 $2 gift certificates in the mail this week. Nice of them to do that. They didn't respond to my follow up email about how it was bad business to just not accept the frequent buyer card. But I'll take my free sandwich and run.

DJ Ortho response

I recently received a letter back from DJ Orthopedics about the letter I sent on July 8:

Dear Mr. Ting,

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with confirmation of your written complaint which we received on 7/17/07. We are looking into your concern and will make our best effort to provide you with a written response that will include our final determination on this matter no later than 8/3/07.

Addressing patient complaints is never a simple issue. There are usually many factors that need to be considered and we make our best effort to understand the patient's perspective, as well as the perspective of others who may have been involved. Our goal is to resolve patient complaints promptly and in an unbiased manner.

We do appreciate your input and thank you for your patience.

My take: I certainly do appreciate that they wrote me back, and gave me a time deadline for responding. "Addressing patient complaints is never a simple issue." Well, to me this one is pretty simple. You can make an investment of $272 and get a return on investment when I buy my next few knee braces at huge margins. Or you can take that $272 and lose out on that. We'll see what happens pretty soon...

The Top 10 List that started it all

I've blogged about the Top 10 list that Tom has came up with for my graduation... Here's where it all started. A while back we had a stand up comedy night, where my act was a top 10 list. Here it is:

The Top 10 Signs You've Been Hanging Out With The Sturgis Brothers Too Long

10. You randomly yell boo-yeah at inappropriate times
9. You have the sudden urge to run through fences
8. You know the plural form of "Sturgis" isn't "Sturgises"
7. You can tell them apart
6. When they're up to bat, you play all of your fielders behind third base
5. Your poker spreadsheet starts to look like your stock portfolio after the crash of 2000
4. You know that XsunX isn't a porn sight
3. You actually have met Meghan and Rachel
2. You feel depressed after the Patriots lose, even though you're a Packer fan
1. You inexplicably agree to do a stand up comedy routine even though you've never had any desire to do one and never will again

Blog of consciousness

I realized I haven't had an old fashioned blog about myself in a while. Karen does a good job with those, I tend to stick to funny things and events. Years later, it'd be interesting to see what was happening in MY life... So here goes.

I blogged about a Brewers pitcher named Balfour a couple of days ago. Well, on Monday I went to see the Reds play the Brewers. The game goes into extra innings, and in the bottom of the 11th the Brewers bring in who else but Grant Balfour. He then ironically (or maybe it was poetic justice?) walks the first two batters. They he makes an ill-advised throw to 3B on a sacrifice and loads the bases with no one out. Reds win on a subsequent single.

Two weekends ago (man time goes by fast) I was in Milwaukee to see the Brewers. I got a Chorizo bobble head doll! Recall last year I got a hot dog bobble head. The Chorizo is a Mexican sausage that the company decided to expand into.

Let's see... our softball team tonight won the first game of the playoffs. I went 2 for 3, so my on base percentage improves. I've been in a home run slump since my monster shot a few weeks ago, but at least the singles are falling in. Not enough Ryann time?

The new job has been really interesting so far. For those I haven't told yet, we're opening a retail store to test market some of our new products. So I was chosen to manage that. It's located in Columbus on the OSU campus. Pretty neat so far!

Oh, there's been zero response from DJ Orthopedic since mailing my letter.

The weekend of August 10, my good friends from high school are coming to town to watch some tennis. And they're leaning towards bringing Bucky, my former dog, down with them!

Issues with Jersey Mike's

Thought I'd share another consumer experience of mine... this time with a Jersey Mike's store on Western Row Rd in Mason. I went in with a filled out Frequent Buyers card (12 sandwiches) which entitled me to a free regular sandwich. When I tried to redeem it, they said that they wouldn't take it because most of the stamps were not from that store. I argued for a few minutes as to why even have a frequent buyers card if you weren't gonna honor it, and why would you stamp my card that contained other stamps on it if you weren't gonna honor it if it didn't have mostly your stamps on it. Of course, to no avail. I wrote customer service at the Jersey Mike's website, and got a response:

Mr. Ting,

Thank you for your e-comment card received by the Customer Relations
Department of Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, Inc.

The frequent buyer club card is available at participating locations.
Jersey Mike's locations are individually owned and operated; therefore
some owners have made modifications to the program.  It is at their
discretion to redeem the card.  Your comments will be forwarded to the
owner of the location you visited.

In the meantime, we will forward you gift certificates to use towards
your next purchase at any Jersey Mike's to the mailing address you
provided for your inconvenience.  We value you as a customer and hope
you visit us again.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for contacting
us!

Customer Relations Department
Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, Inc.
800-321-7676, extension 238
customerrelations@jerseymikes.com

I definitely appreciated the response and the pending gift certificates, but I'm still a little miffed as to why you would have this program and then not recognize it. So I sent this response:

Melissa, thank you for the response and the gift
certificates. I do appreciate it. I have some
additional feedback:

My question to you then is why even have this frequent
buyer club offer when it's not going to be recognized
by franchises. Nothing on the card says that you may
or may not be able to redeem it. Therefore, this card
is basically worthless and the stamps we're getting
are deceptively worthless.

I also would like to say that this kind of practice by
your franchisees is very short sighted to regular
customers. It conveys the message that your company is
cheap and regular customers are not valued because
they're not customers of one particular store. For the
cost of one free sandwich, I would've been happy to be
a continuing customer of that store. Now I will think
twice about going to that store. Again, very short
sighted and not very good business.

Reminds me of two other Jersey Mikes experiences, one good and one bad. The bad one was on Fields Ertel road, where they refused to take credit card under $10... so alienating customers and showing how cheap you are to save 3-4%. The good one was on Winton Road, where I maybe waited a little above average time in line (certainly nothing major) but the guy gave me a free drink and apologized for the wait.

Trains and rains

You know when you pass by a railroad track and there's a train? And you always think "man, there's ALWAYS a train when you're in a hurry"? Well, in actuality, it's because you never notice it when there ISN'T a train, you only notice when there is one.

So in the spirit of noticing when there isn't a train, I would like to say that I noticed that it just started thundering and raining... about 10 minutes after I got home from my softball game. Not right before so it rains out the fields, not during while we're trying to get the game started, but 10 minutes after I returned home and we got our game in.

As an aside, sometimes there are names that just sound funny (see Dick Pole, pitching coach of the Reds) or ironic. Well, the Brewers just called up a pitcher named Grant Balfour. Gotta love a pitcher with the last name "Balfour." It'd be funnier if he walked a lot of guys.

The Milwaukee Chinese community

So over the weekend I headed back to the Badger state for a belated July 4th visit with the fam. Our family is a member of the local chapter of the Organization for Chinese Americans (OCA). They were having a picnic that day, and I went to it. Well we all took a picture of all the Chinese people there along with a sign that said something to the effect of "The Milwaukee Chinese community welcomes Yi." I'm the tall guy (relatively) in the middle wearing black.

One guy there also created a webpage, yifanclub.org, and posted this picture. However it's all in Chinese, of which I can read on like a first grade level. Well who woulda thunk it that the web could translate Chinese too. It's not perfect, but it's enough to get the drift. It does make for something pretty amusing. Check out the second paragraph on the site first, then check out what the translator spits out:

"Sends the fan we, deeply loves the basketball; We, like Yi Jianlian, likes the male deer team; We, deeply love this city which the life as well as we lives... ... Comes, joins our □□Yi Jianlian the fan club! The hope facilitates this marriage with the aid of our local Chinese people and all mass organizations' strength, lets the matter have to let everybody happy result; Let us have an opportunity in front of the entire society to demonstrate our Chinese people community, tells everybody us is a unity, the cooperation association, we like the land and here people which we lives □□at least, we cannot let ignorant manager Fei Gen talk irresponsibly, describes in front of the public this beautiful city and the life in here Chinese people mass organization has no merit to speak of! This is an equality, the voluntary organization, this is a friendly affection cooperation association. Here, is a homeland □□United Arab Republic's homeland, fan's homeland, Chinese people's homeland, is people's homeland which each deeply loves the life. Comes, we wait for you in here!"

My favorite part is where it mention the "male deer team." I.E. the Milwaukee Bucks. And something's lost in the translation, not really sure why the "United Arab Republic" is in here. I will hafta check with my parents and get back to you...

Milwauk-Yi

Nice article about the Yi, Milwaukee, and the Chinese community. Personally I think it's the Chinese government that's b*tching about him playing in Milwaukee, not him.

Just for kicks...

Thanks Dean for the research... The player pictured here:

Is named Eddie Watt. So maybe he made it to second base in some National League game? So now we have Hu on first, Watt on second...

What's the significance of this?

OK, hang with me non-baseball fans... you'll appreciate this blog entry too.

The MLB Futures game was played today, where an all star cast of minor league top prospects get to showcase their stuff. Well, the MVP of the game is pictured here:

In the third inning, he reached base on a single. So what's the significance of this? Well, this guy's name is Chin-Lung Hu. So, for the first time in baseball history, you could say...

HU's ON FIRST!

My letter to DJ Orthopedics

July 8, 2007

DJ Orthopedics

1430 Decision Street
Vista, CA 92081

Dear DJ Customer Service Representative:

I am writing to express my disappointment and request a refund for a pair of knee braces that I had to pay for out of my own pocket. I’m a long time customer of DJ, ordering more than 5 pairs of knee braces in my life. I really am a big fan of your products, which is why I am writing to give you a chance to keep me as a customer.

About 2 years ago, I received knee braces from my doctor. My doctor was in network for my insurance, however due to a technicality – the insurance company said the doctor was in network but not as a distributor of knee braces – the braces were not covered. Both my doctor and the DJ representative said the braces should be covered, however there were “contract issues” and my insurance refused coverage after many appeals. DJ then sent me a bill for $242.00 to cover the two braces.

I then asked DJ to waive the charges because I’ve been a long time customer and would be for the rest of my life. DJ rejected my appeal, and I sent a letter to Steve Burns. I didn’t hear from Steve, and the bills stopped coming. A month ago I got a call from your collection agency to collect on the $242.00. I paid the bill, however I’m extremely unhappy that you decided to go this route. Is this a way to treat a regular customer?

Again, I’ve bought at least 5 braces in the past, and since I’m only 29 years old and I plan on playing for many more years. I will potentially be purchasing at least 5 more pairs. I’ve always gone through the insurance company, who has paid full price for the braces. This time around, a very stupid technicality prevented coverage. I gave DJ a chance to really cement their relationship with me by asking them to waive the charge, but instead you sent a collection agency after me.

Since I truly do like your product, I want to give you another chance to keep me as a customer. DJ talks about customer satisfaction being important to them; here’s an opportunity to show it. Please consider refunding me the $242.00 I paid to the collection agency. It would allow me to continue being a DJ customer.

I can be reached via email at xxx, phone at xxx, and by mail at xxx. I have enclosed copies of my bill, my letter to Steve Burns, and the payment to your collection agency.

Book report: Orbiting the Giant Hairball

This book was recommended to me by a colleague who's in a similar role as mine in New Business Development. Basically, the analogy goes like this... the "Giant Hairball" is all the structure, systems, and processes that a corporation has. It's all tangled up, some companies have bigger and more tangled hairballs than others. Somehow to be creative and innovate, we hafta not be caught up in that hairball. However we can't be so out there that we fly away either.



The author is a creative type that works for Hallmark, the company that makes all the greeting cards and such. It shocked me at first that a company like Hallmark would have corporate bureaucracy. Then I figured of course, any company that big is inevitably gonna be like that.

The book is pretty outside the box, with random sketches and drawings and a lot of random stories. It was getting borderline over-outside the box, but it settled in nicely near the middle. He told comical, Dilbert-like stories about how he bucked the system within Hallmark. One of my favorites is when he was given a "special assignment" which usually is a role that you kinda hang out in until you retire or are asked to leave. He only accepts if he gets to name the role. He ends up naming the role "Creative Paradox." And since no one knows what the role really is, the role gets a false perception of power and he spends his remaining days at Hallmark as a "Creative Paradox."

There are many more stories like that... I really enjoyed the book, and have fantasies of doing some of those things in my corporation...

No Mow Count: 44

I think it's also funny that my Google ads have lawn care services in them.

More Potpourri

- As some of you may know, the last month or so has been very dry (until recently). I never believed in watering my lawn, I felt like if the grass were out in nature this is the way it would be. I'm proud to say I haven't mowed the lawn since May 19. So I'm debuting the "No Mow Count." No Mow Count: 42 consecutive days without mowing

- Jim educated me today a little bit about childbirth... he said that if there's no hospital trip by about 8 PM at night, the baby probably won't be born that day. So if the Eutslers are not at the hospital right now, Dave has struck out and Tom is on the clock.

- At the Precinct, they were handing out little cards from Delta Airlines about private jets. Tom and I figured it was a good way to hit a target audience. I was curious enough to take a card, wondering how much does my time hafta be worth to me to justify taking a private jet (I was able to fly on our company one once, and that was awesome!). Well, Delta raved about how they had one of the lowest entry price point for private jets... a card you can purchase for 10 hours of flight time. The cost of that card? "Starting at" $43,900.

- Another happening after the Precinct... I had carpooled with Tom and Meghan, and when they dropped me back off I had left my doggie bag in their car, which consisted of about half of my bone-in ribeye. Tom and I were trying to figure out the best way to get this valuable piece of meat to me, and we came up with... a rendezvous at the Audi dealership on Montgomery Road. Tom and Meghan were looking at cars, and that happened to be on the way home for me.

Sunday Night Badinage - 7/1/07

-First off, I would like to start the petition for Meghan (Tom's wife) to start her own blog. We see too many Shelby stories from Tom's point of view. I think she needs some bi-partisan balance in her human representation. Those in favor respond here.

-Had a great dinner at the Precinct (local very expensive steakhouse) tonight to celebrate the promotion. Thanks so much to Tom for setting this up, and for everyone else for coming! One of the positives of Karen being 8.99999 months pregnant is their calendar was cleared of any other engagements.

-Speaking of Karen and her pregnancy, Tom, Dave, Jim, and I have a baby pool, with $4 at stake:

• Now until Monday - Dave
• Tuesday - Tom
• Wednesday - Jim
• Thursday - Dale
• Friday - Jim
• Saturday - Tom
• Sunday - Dave
• Next Monday until infinity - Dale

- Apparently the Brewers updates are more for me than the people who read this blog. But I'm going to talk about them anyway. The Brewers got four players into the All-Star game: Prince Fielder, Ben Sheets, Francisco Cordero, and JJ Hardy. Boo yeah!

An open letter to Dave Polley

Dear Dave,

I'm writing to respond to your comments about your recent softball hitting struggles. As someone who has had many struggles, and one who will again in the future, I would tell you the best thing to do is to stay positive. It doesn't necessarily help your hitting prowess, but it does snap you out of it faster. You're someone who's been so remarkably consistent in the past that you probably don't know what it's like to to be in a slump.

You say that you're feeling your age... I actually have logical reasoning as to why that cannot be the reason for your recent slump. You age gradually; your slump has only happened recently. If you were not hitting well because of your age, it would gradually go down. You wouldn't suddenly lose it.

So what's the problem? It's just timing. I think the whole team on Wednesday was reaching for pitches. Don't know if that's because of their pitchers or if we were all anxious, but that's just what happened. So just make a point to wait back... In fact, I'm thinking I might need to do this too (my hit was a little dribbler that went through the second baseman, so I didn't exactly do well). I was almost to the point where I wasn't even paying attention to the pitch until it got closer to the plate.

So overall, you've been a consistently good hitter in the past, and you will again the future. Make a point to let the ball come to you and stay positive.

Wo ai lan qiu

We interrupt this Milwaukee Brewers love affair to bring you this news on the Milwaukee Bucks draft...

The Milwaukee Bucks (basketball team Rachel) have selected a 7 foot tall Chinese player named Yi Jianlang. Chinese men are taking over the world. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Go Bucks!

Yi = Yao?

A time to remember

Well the last few weeks have been quite a whirlwind of stuff...

- Today they announced the very first promotion of my career... I bring a little different skill set versus a typical engineer, and it was really awesome to be recognized for what I do bring. I will also be moving to our New Business Development department, which hopefully means I'll be working on funky new stuff.

- This weekend, Winston asked me to be his best man. I'm incredibly honored, and am already writing up the speech... even though his fiance (funny, "fiance" isn't in Blogger's dictionary) said something about getting married in 2-5 years (gotta love Californians). I told her if she waited 5 years I'd be an old 34 years old at their wedding.

- Last Wednesday I hit the longest home run of my career (without the help of Karen's niece Ryann), one day after another batting lesson. A coworker from the other team asked me for the instructor's phone number.

- I discovered that my Ipod was stolen out of my car while it was parked in my garage. I had forgotten to close the garage door one night, and the Ipod was gone and the holder where I put it was out of place. So I bought a device that automatically shuts the garage door when it gets dark. It just arrived today, I'll hafta let you know how it works.

- I would also tell you about how well the Brewers are playing, but I'll refrain for now. I'm sorry, I know you're all disappointed because I haven't been updating you enough. (They won again today).

Brewers update

Well since the no hitter, the Brewers have gone 9-2. They now lead the division by 7.5 games over the Cubs. Hot shot prospect Yovani Gallardo is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 12 K's in 13.1 innings.

TV saga

Some of you probably have heard, but the last few months I've had a bit of a TV saga. I've been in the market for a 42 inch TV. After about 6 months of research, I decided on a 42 inch plasma TV. I did some shopping around, and ended up going to HHGregg because they're on commission and one can haggle a bit on prices. I looked for a while and asked the sales person a bunch of questions about plasma TVs, one of which was about burn-in. The sales person said "There isn't a burn in problem." I ended up buying a Samsung plasma TV and got them to throw in delivery for free.

I got the TV in time to watch the NFL draft. I watched that, and then watched a Milwaukee Brewers game vs the Houston Astros. That night, the burn in was bad enough that I could still read "on-the-clock" on the screen (from the draft) and the scoreboard from the baseball game (MIL 3 HOU 0 was easily readable). I called up Samsung, and the guy said "Yes, there are burn-in issues, and no, they won't go away." Now I talked to Tom, and he said he has burn-in on his screen, but it goes away. Well, I wasn't gonna take any chances and decided to exercise HHGregg's 10 day return policy (I said it was because the glare was bad, which also was true). I ended up paying for delivery, but it beats living with a TV I'm not happy with. I decide to go LCD or bust.

So I did some additional research on LCD TV's, and decide to go with a 42 inch Toshiba. Got some prices off the internet, namely from Amazon.com. Went back to HHGregg and found the same model, and their price was about $150 more than the Amazon price. I asked the sales guy if they'd match the price, and he goes to find his manager. The manager, who looks like he's probably 23 years old, is dressed in a full black suit and a bright yellow tie. This guy is the epitome of the used car salesman (picture Karen's cousin Brian in this outfit, and you've pretty much got it). He comes over and starts going on about stuff like "oh, we can hardly keep this TV in stock" and "boy, this is a popular model." I'm not impressed (I think he noticed), all the while thinking, yeah, but I know Amazon has it in stock.

Chris the sales manager ends up saying, "I'm gonna take care of you... I'll match the price for ya." I was a little surprised at how easy it was, but hey, it worked out. I end up adding a $30 off coupon (ironically, which I got from my last TV purchase) of which he put up a little bit of resistance to but let it go too. I end up taking the TV home in my car (that ride was the longest and most nervous ride of my life!) and I'm watching it right now.

So the final score:

Amazon
TV Price: $1474
Tax: 0
Shipping: $60
Total: $1534

HHGregg
TV Price: $1620
Special Chris discount: $-146
Coupon: -$30
Shipping: (took home myself)
Tax: $94
Total: $1538

Brewers, Y&R, and P&G!

Excerpt from an article talking about the Brewers appearance on the show. They're talking with Bill Hall, Brewers centerfielder:

Hall, who was praised by Bergman after the filming at CBS Television City for being a natural actor, said his mom and other relatives would be watching back home in Nettleton, Miss.

"I expect the text messages to start rolling in any minute now," said Hall, who joked that he used Crest whitening strips for a week to have a bright smile for the filming. "It was fairly easy. Our lines weren't that difficult.

Quotable:

We'll get him for wandering eyes. It's unbelievable he couldn't resist for three minutes.

- Tony Graffanino,
on Capuano's sizing up of actress Michelle Stafford

Brewers now can act too!

They are starting to get national fame... now they're acting on soap operas:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=622744

A trip through my bookshelf

I was looking through my bookshelf for a book (what else?) and realized that it represented all of the information that I had read and digested in my head. It was neat to take a trip back and see the titles again, and certain ones had certain concepts that really define who I am today. I thought I'd share a few of them:

A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder - This book really legitimized my style, and showed that it was OK to be messy. If fact, there are times when it was a net gain in being messy.

Moneyball - This book combined baseball player strategy with statistics. You can't beat that. It showed me how to connect something theoretical with something real. (Although ironically, in this book the guy they follow around, Billy Beane, rips the Brewers for drafting a guy named Prince Fielder... who's currently leading the league in home runs).

Seven Habits of Effective People - It took me two stints to finish this book, but the concepts really hit home. Concepts from this book I still use are looking for "win-win situations" "being proactive" (i.e. you have control over your life) and "seek first to understand, then to be understood."

The Art of Possibility - Written by a a symphony orchestra conductor, combines music with leadership skills. One favorite story was one of his classes, he said "everyone gets an A." The only thing they had to do was to write a letter to themselves dated months into the future saying what they had accomplished in the class. Another concept was his suggested reaction to when things go horribly wrong... to throw up your hands and say "how fascinating!" (The author of this book gave a presentation to P&Gers at a PRIDE conference)

Rich Dad Poor Dad - The Grand Poo-bah of them all. I can't begin to talk about how that book has changed my thinking. It taught me business concepts, goal setting, how the education system is messed up... I think the fact that the author is Asian American also helped it to hit home for me, as he had to deal with similar cultural differences.

No hitter???

So the Brewers are still battling their way through a rough bunch of games... Luckily they're in a crappy division so they're still in first place. So on Monday I'm watching them play the Tigers, and what happens but they get no-hit. As much as I want to be happy that I witnessed a no hitter, I was really mad it was against my team.

But since then the Brewers have won 4 in a row... is this the turnaround they need? We also brought up our second hot shot prospect, a pitcher named Yovani Gallardo. He's supposed to start on Monday.

Turandot - American Idol

Last Saturday, I played at Dave S's wedding. I especially love to learn new songs that mean something to people. At sometimes blog reader Erin's wedding, it was "In My Life" by the Beatles. Dave P's wedding, it was Music of the Night. At Jon's wedding, it was the Prayer sung by Celine Dion. Dave requested a song that he fell in love with after hearing it at, of all places, as a demo song for Bose stereo systems. He also heard it later on the final show on our Alaska cruise. So with that, I went off to first try to figure out what song it was, and then to learn it. Dave gave me the Bose radio demo CD, and after listening to it a few times wondered if I would just hafta make it up.
Then I got smart and put it into my computer, and the title of the song popped up... it was called "Nessun Dorma" from the opera "Turandot." So I made sure to play it during the receiving line when Dave at least was present!

Well today on the front page of Yahoo, there was a video clip of a cell phone salesman (wow, this even references Karen!) on American Idol who sings this song and leaves the audience (and me) in tears. Here it is:


What I absolutely love is that this transcends the stereotypical opera crowd into mainstream. I try to transcend classical music as much as I can because it's awesome. A little write up about the opera from Wikipedia. I guess I hafta add Turandot to my very short list of operas that I want to see.

Sunday Night Badinage

So I paid $160 for the Extra Innings package on cable, and lo and behold the Brewers are the one team that's not televised tonight. So I'm regulated to watching little animations of little guys on mlb.com. The Brewers were up 6-5 in the 9th inning but our closer blew another save, so I'm still up as the game goes into extra innings. The Brewers have 18 hits but only 6 runs.


I went out and bought two fluorescent light bulbs this weekend. Before you get on me for that, I had a practical reason. The light in my room was really hot, so it heated up the room, which sucks in the summer. So I bought the light bulbs because they're a lot cooler. They do make a funny noise though...

At one of our meetings last week, we got a bag full of product. One of the products is a new product called Pringles Selects. This particular one was sun-dried tomato. I must say, it's addictingly good! And don't call me a homer either, I'm the first to tell everyone I don't like Pringles at all. I'm excited to try the sweet potato and cinnamon!

Speaking of which... I watched the end of the National Spelling Bee championship this weekend. They showed a clip of the kids visiting the White House. Laura Bush was the special guest and she asked them to spell certain words... like gubernatorial (fyi I just used the spell check feature to spell that word) and suffragette. I yelled at the TV for Laura Bush to ask one of them to spell "potatoe" but she never did.

On Saturday, I went to Dave S's wedding along with Jim and a very pregnant Karen. Jim and I somehow got to talking about cup sizes (wonder what brought that on), and since he's a lot more experienced in this subject, I tried to learn something from him. He was such a great teacher, he came up with a mnemonic device to help me remember which sizes were bigger... He said to think of batteries, an A battery is a small battery, and a D battery is a large battery. I will always know my cup sizes now (and I also can't look at batteries without snickering anymore).

Katrin lives on

Winston is just now fulfilling his tag responsibilities.

DJ Orthotics - I will be needing a new brand of knee braces

Well, I just got a call from a collection agency that apparently was hired by DJ Orthotics, who manufactures the knee braces I wear for softball, volleyball, etc. It was regarding a disputed charge of $242 for knee braces I got two years ago. The story goes as follows:

I went to the doctor to have my knee looked at because it was very sore and swollen. I've had both of my knees scoped (incidentally, the right one by the current Brewers team doctor) and had been doing all right with it until that time. I called insurance to make sure I went through the proper channels to make sure my visit was paid for. The doctor gave me two new knee braces... I don't remember if I questioned it or not, but I took them, thinking I had done my due diligence.

As you might expect, my insurance rejected the claim of the knee braces, saying that I had gotten them from an unauthorized source. So I got a bill for $242. I called, saying that I had called to make sure the doctor was in network. The insurance company wouldn't budge, saying that the doctor's office wasn't an authorized distributor. I called the doctor's office, and they said that they were in authorized. They referred me to one of the DJ customer reps, who was on site. I talked to her, and she said that yes, they should be authorized, but they were having contract issues and stuff with Humana, my insurance company. I also called DJ's customer service and even sent a letter to a "director" explaining my issue and asking them to cut me a break. I also cited the fact that I had been a loyal customer, and I need new braces just about every 2 years. No dice. Then, the bills stopped coming... until I got that call today.

The agency was real nice, saying that they had not reported it to the credit bureaus yet. I'm extremely unhappy at DJ Orthopedics, as you might expect. I will be sending them another note, along with my doctor, telling them I will no longer going to be their customers, and in DJ's case, no longer be a shareholder as well (I had invested in the company). I can't imagine why a company would go this far, and be so shortsighted to lose a lifetime customer. I also am extremely unhappy at the red tape of the insurance company that caused this.

Oppressed People

So today wrapped up a busy weekend for me... I went to the 5th Annual GE/P&G APA Picnic. This is where all of us Asian/Pacific Americans hang out for an afternoon, complete with food, cornhole, volleyball, and prizes. When people ask me why we get to do this stuff, I say it's because us Asians are oppressed.

At this event, they also had someone who does card tricks... he told a story and flipped over cards as he told the story. Good thing Karen wasn't there, because she can't help but fall for a man who tells stories as he flips over cards. I find it funny that this happened, because this topic came up on Saturday night when we attended Dave's wedding renewal party.

Speaking of wedding renewals, this was the first time I experienced one. Made for an interesting rehearsal, as some of the wording had to be changed (i.e. "I now pronounce you husband and wife... again?). In all seriousness, I think it was a wonderful thing to be done. If I had something to renew, I think I'd do it too.