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.

Wiffleball... the new softball?

Some shots from our wiffleball game a few weeks back...