Did You Have A Great Vacation?

What is the number one criteria to determine your vacation was great? Smooth airplane ride? Car drove perfectly? No mistakes with reservations? Nobody sick? Under budget? No delays? Hundreds of pictures? All true, and not the number one criteria.

The number one criteria is nothing changed at work. On your last day before going on vacation, you finish up your last minute assignments, you set up for the new assignments when you get back, you activate your email out of office response, you set up your voice mail to vacation mode, and your inbox is empty. Then you go on vacation. You forget about work. You briefly check voice mail and email depending on your position.

The vacation is over. You’re back at work. The inbox is full again. The emails are in the hundreds. There are at least 10 voice mail messages. The co-workers ask, “How was your vacation?” Your boss is still grumpy, LOL. Think and pause for a minute. Work is still the same. Your vacation was great XD

20 Years My Blue Jacket

In November 1987, my Mom purchased the blue jacket when I was in 8th grade. I wore the jacket every cold day including schools, vacations, and going shopping. Anyone looking at my family album chances are high I wore the jacket on any cold day. After I graduated San Jose State University, I wore the jacket occasionally such as Fridays to work. In 2000, I purchased a new black jacket I currently wear after my Mom said the blue jacket was too short.

I remember during rainy days still as a kid I walked without an umbrella confidently knowing the jacket protected me. There is an inside pocket where I put my walkman inside and my headphones came out of the top. I thought of myself as a FBI agent which I was listening to San Francisco Giants baseball games.

The blue jacket is made from Pacific Trail. It's a Charger Seattle 1945. I have no idea what Seattle 1945 means. The blue jacket is Weatherproof, a special coating applied to the fabric to protect from wind, rain, and other inclement weather.

Today, I wear my jacket to the gym. There is one button missing; otherwise, the jacket fits comfortably. The zipper and buttons still work. And I have the optional hood. Many of us are shocked to see 20 year old cars still driving today. I'm more shocked to see 20 year old clothing still wearable to the same person and in good condition.

Present Check

I shared bad weeks on my Blogs. I called past bad weeks as “gloomy”, “tiring”, and “plain.” The last two weeks have been boring. Every day has been boring including eating meals and going to work. The bright spot was watching episode 15 and episode 16 of Heroes first season Tuesday night. The last two times I played Team Fortress 2 the fun factor was so-so OK. I played Spy for the first time. The character is hard. Need practice. I killed people and destroyed a sentry gun; unfortunately, people killed me more. :P

My boredom feeling is in me every minute. Almost everything I do, it’s like “whatever” or “so what.” It’s the “who cares” attitude. I drive to and from work and it’s “whatever.” I download mp3s and it’s “whatever.” My work and my fun are meaningless. I’m getting nothing positive such as no smiles, no cheerful feeling. I feel when I go home, I must settle down, eat dinner, and go to sleep. I don’t. I continue to do something just like watching Heroes last night.

My past bad weeks are temporarily. My life becomes good and fun again soon. We all go through phases of bad weeks. We move forward, remain strong, and live life daily. Keep your eyes open, ears listening, nose smelling, hands feeling, and mouth communicating for new opportunities and favorable timing situations to break out of your bad week. Good luck!

There Are Stories To Be Told

Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, there is a story to be told. Real life stories. Stories make us happy, sad, cheerful, depressed, inspiring, regretful, and lessons learned. Life stories humans live everyday. Do you have a story to share? Everyone does.

Chances are high few people know your stories. Every week, few life stories appear in the media or in the bookstores. Fortunately, the internet allows you to share your stories. When your story is on the internet, the world can read your story. You don’t have to be an author to write a story. You need to know basic grammar. If you grammar is weak, teach yourself to write better. Continue to write stories to practice learning grammar. If you learn grammar incorrectly, your practice writing stories wastes your time. Practice perfectly.

Here is a short story: The story is my Christmas Shopping. Since 1996, I do all my Christmas shopping in one day. The last three shopping days, 2004-2006, I visited new places. In 2004, I shopped at Santana Row, a high-end open shopping mall. It was my first time visiting. Unfortunately, the mall is mostly clothing stories and goods towards women. I rarely visit.

In 2005, I visited Oakridge Mall. It was my first time shopping at Oakridge Mall. The major stores include Target, Macys, and Sears. Since then, I visited Oakridge Mall to shop and to hang out with my friends. And in 2006, I shopped at Downtown Santa Cruz. It was my first time visiting downtown. Since then, I went to Santa Cruz two more times in 2007. One of my personal goals is to visit Santa Cruz three more times before my 2008 birthday.

The 2005 and 2006 shopping days became important for me because I revisit the places many times. For the 2007 Christmas shopping, visit a new place or visit a place you haven’t been in a long time. You never know you may be visiting the place again in the future.

When you write stories, you can talk whatever I want XD If you don’t have a story, do something to write a story.

*Side note. My goals on my webpage states I visit Santa Cruz five times. The reason why I visit Santa Cruz three times is because one of my new goals I created three weeks ago is building a new gaming PC which takes time away from visiting Santa Cruz. I update the goals soon.

Daylight Standard Time

I forgot to mention in the last Blog entry I’m watching Heroes. I’m currently on episode 14. Please, no spoilers.

Sunday November 4, 2007 began Daylight Standard Time. All clocks moved backward giving everyone one extra hour. On the other hand, we lose one hour when all clocks moved forward for Daylight Savings Time.
The two days are the days we must check the smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and batteries in flashlights. If your residence is missing smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and flashlights, you’re smoking something. After you read the Blog, go to the hardware store and buy these lifesaving items.

First, check smoke alarms. Check the batteries by using a battery reader. If you don’t have a battery reader, buy one at an electronics store. Make sure the smoke alarms are clean such as no dust and no spider webs. Each floor must have a smoke alarm including one near the kitchen. Replace low charged batteries.

Second, check the fire extinguishers. Fire extinguishers must be clean. Check the gage. The arrow must be in the green. Each floor must have a fire extinguishers including one near the kitchen.

Last, check flashlights. Check the batteries by using a battery reader. Replace low charged batteries. Have spare bulbs because flashlight bulbs do burn out. The number of flashlights equals the number of people or number of floors whichever is greater in a residence. My house has two floors and we have seven flashlights.

Side Note. Popcorn or 777-2676 to know the official time is no longer in service, at least in the State of California. My thoughts are if it takes the same amount of time, money, and effort to tell everyone who dials Popcorn is disconnected, why is Popcorn disconnected?

It's November Already

I'm still here. Wow!!! November is here. October went by fast >.> The past three weeks there has been new priorities, new interests, and new activities for which I have no time to create new Blogs. I apologize. I share what I have been doing since October. *Ren Faire. On Saturday October 6, I went to the Renaissance Faire in Hollister, CA. It was my first time going and I had a good time. My highlights were hitting the target throwing an ax and winning 50 points in the stone throwing contest. The joust event was entertaining. I'm looking forward to next year and I wear a costume. *Saturdays. Throughout October and continuing in November, every Saturday I have been helping my Dad and his friend install a new roof. Personally, they should have hired someone to install a new roof. The project has been going on since June. I don't really want to help; however, it's something different to do on the weekends. On the other hand, less time for Blogs :( *Halloween. I wore my Edward Elric cosplay to work. Three employees from another apartment took a picture of me. After work, I went to a cosplay gathering at the Winchester Mystery House where we trick-or-treated and walked around the garden several times. Most of us ate dinner at Chili's across the street. I upload pics to my webpage soon. *Team Fortress 2 (TF2). I'm playing TF2, a first person shooter (fps) online game. My friends got me hooked on the game. I played three times. I'm having fun even though I stink,. The more I play, the more I get better XD TF2 is my first video game played online (with the exception of PartyPoker.net). Moreover, my laptop barley handles TF2. My video settings are at the lowest. I'm going to build a gaming PC with my Dad and brother's help. It's my first time I build my own PC. I modified my 2007-2008 goals by visiting Santa Cruz three times and added building a PC. I purchased a gaming mouse and a gaming headphone with a microphone. *Alan Greenspan. I purchased The Age Of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan. I'm about 25% completed. The book is easy to follow even though there are lots of big vocabulary words. Good time to learn new words (^__^) And there is no Fed Speak *hee, hee* *Work. My department manager hired someone outside the company to design our department quarterly report. Throughout most of October, my team has been modifying our templates to match the new quarterly report template. Cisco's Q1 FY08 ended on Saturday October 27 and my team is working on the Q1 FY08 report. We expect mistakes and frustrations, and we expect to learn from the mistakes and frustrations for the Q1 FY08 report. *Napster. I download approximately 50 songs a week. Most of the songs I downloaded are classic rock. I'm currently downloading songs from the 90s. I pay $14,95 a month, the price of one CD. My thinking is the monthly fee is paid when I download a minimum of 20 songs a month. *Car care. On Sunday October 28, I replaced the cabin filter. Today, I got my tires rotated. My next car maintenance is changing the oil and adding fuel cleaning fluid.

A Controversial Blog: Birth Control

I believe the following is my first controversial blog entry. The Blog entry is unlikely to appear in a newspaper or the national news; however, in my Blog standards, it’s controversial. I’m going to express my thoughts on birth control.

I’m certain some pre-teenage girls their junior high school don’t teach birth control. I think all junior high schools must teach birth control to girls. Sex is everywhere, and teenage girls need the knowledge to deal with today’s way of living. Teach the girls birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies and potential problems being a teenage mom. There is nothing embarrassed teaching sex. Watch primetime TV, shop in a mall, and read magazines. Sex is involved. If it’s sex in class, the girls pay attention. Teach the girls correctly the first time to avoid future problems.

Isn’t teaching the girls birth control going to increase the teenage sex rates? My answer is teaching birth control is going to lower the teenage pregnancy rates. The girls must learn what’s like having a baby. Raising a child is hard work, requires lots of time, and is expensive no matter their living class, status, or income. The girls learn what happens when they have sex and what happens if something goes wrong. What about virginity? That’s another discussion *___* Must junior high schools teach sex to boys? The short answer is yes.

The girls need to know the information to make the correct choices and prevent regrets. When the girls have the knowledge, they have the power and the strength to deal with today’s lifestyle.

Secondary Priorities Is Priority Week

Last weekend, I helped my Dad and brother complete errands. All I did was help them, watch some football Sunday after dinner, and sleep. I didn’t read The Age Of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan (my current book), I didn’t watch Heroes Season 1, I didn’t learn Crystal Reports, and I didn’t do laundry which I needed to do.

Honestly speaking, helping my Dad and brother was something different. It was two days taking a break from the usual reading a book, learning Crystal Reports, cooking dinner, downloading fansubs, downloading music, and whatever else usual I can’t think of currently >__< I also got at least 8 hours of sleep Saturday night and Sunday night. When was the last time I got a good night sleep two nights in a row? Last weekend was refreshing and a reset for me. Last weekend was taking my mind off work, Crystal Reports, priorities and my weekly worries.

I continue the refresh weekend to the week of October 1, 2007 doing anything except reading Age Of Turbulence, learning Crystal Reports, and watching Heroes. Anything secondary priority is priority for the week. The list of activities include laundry and ironing, finishing my bills, updating my webpage, backing up my files, cleaning my sun glasses and driving glasses, downloading mp3 because I didn’t last week, and preparing my home PC to play Team Fortress 2 my friend got my interested. Oh, I’m going to the gym because I had a bad gym workout last week ;-)

Tired of the usual weekdays and weekends? Take your secondary priorities and make them a priority for the week, or maybe two weeks :]

Blog Two Doubleheader: Like A Losing Pitcher, It Was An Off Day Yesterday

Yesterday, my gym workout was incomplete. Around the second minute on the treadmill, my mp3 player froze. I didn’t have a suitable object to reset the mp3 player. And my left leg and my stomach started to tighten.

I choose to leave the gym and call it a bad workout just like a pitcher having a bad outing. I used the free time to get gas for my car. I arrived home a little bit early. I did 100 sit-ups, then I took a shower, brushed my teeth, washed dishes, and put away my work clothes for the last three days on the floor and in the closet. Finally, I read two chapters on “The Age Of Turbulence” by Alan Greenspan. I made the best I could from an off gym workout.

Taking the off gym topic further, the last two weeks at home have been boring and lazy, two words I avoid in my lifestyle. The lunches and dinners have been the same and boring meals. The last five days we have been eating leftovers and burritos. I managed to last my burrito for three days because I’m tired of the leftovers and there is no new food to cook in the refrigerator. Yesterday after work, my Mom called and asked me to get milk and chicken at Costco. Don’t ask why I had to do it because I don’t want to know what she did yesterday afternoon.

Today, I eat my leftover burrito for lunch. Other than yesterday’s Costco, my Mom didn’t shop for fresh food and vegetables. I don’t know what’s going on. She has been lazy when it comes to helping taking care of the house. I don’t know if she watches a lot of TV in the afternoon. It’s not worth contemplating. I’m a person who eats fresh, cooked, and healthy food at home. The last two weeks at home have been off weeks. (For the record, I do help around the house such as cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry.)

I can take charge and do the grocery shopping myself. The problem is what if my Mom went grocery shopping the same day I did. As a result, my house has too much food and no room in the refrigerator—well, most of the time the refrigerator is full because of the leftovers. I can grocery shop after work. The problem grocery shopping after work is I have less free time after dinner for personal time including reading, learning Crystal Reports, and going to the gym on gym nights. I must plan ahead if I must grocery shop.

Add one more problem in my house. There is too much junk. There is too much clutter my room has stuff that belongs to my Mom and Dad. Does anyone want an unused curtain? And we have computer hardware incompatible to today’s PC. Anyone want a serial mouse?

My Dad has been telling my Mom to clear up the junk. In defense of my Mom, my Dad has lots of junk in the garage. Both of them have junk in the attic. In defense of both of them, just being fair and objective *___*, some of the junk and clutter are my sister’s who moved back home after graduating in 2005 and her stuff are still in the house and some are my grandmother who past away in August 2006.

Regardless, junk is junk and clutter is clutter. My Mom subscribed for daily newspaper delivery for the price of Sunday’s edition. The newspapers are piling next to the front door. Nobody reads the newspaper. Why did my Mom subscribe to the newspaper? I’m not cleaning the newspapers up.

For the rest of the week, I’m thinking about taking it easy, not working out at the gym, and calling the week an off-week. My mood is somber since yesterday. I don’t know what to do at home. Ironically, the boring and lazy problem and the junk and clutter problem are two problems some families wished they have because there are far worst problems for some families.

Blog One Doubleheader: Sharing A Barry Bonds Moment

On Wednesday September 26, Barry Bonds played his last game at AT&T Park. Last week, the San Francisco Giants officially announced the ball club is not going to sign Bonds for the 2008 season. Bonds was close to hit a home run on his final at-bat in the bottom of the 6th inning. He went 0 for 3 and was removed from the game at the end of the 6th inning. The TV and radio broadcasts shared the best Bonds moments. I share my Barry Bonds moment.

On April 2002, my family and I went to Pacific Bell Park, the name of the park before AT&T purchased Cingular, to watch the San Francisco Giants vs. the Florida Marlins. My brother got free tickets from his company. We sat behind home plate and on the second deck. The view was terrific seeing the ballpark and the Bay Bridge.

I ordered soda and garlic fries at the concession stand. My family didn’t want to buy anything because the food was expensive. Good point; however, the garlic fries was worth it because Giants garlic fries were the best I ever tasted. We brought sandwiches and bottle water at the supermarket. Bringing food and bottle water were acceptable.

My Barry Bonds moment was he hit two Splash Hit home runs. It was awesome to watch the home runs hit from the park to McCovey Cove. It was different to watch home runs on TV and watch at the stadium. The two home runs Bonds hit were Splash hit number 19 and number 20 and Bonds career number 581 and number 582. The Giants won the game. 2002 was a good year to watch the Giants because they were the National League Champions.

Barry Bonds By The Numbers:

*762 career home runs, all-time home run leader
*7 MVPs
*13 time all-star
*13 seasons 100 or more walks, tied with Babe Ruth for all-time
*1 of 4 players to reach the 40-40 club (40 or more home runs and stolen bases)
*73 home runs in a single season (2001), a record

Learn From Failures, Too

One of the ways to be successful is to model from the successful people in business, entertainment, government, and sports. Bill Gates, John Chambers, Tom Cruse, The Rolling Stones, Benjamin Franklin, Hilary Clinton, Ronald Regan, Lucile Ball, Michael Jordan, and the list goes on. Learn from these successful people how they achieved success. Use them as models, as guidelines, as sources for knowledge and experience. Follow their examples and success shall come in time.

Another way to be successful is to learn from the successful people’s failures. In Bill Gates’ book “Business @ The Speed Of Thought,” Gates devoted half of a chapter on failures. He shared his failed businesses and what he learned from the failures. Observe your daily life and take note how other people live their lives, how businesses conduct daily operations, and how you live your life. Find your failures and learn from them. (And be aware of your successes and innovate your successes.)

For example, in my last company, in 1997, the company was supposed to have a new database. It’s 2007 and the company has a database which still has problem. The company went through at least 7 failed databases. The company should have learned something in the 10 years.

Keep your eyes open, ears listening, nose smelling, hands feeling, and mouth tasting success and failures. Take your successes and innovate them. Take your failure and turn them to successes.

Six Months At Cisco

Wednesday September 19 was my six month anniversary at Cisco. I met lots of new people including outside my department, learned new skills and strengthen old skills such as Crystal Reports and SQL, and experienced working in a multi-billion, tech company. I never experienced those three working at my last company. Working at Cisco was a good parallel career move choice.

I’m happy working at Cisco for better and for worse. In my second week, I attended an off-site meeting in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The first 4 months at Cisco was frustrated learning. There were lots of trial and error, lots of experimenting, and lots of making mistakes. I finished an assignment and then I was told to make modifications. All workers must learn on their own and correct their mistakes. Assignments must be completed at highest expectations, mistakes learned and corrected fast, and the managers and above want the information quickly without the “what the heck am I reading” questions. There are politics and bull shit which every company has. I have become a better worker.

In my last company, I completed the same assignments, performed the same responsibilities, and worked at the same cubicle, I mean, wall for years. My last job was boring. The work environment at Cisco is a new breath of fresh air, a new workplace I sought for years. In my last company, the office manager and managing partner did nothing such that if they worked at Cisco, they were fired immediately.

I experienced new hires and people leaving the company. Some workers transferred to another location. And some were laid-off. Good news is news the public know. Bad news is news kept internally. I’m getting used to the flexible hours. In my last job, hours were set. As long as the work is done, workers can come and go anytime. Some workers work at home telecommuting. I’m old school. I have to work at work. And using instant messaging is vital to keep in touch with co-workers and even family and friends.

It took me eight years since I graduated San Jose State to work in a tech company. As a geek, Cisco is my daily cup of tea. I have my security badge, I have a laptop, I have a commute, I eat in the cafeteria, I have my cubicle, and I have access to the Cisco network. I’m working in a Silicon Valley tech company.

There Are Too Many People Here

On Friday September 14, I read an article about global warming and population growth at http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=print&id=2173458. The article talked about reducing the birth rate for future generations to raise their children in today’s Earth-green awareness. China instituted a mandatory reduction birth rate which failed. The article stated the United Nations predict the population reach 9.2 billion in 2050 for which most of the growth in developing countries per capita emissions are the lowest. Developed countries emissions increases and birth rates decreases; however, a child born can impact emissions. Regardless, innovations in agriculture technology assures there is plenty of food.

In short, technological advances reduce emissions and save the Earth from any global environment crisis. The population increase has little to do with the growing emissions problems because our lifestyles change as we live to be greener such as fuel efficient cars, energy saving appliances, and LED technology.

My thoughts on population growth involve something else. Looking at the population growth from a supply and demand point of view (in other words, my economics point of view =__=), as population increase, there is more demand. If the supply stays fixed, prices increase. For example, are there going to be enough public services to handle to increase in population as new families are born and cities and communities grow? I hope cities receive enough tax money to pay for the services.

What about medical care? Working parents add their children to their medical and dental benefits. I wonder the true reason the increase in medical care costs is there are more people to insure. How about garbage? I hope technology find ways to recycle more than cans, bottles, and glass. I fear we are going to run out of land in our dumps for our garbage.

I don’t have numbers and I don’t have published facts to support my opinion population growth create problems except global warming and famine. I’m speaking from my intuition. I live across the street from a school. I wake up on a Saturday mornings hearing the soccer and t-ball families getting together with their children. I look out the window and I see so many children. For the record, I’m not against couples starting families. It’s just that I fear a family having four or five children. I don’t know how parents can raise at least four children financially and keeping their relationship. Really, I don’t. And when the children get married and choose to start a family, there are more people in the world.

The world is getting crowded. I see lots of people in shopping malls, libraries, anywhere outside my house. I fear with so many people crimes go up, more garbage, roads need more maintenance because families are required to drive more, and our personal space shrinks.

My First Pop Tart

Yesterday, I went to the supermarket and purchased a box of strawberry and strawberry with icing Pop Tarts. The price was $2.00 per box. I’m guessing the cheap price because the store wanted to sell the old Pop Tarts. The boxes had American Idols Live Tour 2007 and the tour is almost over. Thank you to preservatives =D BTW, I compared the nutrition percentages. If I read correctly, it seemed the strawberry with icing is more nutritious than plain strawberry. Makes no sense. I believe the strawberry with icing has more sugar.

For breakfast, I ate the strawberry today. I heated the strawberry Pop Tarts in the microwave for 30 seconds. The instructions said 3 seconds on high. My microwave is weak. I took one bite and my impression was the pop tart tasted plain. I tasted more of the pastry than the strawberry jelly. Biscuits with no butter tasted better, IMO. Perhaps, toasting is better. I try the toaster tomorrow for the strawberry icing.

I’m confident I’m not going to eat Pop Tarts for a long, long time. I eat healthy breakfast consisting of bread, cereal, milk, oatmeal, and fruit. The Pop Tarts is something I say I ate a Pop Tart in my life ~~

Hong Kong Victoria Harbor

A co-worker sent the link to my department. The picture is Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. Move your cursor up and down. Enjoy XD

Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong

Patience To Earn Relationships

Everyday people meet new people in business and leisure. People converse with other people to get to know each other. Some people are more open to talk about themselves. Some people, including me, like to ask questions to start conversations and want to get to know as many people as possible. In my opinion, nobody can know too many people. Always meet people and know many people.

If the people you’re going to meet are going to be long lasting relationships whether it’s business, friends, companions, partners, acquaintances, or personal, it’s going to happen in time. Be patient. It takes time to develop, earn, and strengthen relationships. The relationship grows when you and your group participates in more events such as working on projects, taking a trip, attending a concert, playing poker, and eating at a restaurant which results in the more everyone knows each other a little at a time. Nobody is going to tell someone or a group of people his or her life history in one social event or one instance. It takes months, even years, to truly know a person or people. True and long lasting relationships say, “I know *insert name(s)* for X years.”

Be discreet when asking questions to get to know the other people when meeting for the first time. Avoid questions such as, “How old are you?” and “How much money do you make?” and “What’s your sexual orientation?” Don’t start a conversation with weak questions such as “What time is it?” Be tactful, discreet, and interesting.

Remember the other person’s name. I’m bad at remembering names. When someone approaches me and tells me we met before, I ask sincerely to remind me where we meet. And don’t laugh consistently to respond to someone’s comment, opinion, or ending a topic. It’s bad. It’s still a personal problem for me and I continue to break the bad habit. Laugh when someone makes a good joke or sarcastic remark.

Finally, some people are less open to talk about themselves. You must be more discreet and tactful when you meet and converse with private people. Don’t assume you’re a friendly person the private person opens up quickly. Ask fewer direct questions about them. Slow the conversation down. Ask questions happening at the moment such as, “Did you try the spinach dip? It’s really good.” or “Heard what happened recently *insert current event*” You must earn their trust for private people (and most people in general) to open up to you; likewise, for you are you going to reveal personal aspects of your life to people you met in an hour? Likely, the answer is no. To repeat, you’re not going to know a person’s history in one event or one instance.

50:23

Wednesday September 5 was the worst driving commute ever. My usual work hours are 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Nobody in my company has fixed hours. The hours are flexible.

On the day, there was a morning meeting. I came to work early and I leave work early. I went home at 5:50 PM and traffic was expected. When I started working from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, the longest commute time is 40 minutes. Wednesday’s commute time was 50 minutes and 23 seconds. I timed the commute home just for fun XD

What happened? There were no accidents. (Since I started working, there was one accident. At the time I drove home, the accident was in the clearing stage.) Surprisingly, I saw no cars merging incorrectly, no cars cutting lanes, and no cars tailgating. Everyone was polite. I think the reason is many people went home at the same time.

When I go home around 7:00 PM, it takes me 20-25 minutes to get home. If the signal lights are to my advantage, then 20 minutes; otherwise 25 minutes. I’m fortunate my flexible hours and nobody to take care of enables me to minimize my commute travel time.

Take Five

It's Labor Day Weekend. Time to take five and take a break from our daily lives. Or time to rethink what we are doing with our lives today. *clap my hands* Let's take five:

1. Need a blog topic and you recently ended something such as your current job, relationship, vacation, and sold your car? Was the something affected you negatively? How about a blog on what you can now say about your last company, last lover, last vacation, and last car; for example, you found a new job, now you can tell the world what your last company was like. Be sincere and positive when you grip ^^

2. On Friday August 31 around 4:45pm, I walked from my cubicle to the window line. I looked out the window and I saw very few cars because many workers went home early, choose to work at home, or took the day off. I'm old school when it comes to work. I must go to work to work.

Anyways, I looked up at the sky and saw the clouds move. There was silence on my floor and I heard the air conditioning. Combined the window line, moving clouds, and hearing the air conditioning I thought I was on an airplane. I wish I was on an airplane.

3. In May, I was stressed working at Cisco. Frustrations, mistakes, and forgetting myself in April and May. I created the Summer Sabbatical for June, July, and August. When I'm out of work, I'm out of work. I do anything except work. I'm happy to say the sabbatical worked. I accomplished a lot and caught up on many activities including my bills, my webpage, creating more Blogs, accomplishing some goals, and hanging out more with my friends.

4. The next time you fill your car up with gas, do the two minute car check. The two minutes can save money and time by preventing major car repairs. First, check the oil with the dipstick. If your car needs oil, add oil according to your car's manual. Then visual check the fluids such as break fluid, wiper fluid, and coolant. Do a quick check of the battery. Does you battery need maintenance according to the battery's specifications? Finally, check the tires. Are the tires in good condition with normal tire wear and no visible damage such as a nail stuck on the tire? If the tread is wearing out unevenly, chances are the alignment is off and needs to be checked.

After the two minute check is completed, wash the front and back windows. If you have extra time, wash the outside mirrors, and/or any windows along the driver side or passenger side, and the headlights.

Bonus: If it's night time, then keep your lights on. Check the lights. Are any lights burned out? If yes, replace as soon as possible. Check turn signals.

5. On Saturday, I went to a party. Everyone did a little of everything including playing video games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Tetris; watching movies; playing table top games including UNO, Liar's Dice, and Texas Hold'Em; and hanging around in the pool. One of my friends wore a wet suit in the pool. That's a great idea. I'm getting a wet suit the next time a pool is involved. The reason is I'm sun sensitive and I burn really easy. We ate a BBQ lunch and leftovers, pizza, and lasagna for dinner. Around 11:30pm, some of us went to Nickel City, an arcade center. The group and I went home around 1am after chit-chatting in front of Nickel City when it closed at midnight.

On Sunday, I did morning errands. First, I got a haircut. Then I went to Safeway to purchase Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal and whip cream. Someone suggested I eat Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal with whip cream. Next to Safeway is Kragen to purchase some oil and air filters on sale. Kragen sold out on the oil case. I visit again later. And I went to Fry's and Best Buy to purchase the Heroes DVD box set. Both stores were sold out. I buy Heroes at Costco on Tuesday. I'm confident Costco has plenty in stock. For the rest of Sunday, I stayed home in the hot weather and caught up on personal errands.

On Labor Day Monday, I'm going to sign up at Napster. I have 1,010 songs on my Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB mp3 player. Recently, my random setting fails to play the songs randomly. I swear I heard the same song a few days ago. I want to download new songs.

I'm going to try Maple and Brown Sugar and whip cream. I'm going to open one pack of Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal and combine with regular oatmeal to make the oatmeal less sweet. Then I add the whip cream.

I must sleep early because I have a 9am meeting on Tuesday.

A True Dilbert Story

The banner?!?! It's the banner. You got to be kidding. You're killing me.

The four sentences above were what I said on Friday August 24 driving home. My department's Fiscal Year 2007 4th Quarter report was supposed to be completed on Friday. Instead, the report was finished late today. Why? The reason was the banner needed to be changed. The freakin banner.

I spent the entire day replacing the banners, changing the colors for the dividing lines, subheaders, and page footers for the 102 page report. Most of the reports were from templates. The reports from Word took the most time. WTF :-< Who created the Anchors? I never heard of Anchors.

My company's first fiscal year month is August. Think of August as my company's January and July as my company's December. Today is August 27, 2007. According to my company's Fiscal Year 2008 calendar, August 27, 2007 is the first day for Fiscal September 2008. My company is in September, the second month for 1st Quarter Fiscal Year 2008, and my department finished the 4th Quarter Fiscal Year 2007 report. Oh, I forgot to mention it's the draft final. Key word is "draft." Drafffft. *shakes head* I wonder what's next? And I have two assignments I need to start Tuesday: one is the Fiscal Year September report and the second is for a presentation on Wednesday.

I finished calculating the numbers and creating the rough drafts weeks ago. I don't know why my team took long to send me their reports, numbers, and write-ups. Were they slow? Did they have other higher priority assignments? Were they working harder and not working smarter? Or am I too good for the job I started five months ago?

Objectively speaking, I don't know the true reason why I was told to change the banner last minute. Perhaps, there was a legitimate reason. For now and thinking practically, my answer is, "you're kidding . . . the banner." *complex huh look*

Innovate Infinitely

15 years ago, I started attending San Jose State University (SJSU). I graduated with a B.S. in Economics and a Minor in Mathematics in Fall 1997. I took Academic English II, a remedial writing class, in my first semester because I failed the freshmen entry writing test. I missed passing by one point =(

The class required the students to write three essays. The essays were graded number 1 to number 5 with 5 being best and 1 being worst. No letter grading. I scored a 4 on my three essays. That was good. Each student must talk with the professor and the professor provided feedback. I remember my third talk with the professor. The professor said my scores were good and my writing was consistent. I forgot whether the professor demanded me to improve my writing.

Throughout my five and a half years at SJSU, I was consistent in my education and classes. I never found anything to improve my learning. I believed in the attitude “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” I never failed a class and never dropped a class. I failed to innovate my learning, innovate my studying, and innovate my skills outside college. For example, I studied my classes the old fashion way: attend lectures, take notes, go home and read the book, and study my notes. I prepared my exams two weeks before exam day. I failed to find a better way to study back then.

Another example is I didn’t read any books outside my classes. I thought everything I needed to learn was at SJSU. I was wrong. Textbooks taught academic education and failed to teach practical and life lessons. I also failed to innovate myself as a student including meeting new people, finding new interests and hobbies, seeking new adventures, visiting new places . . . the list went on from the small stuff of eating new food to the big stuff of finding a part time job too late. I worked part time on Summer 1996. I should have worked at a job earlier, but at least I did something ^^

Since 2004, I have been catching up—catching up on five and a half years of failed and missed opportunities at SJSU. I say with confidence I have learned new skills, acquired new knowledge, met new friends, visited new places, and experienced new experiences. I continue to keep my eyes open, my ears listening, my brain expanding, my nose smelling, my hands feeling, and my mouth communicating.

Who taught me how to write? Lydia Ortega, Professor of Economics and current Chairwoman of the Economics Department. Thank you for teaching me how to write. Students, if you seek to find something to improve outside your classes, learn how to write better. Innovate your writing skills. After you complete the writing, find something else to innovate. Innovate infinitely.