my random thoughts
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| BLOGGGGG my random thoughts |
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Tuesday, June 29, 2004 Last night (Sunday evening) I was all excited about going to see Jay Leno because his website said that his 'special guests' were going to be Jackie Chan and Tom Hanks. I made sure to wake up early enough to make it for the 8am tickets at NBC studios and Burbank. Needless to say, nothing cool happens to me. Found out from the security guard at the studio that Jay is off this week, and therefore will not have any tapings AT ALL! I was pretty disappointed about that. The second disappointment was at Universal Studios (Hollywood). Don't get me wrong the place is awesome. The service is friendly lots of fun things to do. I went on this new ride called The Revenge of the Mummy which in fact opened last Friday (6/25/04). The line up was about an hour long. The ride however was a measly 45 to 60 seconds! BOOOOO The rest of the park was great. I especially liked Shrek 4D and Terminator 3D. It reminded me of the Days of Thunder ride at Canada's Wonderland way back in the mid 90's. The whole park to me is suited for old people considering there aren't too many interesting thrill rides. Lots of musical type of shows. It's all good. Tomorrow's plan: Six Flags Magic Mountain. posted by Ben | | | 2:03 AM Sunday, June 27, 2004 Ok, just about to head down to Los Angeles. SO excited man! Will try to update! posted by Ben | | | 10:19 PM Saturday, June 26, 2004 This is my last blog from "home" before internet gets disconnected in the morning. I feel just a tad sad to go after all this time. I'm sentimental that way I suppose. The next week will suck because I probably won't have access to the net to do any regular updates and it's going to be the greatest week ever. I'll be headin' down to LA, Sand Diego, Tijuana and doing up all the Themeparks like Disneyland, Universal Studios and Sea World! I think I'm gonna do a crazy update for sure when I get back to work and get internet running. Email me at ben.c.lai at gmail-dot-com posted by Ben | | | 1:24 AM Friday, June 25, 2004 *SOB* I'm moving out! Today is my last day at the apartment that I call "home" for the last 13 months. I'll miss it lots. The next weeks will be uncertain because I worry that I might not have enough space to pack. I will no longer have access to the internet (except for during the day while I'm at work). I'm leaving on a jet plane (soon), don't know when I'll be back again....Literally heheh posted by Ben | | | 4:34 PM Thursday, June 24, 2004 Sold my bed (AKA the practically brand new mattress and boxspring) tonight. I think the price was very good for its condition. I'll be sleeping on the floor till I leave :( On the bright side, sleeping on the floor is supposed to be good for my back. Also sold some other stuff like the fan that I never used. posted by Ben | | | 2:24 AM Wednesday, June 23, 2004 Update I now have 1 (one) invite left. For those of you trying to get invites, and found my site off google, don't bother searching thru Google! You'll find a LOT more people with invites if you search thru personal blogs. Try Technorati Currently Listening to: Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes for Cash - CD 2 - Deep in Velvet [Aphex Twin Turnips Mix] GMAIL Accounts I have been given more Gmail invites. Yay. I've already given my first few to friends who wanted them, so it's time to share the wealth. I currently have 2 invites to give away. posted by Ben | | | 12:52 PM Kripes! Another beheading. Some more info here Korea Times Article here posted by Ben | | | 2:50 AM Tuesday, June 22, 2004 I was happy that Kaiser didn't call about my H. Pylori test, because it would usually mean bad news if they had infact called. They were supposed to call regardless if I tested positive or negative. Well being 3 weeks late, I decided to call *them* to see what the result is. It turns out that I DID test positive for the bacteria. That's fine, I'm not scared. I just don't like the fact that I'll be on anti-biotics for the next month or however long it's. I'll be miserable and grump. At least it'll an excuse to not work on Design project :D posted by Ben | | | 8:07 PM Monday, June 21, 2004 I've been Linked! It's not that big of a deal actually. A Good friend of mine from UofT, decided to hop on the blogging bandwagon a few weeks back and added me to his site. Thanks Man! Yup lookin' forward to visiting him down in good 'ol 626, and headin' down to OC/SD/TJ. posted by Ben | | | 7:15 PM Sunday, June 20, 2004 I'm debating whether or not I should find a job during the school term. I'll be really broke after paying back the money I owe to my parents and the cost of tuition and rent. The feeling or being financially independent is great and I don't know if I can ever go back to being completely broke. For the techies out there, it's like reverting back to dial-up internet after using cable internet for a year. Scary huh? Comments would be appreciated! posted by Ben | | | 3:51 PM Saturday, June 19, 2004 I had intended to use my PTO (aka paid vacation time) yesterday to relax and start packing. I ended up working half the morning to finish things up. I am spending yet another sunny afternoon at work. I should be "livin' it up" before I leave Cali. There's too much work, and I simply feel obligated to get my stuff doen before I leave. Plus I don't want to screw my replacement over with half-finished projects. posted by Ben | | | 6:25 PM Thursday, June 17, 2004 The Michael Moore's new documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 is coming out next Friday (6/25/04). WOOHOO! I hope everyone is excited about it as I am, and if they're not then too bad. I am glad that the film managed to get distribution in North America, ESPECIALLY in America U-S-of-A. Every American should see it because they'll get a better 'big-picture' view of what's going on. In other entertainment news, Madonna is legally changing her name to Esther. posted by Ben | | | 4:04 PM Finally finished the Da Vinci Code! Excellent book by the way. Definitely worth reading, and maybe even worth a space on my bookshelf. I'd go see the movie if someone were to write a screenplay based on it. Then again, with all the controversy behind this book, it would probably be hard to convince the studio(s) to back the project up. My Day...Don't know what to say....Just boring and frustrating. Sometimes, I really hate how inefficient and lazy some people are. I was so fed up I decided to take Friday off to just chill and meet up with people from Stanford that I probably wont ever see again in person forever. Doesn't it suck when the future becomes somewhat 'deterministic'? I don't care, just a few more weeks left and i'll be outties. Good and bad. Bad and good. It'll be a welcoming change to go back to school and be poor once again. Life was Simple. Speaking of life being simple, Simple Life 2 premiered tonight. I hope everyone saw it. I cracked up majorly. For 30 minutes I completely forgotten about the things that have been pissing me off and just totally *laughed*. Paris Hilton, you rock. Keep it up. You too, Nicole Ritchie. Those search engines are probably going to pick up the 'Paris Hilton' string and suddenly link me to all the "paris hilton sex tape" queries. HAHAHAA posted by Ben | | | 12:58 AM Wednesday, June 16, 2004 I made 3 people very happy today because I gave away my extra G-mail accounts to them. I think it's great that they're happy and it makes me happy knowing that they're happy. I give full respect to Krease for giving his very first G-mail invite to his girlfriend. He's either just totally whipped or outlandishly caring and altruistic. And for that buddy Krease deserves extra props from Mr.Ben. Guys, you should learn a thing or two from him. Things are going good on Design Project. But sometimes, I really don't understand those damn transistors. STAY IN SATURATION WILL YA? Especially you, transistors M8 and M9, I don't have time to play games! I'm losing a lot of hair because of you two. posted by Ben | | | 9:33 PM Gmail just gave everyone extra invites! This is good because they seem to be in pretty high demand. I think this is a response to Yahoo Mail's "service upgrade" from 4MB storage to 100MB storage. Still 100MB compared to 1G is chump change. posted by Ben | | | 6:57 PM Tuesday, June 15, 2004 Spent another Saturday in San Francisco. This time, with friends. You really can't appreciate a city until you've taken its public transit system. Frisco's Muni is efficient and inexpensive. I think this has a lot to do with government funding, which helps keeps fares down. For $1.25 you can basically travel anywhere on its trains, busses and street cars. The each fare is good for 90 mins. of unlimited travel, but the bus drivers don't care. With that said, we got away with traveling for the entire day on one payment. That totally rocks. I don't know exactly what happened, but my TV broke. I turned it on this morning to catch the news, but all I saw was a blue screen with sounds from the TV channel. Sucks! Never buy TVs from Walmart. I know I wont. There goes $100 down the drain. GRRR. posted by Ben | | | 12:54 AM Friday, June 11, 2004 I haven't heard back from Kaiser about my blood test. I think this is a good sign since doctors only call if there's something wrong. So yeah, I might not have H. Pylori afterall! Still, I am being extremely careful about what I eat and drink, just to be safe. posted by Ben | | | 2:31 PM Thursday, June 10, 2004 An acquaintance of mine from Stanford med revealed to me recently that there is a big group of individuals out there in the US that are supporters for a nationalized health care system. The goal if I understand it correctly is to have one unified body to govern all health care facilities for the entire country...Sort of like Canada. It turns out according to a recent study that for-profit health care actually costs more than its non-profit counterpart. Having been through the American health care system last week, it is apparent that it would be quite easy to go bankrupt from medical bills. Privatized medicine will also widen the gap between the rich and the poor by allowing those with money to get treatment and those who don't at the door. Perhaps I'm being a bit extreme. I hope Canada's health care system doesn't end up like the one in the US. posted by Ben | | | 1:31 AM Tuesday, June 08, 2004 3 things: 1. New co-ops have arrived. they are a nice bunch. I think they'll enjoy this place. They're a bit confused about working because they keep on asking me if "I should take notes". I think they should *always* take notes. I do at least - because I'm so forgetful. 2. I'm renting the Prius again for my trip down to LA. Yay. the guy at the rental place gave me a lower per-week price. I'm happy, and he is happy. 3. I've officially become addicted to this game. posted by Ben | | | 4:43 PM Friday, June 04, 2004 The new co-ops (aka my replacement) will be here on Monday. In other words, this is the end of *my* co-op term and my stay here in Cali. Surprisingly I don't feel disappointed at all about leaving this place. In fact I look forward to going home. Perhaps it's because Mountain View is a bit dull, or I didn't get around enough to experience what it has to offer. Looking back, I think I should've gotten more involved. For one, I hardly made any new friends outside of work aside from the Stanford people. That's one thing I regret the most. I shared a car for the whole year so getting around wasn't very convenient. On to some good news: I don't feel like shit anymore -- at least not today. My stomach is behaving, and I hope it stays that way forever! I think the problem was partially stress and diet related. Note to self: think happy thoughts. Design project: I think it's coming along quite well. We are working towards coming up with a good biasing scheme to get the damn thing to have a 20Ghz bandwidth. Props definitely goes to my partners back in the t-dot who just keep chugging along. I feel really bad for not being able to take on a bigger share of the work load. That will change when fly back home, hopefully. posted by Ben | | | 7:31 PM I know the following was taken from an email but it is quite true in most situations:
Thursday, June 03, 2004 Finally went to see the doctor today about my stomach troubles. Turns out I might have excess H. pylori bacteria that might be causing this. Got blood drawn to do the test. I'll find out soon enough. In the meantime I'll just try to relax and think happy thoughts. posted by Ben | | | 5:18 AM Wednesday, June 02, 2004 I was clearing up my old emails today and came across one some old messages from dragon boat team about eating foods with low GI, or glycemic index. I think this makes a lot more sense than the Atkins diet where carbs of any kind = bad. I have a feeling that being GI-aware is gonna be the next diet fad in America. posted by Ben | | | 5:36 PM Lexus is coming out with a hybrid SUV posted by Ben | | | 2:42 AM |
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