random thoughts

Too many accounts

2011-06-26T22:00:00.001-05:00

Over the years, I've opened various accounts for different reasons and now it seems like I have too many to keep track of. Just the shear number of statements a month is overwhelming. A majority of the time, I don't even open the statements until months later. I usually just accumulate a pile of envelopes and then go through everything at once. All my bills are paid automatically, so it's not pressing to open the statements. The only reason to check the statements are for errors.

Here's what I have:

1 mortgage account
1 heloc account
7 credit cards
5 bank accounts (includes savings and checking)
2 stock trading accounts
1 employee stock purchase plan account
1 roth ira
1 rollover ira
2 401k accounts
2 HSA
1 Cellphone
1 Cable
1 Water
1 Electricity

I think I'm going to try to reduce the number of redundant accounts. I don't think I need so many bank accounts and I think I can cut down the number of credit cards (Each credit card has a different rewards program, which is why I have so many. I actually do use most (5 or 6) of them each month).

I currently use yodlee.com which gives me a snapshot of everything, but it's all the physical mail that's a pain to deal with.

How many accounts do you have and how do you deal with them all.

My new food blog!

2011-05-08T12:50:00.005-05:00

I've created a new food blog. Check it out at:
http://raysfood.blogspot.com/

This new blog will pertain mainly to foods that I prepare. I'll try to keep the new blog updated more frequently. It will also provide me incentive to prepare food more frequently!

I'll still keep this blog updated semi-frequently with my random garble.

Flu

2011-02-18T22:43:00.002-06:00

I definitely have the flu. I woke up last night drenched in sweat. I took the above reading this afternoon after a short nap. My most recent reading is 100.5, which is still warm.

The flu sucks. Even my eyes hurt. My back was aching for a while too. I've got a bad cough, but it's improving.

I can't remember the last time I had the flu. It's been a while. Maybe I'll get the flu shot next flu season.

Snowman

2011-02-04T23:22:00.001-06:00

We had about an inch of snow last night. As a result, I ended up working from home and built this AWESOME snowman during lunch today!! It made me feel like a kid again!

On an unrelated note, I learned how I can post here directly from my iPhone. As a result, I'll try to post more often, since it's only an email away. I don't even have to transfer the photos to my computer.. I can just email it directly to the blog.

Stone age OS

2011-01-04T00:54:00.002-06:00

I've been using Mac OSX for almost 2 years now. It's been a long time since I booted into windows xp, which is what I did today. After having used the Mac for so long, Windows XP feels like it was written in the stone age. Everything just looks and feels so much nicer on the Mac. If you haven't tried a Mac, you should.

PS. Macs support Starcraft 2

Employee discounts

2010-11-25T00:48:00.006-06:00

Does anyone want to purchase any products at a discount from my employer? I can get a personal discount of 25% (50% on software), and a friends/family discount of 15%. The personal discount is limited to 1 purchase per a category per a calendar year and the friends and family discount is limited to 3 products per a category per calendar year. Unfortunately, there are no discounts on any phones. Since the calendar year is almost over, I figure I'd ask. If I haven't used my personal discount, then I'll let you use it. If I've already used it, then I can check to see if any coworkers haven't used theirs. (The only exception is for computers. I've already used my personal discount and I think most of my coworkers have used theirs too.)

Let me know asap, as the year is running out.

Migraine Headaches

2010-11-06T22:52:00.005-05:00

People have always said that migraine headaches are similar to very bad headaches, but how would you actually differentiate just a very bad headache from a migraine headache? For someone who doesn't know what a migraine is, they would just think their migraine is just a very bad headache (or in my case, something else).

I've just realized that I've had at least 2, possibly 3 migraine headaches in my lifetime, with the most recent being this week. I just never realized they were migraines. I've always just attributed the symptoms to food-poisoning.

I can still recall my first possible episode. I say "possible episode" because I can't be sure whether it was a migraine headache or food-poisoning, although I am leaning towards a migraine headache now. On the particular night of the first episode, I had cooked some thinly sliced steak for dinner. I remember I had only cooked each side for a few (2 or 3) minutes since it was so thinly sliced. After having eaten it, I felt really sick and nauseous. At some point, I started to experience some visual weirdness. After some time, I threw up, the visual weirdness went away and I felt better. I actually don't remember if I had a headache or not, but I do distinctly remember the visual weirdness (since it was the first one I ever had). At that point, I just assumed it was food poisoning since the steak may not have been cooked thoroughly. Also, I just assumed the visual weirdness was due to my body reacting to some poisons given off by the bacteria in the bad steak, similar to how someone would react to poisonous mushrooms (hallucinations).

Since then, anytime I've had the visual weirdness, I just assumed it was food poisoning. This past week, I had experienced the visual weirdness right before lunch time. I usually don't eat anything before lunch, and so my stomach was empty. I did feel nauseous and the symptoms lined up with how I felt when I experienced my previous visual weirdness. I knew things weren't going to be good, so I left work (took a sick day) and went home. When I got home, I vomited whatever was in my stomach (mainly water) and went to bed. I eventually woke up around 6pm and felt much better.

For the next few days, the food-poisoning explanation just didn't sit well with me, but I just didn't know what else it could be. It wasn't until yesterday that I had an epiphany, connecting my experiences to migraines (At some point in the past, I must've read that migraine headaches could affect the visual senses). I looked up migraines in Wikipedia, and lo and behold, it perfectly matched up with what I experienced, including the nausea and visual weirdness.

According to wikipedia, the visual weirdness I experienced is actually called an aura. Auras are associated with migraines, which is why I'm sure what I experienced this week is a migraine and why I think my first episode was a migraine and not food-poisoning. In the past, I always concentrated more on the nausea and aura when diagnosing what I had. I never really even considered the headache part. It's difficult to describe the aura, but after searching the web, I found a link which has a pretty good rendition of what I experience with my aura. As you can see, auras are very distinctive, which is why I can remember how many times I've experienced them (and hence the number of definite migraines I've had)

Now knowing what migraines are, I would have to say mine are beyond just bad headaches. The headache part is bad enough that I have to sleep it off since there's no point in staying awake with it.

iPhone4 vs HTC Evo

2010-07-14T01:46:00.001-05:00

In case you haven't seen this (I find this pretty funny):

Split second between life and death

2010-06-18T22:35:00.000-05:00

I narrowly avoided a car accident where a split second difference would've meant serious injury or even death. By a stroke of luck, I was spared.

On the way back from lunch, I was stopped at a red light. I was the front most car in the left lane, ready to make a left turn. As luck would have it, I was a bit out of it and was distracted from paying attention to the stoplight. After the stoplight turned green, I didn't even notice. The person in the passenger seat mentioned it was green. Before proceeding, I checked the light to make sure it was green. At this point in time, I proceeded to step on the gas. I usually don't check my left to make sure it's safe, but I did since I was a bit out of it. I saw a car barreling down at me from the left at what seemed like 40mph or 50mph. It seemed like he didn't even know he had a redlight. I slammed the brakes as hard as I could and hoped for the best. I felt my breaks lock up and the tires squeal. The other vehicle just narrowly missed me.

If I had proceeded through the intersection when the stoplight turned green, I surely would've been t-boned on the driver side of the car. With the speed the other car was traveling, it would've been a pretty nasty, especially if he would've run into the driver side door.

Ever since then, I've been playing back this incident through my mind and how lucky I was. It was just a stroke of luck that I didn't proceed through the intersection immediately when it had turned green.

The iPad is fantastic

2010-06-13T22:07:00.001-05:00

I've had my iPad for several weeks now and i absolutely love it (Fyi, I paid full retail price for it). i would recommend that everyone get one. It may not replace your main computer completely, but it gets close. The iPad is best described as a media/information consumption device. Its great for browsing the internet, reading books, watching video, etc. On the other hand, it's not so great for creation of information, such as long emails, data entry, programming, etc. Fortunately, most people's uses of computers fall into the former category.

Visualizing 1 Million gallons of oil

2010-06-13T00:35:00.004-05:00

1 million gallons is equal to the following:
Area of a tennis court filled 48 feet high of oil
Area of a NBA tennis court filled 28.5 feet high of oil
Area of a NFL football field filled 2.3 feet high of oil

A million gallons takes up a lot less space than people think. I would
bet that the estimation of the oil in the gulf is much higher than
their estimates based on the visual images I see.

Is it really an oil leak?

2010-05-21T21:15:00.003-05:00

I don't think oil leak is the correct term for the disaster that's occurring. I think it would be better described as one of the following:
Oil geyser
Oil gush
Oil torrent

"Oil Leak" does not give an indication of the severity of the situation.

New employer

2010-04-01T21:37:00.002-05:00

I just switched employers. I will now be working for a well known company named after a fruit (I'm sure you can guess who they are). Tomorrow will be my first day of work under them.

Work related

2010-03-02T01:50:00.005-06:00

I usually don't post anything work related, but here's some
good press and a photograph:
http://www.edn.com/info/CA6718220.html?industryid=49169

Snow ball fight!

2010-02-23T23:40:00.002-06:00

We had approximately 1 to 2 inches of snow today. In my ten
years of living here, it's the most I've seen. While at work,
we had an impromptu snow ball fight! Driving home, I saw
quite a few snowmen.

The near miss

2009-12-13T21:46:00.003-06:00

It's a typical morning. It's about 9:15 AM and I'm on my way to work. My commute is about 30 miles, with a little less than half the distance being expressway (no lights). The other majority of the commute are highways, but they have stoplights. On the particular stretch on road I'm on, there are plenty of stoplights. (In Texas, lots of high speed roads have stoplights.)
I'm driving along, with my current speed probably around 60 mph. As I approach a stoplight, I notice a large amount of cars in the left turn lane. There are just enough vehicles to fill up the whole turn lane, but not enough such that they stick out into the left lane. No worries, I just keep on driving.
Suddenly, a car(I'll call it STUPID car) in the left turn lane, about 3 cars from the front, decides that he doesn't want to turn left and he switches into my lane (the left lane). I'm currently going 60 mph, and have no time to do anything. All I could do is SLAM on my brakes as hard as I could and hope for the best. There was no time to check my side view mirrors or to even honk my horn. Without knowing if anyone is to my right, I wouldn't switch lanes over. On my left side, the turn lane was filled with cars, so I couldn't swerve left.
My anti-lock brakes engaged and I could just see the distance between my car and the STUPID car decreasing quickly. A jolt of adrenaline shot into my veins as I braced for impact. I had never slammed my brakes so hard for so long. I just held on to dear life.
Luckily, I slowed down fast enough and STUPID car sped up enough to avoid a collision. I was probably about 10-15 feet away from STUPID car before his speed overtook mine. I was probably still going 20 mph at this point. If he had decided to switch lanes a fraction of a second later, I'm sure I would've collided with him. It's the closest call that I've been in for quite a while (except for the hit-and-run that I was in just a few days earlier, but I'll save that for another blog post).

Snow in Austin!!!

2009-12-04T22:50:00.002-06:00

It snowed today in Austin today!! The weather forecasters were actually right for once. They had predicted this two days earlier!! It has snowed less than a handful of times in the 10 years I lived here, so it's a big event for everybody. The strange part about the day was that the sky was totally covered by clouds during the snow, but half an hour after it stopped, the sky was bright, clear, and blue!

(According to my blog, the last time it snowed here was on Jan 16, 2007).

America's Most Stressful Cities 2009

2009-09-08T01:11:00.001-05:00

America's most stressful city

Future Direction

2009-07-23T23:49:00.002-05:00

In the past few months, I've been working on some side projects (along with my brother). I've been programming for the iphone in my spare time, developing games and apps. I literally have been getting only 4 to 5 hours of a sleep a day because I'm spending so much time on it.

The first game has been released and has been out for a little over a month. You
can check it out at:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=318923457&mt=8

This project was meant to be just a learning vehicle. I didn't expect much out of it. The sales of this game have surpassed my expectations (which were quite low though). Now I am convinced that I can actually do quite well developing games/applications.

The next application will be bigger, better, and will hopefully make some real money.

At this point in time, I'm seriously debating whether to leave my full-time employment and develop iphone apps full time. My day job is definitely mundane and I've lost most/all interest in it. I don't feel that my current employment is rewarding anymore. I dread going to work in the morning and look forward to the end of the work day, so I can get home and do some programming.

I've examined my financial situation, and have enough cash savings to live without any income for a year. My personal situation is also perfectly suited since I'm single, young, and can still take risks. If I fail after a year, I can always go back to engineering. I don't have much to lose, but I do have a lot to gain. Even if I don't strike it rich, but do make enough to live on, I think I would be happier than I am now.

Based on my current thoughts, I think I will leave my current employment before the end of year. I don't want to act rashly, which is why I want to let the thoughts settle and see if I still feel this way in a month. If so, then I'll start taking the appropriate action.

I'd really appreciate any feedback/comments since this will be a risky life taking decision!

The best $35 I've ever spent!

2009-05-09T04:38:00.003-05:00

Due to my recent surgery, I have been unable to mow my lawn. As a result of my laziness of not mowing before the surgery, my backyard resembled a jungle! I had weeds over 2 feet tall. Other people I've talked to indicated they've already moved their lawns 3 times already.

Because I wanted to make things look nice, I hired a lawn mowing service and it's definitely the best money I've spent! It was well worth it to not have to mow. I'll probably continue using the service until after I've recovered which could be another month to 6 weeks.

My shoulder

2009-05-06T22:15:00.002-05:00

I had surgery on my shoulder two weeks ago and had my stitches removed today. Everything is good except that I've lost all my range of motion on my arm. For example, I can't lift my arm high enough to reach the turn signal while driving. Doctor says it'll take about 6 weeks of physical therapy before I regain most of my range of motion.

The doctor did say that he made my shoulder extra tight (due to the type of damage that was present) so it shouldn't dislocate anymore. I'll be glad once everything is healed up and I'm back to normal!

In 1999:The most significant achievements this year by the White House and the Republicans leading the 106th Congress

2009-05-03T11:57:00.003-05:00

Please Read: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/05/business/congress-passes-wide-ranging-bill-easing-bank-laws.html

Choice quotes from the article:
Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century

The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation's financial system. The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression.

This is a historic day.

the new law could lead to an economic crisis down the road

"I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010," said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. "I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness."

Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, said that Congress had "seemed determined to unlearn the lessons from our past mistakes."

"The concerns that we will have a meltdown like 1929 are dramatically overblown," said Senator Bob Kerrey, Democrat of Nebraska.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll let you draw your own conclusions from the article.

Let the banks (and AIG) fail!

2009-03-31T02:30:00.005-05:00

I agree with everything in this article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice

Essentially, the rich is getting the government to prop up the banks cuz they have the most to lose if it fails. I think we need to bite the bullet and take drastic measures to remedy the situation. Of course, this won't happen because Henry Paulson is a Wall Street Insider...

6172

2009-01-15T01:51:00.004-06:00

That's the number of photo's that I have on my computer. In the past few weeks, I've been organizing and editing my photos with Google's Picasa software. I've decided to switch to Google's web album (instead of using my own server) to host my photos. This is mainly due to the ease with which I can synchronize my local content with my online content.

Currently, I've posted only a few albums online. Instead of just blindly posting all my pics, I'm actually going through them and filtering out the junk. I'm hoping to get through all my albums by the end of this year (2009).

Here's the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ray.yeung/

Redbox DVD rentals

2008-12-07T10:32:00.002-06:00

On my way home lastnight, I saw one of those Redbox DVD rental kiosks sitting outside a walgreens, located less than a minute from my house. For no particular reason, I figured I would check it out. To my surprise, the machine actually worked quite well and had a good selection of the latest DVDs. The cost of the rental is $1/day up to a maximum of $25 for 25 days or more. After 25 days, you can keep the DVD.
I ended up renting 1 dvd (Incredible Hulk) just to see how things worked. Based on my experience, I think I'll rent most of my DVDs from these machines. The locations are convenient and the price is unbeatable without having to get a monthly membership such as netflix.

I think innovations like these will put blockbuster out of business. Here's why
1) Low overhead for Redbox Kiosk owner
2) Low prices for consumer
3) Numerous locations

Just as I was about to post this, I saw some coupon codes where you can get a free rental from redbox's at Walmart. So go out and try this for free! Below is the info you need (from slickdeals.com):

FREE RedBox rental every Sunday from now through January 4th (at Wal-mart RedBox only)
Beginning this Sunday (12/7) and through the 4th of January, you’ll be able to get a free Redbox rental at any Walmart Redbox* using one of the exclusive Elevenmoms codes below:

Week 1 – 11moms4uS (good Sunday 12/7 only)
Week 2 – 11moms4uA (good Sunday 12/14 only)
Week 3 – 11moms4uN (good Sunday 12/21 only)
Week 4 – 11moms4uT (good Sunday 12/28 only)
Week 5 – 11moms4uA (good Sunday 1/4 only)

*Use the Redbox kiosk search to find the nearest Redbox Walmart location. The codes can be used once per debit/credit card, so you can rent more than one for free by using different cards!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Select “Rent with a Promo Code”. You’ll find this option on the opening touch screen in the lower left corner. Now enter your code, of course.

Select your movie. Redbox always has a great variety of choices. You’re sure to find something appropriate for your family, and new releases are added every Tuesday. You can check out the current releases here.

Complete your transaction. You’ll need to enter a credit card to check out, but you will not be charged unless you do not return your movie by 9:00 p.m. the following evening.

Misuse of $700 Billion

2008-10-05T21:55:00.002-05:00

I'm predicting that in less than a year we will start hearing about the fraudulent activity surrounding the (mis)appropriation of money from the newly passed bill.
Of course, the rebuttal will be that action had to be swift in order to save our economy from dire straights.

History always repeats itself. There have always been fraud when any large amounts of money is involved. This time will be the worst due to the amount involved and the nebulousness of the bill.

Working out

2008-08-23T11:12:00.003-05:00

I've been working out regularly for the past several months, mainly doing the elliptical machine. I try to visit the gym 3 times a week for about 20-30 minutes. When I first started, my intention was just to fulfill my new years resolution (of working out more). My goal was to just get in and get out of the gym and spend as little time there as possible. As long as I visited the gym and did something, I would be satisfied. I wasn't expecting the workouts to have any effects since the duration was short.

Now that many months have elapsed since the first work out, I've realized that they definitely have had a positive result, which was not expected. For example, when I previously went mountain biking, I was out of breath and always had a difficult time keeping up. Now that doesn't happen any more.

I would recommend that everyone should work out 2 or 3 times a week too. Even if the workouts are short, they will make a difference. Twenty minutes, two or three times a week is not asking for much. Each workout is the equivalent time of watching one half-hour tv show. Surely, you can spare that.

Why project managers are morons!

2008-07-21T00:30:00.003-05:00

Every week at work, we always have a status meeting. During this past week's meeting, the manager asks if I'm going to have a plan to solve all my problems by the end of the month. The problem is that my issues are difficult to solve and requires much trial and error. There isn't a set of actions that I can take that will definitively solve my problems. The problems are solved in many small steps (if it's solvable at all). And as I get closer to the goal, it gets more and more difficult to make any progress since I will have exhausted all my ideas.

I can come up with a plan to solve my problems, but even if I follow it exactly, I still may not solve everything. I don't think my manager understands that. He thinks that if I come up with a plan and follow it, then everything will be peachy keen. My job isn't like building a house. I don't just follow a bunch of steps and everything is done!

Text Messages Galore!

2008-07-08T22:25:00.003-05:00

I emailed sprint requesting a customer loyalty discount and free text messaging for being a long time customer. They indicated that they don't give out the customer loyalty discount anymore, but they would give me the free text messaging. As a result, I get 1000 free text messages a month now! If you've been a long time customer, you should email your provider asking for the same. It's always worth a try.

Feel free to text message me anytime! It's free (for me)!

Rock Band!

2008-06-09T01:03:00.002-05:00

I almost never play video games, but I started playing Rock Band recently. The game is actually quite fun. I don't like the guitar part of the game, but I like the other roles (drums and singing). I'm currently borrowing my friends xbox360 and associated peripherals, but I'm thinking I might purchase one for myself (Yeap, it's that good). The main issue preventing me from this is the high price of a system cost and peripherals. From what I hear, Rock band will be out for the Nintendo Wii this month, but it's not as feature packed, so I'll probably just stick with the xbox360. (It's also available for the playstation3, but that system is even more expensive.)

If you've never played RockBand and you have an xbox360, I would highly recommend buying/trying it!

My poor car

2008-05-20T01:05:00.003-05:00

While parked at work, someone backed into the front door of my car a few days ago. They were nice enough to have left their business card under my windshield wiper. I went and got three estimates for the repair work, and the average came out to around $1600!!

One Year Later!

2008-04-23T21:37:00.002-05:00

Today is the one year anniversary of employment at my current job. It doesn't seem like a year already, but I guess time flies when you don't hate your job. Since I left my previous job, I would honestly have to say that I'm happier and a lot less stressed than previously. The current job does present its own challenges and hardships, but I don't feel pressured to work 12 hour days constantly. The commute does suck, but I partially alleviated that problem by purchasing "the ultimate driving machine". The commute is bearable, but rising gas cost is starting to really eat into my pocket book.
Eventually, I'll relocate closer to work and all will be well.

If you don't like your job, I would seriously recommend at least looking around. The worst that can happen is that you don't find anything and stick with your current job. The most positive outcome is finding employment at a place where you don't mind working at

My house could've burned down last night

2008-04-09T20:34:00.006-05:00

After thinking about the events that occurred last night, I'm VERY lucky that nothing serious happened. The worst possible outcome would've been my housing burning down with me sleeping inside of it! Fortunately, I was at the right place at the right time to prevent a fire from ever starting. The fire would've started through no fault of my own and could've even have occurred without me being at home...

The events all started right before I went to bed. I was in the master bathroom getting ready for bed. While washing my face, I smelled a strange smell. The closest description of the smell that I can come up with is a band-aid. It was a weak rubbery sort of smell. At first I thought it was the facial wash that I was using since I started smelling the strange smell right when I applied it on my face. It seemed illogical that the smell of the facial wash would change, but I didn't give it too much thought. After a few seconds, I had finished rinsing the soap off my face. At that point, the smell was a bit stronger and more closely resembled burning rubber.

At that instant, fear ran though my body. Had I left something on the stove which caught on fire? If so, the fire would've been quite severe by this time in order for the smell to have permeated from the kitchen, which is located downstairs, to my master bathroom upstairs. I immediately dropped what I was doing and sprinted downstairs. During my sprint, I was trying to think what was near the stove that was rubber that could've caught on fire, but I couldn't think of anything...
When I reached my downstairs, I flipped on the lights, but there was nothing. The stove was off and all was quiet. I was slightly relieved that there wasn't a raging fire in my kitchen, but I still needed to determine where the smell was originating from. I ran back upstairs and ran to the other bedrooms and bathroom, but saw nothing. After this, I headed back to my master bathroom. As I entered my bedroom, the smell was acrid (enough to irritate your throat/lungs). It smelled like there was a fire. I knew a fire had either started or was imminent!

As I turned and faced the master bathroom, I could see smoke above the sinks, near the light figure above the mirror. There was no visible signs of a fire, but that could change at any instant. At this moment in time, only 10 to 15 seconds had elapsed since I had originally left the bathroom to check the kitchen and other rooms for a fire. The situation was rapidly escalating...

I stepped into the bathroom and looked at the light fixture and glanced at the lightbulbs. All the bulbs that I expected to be functioning were functioning. I had eliminated all logical possibilities for the fire except for one: an electrical fire in either the wall or in the light fixture. If there was already a fire, I would've been screwed.
At that instant, I flipped off the lights as a precautionary measure. If a fire had already started, flipping the lights would've done nothing. If a fire was yet to be started, flipping off the lights would cut off the electrical current, thereby preventing it.

I then ran downstairs to my kitchen to bring something back up. Take a guess what it was...

If you guessed a fire extinguisher, you would've been correct. I have one located in easy reach in the cupboard right under the kitchen sink (Do you have one located in your kitchen???).

When I got back to the master bathroom, there was no fire. I waited several more moments just to be sure. At this point I was fairly confident that some wires in the light fixture or in the wall had shorted, burning the insulation on the wire, resulting in a burning rubber smell. I retrieved my flashlight and then proceeded to removed the lightbulbs and to disassemble the light fixture. I easily took the cover off the light fixture (without any tools) to expose the innards/wires. (I knew how to do since, since I was the person who originally installed it).

I then examined the innards of the fixture and its wires and could not find any problems. I was relieved knowing that my installation of the fixture was perfectly sound. Because no more smoke was being produced (after turning off the lights), I knew it had to be related to the lights, or its wiring, somehow. If the short circuit was in the wall, I'd have a difficult time resolving the situation since I can't easily access the interior of a wall.

At this point, I decided to try something risky. I flipped on the light switch (there were no light bulbs in the fixture). If smoke starting appearing, I could tell exactly where its origin was. Nothing, no smoke at all.

I then went ahead and plugged one bulb back into the fixture. The light came on and everything was perfectly fine. No smoke, nothing again... At this point I was stumped. I had run out of ideas on the cause of the smell and smoke.

I then picked up the next bulb. As I proceeded to screw it in, my search had come to an end. It was the light bulb! The base of the compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL) had a little burned spot. I didn't see this earlier as I removed the bulb from the fixture because it was dark and I had removed the lightbulb by grasping only on the glass globe of the bulb. I instantly verified my finding by putting my nose near the bulb and taking a small whiff...

In conclusion, I opened a window and turned on the AC to get some fresh air (The smell/smoke was irritating my throat/lungs). I was relieved enough to go to bed, although it did take some time for the adrenaline to wear off and for the smell to dissipate...

I'm one of those people that leave lights on all the time without being in the particular room. Out of all the times that this incident could've occurred, it was serendipitous that I just happened to be there to stop it. I have no doubt in my mind that it would've taken only a few minutes for a fire to erupt if I hadn't intervened!

My next post will be a rant about cfl's (compact fluorescent lights)...

Societal Benchmarks

2008-04-08T23:14:00.005-05:00

I was recently thinking about the state of our society and economy. After some thinking, I came up with a question that I couldn't find a good answer to: Why is the state of a country always measured in financial terms (such as economy, GDP, wealth, etc)? Instead, shouldn't the measurement be based on the well being of the inhabitants and not their output?
Some people would argue that there is a correlation between these indicators and the well being of people, but my argument would be why use a indirect measurement at all?

One direct measurement of the well being of people is happiness. The correlation between happiness and wealth seem quite obvious when using common sense, but I would argue that it isn't. For example, Bhutan is a very poor country, but its citizens are on the top of the list when measured in happiness.

The main problem with measuring a society in financial terms is that the true goal is lost. Instead, production is maximized at the expense of happiness and well being. This whole line of reasoning leads me to my last and most important question: Why are we still working 40+ hours a week??

With the advances in technology, machinery, automation, etc, the efficiency of a person is significantly higher than it was a few decades ago, but the number of work hours remain the same. If we wanted to increase the well being of people, the number of hours worked should be decreased, thus allowing people to spend more time with family, friends and to do leisure activities. I would argue that people shouldn't have to work more than 30 hours a week. If a company needs more resources, they could hire more people to make up the difference. People would make less money, but they wouldn't be any less happy!!

The worthless Buck!

2008-03-27T22:25:00.004-05:00

I believe that the falling US dollar may actually be good for America in the long run. Several reasons:

Exports of American Goods will appear cheaper to other countries, therefore resulting in more competitively priced American goods.
Imports of Foreign Goods will increase in price (eventually), resulting in pressure to produce more goods domestically.
Cost for American workers are getting cheaper relative to the rest of the world causing outsourcing to be less attractive.
Rising energy prices make renewable energy sources much more attractive.
Rising oil prices may provide enough incentive for someone to invent a viable alternative (And allow America to wane itself off Mideast oil!!!

The Caucus (and voting) experience

2008-03-07T00:40:00.004-06:00

On Tuesday, I voted- Not just once, but twice!

I decided to wake up early and vote. I had expected a long line, but there was none at all. The voting was done via pen and paper, which is what I prefer. (I don't think electronic voting without a paper trail can ever be implemented in a safe and secure way). After I finished filling out the ballot, there was an electronic box that I slid my ballot into. In my previous experience with voting, I had not seen such a device. The box had an electronic counter on it and when I fed it my ballot, the counter incremented from 44 to 45. I guess I was voter number 45 for the day!

In the evening, I decided to attend the caucus event. Seeing that the voting/caucus location was only 2 blocks from my house, I decided to walk, which turned out to be a good decision. Voting previously occurred at the elementary school directly across the street from my house, but after the community center was built, they moved voting there. As I approached the community center, I noticed people started parking at the school. Apparently, the community center parking lot was totally full, which I had never seen.
I arrived at the front of the community center right before 7:15pm, which is when the caucus was suppose to start. A huge crowd, which I estimate at 150-200 people, had gathered at the front and was just waiting to enter. Apparently, the caucus couldn't start until the last voter completed his paper ballot. Eventually, the line started moving, but it was slowwwww. One of the voting booth employee who was leaving mentioned that everyone had to sign in. The sign-in sheet is where you would indicate your vote for the caucus. She had also said that they only had one booth to sign in. I estimated signing in one person at a time would take around 4+ hours. Eventually, the workers wisened up and started multiple sign-in sheets. Around 7:45 I was told there was six sign-in sheets. At that point, the line was moving quicker, but still slowly. By the time I reached the front (around 8:15 pm), they had 12+ sign-in sheets and the line was moving rapidly.
Obviously you can see who everyone else voted for when you're signing in. On the particular sheet that I signed on, I was the 14th entry. You manually have to write the person's name who you're voting for. I think I saw three different spellings for Obama's first name (Barak, Barack, Barrack). Taking a quick glance at the other entries, Clinton only had 1 supporter and Obama had the rest! (Based on this, I figured Obama would win Texas and clinch his party nomination, but apparently I was wrong!!)
At this time, it was already past 8:15 and I was getting hungry. I could've stayed and watched the caucus, but I decided there was really no point, since the signup sheet was all that really mattered. The main reason for staying is if you want to be a delegate.

So I left and went home and that was my Caucus voting experience!

The caucus results will have to hand tallied which could take weeks! I can't believe they have such an archaic and inefficient system!

How ironic!

2008-02-29T01:13:00.002-06:00

It's ironic that Texas will decide who the next president will be.

Considering the state is Republican, the fact that Texas voters will determine the democratic nominee is a farce. How is it that the minority in Texas will determine the next president, despite the fact that Texas will vote republican in the presidential election!

Gotta love the system.

Lunar Eclipse!

2008-02-20T01:12:00.003-06:00

Just a reminder for those who may have forgotten:
A full lunar eclipse is today (Wednesday, Feb 20), starting around 8pm CST. It's something you should definitely try to see since it doesn't happen often and it's very easy to do. Just go outside and look!

Skiing

2008-02-05T21:06:00.001-06:00

I recently just went skiing in New Mexico. This wasn't the first time I've gone skiing, but it is the first time that I actually knew what I was doing. I took a couple lessons, and also watched how my friends skied.

Overall I had a lot of fun and would go again, despite the fact that I dislocated my shoulder. My fall resulting in the injury wasn't even very serious, but I must've hit the ground at just the right angle to pop out my shoulder. This isn't the first time I've dislocated my shoulder, which is probably why it happened again. (After the first dislocation, subsequent ones happen more easily because the ligaments/tendons are stretched).

If you've never skied, it's something you should definitely try. I think it's probably one of the more/most fun things you can do once you know what you're doing. The cost to go skiing is expensive though. Lift tickets + equipment rental is around $75+ a day. If you happen to live near a ski resort, it'll be even cheaper since you don't have to pay for airfare and hotel, which could run you another $400+ for the whole trip. (My friends and I actually drove (instead of flying) and I didn't have to pay for hotel, since my friend owned a vacation home near the ski resort).

LOL

2008-01-20T23:17:00.000-06:00

I had a good laugh today after seeing that my dad joined facebook. I never expected that. Facebook must be approaching mainstream popularity if the older generation is joining.

Toll Roads

2008-01-15T21:01:00.000-06:00

I was reading an article in the local newspaper and came across this:
"One day it hit me like a ton of bricks," Birkman said. "It's just a road to a toll road. But what if we toll the road to the toll road?"

What the hell are these people thinking!! What's next? Toll the road to the road to the toll road? Can they build just one freaking road without it being a toll road? Argggg.

And yes, this road would be very close to where I live.

New Year's resolutions

2008-01-05T22:05:00.000-06:00

It's that time of the year again... Gotta come up with a bunch of resolutions that I'll never end up following. The only resolution that I still remember and kept in 2007 was finding a new job! It's hard to follow your resolutions if you don't write them down. When 2009 rolls around, I'll have to review my 2008 resolutions and see which ones I've kept.
In the spirit of Letterman, I'll make it a top ten list (listed in order of importance).

10. Exercise more (work out/mountain bike more)
9. Write more entries to this blog (to track my life better)
8. Track my expenses
7. Take more photos
6. Cook more often
5. Be more organized
4. Get my real estate license and move to another house
3. Donate blood more often
2. Finish all the work on my house
1. Use that passport that took me so long to get!

Citibank hacked?

2007-11-27T21:33:00.000-06:00

I received my credit card statement from Citibank yesterday and noticed an unusual charge. The transaction was for a company named "Gulf", located in NY, under vehicle services. At that point, I called customer service to get more information about the transaction. I figured maybe I had ordered something online for my newly purchased car, and just didn't remember it.
I asked the customer service rep about the charge and she said it was for a gas station named "Gulf", but that the location of the station was not necessarily in NY. NY could be the location of the station, the headquarters of the company or just some other address that belongs to the company. Then cs rep then indicated that the card was present during the transaction (it was physically swiped in a card reader). I asked if she could get the physical location (address) of where it was swiped, but she said she didn't have that information. I then asked for a copy of the receipt, but she indicated that it would take 6-8 weeks to get that. If I waited that long, it would be too late to dispute the charge.

While still on the phone, I quickly looked online for gas stations named Gulf and found it at "gulfoil.com". I clicked on the link for station locator and clicked on the "search by state". Neither Illinois or Texas were listed. At this point, I was confident the transaction was fraudulent since I had not been to any of the states where the Gulf gas stations were located.

Several things really bother me about what happened:
1) If the card was physically swiped, the credit card company should be able to instantly pinpoint at exactly which address it was swiped at.
2) It takes too long to get a copy of the receipt. By the time I receive the receipt, it will be too late to dispute the charge, if it is fraudulent. The alternative is to dispute it without being 100% sure that it's fraudulent (This is what I did).
3) I still have my credit card with me. This indicates that Citibank, or some other company that has my card number, was hacked, with my credit card number and numerous other numbers being stolen. My stolen number was then programmed into another card and then used.

I know some stores have safeguards against reprogrammed cards, which indicate that this type of crime does indeed occur. The cashier will either ask for the last 4 digits of the card number or ask to look at the card so he/she can punch in the last four digits into the register. If the card is reprogrammed, then digits that are physically stamped into the card will not match the reprogrammed number.

The credit card companies have no true incentive to reduce fraud since the losers are the merchants. From what I understand, when credit card fraud occurs, the merchant will not get compensated for the transaction. There's not much the merchant can do though. If the merchant decides to try to boycott the credit card companies by not accepting
cards, the amount of business lost could be far greater than the cost of fraud.

The Brain Game

2007-11-27T00:07:00.002-06:00

I just played the brain game on facebook, which is suppose to determine if you are left-brained or right brained. The game displays an animation of a grey silhouette of a dancer spinning in a circle and all you need to do is determine the direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise) the dancer is spinning. The answer is so obvious, you don't even need to think about it. I spent a few minutes wondering if it was a trick question or how anyone could interpret it spinning the other direction. I gave up after a few minutes and concluded that it could only spin one way. After clicking my answer, the game indicates that it's possible for a person to see it spin in the opposite direction, if you stare at it long enough.

So, that's what I did! At some point, when I blinked, the dancer was spinning the opposite direction. At first, I was freaked out. I thought the game was playing some trick on me and had switched the animation with a similar one that was spinning in the opposite direction. Therefore, I closed the app and re-opened it, but it was still spinning the opposite direction. I figured it wasn't playing a trick, but I was still in disbelief. I then spent the next five to ten minutes staring at the animation until I could force me mind to see it spin in whatever direction I want it to.

The leg that the dancer pivots on depends/controls the direction she is spinning. If you see her spinning in one direction, she is pivoting on a certain leg. If you see her spinning the other direction, she will be pivoting on the other leg.

Check it out! Here's a link:
http://apps.facebook.com/braingame/dancer.php

Car purchased!

2007-10-18T02:28:00.000-05:00

it's a loaded 2002 BMW 330i. The primary driver was an old dude who took meticulous care of the car, so let's hope it's problem free!

Thinking of buying a (used) car

2007-10-13T18:52:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of getting either a used BMW 3series, Audi A4, or Lexus IS300. I don't want to spend more than ~15k. At that price point, the vehicle will probably be around 5 years old with 65k miles.

Facebook

2007-10-07T01:49:00.000-05:00

Has facebook replaced email? It seem like more and more communication is happening through facebook!

Wii

2007-10-05T01:18:00.001-05:00

Why can I still not find a Wii at any of the stores I go to? I'm not gonna go out of my way to find it, but if I see it at the store, I might buy it on impulse. The demand must be so high that nintendo just can't produce enough of them. On the other hand, there are plenty of xbox360s and PS3 laying around at all the electronic stores.

Lasik?

2007-09-25T00:43:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about getting Lasik eye surgery for years, but now I'm actually thinking about really doing it. The major factor stopping me is the possibility of things going wrong or the unforseen long term consequences.
Anyone have any input (success stories or horror stories?)

Driving on the wrong side of the road!

2007-07-27T21:56:00.000-05:00

While driving home today, I noticed something peculiar. A few hundred yards ahead of me was a vehicle that was facing and driving towards me. I was totally confused as how this could be since I was on a DIVIDED tollway! At that point, I decided to slow down from 75mph and proceed cautiously. As I passed the vehicle, it was in the adjacent lane to the right of me. Usually oncoming traffic is on your left side, not the right. I also held my horn as I approached and passed him. I watched in curiousity in my rearview mirror as he drove away. About a hundred yards behind me was a wolfpack of cars occupying every lane. The only open lanes were the shoulder lanes. I watched as the car darted across from one side of the highway to the other. Hopefully, he got out safely, because at this point I was too far to see anything more.

How strange!

Rain, Rain, go away!

2007-07-26T22:15:00.000-05:00

Lately, it seems like it's always raining here in Austin. We've had more rain so far than we usually do in a whole year! It was nice at first, but it's getting annoying now!

Any good movies?

2007-07-04T09:12:00.000-05:00

Anyone have any recommendations for movies? Everytime I go to blockbuster, I don't seem to see any movies that I really want to rent!

My craptastic car!

2007-06-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

Recently my car window regulator broke, which caused the window to fall into the door. The regulator consists of the window motor and the parts that connect it to the window. I went online and ordered the part I needed (and saved a bundle of money)
I ended up driving around windowless for two days before someone suggested taping the window in the up position. Driving on the highway without a window sucks, cuz it's windy, hot and the AC goes right out the car. I was much happier once I taped up the window.
After the new part arrived, I installed it myself. It wasn't very difficult although it did consume several hours. After installing the regulator, but before reassembling the door, I tested it out. It worked nearly perfectly except for the fact that the window went the wrong way. When I push the button to raise the window, the window goes down, and vice versa. Apparently, the new window regulator was wired in reverse, with no easy fix.. The only way to fix it, is to cut the wiring and wire it correctly. Not wanting to mess with it anymore, I just left it the way it was.
I guess, I'll just have to live with it for now.

TV shows!

2007-05-25T18:33:00.001-05:00

For you TV people out there, check this out:
http://tv-links.co.uk/

Morning person!

2007-05-21T23:21:00.000-05:00

Due to my new job and traffic, I have totally switched my schedule around. I have become a morning person, with my wake up time between 6:30 and 7:00 AM. In order to avoid traffic, I need to depart no later than 7:20 AM. I also go to bed much earlier than previously. I'm usually in bed by 12:30 to 1AM. Previously, I would go to bed around 3:30 AM and wake up around 9:30! I still get the same amount of sleep as before, but the timeline is just shifted 3 hours!

Freedom!

2007-04-20T23:44:00.000-05:00

I have completed my last day of work! It feels as if a heavy burden has been lifted, with no work responsibilities!

Accepted!

2007-04-04T00:50:00.000-05:00

I have accepted my new job offer and have given my current employer my notice of resignation! It was definitely not an easy decision but I hope it was the correct one. Only time will tell.

My manager was definitely upset but after speaking with him, he understood and was supportive of my decision. I told him I found the job on my own and it wasn't through some outside recruiter who just happened to call me (which does happen from time to time). He realized that I was unhappy enough to find the job on my own volition, which meant I was set on leaving.

My team lead, who I've known from my first day of work, was even more disappointed. We had a short discussion and he wanted me to stay, but in the end he understood why I was leaving.

It seems like a lot of people I talk to know of the company that I accepted the job at and even know people that work there, despite the fact that the company is quite small! I guess the microchip design world is small and everyone knows everyone. Therefore, I need to leave on good terms and not tarnish my reputation (in case I ever need to look for another job).

My last day of work is Apr 20, and my start date is Apr 23!

job offer

2007-03-29T01:58:00.000-05:00

Current Job

401K with company match of 3% of Salary
Personal Pension account with company contribution 5% of Salary
3%-5% probable raise this year
Yearly Bonus of ~4% of base pay
20 Minute drive/12 miles to work
Located in town (plenty of restaurants/bars around)
Stock ain't going anywhere
Like the people I work with
Dislike Company
Don't dislike work
Future of division is unknown
Health care plans getting more expensive
Lots of Politics
Constant worry of problems in previous projects
Doing the same thing for 6+ years
15 days vacation

New Job offer

401K but no company matching
No Pension Plan
~8.5% base pay over current job
Yearly Bonus of ~10% of base pay
45 minute drive/27 miles to work
Located on the edge of town (less restaurants/bars around)
75000 stock options, Pre-IPO (but no guarantee of IPO)
People seem young and friendly
Company seems okay
Work seems interesting
Company is growing (I think)
Better health care plans
Small company, < 100 employees
Start fresh, without having to support previous projects
Will learn something new
Sign-on Bonus of $3K
15 days vacation

So, I almost have an offer from the company I interviewed with on February 9th. Everything has been finished, even including the reference checks (which I didn't think they were going to actually do). I've been in negotiation with them regarding the numbers in the offer for the last few days. They officially have not sent me the offer, but I think that's because I expressed concern about the sign-on bonus (and they are revising it). Above are the factors that will go into deciding whether I decide to accept the offer. The Cali company that I mentioned in a previous post is out of the picture.

From a monetary perspective, my current job and the new offer are about equal if the stock options are not taken into account. I'm hesitant to put much value into the stock options since it may be an empty promise.

Although the base pay of the new job is 7.5% higher than what I'm currently making, it's exactly what I told them that I was making at my current employer. So in essence, they are only matching what they believe to be my current salary, which I can accept.

The sign-on bonus is also lower than what I expected, with my expectation at $6-8k. They initially didn't even have a sign-on bonus, but I expressed great dissatisfaction at this fact. They came back with $2k, then $3k, but that's still lower than what I've heard most people have received. I'm hoping that they'll revise the number higher tomorrow.

One of my big concerns is the drive to work. I'll have to spend an extra hour commuting everyday. Over a year, that's about 240 hours, or 10 days driving!!! The added gas cost will be be $750-$1000, not to mention the wear and tear on my car.

So, my options are to accept the offer, or decline and start my job search over again. Any comments?

Passport

2007-03-25T03:38:00.000-05:00

I finally applied for my passport, which was on my to-do list for years! I should receive it in about 3 months. After that, I'll be ready to travel the world (assuming I have vacation days!)

Job update

2007-02-26T23:10:00.000-06:00

Actually I asked the company not to give me a job offer yet since I'm still investigating one last promising lead. I would only have one or two weeks to respond to the job offer, which isn't enough time to fully investigate the other lead. I asked the company to delay the offer until I'm ready to make a decision.
The other lead is located in Silicon Valley. When I submitted my resume, I wasn't even serious about it and wasn't expecting a callback from the company, although it's the only company I would consider moving to California for. If I did get a reasonable offer, it would be quite a difficult decision. I guess I really shouldn't think about it until I actually have an offer from them. The least I would get out of it is a free trip to the bay area :)
I'll post more updates when I get them.

Pending job offer!

2007-02-16T23:55:00.000-06:00

I was informed today that I will be receiving a job offer (from the company I talked to last Friday). I actually haven't seen the offer yet, but I assume it will be good. If it is, then I'll definitely accept it despite the fact that I still have other leads outstanding. The main disadvantage of the new job is the location from my home. Currently, my drive is about 15-20 minutes, whereas the new job will be about 45 minutes away. Besides that, I think everything will be great! It'll be quite a contrast going from one of the largest, most bureaucratic employers in the world to a small, flat, efficient company (<100 employees). I'm so tired of all the politics and bullshit that goes on at my current employer. All my peers are quite intelligent and hard-working, so there's no way to really standout unless you play the politics game.

Interview

2007-02-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

I have an all day onsite interview tomorrow with a small company (<100 employees) and I'm hoping it'll go well. The only negative side is that I'm taking a vacation day, which they highly recommended instead of doing several shorter interviews over several days.

I had an interview scheduled with another company, but they cancelled it because they said they couldn't hire anyone until March. They said they would contact me at that time, or I could contact them again if I don't hear from them.

A friend, who I gave my resume to, said his company was interested and they'll be getting back to me to schedule a phone interview.

I think my job search is proceeding along fairly well. We'll see what happens next.

My frozen car

2007-01-18T23:15:00.000-06:00

I found my car encapsulated in a sheet of ice this morning. Today was the first time I had driven it since Sunday evening. In the first picture, the ice on the windshield is about half an inch thich, whereas you can see that the ice is almost an inch thick in the second picture! Luckily, it wasn't too hard to remove since it came off in large chunks.

Snow in Austin

2007-01-16T23:59:00.000-06:00

We got snow today! The last time we had snow in Austin was Valentines Day 2004, so it's been almost 3 years! Snow is a pretty big deal in Austin, since we get it less than once a year.

I spent another day working from home. If tomorrow is another bad weather day, I think I'll just relax and not work... I spoke to one of my co-workers, and he says he didn't do anything today or yesterday because he can't connect to work with his home computer and his work laptop is at work. Let's hope for another day of freezing rain, sleet, and snow!

Work site closed due to weather!

2007-01-15T11:55:00.000-06:00

Due to freezing rain, the whole city is basically shut down! Unfortunately, due to the magic of the internet, I'm working from home instead of having a free day :(

Ray

Blu-Ray

2007-01-06T04:19:00.000-06:00

I watched a few minutes of a Blu-Ray movie on my friend's HD TV (1080p) and was quite impressed with the quality. The picture was crystal clear with no blockiness at all. With respect to quality, going from DVD to Blu-Ray is as good or better than going from VHS to DVD.
I'll consider getting a Blu-Ray player when the price drops to a reasonable amount (under $100 for me) which will probably take 2 years.

Savings 101

2006-12-29T01:09:00.000-06:00

Saving and investing for retirement should be one of your top priorities. Some people don't think it is important now and will put it off until later, but that's a bad idea. It's actually more important to save now, rather than later. For example, consider the two scenarios below:

Saving $11000 from age 25 to 34 and $0 from age 35 to 55. Annual return of 9%/year
Saving $14000 from age 35 to 55. Annual return of 11%/year

At age 55 (theoretical retirement age), which scenario do you think would have more? Many people would think it's scenario two since the contribution is higher, length of contribution is longer, and the annual return is higher, but that's wrong. Scenario one would actually have slightly more. Scenario 1 also only requires a contribution total of $11000x10=$110000, whereas scenario 2 would total $14000x21=$294000. This example demonstrates the importance of saving early.

For those who don't believe me, take a look at the table at the end of this post. It shows the amount of money for each scenario from age 25 to 55.

Every year since I started working full-time, I've been contributing the maximum (allowed by law) into my 401k and Roth IRA account. If you're not, then you should examine your finances closely to see where you can cut back.


Age Scenario 1    Scenario 2
25  11000         0
26  22990         0
27  36059         0
28  50304         0
29  65832         0
30  82757         0
31  101205        0
32  121313        0
33  143231        0
34  167122        0
35  182163        14000
36  198558        29540
37  216428        46789
38  235907        65936
39  257138        87189
40  280281        110780
41  305506        136966
42  333002        166032
43  362972        198296
44  395639        234108
45  431247        273860
46  470059        317985
47  512364        366963
48  558477        421329
49  608740        481675
50  663526        548659
51  723244        623012
52  788336        705543
53  859286        797153
54  936622        898840
55  1020918       1011712

Flight home

2006-12-27T02:20:00.000-06:00

My flight home was scheduled for Dec 21st, but when I arrived at the airport I was told that the flight was cancelled. I was given an 800 number to schedule a new flight, which took 15 minutes to get through. My original flight was a direct flight, but my new flight, which was the next day, had a connection though Dallas. I dislike connections since they take up so much extra time. I'm usually willing to pay up to $40 more for a direct flight.
The next day when I checked online, I didn't actually have a seat on the Dallas-Chicago flight. I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to be able to get a seat on the flight. When I did my electronic check-in at the airport, I was given a priority seating pass instead of a ticket for the Dallas-Chicago leg of the flight. The pass said to bring it to the gate (in Dallas). When I arrived in Dallas, I went to the gate and they exchanged the pass for the ticket. I'm assuming they would eventually find a volunteer to give up his seet in exchange for a travel voucher.
My flight in Dallas ended up being delayed for 2 hours. It's a good thing my flight wasn't any later, since the later flights to Chicago was cancelled that day. By the time I reached my final destination (my brother's house), I had been traveling for 11 hours, not including the day I lost due to the cancelled flight! My total travel time is usually less than half of that.

Pollution Free Electricity!

2006-11-28T00:47:00.001-06:00

I just switched my electricity provider to a pollution free provider, with 100% of the electricity generated by wind. And the amazing thing is that I'll actually be paying less for pollution free electricity than for my previous electricity. In the last six years, I've watched my electric rates skyrocket from 9.2 cents/Kwatt-hour to 15.2 cents/Kwatt-hour. During that same period, pollution free electricity stayed constant around 15 cents/Kwatt-hour.
I would have never expected pollution free electricity to be cost competitive to non-pollution free electricity, but it has. There are two main reasons for this. First, non-pollution free electricity is generated from non-renewable resources such as natural gas. With natural gas prices rising significantly in the last few years, electricity rates rose with it. Because no non-renewable resource is consumed with pollution free electricity, the cost should either stay constant or decrease (due to advances in technology). The second reason for the higher prices is due to deregulation of the electric companies. Deregulation should bring more competition and result in lower prices, but it hasn't. With deregulation, electric companies are less likely to invest in new power plants because recuperation of the capital costs are not guaranteed.

Wii

2006-11-23T09:29:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine recently purchased the Nintendo Wii and I played it last night. It was defintely an interesting experience. The new controller/remote is unlike any other game system's controller and I think it will attract many buyers. It was definitely fun playing with the new controllers, but I wonder if the novelty of it will eventually get old.

I still do not know anyone who's purchased a PS3, since all the stores are out of stock and they are too expensive on ebay. Sony should have stocked more for the launch since I think people will buy the Wii over the PS3 due to its availability (and lower price).

Regardless, I think all 3 consoles (360,Wii,PS3) will all do decently well. The xbox360 has been on the market the longest and already has a firmly established base. The Wii has the uniqueness of the new controllers and a lower price point than the other consoles. The Wii is also geared toward a broader market, which will attract consumers who otherwise wouldn't have purchased a gaming console. The PS3 has the most computing power and will eventually have the best graphics, which serious gamers demand. The PS3 can also play BluRay movies (resulting in much higher console price) which is a nice plus.

TV shopping

2006-11-21T03:48:00.000-06:00

I was browsing for a new TV when I saw this. It looks cool, but it's outta my price range...

goatee is gone

2006-10-23T01:48:00.000-05:00

I have shaved off my moustache and goatee. It's been about a year since I started growing it, and now I've decided I just don't want it anymore. I'm sure my whole family will be glad it's gone, as they made numerous comments about it.

Ipod stolen

2006-09-29T02:13:00.000-05:00

I'm just so pissed off right now. I'm in the middle of packing for my trip to Chicago when I realize I can't find my Ipod. The last place I left it was in my car. I'm positively sure it's been stolen because the thief also took the cassette adaptor and cigarette power adaptor. I realized a few days ago that something was wrong when I entered my car, because it didn't look right. At that point in time, I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was wrong, but now I realize what it is. The mess of wires for the cassette adaptor and power adaptor that I'm so accustomed to seeing were missing.

I'll have no music to listen to on the plane ride, which is why I'm pissed. I'll also have to shell out another few hundred bucks to buy a new ipod. My stolen 3rd generation ipod cost me $400 back in 2003, but they have come down quite a bit in price since then.

On the positive side, no damage was done to the car (that I'm aware of).

I've survived

2006-09-07T22:43:00.000-05:00

Today was the day that people were notified whether or not they were going to have to look for a new job. I was fortunate enough to not be one of those people. Unfortunately, I personally know of 9 people being eliminated, but I'm sure there are many more that I haven't heard about. I've worked alongside some of these people for years, and it sucks to have to see them go.

For those who remain, the situation is only slightly better. The new project that we are starting is already over budget and behind schedule. Combined with impossible goals, the future looks bleak. If goals, budget, or schedule are not met, there is always a possibility of cancellation.

The last 7 weeks have been tense, but relaxing at the same time. The situation was tense because the future of our employment was at stake. It was relaxing because many people had little or no workload, including myself. There were many days where I was in the office for half a day, and I spent that time conversing with co-workers. I've been getting use to this, but it'll change very quickly once the new project ramps up.

Lost my phone

2006-08-22T08:06:00.000-05:00

I lost my relatively new phone (it was about 6 months old and I'm still on contract with Sprint). The battery was low right before I lost it and I think it died right after I lost it. As a result, I have a very little chance of recovering it. I guess I'll be out of a phone for a few days while I shop for a new one.

Workload

2006-08-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

At the moment, I have zero workload (The same is true for my co-workers). We don't have a project to work on, so there's no reason to be physically in the office. From the rumors going around, the situation will stay like this until the end of the month. While managers and team leads sort out the project direction and personnel issue, we just sit around doing nothing. The main reason I still show up to work is so that I can meet with my manager in case he wants to talk to me.
Everyone I work with is fairly stressed out with the situation. All the contractors were eliminated swiftly. They were given less than a day's notice of their termination. One contractor didn't even know he was terminated. He showed up to work one day and his badge failed to work. Eventually, he got into the building and started working. Later in the day, he heard a rumor that the contractors were eliminated, which he then confirmed with his manager. He then packed up his stuff and left. The night before, all the contractor's employers were notified about the termination. The contractor's employer probably didn't have enough time to notify the contractor about the termination.
So far, I know of two full-time employees (non-contractors) that have been laid off. I also know of a handful of people that have been asked to look for an alternative position with-in the company. Instead of laying off people, the company would rather have them stay and fill other open positions if possible. Each person that finds another position decreases the number of people that need to be laid off. If a new position is not found, it doesn't mean the person will necessarily be laid off. The company also wants to keep employees around in case their expertise is needed. If the new project is understaffed, the company can always pull the employees back if they are still with-in the company.
As an indication of the seriousness of the situation, one of the persons that have been asked to find an alternative position is my team lead. From a job performance standpoint, he has definitely performed well and is nowhere near the bottom of the performance bucket. Even if a person performs well, their job is not safe...

Resource reduction

2006-07-26T20:47:00.000-05:00

My employer has recently decided to redirect the project that I'm working on. This is a euphemism for saying that the project has been canned. Along with my project, another project has also been canned. Due to budget restrictions and other reasons, one new project is being created to replace both canned projects. This new project will comprise of members from both canned projects. As you can imagine, there will be redundant employees and there will be a need to eliminate them. These resource reductions (lay-offs) will occur in the next weeks. The rumor at the moment is that about 500 to 600 people will be eliminated from the division. I've heard that people have already started working on their resume-maybe I should too.

Hopefully, I'll find out more in the next few weeks...

Lost

2006-07-18T01:59:00.000-05:00

I starting watching the TV show "Lost" about a month ago (I just finished seeing the last episode of the second season a few days ago). This was my first time watching the show (I had not seen any episodes during the regular seasons). It was much better than I expected. Actually, I'd have to say it's one of the best TV series that I've seen in recent memory. I'm definitely hooked now and can't wait until the next season begins. I'd highly recommend watching the show (in order from beginning to end), if you haven't seen it.

6th year anniversary

2006-06-26T00:40:00.000-05:00

I was recently reminded by my manager that it was my 6th year anniversary at the company this past week. Assuming I work for another 30 years, I'm only through 1/6 of my working career. It kinda scares me at how much more I have to work until retirement.

Currently, I'm in the part of the project cycle where work isn't stressfull, but I don't know how long that's going to last. I have a neutral feeling towards my job; I don't hate it, but I don't really like it all that much either. The one thing that I do like is the people I work with. We work well with each other and we get along quite well. I could try finding a job at another company, but I'm pretty sure I'll feel the same way about it. Until there's more reason for me to leave, I'll just stay where I am.

Under-tec

2006-05-30T00:28:00.000-05:00

This is the funniest product I've seen in quite a while. I started cracking up when I saw this: http://www.under-tec.com/gasEaters.php. Who actually buys these products?

Almost finished!

2006-05-14T23:26:00.000-05:00

Three and a half months after the accident, all the repairs are almost complete! All of the major work is done, including restoration of the inside and the brick work. The remaining work includes repair of the concrete foundation, reattaching the gutters, and general cleanup. They definitely should be done sometime this upcoming week.
For the landscaping, I will be handling that myself. I'll be tearing out all the bushes, and replacing them. My total budget for the landscaping is about $800.

More hail

2006-04-21T00:49:00.000-05:00

Another hail storm, except the hail was on steroids today. The picture on the left is from a local news website. I would have taken my own pictures, but I was at work and didn't have my camera.

I can't wait until I get brick put onto my house. All the old brick have been removed and the new brick will be installed next week. The exposed areas of the house are covered with plastic tarp to prevent water from getting in, but I'm sure some water is still getting around the tarp.

Everything is bigger in Texas

2006-04-09T23:51:00.000-05:00

I had a hail storm a few days ago and snapped a picture of the first piece of hail I saw. This piece is about the diameter of a nickel. I'm sure I could've found a larger one, but I didn't want to go hunting around in the storm. This is small compared to the golf-ball sized hail of other storms. A coworker of mine said he had hail puncture a hole in his roof last year. Needless to say, there was plenty of damage.

House update

2006-03-12T23:27:00.000-06:00

I've finally settled with the insurance company after over a month. It's been stressful dealing with the insurance companies and the different contractors. I had 5 contractors look at my house, but only two of them came back with bids. I contacted the non-bidding contractors several times, but they never replied with a bid although they said they would. Eventually I just gave up trying to get bids from them.

After talking to the insurance companies, I learned that I will not have to pay anything out of my own pocket. The insurance of the person who hit my house will be paying my homeowner's insurance deductible ($1700). This was a relief.

Here are the estimates for the damages:
My insurance company (Allstate) : ~$5000.
Driver's insurance company (Statefarm): ~15000
Contractor 1 : ~$19000
Contractor 2-4 : No bids
Contractor 5: ~$19000

Contractor 1 included work to replace ALL the brick with NEW brick, since an adequately matching brick could not be found. My house has brick on three sides (front and 2 sides).
Bid from Contractor 5 was priced to carefully remove and then reuse the existing brick. I had a small amount of spare brick in the back yard which would also be used. The high price was due to the extra labor in carefully removing the old brick.

I decided to go with Contractor 5 since I knew it would be easier negotiating with the insurance company, even though it was the same price as Contractor 1. My only goal was to get my home back to the original condition pre-collision, not to get more. The insurance company negotiated with the contractor and the agreed upon price was ~$15000 (down from ~$19000).

About three weeks ago, the contractor started work on my house. They started by removing the bricks on the side of the house up to the expansion joint. The expansion joing is halfway between the front and back of the house. When I actually saw the demolished wall, I was in shock. It looked like they tore down the wall without actually trying to save the bricks. I called the contractor to find out what happened. He said they tried the best they could, but some of the bricks were damaged in the process.
At this point, I didn't know what I do. The original plan of reusing the brick wasn't going to work since not enough of the existing brick was saved. A possible option was to use the reclaimed brick on the front of the house and then use new brick on the side of the house. The end result of this option is that one half of the side wall would not match the rest of the house.
The contractor went back to the insurance company to see what the possible options were.
The insurance company said they could pay for replacement of the whole side wall. This was better but not great since the whole side wall would be different than the rest of the house. After more negotiations, the insurance company said they would replace the whole front of the house and the damaged side. This is not any better since one side is still different than the rest of the house. I told the insurance company that this was not acceptable. The insurance claims rep then asked his supervisor if the third side could be done. The result was a definitive "NO". Even after more arguing, I couldn't get them to pay for replacement of the third side. Eventually, I gave up on the idea of trying to get the insurance company to pay for the replacement of the third side.

The estimate to replace the front and left side of the house with new brick came back at ~$22000!

I found it interesting that this bid was more than Contractor 1's bid, although this was to replace brick on only 2 sides. At this point, I asked the insurance company if I could take the money and use a different contractor who would rebrick all three sides for that price or lower. They said that was okay.
At this point, I went back to contractor 5 and told him what the situation was. I had other bid(s) that would replace all the brick on my house with a price that was lower than his current estimate. Contractor 5 needed to rebrick the third side for free, or I would take the money and go with one of my other contractors.
After serious arguing, the contractor agreed to rebrick the third side for free. (During the arguments, I was so pissed I almost told the contractor to "go %#ck off"). The contractor would still be getting ~$22000, which is still $3000 more than the bid from contractor 1. I decided it wouldn't be worth the trouble to switch to a lower priced contractor now. I'm still getting what I want (having my home restored to pre-collision condition), without having to pay anything out of my own pocket. Since I'll be rebricking my whole house, I can choose any brick I like...

Poker

2006-03-03T02:27:00.000-06:00

I just finished playing poker (Texas hold'em) with my buddies tonight and I had the most amazing luck. I ended up with four-of-a-kind two hands in a row. The probability of getting a four-of-a-kind on any given hand is about 1/4100, so the probability of getting it twice in a row is (1/4100)*(1/4100)=(1/16810000). The odds of this happening is in the same ballpark as winning the lottery, so I'm just amazed.
I'm thinking about going to Vegas in late July. A friend of mine won an online tournament with a prize package (approximately worth $12000) of an entry into the World Series of Poker. The WSOP is scheduled to have about 8000 players, with a prize pool of around $80 million. My buddy is definitely the best player among the people I play and I hope he does well in the WSOP. I don't do any online poker playing, but I'd like to try it. I think I would do decent, but I've never tried.
People who think poker is purely luck don't understand the game. On average, everyone will have the same amount of luck in the long term, so luck is cancelled out of the equation of who comes out ahead. The amount of skill a person has is the determining factor of how a player performs in the long run. In game to game, luck will factor in determining if a player wins, but luck is cancelled out in the long term. Winning in poker is analogous to performance in the stock market. Good companies will increase shareholder value in the long term, but from day to day, the stock price will fluctuate both up and down.

Tax software

2006-02-04T23:34:00.000-06:00

H&R Block is giving out taxcut for free:
TaxCut Standard

Also available is
Deduction Pro

News clip/update

2006-01-31T02:50:00.000-06:00

Here's a video clip from the news:
http://www.kvue.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=48578

I talked to the insurance company of the driver and found out she only had $15000 worth of coverage for property damage. This is the minimal legal amount in the state of Texas. My homeowner's insurance will pay for any damages in excess of $15000, except I have to pay a 1% deductible, which is $1700. $15000 seems like a paltry amount of insurance for property damage. That won't even cover the cost of a mid-level vehicle . I don't know if it'll be enough to cover the damages to my house. If the damages are over $15000, I'll ask the offending party to pay for the deductible. Technically, I don't have to claim this on my homeowner's insurance and I could force the offending party to pay for any damages over $15000, but I don't want to do that since it could be very messy. If the offending party decides not to pay I'd have to file a lawsuit to get the money. The easiest option is to have my homeowners insurance pay for the excess damages and ask the offending party to pay the deductible, which would be small in comparison to what they would have to pay otherwise..

I don't actually know how much it will take to repair my house. I will talk to some repair people this week to get some estimates. The insurance company will also send people out to evaluate the damage. If the damages are uner $15000, then I don't have to worry about anything.

Accident

2006-01-29T07:06:00.000-06:00

The accident occurred around 5 to 5:30 AM. I was sleeping at the time and was awoken by a LOUD boom accompanied by the shaking of my house. I didn't know what it was so I looked out the window. It was dark and hard to see anything since there's a tree right in front of the house. I saw some movement at the street though. I went downstairs to investigate further. I didn't turn on the light at that point. Instead, I put on my shoes and went directly outside. That's when I saw the car in my house. The driver was outside her car trying to reach inside to turn it off. She was disoriented and had blood on her face.
My neighbors at that time had rushed out to see what was going on. They had already called the police at that point. The ambulance and fire department arrived on the scene in about 10 or so minutes. The police arrived about 10 minutes after that.
The driver said the door on her car could only be opened from the outside. She said she didn't properly shut the door and had rolled down the window and reached outside to the handle to open and shut the door while driving. My guess is that she was leaning against the door and when she opened the door from the outside, the door swung open. Since her arm was around the outside of the door, the door pulled her out of the car. At that point, she must have lost control of the car so she jumped out. Eventually, the car careened through my neighbors yard into my yard and finally into my house. It missed my trees and missed my car but hit my house. If it would've missed my house, the car would've probably crashed into my neighbors master bedroom.
The women who crashed into my house lives like a block away. Her house number is 17840 and my house number if 17812. She said she was on her way to work.

Maybe it's time for me to move...

(more picture are available at www.rayyeung.com/gallery)

HOLY SH1T!!!

2006-01-29T06:29:00.000-06:00

I'm still in shock.. I'm not even sure what to say. It's not everyday that a car crashes into your house. Yes, a car really did crash into my house.

New Years Eve Pics

2006-01-25T08:34:00.000-06:00

I finally got around to putting up the New Year's Eve pics. They are at
www.rayyeung.com/gallery

Allergy Mania

2006-01-11T03:15:00.000-06:00

My allergies are killing me. My eyes are constantly itching and my nose running. As bad as my allergies are, this isn't even a particularly bad year for allergies. I remember previous years being much worse. Last year, I would sneeze 4 or 5 times walking from my car to the entrance of my office building, which is only like 50 yards. Last year, I was hooked on Claritin for a month straight.
It just happens that Austin is one of the worst places for allergies in the US. In 2004, it ranked #1 as the fall allergy capital according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. I don't think it ranked as high in 2005.
There's actually a name for the winter allergies here, which is 'cedar fever'. Many people aren't allergic to cedar when they move down here, but seem to develop an allergy after several years. I believe my allergies to cedar started in the 2003 season. Cedar trees release pollen in the winter, with it peaking in January. Sometimes, you can see even dust clouds of pollen in the air around the cedar trees.

Driving on Ice

2005-12-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

It really cooled off today. The arctic front hit Austin with a vengence. The temperature started dropping around noon and hit the freezing point shortly after. It does reach freezing here in Austin several times a year, but it's rare that there's precipitation along with the cold weather. When this happens, Austin will basically shut down. Unlike the north, Austin does not have very much, if anything prepared for snow/ice.
It was raining early in the day, and when the temperature dropped, the water on the roads froze, leaving a thin sheet of ice. No salt or sand was applied to the roads. On the way home, I saw about 5+ accidents and I saw another 10+ cars in the ditches on the side of the road. Two of the cars in the ditches were actually flipped upside-down. Many of the accidents occured near or on bridges since they freeze much more rapidly. When I went over one of the bridges, I had to go about 3 mph. Even at that speed I could feel my car sliding. Other cars decided to just park themselves on the bridges since they were afraid to move and therefore ended up blocking traffic. My usually 20 minute commute turned into an hour and twenty minutes. It was actually so slippery, I almost fell twice, once walking to my car and once walking from my driveway to my front door.
People here don't know how to drive on ice. When your car loses traction and starts to veer out, you're suppose to turn toward the way you veer out to regain traction. For example, if you feel your car veering off toward the right, you're suppose to turn your wheel to the right to regain traction. People's instinct is to turn left to compensate, but that won't really help. You want your wheels to point toward the direction you are going if you want your wheels to be able to rotate and have traction with the ground. Of course, you still need to be careful and not swerve into other cars or into the ditch...

Big Bend National Park

2005-11-30T02:00:00.000-06:00

Pictures from my vacation at Big Bend National Park are available at www.rayyeung.com/gallery2

games

2005-11-15T02:10:00.000-06:00

Here's a link for those who need a break from work/school.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/games.shtml

Science

2005-11-08T21:07:00.000-06:00

Science : The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.

The above is the definition of science from www.dictionary.com.

In my opinion, it's hard to justify teaching intelligent design/creationism as a science, but Kansas believes otherwise. This is one small leap for Kansas, one giant leap backwards for American education...

I feel that intelligent design is the exact opposite of science. The fundemental principle of intelligent design is that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power. There can be no legitimate science on an idea if the basis of the idea is that it is too complex for us to understand. One of the purposes of science is to study and learn from the world around you. As a species, we have learned so much from it and have improved our lives greatly through it. By teaching intelligent design/creationism, we are limiting the advancement of the science of life. Currently, evolution is our best explanation for the origins of life based on the evidence in hand. Even if evolution is incorrect, it doesn't mean we should stop teaching and stuyding it. In fact, we should study it more until we have conclusive evidence that it's either correct or incorrect. Many theories of the past have been incorrect, but by studying and learning, theories have been revised.

Back in the 1500s, Copernicus believed that the Sun was the center of the solar system and that the Earth revolved around it. His theory drew great criticism from everyone in that time period. Despite the fact that the church tried to suppress his theory, other studied it such as Galilieo. As a result, Galileo was able to prove that the Sun is the center of the solar system and that Earth revolves around it. If Copernicus's and Galileo's theories were successfully repressed, we would not have studied the heavens and the stars. Astonomy would be very different today...

I feel that the same thing is occuring today with evolution as with the study of astronomy in the 1500's. We must not let science be repressed or we may never discover the truth.

Flu shot

2005-11-04T02:52:00.000-06:00

Just got my flu shot today. My employer paid for it and even made it very convenient to get the shot. The had a little area set up in the cafeteria to administer it. Since it didn't cost me anything and it was effort free, I figured I have nothing to lose. It probably makes financial sense for them to offer a $30 flu shot for free rather than have employees being ill and take a bunch of sick days. I would recommend everyone get a flu shot if they can.

New Laptop

2005-10-26T00:59:00.000-05:00

Just bought myself a refurbished IBM laptop for $328.21 directly from IBM.
Here are the specs:
IBM Thinkpad R31
Pentium III, 1.0Ghz
256 MB RAM
30 Gig HD
CD-Rom
Int Modem
Ethernet
Windows XP Pro
14" display

This model is quite old, but it will be fast enought to suit my needs.

I saved about 10% by using a discount purchasing program. Without the discount, the laptop would have costed $366.11. Usually the discount is around 20%, but the laptop was already discounted by 10%.

Credit Report

2005-10-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

I just checked my credit report today and all seemed to be in order. I try to check my credit report every 4 months to see if there are any unexplained activities. With the high frequency of identity thefts these days, people must be vigilant in preventing fraud.

Each person is allowed one free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus every 12 months. I check my credit report at 4 month intervals, each time checking a different credit bureau. This allows me to continually check my credit report throughout the year. To get your free credit report, go to www.ftc.gov. On the left hand side, there is a link to "Free annual credit reports". I would suggest always going to www.ftc.gov instead of searching through google or clicking on any other link you find. If the link isn't on the www.ftc.gov, there's no guarantee that it won't lead to a fraudulent website.

Bocktoberfest

2005-10-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

A few friends and I went yesterday to Bocktoberfest. It is a small festival in Shiner, Texas with a handful of bands. We saw Audioslave, Good Charlotte, Seether, and Clint Black. Audioslave (which was formed by members of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine) played several Soundgarden songs, which was really cool. I'm more familiar with Soundgarden than I am with Audioslave. Overall the day was much more relaxed than ACL fest. At Bocktoberfest, I just sat back, relaxed, and drank a few beers. At ACL fest, I was constantly on the move from stage to stage to see the different bands.

Year of the Natural Disaster

2005-10-09T13:07:00.000-05:00

This must be the year of natural disasters.
Here are a list of some of the major disasters within the past year:
Dec 2004: Tsunami:250K+ dead
Aug 2005: Katrina:Costliest Natural Disaster in US history
Sep 2005: Rita:$8-11 Billion in Damages
Oct 2005: Stan:Possibly 2k+ dead
Oct 2005: Kashmir Earthquake:20K+ dead

The next major (and possibly worst) calamity could be the avian bird flu, but lets hope that doesn't occur. The last major pandemic was the Spanish Bird Flu of 1918 which killed millions of people.