onehourlost's Xanga

Grammar

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:49:55 GMT

Read this on RotoWorld:

Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski referred to second baseman Placido Polanco in the past-tense during a press conference on Thursday.
"No matter what happens, Placido Polanco has been a wonderful player and person," Dombrowski said of Polanco, seemingly giving strong indication that the impending free agent won't be brought back.

No, no, no.

That's so not past tense. That's totally present perfect.

Forgot

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:44:45 GMT

So, I was going to write something, but then I forgot what I was going to write.

Oh well, never mind.

Oh, now I remember. I was going to say: checking my email, I realized that the school year at UCLA has started because I am starting to get those "Welcome" emails from student organizations. Even though it has been several years since graduation, I am still on multiple mailing lists. That says a few things:

1) Unlike some people, I use the same email address for a long time.
2) Some student organizations do a good job holding on to email addresses.
3) Or rather, they've been using the same list without really thinking about it.)

I still get weekly newsletters from ESUC (Engineering Society of UCLA). Some events are just there every year. You know, Welcome Day, general meetings, E-week events, info-sessions, etc. And of course, there are new ones too. But I imagine myself being bored if I am an officer for a long time doing the same thing year after year. And wow, after all these years, the membership fee is still $5. Inflation? What's that?

I am still on the Linux Users Group mailing list for some reason, even though I've never really looked at the emails after my operating systems class. Why am I still on it anyway?

I am still on the LCC mailing list. I rarely say anything on there nowadays, but it's convenient for me if I ever need to find information for the website. I've built some back-end tools so they can just update things without extended knowledge of how websites work, but every now and then I still help update things that I didn't build tools for. It's convenient for me to just be able to grab information I need that came up in discussions for the website.

And I am still on the TAU (Taiwanese American Union) mailing list. Actually, I didn't even participate in their events when I was a student. I pretty much only show up if there's Taiwanese puppets being performed. And that happens, like, once every few years.

And since I have some friends that are still students, I get some invitations for student groups when they invite all without thinking who they are inviting. Many times a year I get invited to rush certain frats. I think they would probably have turned me away if I actually showed up. (But I was invited!!) If I protest, maybe they'll give me a coupon or something.

And yes, school year is starting.

Douchebag

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:30:27 GMT

My co-worker was watching Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video. I walked over and grabbed the mouse. Then I clicked on pause.

But don't worry. I assured him that I would let him finish. Then I proceed to tell him that it was the greatest video of all time. OF ALL TIME!

I felt great.

Little League World Series

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:21:01 GMT

Over the weekend I watched the Little League World Series that took place in Williamsport. The two teams that are going for the title are Chula Vista (California) and Taiwan. At first, the US team did not have hits, which is a little abnormal because they've been hitting really well the whole tournament. Taiwan wasn't hitting well, either, and had quite a few strike-outs. And then, Taiwan used a pinch hitter and he got on base. The next hitter, team captain Wen-Hua Sung hit a home run bringing it to 2-0. And then the next hitter, starting pitcher Chin Ou, hit a solo home run right after. The back-to-back home runs brought Taiwan a 3-0 lead. However, this did not last long. The US team started hitting, and the Taiwanese team, which had very few errors throughout the tournament, had a bunch of errors (some of which officially ruled hits). It was the pressure. Besides the errors, there were also many wild pitches and passed balls. At the end, the US team won the game 6-3 and got the title five years in a row.

Was I surprised that the US team won? No. The US team had won the title the last four years in a row. Taiwan got an early lead, but by the way they are striking out before that, they weren't hitting well overall. Also, they knew the US team hit fastballs well, so they were using other pitches more (sliders, curve balls, etc.). This, combined with pressure (part of which the US team's home court adventage), produced quite a few pitches that landed in the dirt. Taiwan had an early lead but if you look carefully at the game, you know it was a really shaky lead.

Towards the end, some of the Taiwanese players cried. This kind of stuff actually happens all the time in little league. You'll see that some players would make a mistake. Sometimes they are still crying the next inning out there on the field, but once the game is over and the parents and coaches bring out candies and hugs, their smiles are back. Ah, kids will be kids.

But they still did great. Silver was still really good. They beat all their opponents in Asia, then a bunch of regional champions from other areas, and finally entered the World Series. That was not an easy thing to do. They are going to remember this for the rest of their lives. They were a little bummed that they were not able to see the New York Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang, who is a national hero now, pretty much, but Wang actually made some change of plans to gave them a surprise visit. So what if they lost the championship game? I am sure that's all out of the window when they got a surprise visit from their hero. Wang praised the kids for a job well-done, handed each of them an autographed baseball, and had a meal with the players and coaches. I think that's what the kids are going to remember for the rest of their lives.

Baseball is beautiful.

How Escalators Are Cleaned

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:10:53 GMT

You ever seen people cleaning escalators? It's actually kinda interesting. I saw people cleaning escalators and I think the basic rule is, if you are cleaning moving parts, stay at the same spot. If you are cleaning non-moving parts, you'll need to move. Now let me elaborate.

If you are cleaning the steps, since the steps move, you should just stand at the top or bottom of the escalator, and keep your mop at the same place. As the steps go by, your mop would be cleaning every single step without you moving.

If you are cleaning the side walls, since the side walls don't move, you should just stand on a step on the escalator. Then you have your washcloth against the side wall while the escalator takes you up or down. You are standing on the same step, but you are moving because the escalator is moving you. And that will take you to wipe the whole wall.

Now you know how to clean escalators provided that you understood the confusing way I explain things.

I'm Back

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:37:13 GMT

So, after neglecting my Xanga for almost eight months, I am back. And what better day to make a comback than my own birthday, eh?

I am still updating my other blog (http://www.puppetkaos.com) regularly, and I am on Twitter, but I think I'll start updating my Xanga again. So here it is, for all one of you that's reading.

I just found out that a teacher from my middle school (in Taiwan), who was a singer with a CD out before she became a teacher, quitted her job. And then, she came to the U.S. to study anthropology. She was a Ph. D candidate, but she never actually finished her degree. Instead, she gave up that and went to culinary school. She's now a chef in Hong Kong. What random combination of things she's done, and what a fascinating life!

Happy 2009

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:32:49 GMT

Haven't really been posting because I wasn't able to log in. (And for the same reason, haven't been reading what everybody wrote, either.) And also I am having a little bit of a problem with my laptop at the moment. The power cable's contact is not good, and I had to hold the cable in a certain angle for the laptop to charge, so that made it harder for me to type.

Anyway, will write about what I've been up to this winter break soon. For now, happy 2009.

I feel like I'm neglecting this blog

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:11:52 GMT

Yeah, that's right. I think that's what I do when I have two of something. For example, when I play more than one fantasy basketball leagues, I usually am only capable of paying very close attention to one and not the other(s). If I write multiple blogs, you bet that some of them will get neglected. That's what happened in this case. Imagine me having two girlfriends (yeah right). I'd probably end up neglecting one of them and focus all my attention on the other. So in a sense, I am a loyal person. But then, think about what would happen if I had kids. :-p

I have three blogs. One is about puppets: http://www.puppetkaos.com and nowadays I seem to update that one more often than this one. There's another blog that's in Chinese and is about Taiwanese baseball. But it's more of a humor blog and I'm not really in the mood of making fun of things when bad things kept happening to the league. Besides, it's off season so I don't currently have much material to work with anyway.

And then there's this one that I've been updating since many years ago. I used to write about what homework I have, I guess. Now I work full time. However, I don't like to write about work. I feel like I have to mentally filter what I say. I don't necessarily want the world to know that we are working on ---- 2009 to be released on Motorola --- by Christmas, or something like that. I feel like that kind of information is something that should not be public information, and having to filter that before I write is annoying, so I might as well just not write about work. Bleh.

I guess I'll write about what I've been doing lately. I mean, all I want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. All I have to do is to think of me and I have peace of mind, right? Okay, how did that sneak in there? Right, it was on the radio.

Hm, what have I done lately besides work?

I went to Thomas' birthday party thing. Talked to some people and played some Guitar Hero 3. That was fun. Did they dumb down the guitar or did I become better? I remember back then with Guitar Hero 1, I could only play medium and always fail the hard ones immediately. Now medium is too dumb for me and although I struggle with hard sometimes, I usually pass it. I think I probably got better.

I went to the Old Dirty Conservatories show. And then I also went to the LCC show last week. It was good to see fellow coyotes again. And also they are in the middle of picking generation 14, which is a little crazy, because I am generation 8. That means it's been six years since I auditioned in my sophomore year.

Earlier tonight I went to Jay's to watch the Huntington Beach to watch the boat parade. The boats were decorated in Christmas lights. Some of them even have live bands on them. They waved to the people watching and people waved and cheered back. And also I got to see what Hindi karaoke looked like.

I Don't Blame You

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:53:15 GMT

I was thinking, there have been many occasions in which I heard "I don't blame you for _____. If I were you, I would've probably done that same thing." That sounds natural and maybe sympathetical, because you are saying, "You had to make that choice and it was a difficult decision. You had no other way out." However, what do the words really mean?

"I don't blame you for _____. If i were you, I would've probably done the same thing."

If we re-write that setence, we are basically saying:

"I don't blame you for that thing I would've done if I were you."

Which basically says:

"If you did what I would've done, I will not blame you."

So basically, whatever I do is always right and will not be blamed.

Hm, that's kind of nice, isn't it?

Lose Weight

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:30:37 GMT

Now and then I will see this same flyer on light poles near work. It says "Wanted: 10-29 people to lose 79 pounds". Every time I see the flyer, my first thought was: "combined?"