thanksgiving. what a weird holiday. it started when Pilgrims and Native Americans took part in a celebratory meal that the Pilgrims had survived and were going to make it with a new life in a new land. today, it's just a holiday - a day off from work, a day off from school, just a time to rest, a time to cook turkey, and a time to shop till you drop. it's really weird how holidays and their true meanings evolve throughout the years.

this thanksgiving, i woke up at 1, played the new James Bond game, ate turkey that jason and steve cooked, and to top off our celebration to give thanks for making it alive in the rough new land - we went to watch Jackass. A movie that shows people taking a dump in their pants and actually showing it, sticking toy cars up their butts, and giving themselves papercuts on their tongue.

what is a holiday when we don't really appreciate or recognize the meaning of it? i feel like we're supposed to supper with people we don't know during thanksgiving. i guess the same goes for christmas - which most americans immediately think that it's the day of presents, and of course, july 4th, the day where we get to barbeque and watch fireworks.

you know what we should do? we should - i have no idea. i have no idea what we should do.

oh, and don't forget the most important part of Thanksgiving - Black Friday, the biggest day of the year to shop.

Bush team eyes star power for energy needs


on the topic of my father and the news, this is a link about the fusion program that the George Bush wants to explore. my father is working on this very project - devising a new energy source to save the world.

for any of you who actually read the article, the Richard Hazeltine they quote was my father's PhD advisor.

i am a horrible, horrible person. i forgot my dad's birthday - and it was over a week ago.

Things happening in the news:

Global goofs: U.S. youth can't find Iraq

So National Geographic surveyed young Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military recruits, and only 13 percent were able to locate Iraq on a map. 17 percent were able to find afghanistan, which i find very interesting because Iraq is easier to find than Afghanistan. The most interesting factoid that they listed was they tested how many young people knew where New Jersey was, and only 30% could find New Jersey. This number is surprisingly high to me since nobody in college knew where it was. I would always get comments like, "New Jersey has a beach?!?!" or "New Jersey ... isn't that by Virginia and Florida and stuff?" In my four years of studying at Berkeley, i only met an handful (singular, not plural) amount of people that actually knew were New Jersey was... and that was because they were either from the east coast or just really smart.
(if you want to take sample questions yourself, click here. I got every question right except for #2.)

Sen. Thurmond Retires From Senate

For 47 years, Sen. Strom Thurmond has been serving congress. He is 99 years old, about to turn 100 in two weeks. I heard his farewell speech on tv today, and along with other speeches and interviews i've seen in the past - he can barely speak. no offense, i have great respect to a man who loves his country so much that he would retire at the age of 99... but he really had to take his time speaking. i don't understand how someone so old could really 'represent' his people when he can barely walk or talk. what about his memory? what about senility? what about his connection to the 21st century? i'm sure he has made great choices, lived a great life, and has earned great respect because otherwise he wouldn't have been elected for half a century... but sometimes, you just have to let go. i mean, i've been working at deltagen for about over a whole YEAR now - and i know it's my turn to let go!

new vaccine prevents herpes in women

I admit it. I have herpes - not genital herpes like the article is about, but i have herpes. has anyone ever seen that commercial about the new medication for genital herpes - with the woman saying proudly, "I have genital herpes" and it shows her boxing in the ring and working out? She seems so proud... she's smiling, posing... and all i can do is just feel bad for her character and her in real life. i mean, if i was an actor looking for a job, i think i'd honestly turn that role down. what if someone recognized you? "Hey! you're that genital herpes guy!" or if you actually do become famous, you're going to regret it... in any case, this article was interesting because they finally found an effective vaccine against herpes simplex II - but the methods they tested it really perplex me. here are some clips from the article:

"A new vaccine prevented genital herpes in more than 70 percent of women who were previously uninfected with either the oral or genital herpes virus, researchers announced Wednesday."

"In the report, which followed two phase-three clinical trials, doctors gave both men and women the vaccine against genital herpes. The vaccine worked only for the women, and only for those who had not been exposed to the type of herpes that infects the mouth."

okay, so how do you test something like that? do they make you sleep with someone with genital herpes? you can't just give a random population this drug and say it was 70% successful. if they tested a random sample of prostitutes, maybe... but honestly, you can't test the effectiveness of a vaccine unless they are exposed to the actual pathogen or virus. so did they actually expose like 30 vaccinated people and 9 of them became infected? and what was their control? when you run clinical experiments, you always need a control group - and in this case, it would be to infect people without the vaccine. this really doesn't make sense to me... i want to read the findings or someone explain it to me.

maybe i'm just deluded because i just saw a part of the victoria's secret tv show, saw carmen electra on dave letterman, it's 12:30 am, and i got in a tussle with my roommate.

looking for a new job....

today i completely zoned out when i was driving to work. my thoughts were really out there, and before i knew it, i was wayyyyy past my exit just driving on an empty 280 South. i woke up out of my day dream (while driving) and was like, "hey... this doesn't look too familiar..." then i drove by an exit sign that i knew was past my exit, so i did a quick 4-lane change and pulled a u-turn and back to work. i don't know what's more dangerous - driving and daydreaming or driving like a maniac.

but in any case, my daydream was a sudden flashback i had when i used to volunteer at the hospital. i worked the coveted "front desk" where you just sit there and answer phone calls while you do homework and goof around with a friend. i remember one phone call where a woman with an initially quiet voice asked to be connected to her father's room. i looked up the number on the computer screen and it showed a "no incoming calls" status.

ANDY
Sorry, but this person requested that no incoming calls be made.

PERSON
WHAT? I'm his DAUGHTER. PLEASE connect me!!!!

ANDY
Um.. I'm sorry.. I'm not allowed to. I-

PERSON
PLEASE! PLEASE YOU HAVE TO. MY FATHER IS DYING OF CANCER RIGHT NOW. CAN'T I TALK TO MY OWN FATHER!!

ANDY
Um... I... Uhh...

PERSON (starts breaking down and cries uncontrollably)
MY FATHER IS DYING ON HIS DEATH BED. I WANT TO TALK TO MY FATHER!!!

ANDY
Well... Ummm.... Uhhh.... can you hold on a sec?

PERSON
YES! (starts crying even louder)

Andy puts the person on hold and connects to the switchboard operator.

OPERATOR
Operator.

ANDY
Um... there's this person that's like... she wants to talk to her dad but he requested on incoming calls, but she won't listen...

OPERATOR
Okay, just connect her over to me. Thank you.

ANDY (to the crying woman)
Um... here's... the operator...

Andy connects them.

***************************************************

so i have no clue why this came into my head. i think a neuron just had some weird misfire, but in any case, i was thinking what should i have done? i daydreamt that if it was today, i would run up to the room, ask the patient if it was okay to be connected to his daughter, then run back and tell her the answer. but then again, i could probably get fired. but honestly, i don't think i handled the situation as best as i could have. a daughter wanted to talk to her dying father in the last moments... and all i did was try to stop it. but rules are rules, right? or wrong? i still don't know.

my right eyelid has been twitching the past couple days. everytime i blink, there is a little shudder in my right eye lid. i thought it was because i was really tired, but now, i don't think so since it's been going on two days in a row. also, i'm still sore from all the push ups and sit ups i've been doing, so i walk funny and get out of my chair really slow. yesterday after eating mongolian bbq, i couldn't feel my upper lip. it just went numb. more and more, my insides are showing on my outsides. i'm a freak. now all i need is a bad leg and drool. oh wait, i already do those things.

so this week, i told myself i was not going to eat meet and do 100 sit-ups a day. i deserve an F. Wednesday, my abs were so sore, i couldn't even do 10 sit-ups. Tuesdsay i ate a hot dog, yesterday i went to mongolian BBQ, and today i'm gonna go to In 'n Out for lunch - not to mention the AAF retreat at my house tonite where there will be partying for sure.

So to make it up, i'm also doing push-ups every nite.

when you want to do X amount of push-ups, why is it always the hardest to do the last one?

that's why whenever i do 60 push-ups, i convince myself i'm going to do 70. that way i don't have to struggle so much on the 60th push-up.

so last nite, my mom and i were finalizing our plans to visit korea during christmas. before we hung up, she told me:

"oh, before we go to korea, lose some weight. your stomach is seriously getting big. when your relatives see you so fat, they're gonna be so shocked because you've always been skinny your whole life. start doing at least 100 sit-ups a day."

then i continued, "okay. thanks... mom..."

"okay. good. i love you. bye."

"i love you too. bye."

i think that was humorous yet so depressing. man, i did gain so much weight... so last nite, i did 100 sit-ups (the hard kind where you bring your legs in at the same time - that was a macho insert) and my stomach was dying. heck, I was dying. i'm also going on a no-meat diet for this week. chicken doesn't count.
but yeah, we had a bbq at my company today - and .. yeah, i ate a hot dog. i totally resisted the cheeseburgers and ate a veggie burger though. they are seriously gross. i'm SO craving jack in the box right now... SO CRAVING.... MUST... EAT... JUNK... someone... please.. perform... exorcism...

so i remember what i was going to write for part 3 on my series... but i think that should just remain confidential. but just so i don't forget... drinking... ER. that's all i need to know to remember.

also, last week my company had a "science offsite" at Asilmar Conference Center in Monterey. It's directly on the beach, right next door to the Pebble Beach golf course. you can literally walk onto the courses. at the science offsite is where all the scientists give presentations about their work and give all the data and where all the other scientists give input, or otherwise try to bash their entire research project. it's really a big contest of "i have the bigger brain" and i decided - i really don't want to be a scientist.
but the main reason why people went was for the partying. and man... my company is a serious party-hard company. there was alcohol flowing like nothing, pot going around in "secret" rooms... it was crazy. but i still loved it. i mean, how many companies do you know of that the ceo, president, cso, etc. will just come out and drink and get drunk with their coworkers? i even everyone is pretty close in my company, and if i ever get a new job, it will be hard for me to leave. i even got my own room with a king-size bed, a futon, bathroom... man i was living the life. aileen - and everyone else for that matter - joked that i should bring some women back to my pad after we all get drunk and take full use of the king-size.

speaking of bed sizes, i have never slept on a king-size bed in my whole life. i still sleep on a twin-size, here in san francisco and in new jersey, and i really don't think it's that bad. granted, when i get married, i'm going to have some problems, but i guess i don't understand why people need big beds when they only use half of it anyways. i didn't sleep well at the conference because the bed was just too darn big.

okay, so here's a special treat for myself. a guest blog from someone really close to me :)

Okay, so here's my insight on friends bonding. Have you ever noticed that you become closer with someone when you're talking about someone else? Well, let's be honest, not just talking about someone else, more like complaining about someone else. Let me give you an example. When I first moved into my house, my roommates (let's call them A, B, and C) and I decided to split our rent evenly since each room had pros and cons. However, two months in, C decided that she should pay less since her huge room had no door and she had no privacy. B agreed right away since money wasn't an issue for her. A and I, on the other hand, did not think this was fair. C's room was three to four times bigger than A's room, and B and I were sharing a room so it's not like we had any privacy either. Anyway, A was quite surprised that I was adamantly against paying more, ince she thought I was such an easy-going, go-with-the-flow kind of person. I explained to her that if I feel something isn't very important, I just let it lide, but if I feel strongly about something, I will fight for it till the end. Therefore, A and I got together one night and wrote a long email to B and C comlaining why we didn't believe it would be fair for C to pay less rent. It turned out to be an extensive list explaining the pros and cons of each room, and we had a great time writing it. In fact, it was the first time that we really connected. I mean, we were friends, but we had vastly different interests, so we were never really that close. But sitting there, complaining about B and C, we really got to know each other. We had a great relationship for the rest of the year. Of course, now she's moved out, and we hardly ever talk anymore, just the occasional IM conversation and the obligatory birthday e-card. But that's life, I suppose.

On another note, does anyone else find The Bachelor incredibly disturbing? Do those women have any self-respect? Don't they have a problem with their potential husband possibly sleeping with several other women at the same time? How can we condone this type of behavior by watching this horrible show?

okay... so talk about me having ADHD... i didn't even finish my last blog and just left it at that. man my attention span is so freakin short.

anyways, what i was going to say is that our small group just rocks.

So last weekend, we had a small group reunion from my senior year. it was really cool thinking that after two years, our small group still meets up and hangs out. georgia dave didn't care much though... but still gotta love him. are there any other small groups that have reunions two years after they are disbanded? i have never heard of a single one. correct me if i'm wrong. i have been so blessed by my group of guys from the past, summer before junior year, junior year, summer before senior year, senior year - and i remember all of them. but i'd have to say that my senior year is when we bonded the most.

so last saturday, we went to applebee's (you can find hugene's account here ) and definitely talked a lot. what my plan was before the whole meeting was to have a sharing time like we did in the old days because i was really curious how they were doing spiritually, but i don't think that the set-up and circumstances allowed for that to happen. and yes, as hugene commented, we did talk mostly about girls and blogs. but i think the biggest thing that stuck out most in my mind was how everyone was changing yet stayed the same. to me, eugene and dan were still frosh when they are actually juniors and freakin' 20 years old already. tommy is now a senior, recruiting and ficb president - yet to me he's still the sophomore tommy haas. albert is now working, and i think because he's only a year younger than me i've always thought of him as an older guy... and i think i was happiest to see him come out considering he has a really busy life and schedule. that made me really happy.

i wish i could have talked to people more one on one, especially hugenius since he was the farthest away from me and seemed a little quiet. there are always thoughts going on in his head that i'm always curious about.

afterwards i went and played halo with tommy, geewon, dan choi, and some other people that were there at the time (paul and basile). man, i felt like such a nerd because i was the oldest there by far yet beating them in video games. it should have been the other way around... but i guess it just goes to show that i can only do well in things that are 'pretend.' when it comes to real life situations... man... i'm gonna cry.
all in all, our old small group just

this is the second installment in the series

INT., ANDY'S ROOM, DAY

ANDY is anxiously walking around his room. He keeps on checking the phone, making sure where it is. He paces around the room, he sits at his computer and talks online or reads a Word Document, he watches TV, it is obvious he's anxious. Suddenly, the phone rings and he jumps. He lets it ring once, and receives it the second time.

ANDY
Hello?

INTERVIEWER
Hi Andrew, this is _____ from Clorox. How are you doing today?

ANDY
I'm doing well! How are you doing?

INTERVIEWER
Good! Well now what's going to happen is I am going to ask you a series of questions that I have here organized by skill sets. Then I'm going to ask you a case question along the way as well-

ANDY (to himself)
OH MY GOSH. A CASE QUESTION?!?! JASON TOLD ME THERE WERE NO CASE QUESTIONS!!!!

INTERVIEWER
-so whenever I ask you a question based on your skill set, I want you to answer it in the format of the what the problem was, how you solved it, and what the result was because of your efforts. Okay?

ANDY (starts to stutter)
Okay! Sure!

INTERVIEWER proceeds to ask Andy the first question which is based on his greatest accomplishment. He breezes through, and the interviewer is seemingly impressed.

INTERVIEWER
Good! Great! Okay, now I'm going to give you a case question.

ANDY (to himself)
Oh no... Oh no... oh $(#)!(#$(#$)(#@$)(#@$#$)(& no....

INTERVIEWER
So, the market share of a certain product has increased for 18 straight months at 3%. The past three months, the market share has decreased for 2%. Tell me how you would go about and solve this problem, the steps you would take, and why.

ANDY (to himself)
Oh my goodness... she's giving me numbers?!?!? What am I supposed to do!!!??? Calculate?! AHHHH!!!!!

ANDY (outloud)
Okay... well first, I would suspect a new competitor has entered the market. So ... (he continues on with the answer for a long period of time, stuttering with nervousness, and repeating himself several times).

INTERVIEWER
Anything else?

ANDY (to himself)
Oh crap... something else??!?!?!??!?!?!?!??! #$*#(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANDY (outloud)
Hmm... let's see... hmm.... hmm.......

ANDY (to himself)
Oh my gosh... oh my gosh... oh my gosh... please God let some miracle happen....

ANDY (outloud)
Hmm... well... hmm... What if... hmm... (suddenly a light goes off in Andy's head)... Yes! So what if we did a market survey of the different brands and increase the budge-

INTERVIEWER
Well... let's pretend that this has nothing to do with other competitors brands. Try to focus on something that Clorox can possibly do to increase the share internally withOUT concentrating too much on the competitor's brands...

ANDY
Hmm... oh... okay...

ANDY (to himself)
WHAT?!?! what the HECK does that mean?!!?! Oh man....bad sign if she's dropping hints like that... baaaad sign...

ANDY (outloud)
Well.. hmm...

Andy gives a BS answer that clearly is not what the interivewer was going for. He repeats himself again, and the interview continues to give him tips and hints. He still doesn't get it.

INTERVIEWER
Well, let's just say price is factor - which unfortunately you didn't give me. So what if we change the price - would we do a price match or undercut the price...?

The interviewer goes on walking Andy through the whole process. For the other questions, Andy stutters, mumbles, and does not speak really coherently throughout the end of the interview. He knows it's a lost cause immediately and wonders if he should just hang up on her. He decides to just sit it through the end talking his gibberish until they finally hang up.

ANDY (outloud)
CRAP.

i guess a lot has been going recently... enough so that it made me either too depressed or too busy to write in this freakin blog. anyways, some intersting stories that has happened.
so since i haven't done a movie script type update in a while...

this is to parallel the account that peter and i went through at starbucks last week (you can read his account here: pjchoi's blogger.)

This is part of a three part series of Andy's hectic week. Here is the first installment:

INT., ANDY'S CAR, DAY TIME

It's a sunny day with the temperatures in the 80's. ANDY and PETER, after making numerous U-turns, drive up and park on a spot in front of STARBUCKS COFEE. As they pull into the stop, they notice two girls, an above-average looking (at first glance only) ASIAN GIRL #1 with dressy clothes and a lot of make-up and an average looking ASIAN GIRL #2 wearing "fobby" clothes., sitting outside and enjoying a conversation. ASIAN GIRL #1 is facing them while ASIAN GIRL #2 has her back towards the two boys. Andy looks startled because he thought it was someone he recognized - someone he is not very fond of. Peter is just staring intently at Asian Girl #1.

ANDY
Holyyyy Sh-------mooollyyyyyy..... Is that...______?

PETER
NO, you freak!

Andy and Peter exit the car, and Asian Girl #1continues to stare at them. Andy pretends he doesn't notice, and is wondering if she knows one of them because she keeps on looking at them. As they walk in, the Starbucks is only lit by a panel of windows with tables next to them. Nobody is sitting at the tables because the sun is too strong, so everyone else is sitting on the nice plush couches and other tables that are in the shade. The only seats left are by the window. Everyone there is Korean and the sound of the native Korean languages fills the air. Peter and Andy enter the store and place their orders. Peter pays. All of a sudden, Andy gets the runs.

ANDY
Dude... I think i need to go to the bathroom.

PETER
Okay, I think they have a bathroom here.

Andy frantically looks around, finds it, and then finds that someone is already in there.

ANDY (to himself)
CRAP! Oh wait... nevermind... it's just a fake attack.

Peter gets the drinks and they both sit down at the table. The seats are already hot because of the sun and the light is a little uncomfortable but they have no choice. They talk about different subjects for a while, and the time passes by. Slowly, the coffee shop empties out and there are several seats left. A moment later, the two Asian Girls walk in the store and sit directly behind Peter. Asian Girl #1 and Asian Girl #2 are facing each other, as are Andy and Peter. As a result, Andy is facing Asian Girl #1 and Peter has his back turned away from her. Andy notices that the Asian Girl #1 wasn't as cute as she first looked, but she is still looking at both him and Peter. The two girls continue their conversation and are speaking a language that is not English.
After a while, Andy and Peter leave. As they leave, Andy notices that the girl is looking at them directly through the window and seriously considers going back there and setting up a date with her and Peter. They get in the car and drive away. After driving a few seconds, Peter asks,

PETER
Dude, were those girls giving us hints?

ANDY
HECK yeah! They were so jocking us. They were looking at us the whole time!

PETER
Really? Probably at you.

ANDY
No... I don't think so. She was looking at both of us for sure... kinda sick.

PETER
Should we go back and get their numbers?

ANDY
Haha, yeah, I was thinking about it. We should. I'll be wingman.

PETER
You sure?

ANDY
Yeah dude, they were even looking at us when we were leaving. THAT'S a sure sign. And hello, why would they come INSIDE just to sit in the most uncomfortable place in the whole cafe that wasn't even shaded? There were TONS of seats open and they just HAPPENED to choose the one right behind you. That's freakin' aggressive.

An awkward silence comes in as they are both chicken.

ANDY
Well... too late. We're almost at your work.

PETER
Yeah...I have to get back to work anyways.

ANDY
Hey, were they speaking Japanese?

PETER
UHH NO, you freak. They were speaking Korean.

ANDY
Oh, okay. I couldn't tell. Dude, Korean girls are trouble. I wouldn't go there if I were you. Ugh... especially the fobs. They probably wanted you since you were all wearing a tie and stuff, looking rich.

Andy drops Peter off, and as he's driving back to work, he ponders if he should go back to Starbucks by himself, get their numbers and give it to Peter as a birthday present. He thinks of telling them that "His friend is shy, but was a little interested in you" line...

ANDY (to himself)
Nahhhh....