had a great weekend. left work early on friday to fly up for a 24hr visit to my family and some friends. flew back saturday evening, and we were upgraded to first class (yet another perk of being an employee... if there is room, they automatically upgrade you). on sunday, we attended the company's hangar opening event, where there were bands, carnival games, tour of the facility, the new 737 upclose, and a ton of free stuff and food. all in all, a great weekend. next stop: san francisco!

pictures below.

aileen a little too far in the back end of the engine... 

our first 737 up close. nice plane. 

aileen sitting in a rolls royce jet engine. i believe it's the engine used in the 717's. 

crazy guy dancing again in the subway. 

the company party celebrating the first hangar in atlanta. the party was actually inside the hangar... awesome stuff. 

aileen and me in columbia univ. 

celene, amey, and me in front of pommes frites. the first time i've seen my cousin since 1987. 

a man dancing the tango/salsa with a ... manekin. it looked pretty real too. 

my great weekend in new york. 

south koreans are protesting, after one of their own was beheaded. they're telling their government to stop aiding the US. i'm not sure if anyone remembers, but the US is the reason why south korea still exists. the least they can do is help in our cause when we have been helping them have freedom for over 40 years. weird... it's okay to help south korea have freedom, but not other countries who need the help.

i have a new email address: asdfqwer@gmail.com (but don't write to it)

btw, if you want a gmail account let me know.

some pretty plant... not glass. 

me and aileen underneath some glass sculptures. 

might as well upload more pictures while i'm at it... this is the atlanta botanical gardens where they were exhibiting artwork from a glass artist named Chihuly. they mixed in his glasswork with the plants. 

my favorite picture of the day. because you can't see the shadow, it looks like the pitcher threw the ball straight into the ground. 

slowly but surely, the friars are going back to where they belong: losers.

in related news, it was fun going to see another braves game. we sat in the lower level behind homeplate. not that anyone cares, except pj, but it was against the indians. in any case, we went for free because the director of the department had extra tickets and gave four of them to me. "cool, matil'."

warning: an extremely boring blog written only for myself

i just finished reading 'the alchemist' by pablo coehlo. it is very refreshing to not read books for school, marketing, or whatever. the book is very well written and it was recommended by my strategy professor. why? because it is about a boy who struggles to acheive his 'Personal Legend,' or in other words, calling. he learns to recognize 'Omens,' to his heart, and that unless you take chances with your life, you will never go anywhere, even when all the Omens you see are telling you to go for your dream. as the book says, 'when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.' it's just up to you whether to take the bold step or not.

there are a lot of quotes from the book that i want to just write for myself. but i'm too lazy.

but 'the alchemist' really challenged and made me think about my life from a new perspective... what my Personal Legend is. (ironically, i am also reading "purpose driven life" by rick warren and they complimented each other so well. it was definitely a synergy.)

it reminds me of how i wanted to be an MD for most of my life. because i had an exceptional memory when i was a baby, my dad always thought i would be a good doctor. being a doctor was really the only profession i dreamed of when i was a kid (being a ninja or buck rogers really doesn't count). my mom was a nurse so i always played with her stethoscope and i loved to wear my dad's labcoat. i was even chosen to play a doctor in our senior skits in high school. no other profession really ever entered my mind for the first 19 years of my life.

even when i really enjoyed creating websites or creating slips announcing the next NHS or asian club meeting in creative ways (which only meant using every font i had on my mac), the thought of becoming a doctor never strayed from my mind. i loved being creative and was pretty good at it... a lot better than bio i would learn in college.

then college came... and my disdain of organic chemistry and peptides and amino acids... and a lot of other factors...which all led to poor grades. another Omen, but this time very loud. at the time, i was writing emails to my church in creative ways to announce bus times and (most) people really enjoyed it. it finally hit me, that marketing was where my calling was. i loved it, i was good at it, i found my Personal Legend.

i immediately tried to find ways to test and see if marketing is where i wanted to be. click2asia.com started promoting at our school, i signed up, and started a berkeley message board. the only post that i read was "n1elsen-netrat1ngs is looking for good people! e-mail me!" it was some random guy who was trying to get referral bonuses... and i responded. for some reason, my resume got passed on to the product marketing department. i had no marketing experience, but i was called in for an interview. i even had to spray my hair black because i had my hair streaked yellow at the time and i was so afraid it would start dripping off my head onto the conference table. i got the internship. 'when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.'

i learned very quickly what corporate america was like, what product marketing was, and that i belonged. after that summer, i quickly interviewed for and joined the amer1can advert1s1ng federat1on berkeley chapter case competition team and our team became regional champions. another sign of how i was good at marketing and that i loved it. i worked part-time after my internship ended and was supposed to get a fulltime offer after i graduated. then they had layoffs and i was back to nothing. no job, stuck in california... and i fell back to my degree. 'maybe it's a sign... maybe i was destined to be in bio.' i interpreted the bump in the road completely the wrong way. i got a job in biotech doing genomic research, and was really unhappy. i met great friends, but was never very good at experiments. actually, i sucked. my boss later told me so after i went into marketing. however, they found out that i was good at making presentations and made all the presentations for my group during offsites and other meetings - which is when it was confirmed that i belonged in marketing. i needed to get back into marketing, and what helped was when the company went bankrupt. i knew that i needed to get into b-school since i had no real knowledge, and getting laid off was actually a good thing. and now, i finished my first year with an awesome internship and i am very happy. 'the alchemist' really made me re-examine my life and thus, gave me the satisfaction and confidence that what i am doing right now is where i belong. my personal legend and my responsibility. and as the book says that 'to realize one's Personal Legend is a person's only real obligation,' i feel like i have really found it this time. and with that obligation and new chapter of my life, the book reminds me that i still can't forget my responsibilities, which are to honor God and be a good person. 'a shepherd may like to travel, but he should never forget about his sheep.'

i think i'll stop there, but there is a lot of other topics the book covers that really struck deep inside of me.

in atlanta, there is lenox mall where it is the equivalent to 5th avenue of new york or union square of san francisco... except it's in a mall. the mall has tiffany's, burberry, coach, louis vutton, and all these other stores that i have never heard of... except you know that they are super expensive by the huge guard at the door dressed in a very expensive suit, huge steel doors, and nobody in the store. the other noticeable thing is a salesperson will not even talk to you unless you look like someone of stature. i mean, i can ask all around for help and they will walk right past me. i've tried.

so to retaliate, i love going to those stores and acting like a snob, just so i can see how many salespeople will come to me and ask if they need help. i talk really loud and ask aileen questions like "hey... if you want something, just let me know." or "hey, that leather and fur louis vutton jacket looks pretty good... do you want it?"
walking out of burberry, there was a wall of all these purses and i say loudly to aileen, who is walking right next to me, "hey, do you want a purse?" the ears and heads of the sales people perk up and watch us, seeing if that young couple really means business.

is that asian dork with unbrushed hair, wrinkled shorts, and a polo shirt two sizes too big for him rich? does he really have money to burn? they will never know. or maybe they do already know, but i'd like to think they don't.

last weekend, i went inside a tumi store (for those of you who don't know tumi, it's a very expensive luggage and bag store... like super expensive crap). it went a little like this (and i didn't shave, my hair wasn't done, i was wearing wrinkled shorts... i looked bad):

"excuse me, do you carry business card organizers? i really need to get a new one."
"ah... wow, well you know in the other store we are connected with they do, but we don't. but you know, if you are really looking for a cheap place, just buy the sleeves, it's only $4.99. you can save a lot of money that way." this was the old lady's way of pushing me out the store.
"welllll... i need something to go on my desk in my office."
her eyes widen.
"ah...well let me show you what else we have! wait, is someone tending to you right now? like is someone helping you?"
"umm.. well..."
"it's okay, it doesn't matter. i love stealing customers."
she literally grabbed my arm and took me around the store. i felt very uncomfortable and had to break free of her grasp by maneuvering around a display stand and putting it between us.
"well, here we have very nice leather card holders... those over there are the sleeves i was talking about... but here, we have this really nice leather card organizers."
"ehh... it's a little too thin... i have a LOT of business cards... like a stack this big."
"oh really... well... you can get this leather card organizer and buy more inserts!"
the leather card organizer was pretty nice... it could probably hold 50 business cards... for $55.
"yeah... well i want it to be on my desk so i can search through it easily... you guys don't have rolodexes, do you?"
"rolodex?!?! um... you might want to try staples for stuff like that."
ooh... bad move. she was losing interest, i had to save it somehow.
"well, something LIKE a rolodex... but like a nice wood or mahagony box... "
i got her interest again.
"oh... well... no... sorry sir... but we DO have this nice notepad organizer where you can flip through notes! it's made out of silver!"
it was the most pointless thing i had ever seen. also, i found it funny she went from business cards to notepads.
"yeah...well i have tons of notepads with my name on them already. i definitely don't need more paper." the sad part is, i really do have notepads with my name on them. my company gave them to me.
"ah yes, of course. say, how come some young hotshot like you doesn't use those new blackberries or those cardscans for business cards?"
"ohh... yeah, well i have a palm that i use and my secretary has a cardscan machine, but i really like to have something physical. i guess i'm kind of old fashioned that way. but look, thanks for your help and do you mind if i look around your store a little bit?"
"oh not at all sir! my name is ______ if you ever need any assistance."
"thanks so much ma'am."

i looked around for a couple more minutes and aileen came to get me. she was at another women's clothing store this whole time, which is why i walked into the tumi to have some fun in the first place. i start doing my usual snob routine, "look, do you like this bag?"
"um... it's 300 dollars." aileen can be a little slow to catch on, even though we've done this many times.
"yeah, but do you want it? i can get it for you if you want."
"no... that's... okay."

the saleslady comes over and asks if we want to look at other things. we say no politely and leave. i know it's wrong of me to do, but hey, they're not selling anything anyway so why not make their day go faster.

i can't belive the #$)!@)(#@(*#)(*! padres.

i can't. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING. ARE YOU FREAKING ... ARGHHHHH.

(mellanie and martin must be so happy right now).

the media can suck
there is a lot of talk right now about the use of torture during interrogations. whether you are for or against, this is the worst thing that the media could be doing right now. why is the media so stupid? now that the world knows for sure that torture techniques were used, it is only going to exacerbate current US sentiment. not to mention the anger iraqis will feel, and hate US troops even more, leading to more retaliation and more US casualties. the media really messed up.

also, did you know that they found chemical weapons in iraq? they found two different shells filled with sarin gas. this, of course was not front page or headline news. maybe it's not that big of a deal, but i thought it was newsworthy.

music
in any case, has anyone seen the trailer for the movie 'the terminal?' it opens with this a capella track, and i can't seem to find out what it is.

on another note, aileen and i are really tempted to go to a cure concert (okay, i'm the one who's really tempted). no, not one of those southern massive christian healing/exorcising events like you see on tv, but the band.... THE cure. rock on.

a note on reagan
watching reagan's viewing on cspan or on cnn not only makes me remember and admire our president, but also makes me admire the honor guards who literally stand there for hours. how the heck do they do that, just stand there for hours and not moving an inch and not falling asleep. i get back pains from standing up that long, and would definitely nod off within 30 minutes. i'd probably start leaning on the casket since my legs would get so tired. those guys are amazing. turn on cspan or even all the webcams and just watch them... not a blink. crazy.

last week one morning, i came into work with a voicemail notification. woohoo, i thought to myself, i have voicemail! my first one! so i dropped everything in my office, including my bag with my laptop in it. i assumed it would be a business proposal from someone i called the day before to do business with. i put the volume to max, so i could show off to the company that i was someone of importance. outside my door waiting near the entrance, was a gentleman that i had never seen before but looked rather important. my ego and pride were definitely high that day.

here was the voicemail that was left for me (we have IP phones at work so i have the ability to check my voicemails through e-mail, via .wav files).

racist or funny?

needless to say, i jumped on the phone right away and picked up the handset to turn off the speakerphone.

lostpancake reminded me of something. i found my least favorite place of atlanta... and of course, it's the ranch99 atlanta parking lot. i really hate to stereotype but... yeah. bad stuff.

also, a lot of people that i talk to - specifically my friends from california - think atlanta is some barnyard ridden, farm-raising, plantation-abundant place. aileen wrote about how californians are very state-centric, and it really is true.

so, you californians, atlanta is a big modern city. it's airport is the busiest in the WORLD, it has millions of people, coke, georgia-pacific, kimberly-clark, cingular, turner networks, and MANY other companies are headquartered here, and it even has webcams all along the highways so you can check the traffic (http://www.georgia-navigator.com)... here are some pics:

it's already been three weeks since i started my internship and i haven't really accomplished anything. there is a lot of red-tape in a company that is large and extremely conscientious about its costs, and it is tough to get this finished. i have started three projects and all of them have been bottlenecked by the IT department or our reservation system vendor. but it still comes down to the issue of whether i like my job, and i love it. the sad thing is, i probably won't work there after graduation since, as the head of marketing has said quite a few times, they won't be able to afford me. but i understand since it's so hard to even spend $2000 in the company. one of my big tasks in the next two weeks is to convince the company that we need to spend $60,000 on a new analytics system.

so school or work? definitely work. school is great because i learned so much and actually enjoyed and applied what i learned, but work is better because... i just don't like school.

******
on another note, churches in the area of atlanta (decatur) that aileen and i have been visiting are quite different. aileen and i have been staking out the presbyterian churches and because there are so many churches in a 5-mile radius, naturally supply is greater than demand, so there are all these beautiful church buildings, but maybe 30 people at a service. so it's very empty... and we're usually the youngest in the sanctuary by at least 30 years, with the exception of maybe two people. we're going to try, per pj's request, first baptist... the king of all churches. i'm even going to try a korean church to see what it's like. my experience of churches in atlanta so far have been quite the different experience than san francisco (kcpc and citychurch).

wow, i basically forced this entry.

the theme of this blog may be changing soon, depending on how well dodgeball does. i may turn my blog into the GloboGym Purple Cobra theme ('if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!').

in any case, i must admit that i am a big fan of tj's blog . no, not pj, but tj. he is an assistant manager at a strip joint, but has shattered all the stereotypes of his profession. he's an excellent writer and by the way he writes, you wonder why he's not publishing a book yet... oh wait, it's because he's an assistant manager of a strip club. anyways, his entries are great.

on a sports comment, the padres are getting blown away by the ROCKIES. the ROCKIES. because of their incompetence, they lost sole posession of first place to the dodgers and the giants are on this huge win streak (which will hopefully end tonight) that can overtake first place by the end of this week.

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