this blog is not dead...but probably on life-support.

in any case, quick update from a post a year earlier on my materialistic goals... finally got MY dream car. materialistic goals are pretty much done for me.

now all our money goes into future children.

oh and by the way, aileen and i started a joint blog here. i am trying to update it every day and trying to live by the mantra that i overheard on MARTA... learn something new every day.

on a flight heading to my maternal grandfather's funeral (aileen is sleeping bobbing her head like a bobblehead). very sad that he has passed away, but at the same time, real glad that i got to see him only a couple months ago for the first time in over 10 years.

side note: reading about plane crashes while actually in a flight is probably not the best thing to do.

has anyone noticed that when you order jalapenos at some restaurants, it shows up as "japs" on your receipt?

i'm not really offended, but i wonder how the japanese feel about that.

best article ever.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/23/china.suicide/index.html

first of all, i'm going to officially copyright/patent/trademark/etc. this idea. 

i think it would be cool to develop some type of tool that analyzes a person's personality based on their facebook status/tweets. when i read the things that people share, i have no idea why the hell people share it. seriously... who cares if you have the hiccups? who cares if you just watched a movie? who cares if you just "is..."??? 

i'm not against facebook posts, especially since i have a blog (which i believe there is a huge difference, but that's for another day), but perhaps the type of messages that people put on their status updates and the frequency is what could differentiate the kinds of personalities. 

all i'm really saying it takes a certain type of person to share the most mundane posts (and end it with a LOL), as well as appreciate those types of posts.

don't know why, but i think it's the cutest thing that aileen is in a march madness pool... and in dead last.

update: after attending a funeral of the father of a very good friend a couple weeks ago, i finally found a good and justifiable reason to have children. still selfish, but something that i can easily accept: someone to take care of aileen after i die. as morbid as it sounds, i can't imagine leaving aileen with nobody to take care of her and with no family.

kids. why do people have kids? is it to carry on their family name and/or legacy? to have someone to love? to continue the human race? to have someone take care of you? to 'complete' your life?

let me make this clear: i certainly want to have kids one day and can't wait. but it just seems that every reason that i can think of is pretty much selfish. and if the only reason to have kids is for selfish reasons, then it just doesn't seem right.  why would i want to bring a child into this disturbing world we live in today just so i can satisfy myself? i am struggling with the justification. the only legit justification i can think of is because the Bible has told us to... but only in the Old Testament (i think).

here is the most ironic part: i think that people who have kids, for seemingly selfish reasons, tend to be a lot less selfish afterwards. parents learn to take care and prioritize others above themselves. the converse is also true - people who do not have kids tend to be more selfish. they don't have to go through the emotional and physical sacrifices it takes to raise a child. 

quite funny how the world works sometimes.

Abilify commercial... too funny.

From the website:

ABILIFY is the first medication approved by the FDA to help improve symptoms of depression in adults when added to an antidepressant. If you have unresolved symptoms of depression, ABILIFY may help you get additional symptom relief.

Side effects from taking Abilify:

• An increased risk of stroke and ministroke have been reported in clinical studies of elderly people with dementia-related psychosis
• Very high fever, rigid muscles, shaking, confusion, sweating, or increased heart rate and blood pressure. These may be signs of a condition called neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), a rare but serious side effect which could be fatal
• Abnormal or uncontrollable movements of face, tongue, or other parts of body. These may be signs of a serious condition called tardive dyskinesia (TD), which could become permanent
• If you have diabetes, or risk factors for diabetes (for example, obesity, family history of diabetes), or unexpected increases in thirst, urination, or hunger, your blood sugar should be monitored. Increases in blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia), in some cases serious and associated with coma or death, have been reported in patients taking ABILIFY and medicines like it

Lightheadedness or faintness caused by a sudden change in heart rate and blood pressure when rising quickly from a sitting or lying position (orthostatic hypotension) has been reported with ABILIFY.

ABILIFY and medicines like it have been associated with swallowing problems (dysphagia). If you had or have swallowing problems, you should tell your healthcare professional.

It must really suck to work in the marketing department for drug companies nowadays...

i hated doing kumon as a kid. i hated it more than piano practice and lessons, more than yard work, more than chores. but as much as i hated it, our kid(s) will certainly be doing it. how do i know this? because the math capabilities of some people i know are just sad:

examples from this week alone
person1: what's 5% of 1 million?
me: you serious? i'm not going to even answer that.
person1: ummm.... 5 thousand?

person2: what's 1/2 times 3/4? i mean, i know what it is in decimals [she had her calculator open] but what is it in fractions?
me: .... you serious? my kids are doing kumon.

why do people use "Status Updates" on Facebook or "Tweet" on Twitter? not sure why.

it doesn't really upset me (unless aileen does it), but maybe it's a self-confidence thing. or maybe it's a lazy blog thing. who knows.

what does upset me is when people laugh at their own Tweets or Status Updates.

"Andy Chang just got a question right on jeopardy! LOL"

first of all, nobody cares what you did. second, when you preempt anything you say publicly with your own laugh, it simply is not funny anymore. it's just dumb.

the problem is, they're semi-addicting to read.

Would most people consider the following people to be asian?

1. Ben Kingsley
2. Phoebe Cates
3. Keanu Reeves
4. Dean Cain
5. Rob Schneider
6. Jennifer Tilly
7. Kristin Kreuk
8. Mark-Paul Gosselaar
9. Johnny Damon
10. Greg Louganis
11. Norah Jones

Well...they are half-asian, but not many people know that. people are usually surprised to hear that they are not 100% white. they are known as caucasian, not asian and not even half. and there's an even much much longer list of celebrities who are half-black and you'd be surprised.

so if that is the case, why is it that Barack Obama (and Halle Berry for that matter) is considered black when he is also half? he's just as much white as he is black... but he's considered our first "African-American President." it's technically correct, but not completely in my book. i just don't get it. it doesn't piss me off, but i do want to know why he's considered "Black." 

my observation is that people have difficulty putting a person in the 'half' category. you're either black, white, asian, etc.. nothing in between, and it is all determined by how you 'look.' aileen is half, but she looks asian, so people consider her asian and are very surprised to know she's actually half (by the way, aileen is 'half' to me).

so if my observation is correct, then would barack obama have gotten the awesome support from the african-ameican community if he happened to look more white than black? would people say he is our first african-american president?

p.s. for the record, i don't care that obama identifies himself as black (even though he was raised by a single white mother). it doesn't matter what he thinks. if he is proud to be black (or even white), then so be it, makes no difference. what matters is what everyone else thinks about him, and they think he's black.

p.p.s. did you also know that he and dick cheney are distantly related? they are 8th cousins.

interesting articles on his bi-racial heritage:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28/AR2008112802219_pf.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/14/ap-many-insisting-that-ob_n_150846.html

aileen and i had one of our rare 'intellectual' conversations last week on why so many "dumb" people are successful and why so many smart people aren't successful (as measured by money/status only).

her theory was that some people are so smart that they rarely ever had to try to do anything growing up in school and thus, it causes them to be lazy later in life. for instance, an extremely smart kid rarely ever has to study to do well in school. the parents and peers only encourage whatever the kid is doing, and this behavior is not only reinforced but it is encouraged. the kid learns that he has to do nothing and he will be successful. in other words, he has no will and no drive to put any effort into anything, and he pays for it when thrown out into the real world. he ends up not realizing his full potential (even if he knows how much potential there is). he is ill-equipped to handle his job, relationships, etc. we all know someone like that who we thought for sure was going to be successful in high school or college, but ends up struggling just to find a place to live. and what ends up happening? their bosses are the kids who didn't go to as prestigious universities or in the advanced math classes or even struggled in school. aileen said that some people were 'cursed' for being too smart. 

my theory was not because they were too smart, it was because the parenting was lacking. we all know that, aside from the chance opportunities that are given to us as a result of our environment - a la Gladwell's Outliers - it really comes down to the drive or hard work that needs to be put in to be successful at anything. where does this drive come from? i believe it comes from the home. kids with deadbeat parents rarely push themselves harder because that is what they learn, regardless of how smart or dumb the kids may be. on the flip side, kids with very successful parents also may rarely push themselves because they never want their kids to struggle, as the parents may have had to growing up. both of these groups of kids are taught that if something is too hard, then it's just not worth doing. i believe it is the parents' job to teach their kids discipline, and through discipline, the kids learn how to apply themselves regardless of intelligence. through discipline, they know that nothing in life is free and they have to work for it. those are the kids that end up being "successful." the best example i could think of was George W. Bush. if he could become president, then it's obvious that the intelligence wasn't a prerequisite, it was the drive that he had (regardless of whether he was qualified for the job). extreme example, but you get my point. the presence or lack of drive, hard-work ethic, discipline, whatever - comes from the home, not because of one's intelligence.

after our conversaion, as almost always happens when we have these types of talks, aileen proceeded to get mad at me because i somehow always apply it to her life.

i'm going to blog more... like more than once every other year.

some random thoughts from the past year:

facebook status updates is the lazy man's new blog.

a HALF-black man is elected to be president.

went to many events where i got to meet some cool (and mean) celebs.

still love my job.

got a dream car, TV and sound system (just need one more dream car and my materialistic life-goals will be fulfilled).

got married.

lost a lot of weight.

for the first (and only) time ever, aileen looked fatter than i did in a picture.

book genre of choice: 1) business; 2) biographies.

and to top it all off: had a nasal tampon stuck in my nose for three days...and counting.

that is all.