starkdavingmad

Sunday, September 29, 2002

So the Computer Institution of the Chinese Academy of Science (CICAS) has developed a new CPU that they have dubbed "The Dragon Chip". In order to avoid the problems that arise from the intellectual property stance, the Dragon Chip architecture was based on the RISC structure. The chip is being used in the "Soaring Dragon", China's very first server using the Dragon Chip. The server runs Linux.

Apparently some reasons for this independence are technology, economy and security-related. According to some estimates, the semi-conductor market in China's mainland will see an annual growth rate of 35 percent and a requirement of 17 billion chips before 2005. By the year 2010, China is going to be the second large semi-conductor market of the world. Looks like China is trying to get a stranglehold on the market before too long.

How do you say "Suck it hard, Intel" in Mandarin?

[ 02:05 ] Add a Comment [7]

Thursday, September 26, 2002

So we're all well aware that K-Mart declared Chapter 11 in January 2002. Call it an show of humanity, a gesture of love or maybe even an act of pure, unbridled desperation, but now K-Mart has a new website, K-Mart Forever. According to the website KMart forever is "a community gathering place for employees, retirees, friends, family and supporters of Kmart. Kmart started this site after receiving thousands of emails, calls and letters from people like you asking how they can help support the company. We all want to do what we can to make sure Kmart is with us well into the future."

Maybe it's just me, but there's something eerily creepy about those apparent KMart workers staring at you on the front page. And why are there so many Asians in that picture? Is that representative of the ethnic breakdown of KMart employees? Asians have been struggling for representation in movies, TV and other media. And for once, just once, I wish Asians were so well represented.

I'm depressed. Someone buy me a K-Mart Forever T-Shirt to lift my spirits.
[ 22:10 ] Add a Comment [7]

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

After nearly 3 years of waiting, Lego has finally released the Imperial Star Destroyer. It goes on pre-sale at the Official Lego Star Wars Site on October 1.

Isn't it purty? I bought most of the other models when the first episode came out in 1999, including the 1300-piece Federation X-Wing for $99. Think that's ridiculous? The Star Destroyer has over 3000 bricks, measures over three feet long and can be yours for the low, low price of $269.99. Crikey. Anyone remember when Legos were for kids? Does Lego even realize we're in a recession here?

Sigh.

Well, I guess I could always make my own.

[ 01:31 ] Add a Comment [10]

Sunday, September 22, 2002

Wow. So Ami, Fiona and Cutiey have found out and changed the background songs to some other (unsuspecting) person. That only leaves Phebe and Jackriya. Unfortunately, you need an AsianAvenue account to view Phebe's so you'll have to just trust me that it's still up there on hers.

Oh yeah, I put a new song up. Hopefully the lyrics are discernible. And yes I did steal this idea from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

Neul
~~Ami~~, ~~Fiona~~, ~~Anna~~, Phebe

Because I'm a Girl
~~Cutiey, I guess~~, Jackriya
[ 00:11 ] Add a Comment [13]

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

NOTE: Read the previous post before this one!

OK so in an effort to make this game a little more interesting and last a little longer, I took a closer look at my stats and found several people that are using the exact same song, Boa's "Neul" and KISS' "Because I'm a Girl."

Neul
Ami ... xanga.com
Fiona ... asianavenue.com
Anna ... asianavenue.com
Phebe ... asianavenue.com

Because I'm a Girl
Cutiey, I guess ... asianavenue.com
Jackriya ... asianavenue.com

Countdown begins NOW!

[ 21:40 ] Add a Comment [47]

So since I host a healthy number of mp3s and mvs on my site, the inevitable thing was that people would start hotlinking from your site. I'm OK with jpgs and gifs because they're small and I have enough bandwidth to easily accomodate. I'm talking about the KPop mp3s. Based on my stats, I've been hit pretty hard with people using the tag so that an mp3 from my site loads every single time any page on their site loads. Once on the front page, I can deal with, but on every page, that's easily 8-10MB every time someone visits and surfs a couple of pages. Do that 50 times a day and you see where the problems can arise from.

I've attempted to politely ask some of these "bandwidth bandits", but only one has complied. My ISP is supposed to have hotlink prevention enabled, but it's not working. Fuj suggested changing the names on a semi-regular basis. Or I could just NOT host these mp3s and such. Well, I want to spread the joy that is Korean pop music to the world, and no nay-sayers or bandwidth bandits will stop me on my inexorable path towards my destiny.

Now, I've gotten a lot of hits from pages on xanga.com, which seems to attract more than it's fair share of Asian teenyboppers who just love Kpop. So I took the first person I saw on my stats. Everyone, meet Corinne. I'm sorry that she was my victim, but like I said, she was just the first one I saw, and well, she decided to load it on every page of your website. Tsk tsk. Let's see how long it takes her to notice that I made my own little mp3 and secretly replaced it so that my mp3 will load instead of hers. Foldgers, eat your heart out.

Countdown to see when Corinne notices that it's NOT Boa singing anymore:
UPDATE: Discovered in 00 days, 03 hours, 15 minutes, 51 seconds.

Damn. Too soon. Let's try another one.
[ 18:32 ] Add a Comment [14]

It was almost 2 years ago when I fell in love again. Something I had not let myself do for nearly 8 years. She was beautiful but shy, soft-spoken but firm, humble but proud. But as they say, timing is everything. That and the ability--or in this case, the inability--to make a decision for the future. Our future. Months passed and faith dwindled and soon all that was left were the memories. Wonderful memories of the first look, that first touch, that first hug, that first kiss, my second love.

It was a over 1 year ago when I fell out of love. The pain and longing were too much to bear. I loved her dearly, but I knew I had to love myself enough to save myself. I had been on sinking ships before and had nearly drowned from the undertow, dragging me further down into the abysmal pit of despair and mistrust. Never again, I told myself. Not again. But it's never, ever easy detaching oneself from someone who has become a part of your soul. I isolated myself after that, relying on the internet and my monitor to be my singular conduit to the outside world. The sky, which once held so much hope, so much promise of her coming here to me, was suffocating.

Even though I had started to lose hope months before the separation happened, I was devastated when it actually did. Confusion clouded my thoughts and feelings. I was torn asunder. I dedicated myself to starting my own company, and with its success I found new happiness. Like so many other times in my life, I tried to create something from nothing, and this was one of those times I succeeded. I knew I could start over with my life.

Today, the company is struggling a bit. New opportunities are scarce, but there is still hope. Some friends have moved away, gotten engaged or gotten married. The pain has passed but the memories remain. And now there is Em, who's lived here for the past year. The person I've confided in and have come to trust implicitly. Many of my friends have never seen me with a girlfriend, but now it just feels natural. The way her hands fits perfectly into mine. She is the one I come home to every night (maybe that should be the other way around, but it sounds better this way) and wake up to every morning. She is the one--as cliche as this sounds--that I found in the most unexpected of places, right under my nose.

Almost 2 years later, I am in love again.
[ 02:25 ] Add a Comment [10]

Saturday, September 14, 2002

Are you a PC gamer, but tired of all the first person shooter and real time strategy games out there? Declaring a strike on Counter-Strike? Is Unreal just unfun? Is Warcraft more like Warcrap? Just when you thought your gaming days were over, KPop group FinKL apparently made a PC game and it's being auctioned off on eBay. You'd think since it's FinKL, it'd be a dancing game or something. Nope. The name of the game phonetically translates to "Fast Food" (pae-suh-tuh poo-duh), and Ok Ju Hyun is on the cover. Sadly, she's widely regarded as the "fat" one of the group. Although she really isn't fat, just not a stick like the others. But oh, can she sing. On a side not, with 2 days left in the auction, the bid stands at $61.00. Christ, not even I'm that much of a FinKL freak.

Me: It's not a dancing game, it's called "Fast Food". I can't even imagine.
Ernie: Maybe the fat chick will eat, LOL.
Me: Oh DAMN.
Ernie: Come on, that's an OBVIOUS joke. Love of god, she's even holding a bag of Doritos.
Me: She's holding the GAME.
Ernie: feh ... maybe it's a game box with Doritos inside.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Ernie is going to hell.

UPDATE: How appropriate. The winner of the auction is named "finkl123".
[ 17:55 ] Add a Comment [3]

Friday, September 13, 2002

After a long hiatus, it's the Friday Five.

1. What was your favorite subject in school? Why?
Assuming we're talking about pre-college, my favorite subject would be Physics. We got to do a lot of hands on things in our Physics class. We tracked the orbit of a comet throughout the school year, did odd experiments and had fun contests. One of these contests required teams of 4 students each to make a boat out of a limited amount of newspaper and shellac. All 4 people had to be able to sit in the boat, and at the end of the quarter, we had races in the school swimming pool. The winners got an automatic A on the final. The next quarter, we had to build a bridge out of a limited amount of balsa and glue. It had to meet certain dimensional requirements and a contest was run to see whose bridge could withstand the most force places directly on it. I won that contest and got an A on my final. :)

2. Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
Without a doubt, Ms. W. Payton, my AP Chemistry teacher. She totally made the class exciting and really got me interested in Chemistry. As a result, I ended up majoring in Chemistry at Berkeley, graduating as a Chemical Engineer. My ultimate career goal is to be comfortable enough financially to be a high school Chemistry teacher.

3. What is your favorite memory of school?
That has to be the bus rides home from band competitions. Yes, I was in marching band. I was the President one year and lead trombone for 2 years. My best friends were in band as well. Almost every weekend the fall quarter, we'd go to competitions at nearby schools. My first two girlfriends were in the drill/dance team. Many of those bus rides home were spent cuddling with them (not at the same time!) or just talking about everything and anything. I can't think of one time I was happy when the bus pulled into our high school. Sometimes it's the little things.

4. What was your favorite recess game?
Dodgeball. I was actually pretty good at this game. Sorry every other answer was from high school, but we were too cool for recess then.

5. What did you hate most about school?
When I got to high school, I became very aware that I had lost my "status" in the cool group. Close friends I had in junior high I now barely associated with. I was in debate and band and academic decathlon while they were playing football, water polo, cross country, etc. It was crushing to realize that the people that I thought were my friends could so easily be lost.
[ 20:19 ] Add a Comment [6]

Suddenly it seems like there are too many things going on. Trying to finish my current contracts, finding either a new job or new contracts, brushing up on Perl, XML, XSL, ASP, Java and now the GMAT. Anything to keep busy.

I haven't heard from my mom since Mother's Day. She's somewhere in Vancouver, last I heard. I wonder how lonely my dad is, living in a condo all by himself. Isolation: the bitter fruit of a life of studying, work, sacrifice and some major mistakes. God, I'm so scared of looking back at my life and reading the same story.

Kelly Clarkson Album Ugh, I'm already starting to get sick of the media deluge surrounding Kelly. That song "A Moment Like This" is just awful. And that's going to be her debut single. Gah. Not counting the appearances on the talk show circuit, there's going to be an American Idol tour, an album, and now talks are in the works for a movie? On a side note, how cute and young does she look in this promotional album cover? You almost don't recognize that this is for American Idol without the garish ads for Coke and Ford Focus. Why aren't they plastered all over the front like a NASCAR winner? Nevertheless, Kelly has an amazing raw talent and I hope she has a long, prosperous career.

I really hope she doesn't let the fame lead her astray, but it may already be too late. She's going to have her very own "Behind The Music" in a decade or so.
[ 03:52 ] Add a Comment [3]

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

For the past week, I've struggled to avoid talking about the upcoming anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and WTC. Although I shouldn't be surprised, I'm totally appalled at the lengths that the media will go to in order to garner ratings. While I'm sure the original intentions were usually philanthropic, this sensationalism has totally numbed the majority of the nation to this singular fact: people out there wanted to kill us. This harrowing realization can be emasculating, but many people fought their fears and continued with their daily lives. Others simply forgot.

Every day, we take freedom and prosperity for granted. So often, it takes a tragedy to make you realize what's important. It saddens me to think that the majority of Americans will be that much more aware and patriotic only on this day. I make the same argument about Christmas. Why single out one day out of the year to be merry, thankful and forgiving? And what about Memorial Day? Veteran's Day? All that should matter is that it's today. Live each day as if it were your last, and make sure your loved ones always know that they are.

Em usually goes to sleep before 11pm since she wakes up early in the morning. Every night, I tuck her in, stroke her hair and give her soft kisses goodnight. In truth, no one knows what's going to happen when we wake up. If we live our lives in fear, we have already lost. We can only hope that the world is as safe as we wish it. And so, midnight nears and my eyes grow heavy, but my heart is light. And if you never get a chance to come back here, remember that although the world can be cruel, there are some good things to life, and once you find them, you have to cherish and remember them.

You should even remember the bad things too, because learning from them will help you in the future. Store them away in that little corner of your mind and little nook in your heart that only you have the map to. No one can take those away from you. Still, as you grow older, the need to depend on others to learn and grow and be happy becomes greater. Many people will come and go in your life, and you have to see who is going to stay there through the rough times. Hopefully, you'll eventually find someone who wants to be with you for an eternity. With this person, you'll eventually trust enough to let that person into those little sacred niches that you've saved up for your entire life. And when you place these emotions, memories and experiences back where they belong, a part of that person will be there too.
[ 00:03 ] Add a Comment [3]

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Got a bunch of random things in the fridge and don't know what to make? Who needs 30-Minute Meals. Look out, Iron Chef. Emeril can bite me. All you really need is Googlecooking. Take the items you have available and do a Google search on them and then follow a recipe you like. The internet is your cookbook!

Hmmm, I don't think I want to know what I find with "zucchini kimchee red onion prosciutto mustard". Gah.

I could make a rather interesting kimchee jjigae (kimchee stew). Anyone want to be my guinea pig?
[ 04:33 ] Add a Comment [6]

Saturday, September 07, 2002

Em and I went to Sakura for some sushi tonight. I had originally wanted to go to Barney Burger in Berkeley while she wanted Indian food in Berkeley, but neither of us was in the mood for the other. Sakura was the perfect choice. We got the fireball roll (spicy tuna and avocado with a spicy sauce), the rainbow roll (various sashimi, shown below) and the magic mushroom roll (rice wrapped in soy bean curd with sauteed enoki and shitake mushrooms).

After dinner, we went to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Although it was cheesy and somewhat formulaic, it was very funny and charming. One of Em's best friends from college is half Greek (dad)/half Australian (mom), and apparently the mom loved it. This movie has been in theatres for three months and it seems like it's still building up popularity. One thing I didn't like: I don't care if Joey Fatone is in it. They had some pretty blatant camera shots on him that just lingered on for too long. My favorite part has to be the dad where he tries to show how every single word in the English language (and even some that are not) are all derived from Greek. I was thinking to myself, "Ha! I would so do that to my kids and grandkids!" Needless to say, we recommend this movie.
[ 00:47 ] Add a Comment [1]

Thursday, September 05, 2002

So, did you watch the finale of American Idol? If not, stop reading. Now.

Kelly Clarkson won and I'm very happy for her. Although Justin has more stage presence, Kelly's voice and range is simply amazing. Here are some realizations and overall comments from the show:

Ejay really does look like George Michael back in the Wham! days.

Fox producers must be giggling like little school girls at the huge--and probably unexpected--popularity of the show.

Ejay is a lot better than he presented himself to be during competition.

During the group performance, it was painfully obvious that the women were much stronger and more talented than the men.

Jim Verraros never should have been in that top 10 group.

Ryan Starr probably shouldn't have, either.

Tamyra was eliminated way way WAY too early.

Christina Christian has fallen pretty hard. Her voice ... and that hair.

Judge Randy Jackson looked like a poor man's Notorious B.I.G. in that fedora.

It was a very good summer series, even though it was on at the same time as The Mole (amen for TiVo). I was fortunate to be surfing channels and find the very first episode way back when. Em and I have thoroughly enjoyed it, and we both feel good that the overall best singer truly did win.

Hmmm, I knew Justin looked familiar ...

[ 00:33 ] Add a Comment [11]

Wednesday, September 04, 2002

Hopefully you all had a good Labor Day vacation. Em and I went to Ti Couz on Saturday night. The french onion soup and seafood salad were very good, but the sausage crepe was somewhat dry. On Monday, Ernie, MJ, Bel, Paris and Jen came over for a BBQ. We had shish kabobs galore: beef marinated with BBQ sauce, shrimp with lemon and garlic and chicken with honey mustard were grilled with grape tomatoes, white button mushrooms, zucchini, yellow onions and red and green bell peppers. We watched the MTV VMAs, KPop videos and the Drum Corps International finals on TiVo. I would have to say that although the Cavaliers' show wasn't the most musically compelling performance I've seen, the show as a whole was the best I've seen in my 10 years of DCI fandom and they received the marks to prove it, the highest score ever in DCI Championship history. It was a good day, but I was exhausting, not having slept for nearly 36 hours.

Oh yeah, good luck again to Ernie on syndicated The Weakest Link!

Damn Scott for posting about the game Crimsonland. It's a standalone game that you download (10 MB) and is incredibly addictive. As Scott described it, "This game is kind of like a combination between Gauntlet and Robotron, only with 17 different weapons, power ups, perks (like in Fallout)." I warn you, I spent upwards of 4 hours playing this game.

P.S. For the technically savvy out there, this is a screenshot taken from the web. Heaven forbid that my fps was 20!

Did American Idol suck this Tuesday, or what?

So Bel recently started getting maid service for apartment cleaning and she loves it. I don't know about her or anyone else, but I grew up doing chores every single week and I take pride in cleaning my place myself with some degree of regularity. I'm not trying to diss Bel here, most people just don't want to do it, at least, not as often as it should be done. But if money was no option, would you hire a maid service? I still think I'd say no. I happen to like cleaning and tidying up, even getting down and scrubbing the bathroom tub now and then. But then again I work from home. But then again I think I've always been this way. What do you think?
[ 02:45 ] Add a Comment [7]