Help Desk Confessionals

You're France!

Most people think you're snobby, but it's really just that you're better than everyone else. At least you're more loyal to the real language, the fine arts, and the fine wines than anyone else.
You aren't worth beans in a fight, unless you're really short, but you're so good at other things that it usually doesn't matter.
Some of your finest works were intended to be short-term projects.


Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

My class at Macy's Plaza, taken a couple of years ago. The guy in gray tank top, black shorts, and blue do rag under the banner is yours truly.

For my adventures as an aerobics instructor, read my blog "All Worked Out"

This MTV show is one of my recent favorite shows, and a "reality" show at that. (I usually hate them.) It is "extreme makeover" for cars. In 30 minutes on TV, a piece of junk (or "bucket", as host Xzibit calls it) practically gets rebuilt from the ground up with all kinds of rad gadgets, rims and paint jobs. Makeover shows sometimes drag, but this one moves along at a good pace. Fun to watch all the unreal stuff gets installed (among others, cappuccino machine, water fountain, ping pong table, and chandeliers). Xzibit is hilarious as hell.

I concur with the editorial in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

"Our current leadership seems to have lost its way and its moral compass. Dishonesty has become a national policy.

We have been asked to debase our Constitution for political purposes, to enshrine bigotry and to take away fundamental rights from Americans. We have abandoned scientific and medical research, bowing to narrow religious beliefs. We have handed over even more of our national wealth to the rich and taken it from the poor and the workingman. We have gone to war for reasons that have been proved wrong, and we have sanctioned torture as acceptable policy."

What an exciting game! Each team, at one time or another, seemed to have the game locked up, only to let the other team back in. The game ended where the team with the better quarterback, Walter of ASU, won.

It's a widely-known fact that, as election day approaches, our country is deeply divided. In addition to my wife voting for Bush and I'm voting for Kerry, my mom took a poll in the family and found that:

My mom, 64, former teacher and now a hair stylist, is voting for Bush.


My grandfather, 95, a former government official and book publisher, is voting for Kerry. When asked why, he, a man of few words, said, "There is no end to this war."

My sister. 37, a bank manager living in Republican stronghold otherwise known as the O.C., is voting for Bush. No surprise there.

My brother Harry, 34, a physician-to-be, is voting for Kerry.

My brother Dennis, 33, is voting for Bush.

If anyone is keeping score, it's 4 to 3, Bush over Kerry.

Here is my spin: the three acknowledged wise men in my family are voting for Kerry.

If you haven't checked out my other blogs (yes, I have five blogs going at the same time), I have my own radio station on the internet. No, not LaunchCast or anything that someone put together based on your "music taste". This is all mine - I pick the songs, I program the music, I select the jingles, the whole nine yards. If I like a song...boom! It's on heavy rotation today. If I don't like a song, it's gone forever. The music streams from my home PC to a server and I can pick it up in my office, or anywhere around the world.

IPods are too ordinary compared to this.

Now if I can just make this portable.....

Another long overdue survey I found. These are easy entries to blog because it does not require me to come up with a good topic. (It was either this or a piece on cooking.)

1. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR KITCHEN PLATES?
White & cherry
2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
SAS Users Manual (Language & Procedures)
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Office Ergonomics
4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Trivial Pursuit
5. FAVORITE MAGAZINES?
Time, Entertainment Weekly, PC Magazine
6. FAVORITE SMELL?
Bakery
7. LEAST FAVORITE SMELL?
Vomit
8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE
UP IN THE MORNING?
Did I oversleep?
9.FAVORITE COLOR?
Blue
10. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR?
Red
11. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE?
Before the machine picks up
12. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?
Boy: Elliott Gale Girl: Amanda Grace
13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN LIFE?
Lori and Russell
14. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?
Vanilla
15. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST?
No, but I do it often out of necessity.
16. DO YOU FALL ASLEEP WITH THE TV ON?
All the time
17. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY?
Cool, unless when you try to get somewhere, then it becomes annoying.
18. WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Mazda GLC, Green
19. IF YOU COULD MEET ONE PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE?
Lori's grandmother.
20. FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK?
Don't have one
21. WHAT IS YOUR SIGN &YOUR BIRTHDAY?
Taurus, May 18
22. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI?
Why not?
23. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Bus Driver.
24. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT
BE?
Mine is just fine.
25. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE?
Yes.
26. IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?
What's the difference?!
27. FAVORITE MOVIE?
The Sting.
28. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS?
Heck no.
29. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
All Lori's stuff
30. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER?
12
31. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?
Football
32. WHAT IS YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR?
Oversleeping.
33. SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS
TO YOU.
Once I got to know Sue Anne, she is way cool!
34. PERSON MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Don't know.
35. PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO
RESPOND? It's a blog entry now...
36. FAVORITE CD?
Mary Chapin-Carpenter "Stones in the Road"
37. FAVORITE TV SHOWS?
Apprentice, The X-Files, Twilight Zone, Get Smart
38. KETCHUP OR MUSTARD?
On what?
39. HAMBURGERS OR HOTDOGS?
Depends
40. FAVORITE SOFT DRINK?
Diet Coke with Lemon, if I can find them
41. THE BEST PLACES YOU HAVE EVER BEEN?
Hong Kong, San francisco, Lake Champlain(NY/VT), Niagara Falls, I-70 through Glenwood Canyon.
42. WHAT SCREEN SAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW?
Pictures of Russell.
43. BURGER KING OR MCDONALDS?
McDonald's.

My in-laws came to visit for a week, mainly to see their grandson Russell whom they haven't seen since he was two weeks-old.

On the last day before their departure, father-in-law and I decided to do some bonding by going to Fry's, an electronics superstore the size of Walmart. Each of us walked out with, among other "essential" items, a brand new desktop PC - an Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz, 256MB, 40 GB HD, CD/DVD, XP Home, for the dirt-cheap price of...ready? $279.

It *totally* made his trip.

Nothing salacious here. Alright, here it goes:

1. What time is it: 1:46 p.m.
2. Name as it appears on birth certificate: Carl Yuan
3. Nickname: Beef Ball (don't ask)
4. Number of candles on your last birthday: 39
5. Pets: None - we gave away our two cats soon after Russell was born.
6. Hair color: Dark with gray hair popping up
7a. Piercing: No
7b. Tattoos: No - do you know that it cost $49/hour to take that stuff off??!!
8. Eye color: Brown
9. Hometown: Hong Kong, and then Corona, CA
10. Town you live in: Diamond Bar, CA
11. Favorite foods: Anything that tastes good. No "fake" foods, no "health" foods.
12. Ever been to Africa: Nope
13. Been toilet papering? No - too sheltered during HS years.
14. Love someone so much it made you cry? No
15. Been in a car accident? Yes...but nothing too serious.
16. Croutons or bacon bits? Both.
17. Favorite day of the week: Friday.
18. Favorite restaurant: Any all-you-can-eat
19. Favorite Flower: Chrysanthemum
20. Favorite sport to watch: Football.
21. Favorite drink: Diet Coke with Lemon or Lime
22. Favorite ice cream flavor? Ben n Jerry's Totally Nuts
23. Disney or Warner Bros: Warner Bros characters, but Disney theme parks
24. Favorite fast food restaurant: McDonald's
25. What color is your bedroom carpet? Off white
26. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Never
27. Before this one, whom did you get your last emailfrom? it's spam
28. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Fry's Electronics
29. What do you do most often when you are bored? Program my radio station
30. Most annoying thing people ask me? "Could you reset my password?"
31. Bedtime: 9:30 p.m. most days
32. Who will respond to this email the quickest? it's now a blog entry
33. Who is the person you sent this to that is leastlikely to respond? n/a
34. Favorite TV shows? Currently: Apprentice 2. All-time: Get Smart, Twilight Zone, The X-Files
35. Ford or Chevy? Chevy.
36. What are you listening to right now? My radio station of course, it's playing the new song by the Killers "Mr Brightside".
37. What is your favorite color? Blue.
38. Favorite kind of music? Hot AC - listen to my station if you don't understand the term.
39. Last person you went out to dinner with? family (my mom, my in-laws, my brother, Lori, Russell)
40. Time you finished this email? 2:06p.m.

Just bought and listened to the new Duran Duran CD "Astronaut". In my mind, the original line up is the only "authentic" Duran Duran there ever was, and "Astronaut" is, after 20 years, the rightful follow-up to "Seven and the Ragged Tiger".
Posted by Hello

Just found out from UCLA Magazine that Danica McKellar ("The Wonder Years") was a fellow Math major at UCLA. Way to go!
Posted by Hello

You're all about the music. Not too incredibly
mainstream, but not too incredibly underground.
It's awfully hard for anyone to oppose you,
seeing as how you rule.


What band from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I love it when our contract claims adjusters dispute a payment due to "system glitch". System glitch?? Not on my watch.

They said a payment "disappeared" from the system. I prompted reported that the payment was deleted by one of their data entry staff on such and such date, and that the payment was in pending from this date to that date because of a minor error that they failed to correct.

In the days of my predecessor, there would not have been such detailed proof. These days, I know when a fly sneezes near the system.

It was tough going to work this morning. Getting up at 4:30 a.m. is never easy, and after a five-day long weekend, it's almost impossible.

I took a couple of days off to spend with my in-laws from Detroit who were visiting for the week. Last time (last August) they saw my son Russell he was just two weeks old, and now he is walking all over the place, mumbling, smiling, and screaming. We spent a day at Disneyland, and Russell was trying to take it all in, but hardly fussed at all.

So today I called up our software company because this mistake I tried to correct in the system didn't come out quite right. A payment, unbeknownst to me, exists in several places in "history" and we only know of one. My beloved client representative of course would not divulge the other locations for fear that I would wreak havoc all over the system files.

I, apparently, have earned quite a reputation as a hacker.