Archive for June, 2009

In a very sad sort of news today, both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away.  And although this has pretty much been the topic of discussion at the watercooler all day long (perhaps month long, really) I can’t help but think how amazing it is how quickly all of this news traveled from person to person.  It was all over Facebook and Twitter, and so many people had something to say.

Not only was the news first broken on a non-traditional news site (TMZ?  Seriously?), there seemed to be a bit of a debaucle and scrambling from traditional news places to confirm Michael’s passing.  Was he gone?  Or alive?  Oh no, he’s in a coma.  No - wait.  Yup.  He’s really gone.

I thought I’d post some of the interesting snippets of conversation from people that I found online.  Some are sad, some sing MJ’s praises, others say they’ll miss him.  And of course, there are those who just can’t seem to help but take one last digital jab at the King of Pop.

“Not phased by the death of Michael Jackson. Tim Russert, yes. Michael Jackson, no.”

“So Michael Jackson, Farra Fawcett, and Ed McMahon are sitting at a bar…”

“Michael Jackson = PROOF that ONE man CAN unite the world.”

“Now I know how the generation before us felt like when Elvis died.”

“What’s on my mind? The silhouettes of my mom’s posse dancing to Billie Jean at our wedding.”

“Hold up… did I hear something about some creepy plastic faced pederast going to the big amusement park in the sky? Why aren’t 22 of the 29 status updates on my homepage reflecting this not-so-surprising news?! Oh. Wait. There it is.”

One of the things that often perks up my ears is when companies do something truly innovative and interactive.  Today, one of the programs that’s really catching attention (and my personal intrigue) is the Day In The Cloud contest with Google and Virgin America.  A scavenger hunt from the air and the ground going on simultaneously? Brilliant!

I did try to go through last night with one of the practice rounds. For anybody who scoffs at the idea that this could be anything but a REAL challenge, I kid you not: you will be licking your mental war wounds.

Not only are they connecting people through their own landing site, they are also connecting people through Twitter and encouraging them to utilize the Google tools and Virgin America wifi (for those lucky ones on the plane today). As the clock ticks down to game time, I can’t wait to see how this will unravel.

Of course, I’ll be participating … even if my ego is going to take a bit of a beating.

I remember sitting on a charter bus in Washington D.C. when I was a sophomore in high school, chatting with another attendee about the Internet.  I was there for one of those school programs where teachers take a group of students around to participate in workshops about the different parts of the government.  Although all of those speeches and group talks about NGOs and lobbyists are a blur to me now, this one particular conversation stuck in my mind.

He talked about how he opened a Website and forum where his friends each have their own logins. Basically, they can go on the forum to post pictures, send updates, etc.

Brilliant, I thought.  Wouldn’t it be splendid if every group of friends could have their own little niche on the web?  This way, you could always stay in touch with the people you care about.  Of course, lo and behold, four years later Facebook was born.  I remember dubiously signing up and joining when it became available at my college.  Was it a weird sort of free dating site?  What in the world could this be?

The story is always the same — first came doubt, then came acceptance — and finally, there came a stage where you wonder what life would be like without it.  Friends from elementary school, middle school, high school…even from random happenstances suddenly came together in a nice, neat little digital package.  I no longer wonder what happened to so-and-so while randomly brushing my teeth at night…I can just check their profile and get the general gist.

I wondered, along with my friends, whether we would even need a high school reunion.  Several of my friends loudly declared that they would NOT attend one.  Others said they would out of morbid curiosity.  Today, I stumbled across a TIME article that talked about said reunions.  Of course, it reiterated all the thoughts that I shared with my friends that I still keep in touch with high school (and beyond) but it also makes me think: is it really a good thing to be so connected?

Part of the allure of high school reunions was the unknown.  Where did everybody go once the path split a hundred different ways?  The other part of reunions was for the nostalgia.  After all, I imagine that years ago when you walked the stage, threw your cap and said farewell - it may very well be a decade or more until the next time you see certain people from high school.

Reunions also eliminated the need for sustaining relationships that would have withered naturally on its own.  Now, Facebook and sites just like it seem to help us us cling to past relationships that might have been better stored away, along with dusty yearbooks.  C’mon, admit it - at one point or another, you’ve looked up ghosts of high school past and chuckled to yourself at their apparent hair loss and/or weight gain.  But really, do we need to have this information at our fingertips?  Wouldn’t we have been better off if we were able to just naturally move on, without access to this information?

Friendship means going beyond an occasional IM or Facebook wall post.  But, when you think about the other side, technology like Facebook just makes maintaining relationships easier.  I’m reminded of another article I recently sent to a few people in The Wall Street Journal about REAL friends.  It’s true that Facebook is really changing the way people interact (and, apparently, high school reunions).  Of course we could just use it to build a massive, superficial network on it.  But it’s also another great way to continue to cultivate the relationships that DO matter.

Sometimes, I find that my friends and I use it as a quicker alternative to email.  It’s hard to sit down and find time for an hour or two long phone conversation (or, as my friends and I like to call them, phone dates).  Instead, a quick message lets someone know that your’e thinking of them.

And after contemplating both good and bad, I’m still left to wonder: is something like facebook really good for friendship, or is it keeping us looped into too much that we shouldn’t care about?

All questions aside, at the very least I’m thankful for it when I need some time to kill when I wait for my bus.

You know, I’m not quite sure what it is about me, but everytime I read an article about a really young person who is incredibly successful, intelligent, and/or rich … it makes me cringe a bit inside.  Not because I have anything against them (well, ok, just a little bit) but because it brings to light the fact that I don’t have a terrible amount of accomplishments under my belt quite yet.

Okay, going to college and graduating was great.  Working is great.  Friends and family are great.  But I haven’t really CREATED, or written anything of substance (read: marketable and publishable).  Instead, I end up spending a good portion of my free time reading, eating, watching television or doing something else that isn’t impacting the world in any sort of significant or positive way.

So I decided something.  I’ve always been a dabbler in doodling - so why not do it again?  Henceforth, I’ll start trying my hardest to create doodles and drawings that make me feel good, and hopefully bring a smile to someone’s face.

Or, you know - I’m just going to draw random stuff and whatever I want.  Because it’s kind of my blaggity blag.

I hope you few and far between visitors enjoy my future post-it drawings.

Recently, a friend of mine started reading up on healthy eating and exercise.  Since we often chat each day, he started sharing the pieces of information that he’s found from scouring the Web.  And after talking to him and following his advice … I have come to conclude that nutrition, exercise, and the general upkeep of a healthy lifestyle really really sucks.  

Okay, I understand that being active and eating well is obviously a good idea.  You look/feel better, blah blah.  But honestly, it is actually QUITE HARD to lose weight if you don’t have discipline or time.

This is what my friend told me - if you take your weight and multiply it by 13, that is technically the amount of calories you “need” to maintain.  If you’re more active, you multiply that by 14.  Ok, great.  That sounds like a respectable amount.  Then he pointed out to me that my morning cup of coffee (with two creams, since I started cutting out my packets of sugar) was MAYBE 80 calories.  That’s being conservative. If I were to burn off 80 calories - I probably have to run a mile or two.

So for every excess “cup of coffee” that I ingest past my “acceptable calorie quota” … I have to run/skip/hop/torture myself at the gym. A LOT.  And going to the gym takes a long time, from changing clothes to hopping on the machine to cleaning off the sweat and grime … and then washing said workout clothes only to lather, rinse, and repeat the cycle.  Today, it took me about two hours to get from work to workout, shower, and back.  TWO HOURS!

That’s not all.  If I want to lose weight, I obviously have to burn more calories than I eat.  I should also vary my exercises, since your body adapts.  So not only do I have to torture myself, I have to make the effort and find different ways of torturing myself. And forget trying to lose weight in certain parts of my body - I have no choice whether the thunder thighs go away or I lose the pesky little love handles.

Oh, and did I mention that certain carbs are bad for you?  So I ought to cut out white rice, pasta, potatoes, fruit that is TOO sweet, and probably just drink water and skip the flavored anythings.  

The practical side of me says that healthy eating and exercise, no matter how daunting, is what I ought to do in order to lead a hopefully long and active life.  However, the hedonistic side of me tells me that this just means I’ll lead a long and active life without any flavor or fun.

Yup.  Nutrition really, really sucks.

A friend of mine sent me an email recently that was dated in the year 2001.  2001?!  That was about eight years ago … when I was still in high school.  It’s funny to me because truthfully, the email was very uninteresting and blathered on about nothing.  But even though my disjointed adolescent thoughts were about nothing monumental, it’s interesting to take a peek back to my mentality a little less than a decade ago.  Back then, I was thinking about boys (hah, of course), concerts (my first one) and, inevitably, schoolwork.

Admittedly, a part of me is very old school and longs for the days when people actually put effort into penmanship and poetry into physical letters.  It seemed so romantic to think about a piece of paper that another individual pored over in order to get the proper wording just right.  How do I express my love?  My thoughts?  My anger?  My discontent?

Although the analog days of the written word feel mostly over, I suppose there is some sort of benefit of having email and blogs floating around.  I still get a kick out of reading some of my old blog entries back when I first started college, and even a year or two beyond after graduation.  All of my rantings and musings were completely self-centered (at least we know one thing hasn’t changed) but at the same time, they are fun to read.

Much like the old notes I passed around in junior high and high school, maybe having a bit of a digital fingerprint can evoke the same feelings of fond remembrance.

Here’s a post from August 29, 2005:

If I ever get married, my husband and I are going to buy a couple of cats and game consoles.

Ah, such aspirations.  It brings a tear to my eye.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, and admittedly all excuses aside it’s because I haven’t been hit with any sort of inspiration. Nothing extremely groundbreaking has been happening in my life, and so far most days have been pretty status quo. I still go to work (thankfully), still see friends, and I go out once in awhile.

Hum.

The other conundrum with BLAGGING is whether or not I should get personal. After all, every word, misspelling, or controversial thought could be tracked, recorded, or used against me. Kind of a bummer on the creative front, wouldn’t you say? So, instead of really taking time to hammer out some in-depth thoughts about life, the universe, EVERYTHING…I kind of just let my poor little slice of the Internet realm fester in its own irrelevance.

Until now!

Today is the birthday of my eldest cousin - whom we all endearingly call Gogo (a loose translation for “older brother” in Mandarin). Gogo is right now halfway across the world studying Japanese, so unfortunately I’m unable to cut some cake and celebrate with him in person. But I thought I’d take the time to dedicate this post to Gogo.

Here are some of the reasons why he is one of my heroes -

1. Gogo knows!
Gogo has always been one of the most organized go-getters that I have ever known in my life. But he doesn’t only set goals, he evaluates and meets them. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, since he does have an extremely logical EE brain. But I’m always in awe of how he’s able to tackle things little by little, and he has gained so many different skills. To date, I know he photographs, ballroom dances, has taught religion classes, teaches golf, speaks Japanese, cooks, fixes pools, got an MBA (4.0 GPA!) and has other plans up ahead in the future.   Will we one day have a Gogo, PhD?  I believe it.  Gogo truly knows…a LOT.

2. Gogo cares
Gogo cares about … well, everyone. As long as I could remember, the families and children at church all know who he is.  Everybody trusts him because they know that he is not only knowledgeable and reliable - he is a truly caring person. He take time to give back to the community.  He always seems to know how to maintain ties and friendships with people all over the world. And truly, to be a part of his family, we know Gogo’s love the best. He makes birthdays and holidays special, and whenever family is together he squeezes the most out of every minute. And who doesn’t want some Gogo time?

3. Gogo is the greatest
Although the list could go on and on, I think the biggest reason why Gogo is the greatest is because he’s truly unique. Who else would be able to pass along nicknames like “Say” and “Lex Luthor” (the latter nickname is for a girl, I might add) without getting in trouble? In fact, most people embrace the Gogo-speak. Although it is akin to a strange sort of suburban-fobbish ebonics, I can’t help but speak Gogo when Gogo is around. Or even when I’m writing and talking about Gogo. No one else has such a special way with words.

Happeh Birfday, Gogo! (I had to find a picture of a foot cake. It just wouldn’t be the same without one).