Freakonomics

Working at Google comes with many unique benefits, the most notable being the three free meals a day, but perhaps the coolest is the series of guest speakers that we get on campus. In the past year or so, I've had the opportunity to attend talks by Madeleine Albright, Jimmy Carter (got to shake his hand), Colin Powell (shook his hand, too), Thomas Friedman (with a surprise appearance by...Robin Williams?), and Peter Diamandis (Chairman of the X Prize Foundation), among others. Today we had Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the authors of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, a book that Hubert turned me onto while we were in Hawaii.

The subtitle says it all. Levitt is a renowned maverick economist who uses the science to tackle unconventional and seemingly random topics, such as, why do real estate agents act in a way that is contrary to their clients' goals, is sumo corrupt, why did Seinfeld never crack the top 50 among black viewers, what impact does a name have on a person's life, what's more dangerous, a gun or a pool, why do drug dealers live with their moms, and do good schools make any difference? But the topics aren't as random as you'd think. They are all connected by the same methodology: analyzing the incentives, information gaps, and conventional wisdoms that are in play in any given situation, and crunching the numbers to identify their implications, which are usually quite broad. Levitt just happens to apply them to specific questions that interest him, even if they are sometimes obscure or seemingly frivolous.

But Levitt doesn't shy away from the big issues either. One of my favorite chapters of the book puts forth his take on the crime drop in the 90's, and the conclusion he presents is inflammatory but compelling. Leading up to the 90's, crime was uncontrollably on the rise, and dire predictions were being made by experts about the future blood bath facing America. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the crime rate plummeted, and those same experts scrambled to come up with answers, most of which were as wrong as their initial doomsday predictions. Two theories to which he does lend credence are the increased reliance on prisons, and the increased number of cops. Prisons have a deterring effect on crime, but they also act as a prophylactic, containing those most likely to commit crimes, and more cops means greater enforcement. But the factor that may have had the greatest impact, Roe v. Wade in 1973, wasn't even conceived (no pun intended) as a possibility until Levitt first posited it in 2001. Seventeen years after the landmark case, as the unborn children of the generation (most with a background correlated to the highest indications of criminal behavior) would otherwise have been reaching their peak criminal years, the crime rate that had been growing uncontrollably for years had suddenly reversed itself completely.

The deeper social implications of his argument are disturbing, and they predictably created a furor on both sides of the political dividing line, but it was not his intention to make a social statement, nor is that where his interests lie. He's had the opportunity to work for both the Clinton and Bush White Houses, and both times he has declined. His thinking is innovative (out-of-the-box, if you will), and he wants the freedom to use it to explore the questions that interest him, without the constraints of political interests. His research is purely for the sake of exploration.

But whether he likes it or not, the potential applications of his research to more serious issues are obvious, even when he goes on wild tangents (sumo?). The later chapters on parenting, schools, and other principles of child-rearing drew lots of questions from the parents in today's crowd. They see him as an expert with the ability to find the answers to any question, and what could be more important than parenting? (according to him, a lot)

Occasionally, his research comes across as weak, but I think it's largely due to the fact that he wrote this book to make it accessible to a broad audience. So while it doesn't have the detail of your typical research paper, it is much more palatable for the mainstream. I personally would have enjoyed more detail. He often prefaces a statement with the vague "Studies have shown...", and then, as if predicting the rebuttals, follows up with the even more vague "Even when controlled for X, Y, and Z..." I'm prone to accepting his conclusions, because he presents them in such a logical manner, and he never fails to acknowledge the obvious counter-arguments, but the lack of details does leave me wanting more information about methodology. But I'm guessing the book wouldn't be the fixture of the non-fiction best seller list that it is were it as dense as I'd want.

As it is, the book is a very quick and easy read, and because it is just a collection of snippets, you can read it in parts without losing anything. And if you get to the end, you'll be rewarded with a list of baby names that are most highly correlated with life-long success (though I don't put much credence into it...Andrew made the top five). Beats the ending to Harry Potter.

Competition and trash-talking

I've been saying that $#!t for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass.
- Jules, Pulp Fiction

"I got glove" is the Bomberman equivalent of Ezekiel 25:17. If you hear someone in one of the adjacent corners say it (in my case Gerald or Andrew), it means your ass. He simply waits for you to lay a bomb, and when you move to safety, he punches another bomb into your safe haven, and kaboom, you're dead. Then the hand-to-hand combat begins. One of the best parts of the game is actually seeing the stats after each round that show who killed who. It's pretty easy to lose track in all the chaos.

I used to play tons of Bomberman in high school, with Russ, Eddy, and Alan, so when I first started playing with my rookie housemates, I dominated them. Five rounds, five wins, game over. Unfortunately, the glory was short-lived. They quickly got better, and I had already maxed out my potential, so I began to win less and less. Now we play on a near-nightly basis, and the only thing that exceeds the intensity of the games is the intensity of the trash-talking. We have bestowed upon each other such subtle and creative nicknames as "slut", "whore", and popular variations of "cat" and "female dog", to say nothing of the vulgarities that naturally come about from playing with characters that are white (Hubert), black (me), red (Andrew), and blue (Gerald).


Competition seems to be at the core of everything we do in our house. In addition to nightly Bomberman, there's Friday night poker, SHHNHB, online hearts, darts, tennis, golf...we even joined a public fantasy football league the other day just to see who could draft the best. Wait till our actual league starts up. There's IRC poker, which the four of us play at work (if you use Trillian, you are welcome to join us), and we haven't even busted out the Game Cube since I moved in, which opens up a whole new level of four-player mayhem. Just about the only thing we do together that doesn't involve competition is watch movies, though I suppose you can sometimes include online hearts in that category as well, since we often collude in order to boost our rankings. It's pretty easy to shoot the moon when you control two of the four hands at a table, especially when they sit across from each other.

So the question is, what's next? This past Saturday, we finally cleaned out most of the junk that had accumulated downstairs during the previous two years, and the living room is now in fantastic shape (we should have taken a "before" picture). The entertainment system is all set up, which we used to full effect on Saturday - Jurassic Park and T2 during clean-up, and The Hunt for Red October afterwards. We are also back to the two-television setup that I previously enjoyed with DanFran, which allows us to watch movies while playing video games, or follow a sporting event on mute while watching a show. And the dartboard is still there as well. (picture courtesy of Hubert's Random Blog)


But now, thanks to our clean-up efforts, we also have an entire back room to use, if we can only figure out an effective way to use it. We could easily move one of the living room TV's there, but only if we really make good use of the rest of the room, because otherwise we would just be losing one of the coolest features of our living room. Moving the dartboard would be a start; we could turn it into a game room. Perhaps put a poker table back there, which could also be used as a second table for SHHNHB. We discussed the possibility of a foosball table. Unfortunately, the one that Randy bought for me got ruined in storage, but a decent one isn't too expensive. Andrew is leaning heavily toward a mini-hoop with electronic scoring like one of these (largely due to Jeremy's influence):


Lots of potential to do something fun in there, and there's no reason we couldn't accomodate all of the above since they are small items that could be moved around easily depending on what we were doing. If you have any bright ideas, they are certainly welcome! The only thing we cannot do is a pool or ping pong table, because there isn't quite enough space for either. Too bad. But whatever we end up doing, I'm sure it will fit in with the core values of the house: competition and trash-talking.

And the winner is...

Congratulations, Annaka! She came closest to the number of bug bites I got...29! With the exception of 2 or 3 bites, the rest were divided amongst any available space on my legs. Thanks to all for your suggestions on fighting these buggers and the, er, interesting theories on why they are attracted to me. So, since I previously said that I'd give a prize to the person who guessed the exact amount (Hubes, you don't count, you cheater), I thought I'd compromise. Annaka, when I come up next, I'll bring up a box of chocolate macadamia nuts for you :)

Changina is AtomEnabled

If you are using Google IG but like me have been hoping for more functionality, we have finally provided the ability to add your own RSS and Atom feeds! This means you can add the newly AtomEnabled Changina blog to your Google homepage! Simply click on the AtomEnabled link in the sidebar, and copy the URL to IG, under Create A Section. Add Hubert's feed as well, if you can track down the obscure link on his page:



We've also added some new content providers, including a daily How To, which, as you can see, provides such useful tips as "How to Get Rid of a Hickey."

The main thing that is still missing from IG is personalized sports scores. I must say I'm extremely disappointed that we haven't addressed this issue yet. If the company's mission is to organize all of the world's information and make it universally accessible, we are whiffing big-time on an important chunk. Eh, who cares, I made the Google homepage!

And now we wait for #7

Spoilers in white text

No, I'm not talking Lance. He already got his #7. I'm of course talking Potter. Unfortunately for both, #7 signifies the end of a great, historic run. Lance closed his out on Sunday, and Potter is now at the penultimate stage.

After reading #6, the questions on everyone's mind are, will we ever see Dumbledore again, in some form or another, and did Snape really kill him in the way we think he did? Also, who is RAB?

I think we will most definitely see Dumbledore again, though in what form I do not know. I have a hard time imagining that he will just drop off from the story completely.

Regarding the second question, there are two schools of thought:

1. Snape was always a faithful Death Eater, and he was just biding his time at Hogwarts until Voldemort's return. He somehow managed to convince Dumbledore that he had reformed, despite his dirty past, which included informing Voldemort about Trelawney's prophesy, an act that resulted in the death of Harry's parents. He is a highly-skilled Occlumens, which would have allowed him to shield his true loyalties from Dumbledore, McGonagall, and the others. Everything points against him.

Which is exactly why I subscribe to the second school of thought:

2. Snape was told by Dumbledore that his infiltration of Voldemort's inner-circle is more important than anything (except for protecting Harry, which Snape does), and that includes Dumbledore's own life. In order to prove himself to Bellatrix Lestrange, Snape had to make the binding oath with Malfoy, which then forced his hand against Dumbledore on the lookout tower. But that's what Dumbledore would have wanted, because Snape has now "proven himself" to Voldemort and has positioned himself to be a much more powerful force for good than even Dumbledore could have been. Dumbledore also said that Snape once did something to prove his loyalty to the Order of the Phoenix, though I suppose Voldemort can now say the same.

I have no idea who RAB is, though the last initial provides a clue. S/he will likely figure heavily in the quest for the remaining horcruxes in #7, prior to the Harry/Voldemort showdown finale.

I can't wait to get the answers to everything in, oh, two years. The interminable wait begins.

Blood-sucking, beady-eyed buggers

Lately, I've been comtemplating about mosquitos. What kind of blood do they think is delicious? Or are they attracted to some sort of body scent or hormones?
For some reason, I am always a walking meal for these buggers, and I can't figure out why. I also have an abnormal reaction to their toxins because the bites blow up into these huge welts!

At any rate, last week, we took the Korean students to Waimea Park which is now more of a natural preserve with exotic flora and a beautiful waterfall... with a ton of mosquitos. Can anyone guess how many bites I got? Maybe I'll send a prize from Hawaii to anyone who guesses the exact amount. Let's just say that my legs were a hot attraction but not for the right reasons. :)

The Tao of Snooze

There are many different types of snoozers. Take me and my freshman roommate, Will. I could literally snooze for hours, and he was one of those people who could not snooze at all. One night, we both set our alarms for 8:30am, and on cue the next morning, he popped out of bed, got cleaned up, and headed to class. Around 12:30pm, after a morning of classes followed by lunch, he came back into the room just in time to see me snooze my alarm for the...26th time? Whatever amounts to four hours. He muttered, "You've got to be f***ing kidding me," and in a fit of incredulity, jumped on my bed and started shaking me awake, yelling, "How can you possibly be snoozing still?! It's 12:30!" I cracked my eyes open, tapped him on his head, and went back to sleep.

Now that I am on a fairly set schedule, I am a much more typical snoozer. Set the alarm for 8:03am, and three 9-minute snoozes later, wake up at 8:30am. I'm guessing most of you are like this as well. Two to three snoozes max, then on with the day.

Then there's Andrew.

I'm usually at work by the time Andrew wakes up, so I had never seen his morning routine, but he planned to wake up early this morning because he was blocking Hubert's car in the driveway, and Hubert gets into work around the same time as me. I told him not to worry about it, sleep in, Hubert and I would carpool, but he said he needed to get up early anyway.

As I walked out of my room at 8:40 this morning, I could hear Andrew's alarm clock going off at the other end of the hall. I was impressed. He was actually getting up. I figured he'd just take me up on my offer and sleep in. That's what I would do. I went downstairs to collect some things, then came back up a few minutes later, and it was stillgoing off. So I walked over to Hubert's room, right next door to Andrew's. "How long has that thing been going?" "About 40 minutes now." "FORTY minutes?!" "Yeah, he's done much longer."

Now granted, this isn't the most shrill alarm clock (it uses the standard beep-beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep-beep, as opposed to the harsher EEEENG, EEEENG, EEEENG, EEENG), but it would never be confused with ambient noise, and seeing as how I could hear it from my room at the other end of the hall with his door closed, the volume was plentiful. According to Hubert, he's broken 90 minutes before. I guess he's like Will, no snoozes. Difference is, Will would actually wake up. So Andrew, when did you end up getting out of bed this morning?

Needless to say, Hubert and I carpooled today.

New Justice

As expected, President Bush kept his campaign promise to nominate a conservative to the bench, but he surprised a lot of pundits who were expecting him to name a woman, which would have been a popular move according to all the polls, and a politically correct one, too. I'm impressed that he didn't succumb to that pressure, and instead chose the person he really wanted, regardless of race or gender or the poll numbers, though it does raise the question of whether or not it's important to have female representation on the bench. We're down to just one. Is that enough? Does it matter?

I'm looking forward to the confirmation hearings to see what Roberts is about. I only know of him what I've read in the last day, which is very little, and a lot of the information I have seen presents contradictory views of him anyway, so we'll just have to wait for the hearings. And even then, these guys are occasionally prone to idealogical shifts, so we won't really know what we have on our hands for perhaps a few years. Lifetime terms can have that effect.

Specter is going to lead the confirmation process, and he said he was hoping for a nominee who would "bring balance to the court"...the chosen one, if you will. That would be the ideal outcome, considering the justice he is replacing. O'Connor was often the swing vote on a divided court, one of the few moderates, and the loss felt from her retirement would be greatly mitigated by a replacement that brings similar characteristics to the table. Rob, what do you and your pops think of Roberts? Where does he lie on the strict constructionism -> judicial activism scale? And most importantly, what's his midichlorian count?

One under-reported implication of this chain of events is that Stanford loses one of its four undergraduate and two law school alums from the bench, and Harvard gains its sixth(!) law school alum. The Cardinal has most likely lost its chance to get a majority on the court and overturn the Screw of '82.

Interesting O'Connor sidebar: she finished third in her Stanford Law School class of '52, and Chief Justice Rehnquist was number one in that same class. That's like the '84 NBA Draft! So who the heck is the poor loser who finished at number two, the Sam Bowie of the class?

The mystery man is Gerry Thede, a retired attorney in Santa Barbara who worked for Price, Postel, and Parma, the oldest perpetual law firm in California, established in 1852, and the same firm that turned down O'Connor out of law school and suggested she be a secretary. A freakin' secretary! Perhaps they set the bar for their lawyers at top two in the class, and everyone else got relegated to secretary. Lucky for us the Supreme Court's standards aren't quite so high.

SHHNHB #2 Recap - It's a Tie!

SHHNHB Official Site

Tournament two presented the eight contenders with a new trophy to pursue, along with a lot of pride and a little bit of cash, and it felt like a roller coaster ride the whole way through. Jeff was the cinderella story, making the final table as the 8 seed, which brought him face to face with the top 3 seeds. He held his own in a very competitive championship, but in the end, Hubert and I tied for the win, just edging out Annaka, who had won her semifinal table by one over Hubert. Rob took care of business at the consolation table, holding off a hard-charging Andrew. Here's the recap for each table:

Semifinal #1 (race to 100, $5 to the winner)
026 - (1) Chang
086 - (8) Jeff
096 - (5) Dan
104 - (4) Andrew

Through the first six hands, the scores were very competitive, and no one was outside of shooting range of first place. I had a 16-point lead, but the other three were all within 3 points of each other. Jeff was the first to trip up on the next hand, taking the queen, but then he held steady the rest of the way and managed to sneak into second going into the last hand. Dan would have held down that position, but he took 22 points on the previous hand to fall 10 back of Jeff, and Andrew was 8 points further back from that all-important second place (and spot at the final table). The game came to an early and unexpected end on the next hand when I had an accidental moon shot to put Andrew over 100. I did not have a shooting hand; I was loaded with low diamonds and the 7 of hearts as my only heart. But the distribution was unusual, the hearts kept coming my way, and on the last trick I realized I had taken everything. Until then I was still trying to avoid taking the queen. It was all very confusing and completely lucky for me, giving me my second semifinal win, and it worked out well for Jeff, too, because it put him into the final table on his first try. Andrew realized about halfway through the hand that things were about to end in a bad way, for both him and Dan, but by then nothing could be done, and the game was over.

Semifinal #2 (race to 100, $5 to the winner)
061 - (3) Annaka
062 - (2) Hubert
084 - (7) Ruth
101 - (6) Rob

This table saw an exciting finish as well as one of the most unusual hands possible, which turned out to be a huge turning point. On that hand, hand #5, Annaka had the lead on the third trick. If she led clubs, Rob would shoot, and if she led diamonds or spades, Hubert would shoot. What are the odds of two players being in that position, and so early on, in the same hand? Annaka led spades, Hubert shot, and that propelled him to a huge lead. Had Rob gotten the moon shot, he would have been in great position to make the final table. Instead, he was in a bunch with Annaka and Ruth, way off of Hubert's pace. At that point, Annaka began an amazing comeback (an ongoing theme for the night), scoring only 8 more points over the next (and last) 5 hands. Meanwhile, Hubert finally ran into problems, taking the queen for the first time on the 8th hand (hold hand, of course), then taking 25 points on the following hand. Rob also had a couple of bad hands that ultimately pushed him over 100, and because of Hubert's disaster, Annaka nipped him by one point for the victory, the second SHHNHB victory of her career. Despite Ruth's steady play throughout, she couldn't match Annaka's string of zeroes or Hubert's moon shot. Two bad hands undid her chances. So Annaka was headed to her first final table, and Hubert was coming with her. All according to seed.

Consolation (race to 200, $5 to the winner)
101 - (6) Rob
118 - (4) Andrew
188 - (5) Dan
217 - (7) Ruth

Rob led this table wire to wire, over all 22 hands, to win the consolation match handily. He scored the same amount of points in this 200-point game as he did in his 100-point semifinal game. It was a dominant performance, punctuated by his jarringly loud laughter (if you know Rob, you know exactly what I'm talking about) in response to The Simpsons and Family Guy playing in the background. Needless to say, the atmosphere at the consolation table was fairly lax. Andrew made a very nice comeback to get from 60 points down to within just a queen of Rob over a span of 5 hands, punctuated by a moon shot on the second to last hand, but that's as close as he would get, as Ruth jumped over 200 on the next hand and took the queen with her, sealing the win for Rob. Dan was in contention early, but bad news came to him in pairs, as he would invariably follow up one bad hand with another before holding steady for a while, a pattern that kept him out of the mix. Rob posted his first SHHNHB victory, which probably means a jump in the rankings, and Andrew posted his third runner-up finish, more than anyone else.

Championship (race to 200, $25 to the winner)
164 - (1) Chang
164 - (2) Hubert
173 - (3) Annaka
201 - (8) Jeff

Once again the lone cinderella was the first to 200, but this time, the cinderella was very competitive. Jeff was in the mix the whole way, and he was in second place as late as 20 hands into the 27-hand game. The game was a roller coaster the whole way. Annaka took the brunt of the hits early, scoring 68 points over the second set of 4 hands, and over the following stretch of 10 hands, I only scored 17 points to jump out to a seeminly insurmountable 70-point lead over Jeff and Hubert, with Annaka another 8 points off the pace. It was at this point that things started to go sour for me.

It started with an atrocious hand, #18, where I couldn't shoot, but I couldn't get rid of the lead either, even with the 2 of hearts, and I took 25 points. On the next hand, I made a huge tactical error, losing my count of hearts and taking a hearts trick from Annaka that I didn't need to take, and following it up by leading hearts when none were left and eating the queen, also from Annaka. 20 more points. The hand after that saw Hubert and Annaka tag team to hit me, and their methodical efforts succeeded, dropping another 20 points on me. 65 points in the span of 3 hands, and my 70-point lead had quickly shrunk to just 5 over Jeff, 11 over Hubert, and 20 over Annaka. I was admittedly steaming at this point and had to take a walk through the kitchen to cool off. As they say, if you can't stand the heat, get into the kitchen (sorry).

I was officially reeled back into the field, and it felt like a huge target had been removed from my chest, but as much as I hated being targeted (and dominated repeatedly), I'll take that target and what it means anyday over being involved in a tight finish with these sharks. It was now Jeff's turn to eat the queen (and 62 points) on the next three hands, as he repeatedly had difficulty sloughing the queen on someone else and ended up eating it himself. Somehow the passes always managed to fill his voids and leave him in trouble. Unfortunately, I was taking small points, too, and on hand 24, Hubert took a 1-point lead on me, his first lead of the entire game.

The last three hands had a lot of critical moments that easily could have changed the final outcome. On hand 25, with Hubert holding a one-point lead on me and Jeff just 11 points from ending the game, Hubert took some early hearts to give me the real-time-scoring lead, so when he had a chance to drop the queen on Jeff and end the game on that hand, he refrained, and it ultimately landed on Annaka and gave the two of us some much-needed breathing room on her. It was a smart and patient play, the right one at the time, but I ended up taking enough hearts to once again leave him with a one-point lead, so if he had dropped the queen on Jeff, he might have won the game right there. No way to know that, and not worth the risk, so instead we headed to hand 26, where Hubert made another critical decision. Jeff was now only 7 points from ending the game, and Hubert once again took early hearts to give me the real-time-scoring lead, but he was holding the queen, and Annaka and I had untouchable hands, so his only options were to drop it on Jeff and end the game in favor of me, or eat it himself and give me a nice cushion on him. He obviously opted for the latter, painful as it was for him, and now I had a 19-point lead heading into hand 27, with Jeff now just 2 points away from the end. For Hubert, better to have a longshot chance than no chance at all, but if I could just drop 2 points on Jeff and take 18 or less myself, I would have a repeat championship. I was feeling good.

This is where Hubert made the move of the tournament, eerily (and frustratingly, for me) reminiscent of what he did to me on the hand of the night from SHHNHB #1. Hubert took two early hearts, now giving me a real-time-scoring lead of 21. Then he led the jack of hearts, and I had no choice but to take it to stop Hubert from possibly shooting. But then I took the queen on the next hand, as well as more hearts. Hubert had brilliantly set me up yet again, where I had the choice to let him shoot and win, or stop him from shooting but also eat a ton of points in the process. I obviously chose the latter, and things were now dicey when they seemed so safe just moments ago. Jeff then took three hearts, signaling that this would be the last hand of the night, and when all was said and done, I felt like I had managed to hold off Hubert and win by a handful of points. The actual tally was the 3 hearts for Jeff, 2 hearts for Hubert, and the queen with 9 hearts for me. We tied! There are no tie-breakers for winners, so we shared the victory and the prize money. Incredible finish. I didn't think there was any way they could catch me after I built up my huge lead, but they did exactly what they needed to do to reel me back in, resulting in another thrilling finish.


It was my fourth victory in four games, and Hubert's second, including his first championship. Annaka proved the last tournament a fluke by winning her semifinal and finishing 9 off the pace in the finals, and Jeff also had a very nice showing and will see a resulting boost in his ranking. The money breakdown was as follows:

1. Chang - $17.50
2. Hubert - $12.50
3. Annaka - $5.00
3. Rob - $5.00

Who gets to keep the traveling trophy? Luckily, Hubert and I are housemates, so it sits on top of the living room television for both of us to share. We have seen some changes in the rankings, though no movement at the top, as things mostly held to seed, and the two who made the biggest moves of the night, Rob and Jeff, started too far down to dent the top six. Thanks to everyone who particiapted, and we will see you in a month for round 3!

SKK

This week was hectic but fun as I and my five classmates taught our problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum to medical students from Sungkyunkwan (SKK) University in South Korea. For the past couple of years, the school has been sending their third year students to my school for this program because those students also will begin using PBL for their medical training. When I say third year, it is sort of comparable to first year of medical school in the U.S. After high school, Korean students have two years of pre-med classes and then four years of education equivalent to medical school here in the States.

We met each other at orientation this past Sunday. At first, the students were shy, and it was a little hard for us to speak to them. But as the week wore on, we, the tutors, learned to speak slowly, gesticulate more, and curb our "pidgin", and the students grew more comfortable with us and the culture here. We had classes everyday, but there were some fun "cultural" activites like the beach, Waimea Park, and a luau.

These students are amazing. I learned that they mostly use medical books that are written in English. I have a hard enough time reading some books, but imagine having to translate English and medical terminology. It was an awesome week, and a lot of friendships were made in such a short time.

A couple of more interesting tidbits: one of my dormmates in Donner freshman year is now a popular rapper/actor in Korea! Also, did you know that sohju comes in containers that look like innocent juice boxes?

Kyle and I being role models for the students

The best SKK PBL group!

Traci jumping off the rock at Waimea Beach

The class at Waimea Park

Da girl tutors: Erika, Traci, Sera, K-Lo, and me

At Zippys

At Zippys

Of course we studied VERY hard

At graduation dinner

Sera and I with SKK staff

The gang

Poll Change

About a week ago, I told Andrew that I would be getting rid of the poll feature on the blog because it had run its course, but then he gave me the idea of using it to let people rate movies. Perfect! Fun and useful! We're all big movie-goers, and we're all opinionated about the movies we see, so what could be better?

The first movie on the agenda is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is holding steady at 83 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. A group of us will be checking it out tonight at Shoreline, so we'll have some instant feedback to provide. Yes, Depp looks creepy, and yes, Burton has done some really weird bleep that I haven't always enjoyed, but for some reason I'm psyched to see this one. I guess it's because I loved the book as a child and read it about twenty times, and I hear this version is much more faithful to the Roald Dahl classic than was the '70s Gene Wilder version. I hope I'm not disappointed.

I debated between the current poll format and an IMDB-like drop-down from 10 to 1, but I ultimately chose this one because the meaning of each vote is already defined and therefore self-explanatory, whereas a vote of 10 to 1 doesn't necessarily mean the same thing from person to person, and no one is going to publish an explanation of rankings the way I have. Hope you find the new polls useful!

Announcing the SHHNHB #2 Lineup!

SHHNHB Official Site

SHHNHB #2 is upon us! This Saturday, July 16, at 9pm, we will crown our second champion at Casa CHAnG. Only five of the entrants from the first tournament are back, including the top four seeds, so we have some new blood this time around.

The 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 12th seeds (Lisa, Daniel, Gina, Gerald, Jason) are all unavailable, but we have plenty of players on the roster to fill out the line-up. Dan Hill is back from his European vacation and is ready to make his first SHHNHB appearance. Also making their first appearances are Ruth, who is making a timely visit to the Bay Area, and Jeff, who is holding down the Chen fort for big sis Lisa and talking a lot of trash in the process. This is the list of participants, by SHHNHB ranking, and the semifinal tables based on those rankings:

Tournament Rankings
1. Chang
2. Hubert
3. Annaka
4. Andrew
5. Dan
6. Rob
7. Ruth
8. Jeff

Semifinal Table 1
Chang
Andrew
Dan
Jeff

Semifinal Table 2
Hubert
Annaka
Rob
Ruth

Hubert and Annaka have flip-flopped rankings after the first tournament, but the change has no real impact at this point. They will still have to face-off against each other in the semifinals, along with another familiar foe, Rob, who comes in as the 6th seed despite an overall ranking that has dropped to 9th. Their fourth is Ruth, who will create an interesting dynamic worth watching due to her relationship with Hubert. Reminder to the couple: relationships are checked at the door on SHHNHB night. It will also be interesting to see how Hubert performs after arriving from London just a couple of hours prior to the tournament.

Andrew and I are also facing off again in the semis, but this time we'll be going up against Dan and Jeff, the veteran and the kid. Dan is experienced playing with us, so we know he has the capability to win it all, but Jeff is a real question mark, since this will be his first time playing with the SHH crew. His mouth hasn't stopped flapping since finding out about the tournament, so we'll find out soon enough if he can back it up.

Can I repeat? Will Annaka prove the last tournament a fluke and make her first final table? Who will be this month's cinderella? All will be answered this Saturday. Let's get it started! Good luck!

Happy Birthday, Roscoe!

Russell turns 27 today! Wish him a happy birthday, folks! He's the youngest of the Downey guys, by less than two weeks.

I wish I could join you for the celebration, Russ, but I'm sure you'll have an awesome time, and I look forward to the recap on your blog!


Who's the birthday boy? I'm the birthday boy!

Exciting time in sports

It's not uncommon to hear that the sports scene sucks this time of year. No football or basketball, college or pros. Baseball dominates Sportscenter, but it's boring without Barry.

So how is it that I find myself overwhelmed with exciting sporting events and news to follow this week, dominated by hockey (in the summer), bike racing, poker, and golf? Forget the big three. This is where the action is:

Hockey is back, baby!

After the disgraceful loss of an entire season, the owners and players have finally come to a labor agreement, and training camps will open on time. Hockey's ills won't be cured by labor peace, but they certainly weren't going to be cured during another protracted holdout, so this is a big first step. Next action item: opening up the game and making it more accessible to the average fan. This starts by regulating and enforcing goalie pad sizes, the #1 most important step that can be taken (besides actually playing) to improve the game. As big a Ducks fan as I am, comparing Jiggy's pads in '03 to those of goalies in the early '80s is ridiculous. I also hear that the red line may be going bye-bye. Anything to open up the game is good. The one thing I don't want to see is overtime shootouts, which are on the table. I'm fine with ties. I just want the 5-5 variety.

So now that hockey is back, I look forward to going to many Sharks games at the Tank (hockey is the best sport to watch in person) and watching games at Russell's and Lisa's places on HDTV (hockey is the best sport to watch on HDTV)! There's nothing like it.

Lance going out like Elway

It was awesome to see Gerald watch his first ever stage of the Tour de France last night on OLN, because I could literally see a new fan being created. During the pre-race discussion, he walked over to my room and said, "No way they race 120 miles in one day. They make stops, right?" Yeah they stop, after the 120 miles are done. Then they do it again the next day, and for the next 20 days after that.

Later, during a mountain descent, he screamed, "Sixty miles per hour! Holy $#!*! These guys are insane!" Yes they are. And the 14 percent grade they just climbed over the previous 15 miles to get to that descent is even more insane. Compare that to the 6 percent grade my car struggles to climb when I drive through the Grapevine. Sick.

We watched the entire stage, all 120 miles of it, and it was thrilling! It was the first mountain-top finish of this year's tour, and as Lance has done at the same stage of his previous six tours, he took control of the race and decimated his top rivals. The race isn't over, and I won't jinx him, but if he maintains his current form and avoids any hazards, he'll go out like one of my other all-time favorites: on top. That guy was also fond of the number 7.

Raymer the real deal

The Fossilman came out of nowhere to win the WSOP Main Event last year, but he's proving this year that it was no fluke. Over 5,600 people entered (barely 500 entered back when Johnny Chan was winning the thing), only 27 remain, and Raymer has the 5th-largest chip stack. To come back and make it this far after winning it all last year is amazing. How can I not root for him to do it again?

Chip lead is, ugh, Mike the Mouth Matusow. I can't stand him (who can?), though this does set up the possibility of a repeat from last year's tournament, when Raymer busted Matusow and literally sent him off crying. I would enjoy seeing that again.

Stack #2 belongs to the very intimidating Phil Ivey. Gotta respect that guy's skills. He's probably the best player remaining and has to be considered the favorite, but I'll be pulling for the jolly big guy in the goofy glasses. We'll have our winner in a couple days, so stay tuned. Or avoid my blog and be surprised on ESPN in three freakin' months. Ridiculous.

Wie back in action

What do you know, she's playing the guys again, though this time in an amateur event, and she's been clutch! The first two rounds are medal play to determine the top 64 for a match play tournament, and despite a really poor start, she pulled herself together to make it to the tournament portion of the event. Then she sunk a 15-foot birdie on the 18th hole to win her first match, 1-up! Go Michelle!

So this morning she's in the round of 32, and if she wins, she'll immediately go back out for the Sweet 16 in the afternoon. A ton is at stake in this tournament. Winner gets an automatic invite to the Masters at Augusta, where no woman has ever played, let alone a teenage girl.

Another player already came out earlier this week and said that she doesn't belong in this tournament. The reason: "Guys aren't allowed to play in women's tournaments, so I don't see why they should be able to play in ours." You don't see? Really? Then it's a good thing you're good at golf, dumb ass. How about because there is no men's tour? It's just a tour for everyone (as the rules state), and the only reason it's all men is because the best players are all men. Or were. Wie qualified fair and square, through the same process as everyone else, and she's already beaten most of the field. This ass clown is still alive in the tournament, and I hope Wie gets a chance to take him down. The (huge) galleries have been really supportive, and the fact that she's gotten this far is already a fantastic achievement. Have I ever mentioned that she's only 15?

Eldrick the favorite at St. Andrews

The third major of the year kicks off this morning, and Tiger is an overwhelming favorite to win the second Claret Jug of his career (and his second major of the year). It could be due to the fact that he won by 8 strokes the last time the Open was played there, with the largest ever score under par at a major. That'll usually do it. I don't want to jinx him, but if there were ever a sure thing in golf...

I frankly don't care for watching golf unless Tiger wins, so I'm hoping he puts a pounding on the field (and I think he will). I often wonder how closely I'll follow the Tour de France after this year, once Lance is retired. I know I'll still watch, because I do enjoy the sport, but it'll be with less passion. With golf, I don't have to wonder at all. I know I wouldn't watch without Tiger, and now Michelle. I also wouldn't have bothered writing about the WSOP if it weren't for Raymer's encore performance. Without him, it's just a bunch of guys I don't care about playing cards (granted, for $56 million in prize money). So if you think I'm strange for being so excited about bike racing, poker, and golf, it's more (or entirely) about the people involved, and less about the sport itself. Hockey I love regardless. Which brings us to:

Rove feeling like a puck

I had to throw this one in, because the way these guys play, politics is most definitely a sport. I must say, I'm bored with the minutiae of the scandal. Did Rove leak a CIA operative's identity? Was the identity already known before the leak, which, even if he didn't know at the time, would get him off the hook? Can he be classified as a whistle blower? How does one define "is"? I could care less.

I am, however, enjoying the relentless fervor with which Jon Stewart has been going after this story on The Daily Show. He showed one clip of Press Secretary Scott McClellan being absolutely hammered by reporters for ducking their questions with the official stance that the White House will not comment on an ongoing investigation, when just a while back it was happy to comment on the same investigation when the $#!* had yet to hit the proverbial fan. Then Stewart leans in and whispers, "We've secretly replaced the White House press corps with...actual reporters."

Stewart then cuts to a clip demonstrating McClellan "losing his cool" in the face of this onslaught, where he says to a reporter, "I already answered that question, Dick." Stewart: "Oh, that is so low, calling a reporter a dick." Hilarious show; I highly recommend it.

On the serious side, I am very curious to see whether Bush cans Rove's ass as promised, or whether he tries to sweep this one under the rug. Two things about Bush that are admirable, but in serious conflict with each other: he absolutely hates unauthorized leaks (he has mastered the art of the authorized ones) and has already sworn to fire the person responsible for this one, but he is also fiercely loyal to his friends. What's this mean for Rove? The White House does not comment on an ongoing investigation. Sigh.

Take a tour of my new place!

As you all know, I recently moved in with Andrew, Gerald, and Hubert. It's a great place, and a great group of guys, and we are already having a lot of fun together. On Sunday, we went to Sears and bought what will soon prove to be the end of us: an electronic dartboard. My primary exposure to one of these things has been at Russell's place, but we've only used it in spurts there, so I figured it would be just a nice diversion every once in a while. Wrong! It's a freaking obsession! We've already played tons of cricket and 301/501 (and even 901), and while I started out as the most experienced and consistent, I've quickly been passed up by Andrew. He even beat me left-handed at 301 last night. :(


We're thinking that now we have enough events to host a four-leg tournament of champions that includes Hearts, Darts, Hold 'Em, and Game Cube. One tournament per weekend, four weekends a month. The Grand Slam! Who's in?

I thought I was a pretty serious night owl, but these guys are teaching me what that truly means. It's not unusual for me to stay up until 2am, but that still puts me first in bed, easily. This Friday I didn't call it a night until 3am, and I was the first asleep by almost 3 hours! My kind of place.

I ended up getting the house's master bedroom (which is a good thing because of how much stuff I have), and I love everything about it. Want to check it out? Take the interactive tour that I've set up! You can just breeze through if you want, but there's a lot to see if you take your time and look for everything. Just click on the house below to get started, and don't be shy about poking around the room!

Korean pride!

These past few weeks have gone by so fast, with 2 weeks in Japan (new pictures are up on the photos page; check 'em out if you have the time! :) ), a nice long weekend with Chang, Hubert, and Ruth, and my geriatrics rotation starting. This week, I'm am on hiatus from the geriatrics program and will be tutoring second year students from Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine.

In Asia, undergraduate and medical school education are combined into a 6-year program. So, these kids are around 19 years old (apparently, the drinking age in Korea is 18...I asked my kids what they liked to do in their free time, and they said drink!). They just finished a year of basic science and will be embarking on a curriculum similar to mine, the problem based learning (PBL) one, in which we learn by basing our studies off clinical cases. In these cases, we are presented with a mock patient, and we learn about differential diagnoses, how to read labs, how to treat them, etc. It's definitely more interesting and more clinically relevant than pure lectures, but there is a lot of self-studying and not as much structure. Anyway, I digress :)

So, these students come to my school for a week to learn the PBL process and to learn a bit about the local culture.

Five of my classmates and I were picked to be their tutors and help them through the process. About 33 Korean students and some of their faculty arrived today, and I had the first chance to meet my group. Their English was okay, except for one student who spoke really well (his mom is an English teacher). So, the language may be a problem, especially for me since I speak fast and apparently have some sort of "local" accent? :) There are mostly males in their class, which is a reversal from my class. Our advisor had told us that there have been problems in the past of students falling in love with their tutors! :) I mentioned that my fiance was Korean to try to blend in with them, and they sort of booed in disappointment! :) Or maybe I was imagining things...

Tomorrow starts the actual classes. Should be interesting! We'll also be going on a boat ride, to the beach, and a luau, so it should also be fun and tiring. I'll keep you all posted on what happens! For now, I need to remember their names!

Me, Jae Hyuck, Tae Ho, Sang Yeon, Seul Kee, Moon Oh, and Young A

The Big Wiesy

Hawaii local Michelle Wie was 4-under with four holes to go in the second round of the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic, and the cut line was set at 3-under, which put her on target to be the first female to make the cut at a men's event in over 60 years. And she's only 15!

But Wie went 3-over on the last four holes, dropping her to 1-under for the tournament and outside the cut. Still a very impressive showing under the circumstances, and she's proving that as she matures and focuses more time to golf, she'll eventually be able to hang with the men, not to mention dominate the women. She's already finished second in a women's major championship (behind the peerless Anika Sorenstam), and taken the lead into the final round of another. And she's only 15!

But as great as her success has been to follow, I worry about her burning out prematurely. Hopefully she really enjoys the touring and isn't being forced into anything by her parents or handlers. We've seen too many prodigal teenage tennis players flame out early in their careers because of domineering parents or an inability to adjust to the lifestyle or pressure. Too much, too fast. She should get a chance to be a girl and enjoy high school. And though I am admittedly biased, I'd also love to see Wie teeing it up in college for her dream school (and my personal favorite), as she says she will. But as her success builds, it's going to be harder and harder to stay amateur. The amount of prize money she's already lost because of her status is substantial, and when you consider the endorsement opportunities...it's safe to predict that she would immediately become one of the top five richest athletes in all of sports, maybe number two behind only Tiger. But that is all waiting for her after college, as it was for Tiger, so hopefully she follows his path and suits up for the Cardinal, but more importantly gets a chance to grow up normally and enjoy being a girl. Did I mention she's only 15?

From Ecstasy to Tragedy

As you've all heard by now, London was in the midst of a huge high from celebrating its selection as host city of the 2012 Olympics when 4 terrorist bombs, coordinated within minutes of each other, exploded on subway cars and double-decker buses throughout the city.

I don't know how many people you know in London, but I have a lot of coworkers out there with whom I am close friends, and I was relieved to hear that they are all fine. It's also very fortunate that Hubert wasn't slated to visit our London office until next week. Is that trip still on? I'd have to think it‘ll be postponed.

To me, the most revealing thing about these attacks is the heightened security around the nation that inevitably follows. It tells me that we respond impulsively and in an arbitrary manner to something that requires greater precision, simply because we feel the need to assure the people that we are doing something, even if it's not needed and actually serves to just increase the level of anxiety. And in cases where we actually need the heightened security, it's glaring that our signal to be on high alert was an attack that was already carried out in another country. What does that say about our security beforehand, and our vulnerability to attack then? I'm not knocking it, because I don't think it's feasible to sustain top level security everywhere that it is needed on an ongoing basis, nor would I want it. But it highlights the largely reactive nature of combating terrorism that can leave one feeling helpless.

For instance, some stadiums around the country just put metal detectors in place today, in response to the attack. That begs the question, why weren’t they in place beforehand, and should they now be installed at every site that hosts a large gathering of people? Without them, what’s to stop someone from walking in with a bomb? Once they are in place, what’s to stop someone from walking in with a non-metal weapon? Should we frisk everyone and use x-ray machines and specially-trained dogs, too? Imagine going through the airport process every time you went to a sporting event or concert, jumped on the subway or bus, visited Disneyland, watched a movie, or ate at a popular restaurant. No way would the country accept that level of security. But if we aren't willing to take things that far, then realistically we can only react to these situations, and by then it's too late.

The fact is, metal detectors make very little difference anyway, except in the way things are done. But action had to be taken, right? It's all show. Combating terrorism is like combating steroids. Stop one tactic, a new one is developed. Stop that one, and yet another comes along. We’re constantly playing catch up. Our only proactive weapon is intelligence, and while that makes a bigger difference than we ever hear about (or would want to know about, for that matter), it’s probably not going to stop something as simple as a suicide bomber walking into a diner or bus or school or office building.

So should we obsess about this constant threat and live in perpetual fear? Absolutely not. But I do find it ironic that the increase in security that was intended to reassure me just served to make me more insecure, not less, by conjuring all kinds of questions I'd rather not think about, and probably don't need to ask.

Nonetheless, I look forward to visiting London someday. I'm told that it's an amazing city, and with the upcoming renovations to prepare it for the Olympics, it can only get better. On to happier days.

82 and Sunny

As you all know, Hubert, Ruth, and I spent the extra-long holiday weekend in Honolulu with Gina, and we packed in a lot of stuff in three days.

Saturday morning, we headed out on a tour around the island, driving along the Eastern coast up to the North Shore, where we passed by Chinaman's Hat, and Hubert and Ruth got their first feel of Hawaii's warm waters:



We then stopped at a beach that had a big rock in the ocean, about the height of a 10M platform dive, and Hubert and I took a few jumps, including one together. As you can see, I was really timid (that's me in the foreground), but Hubert really launched himself:



Afterwards, we picked up some dessert at the famous Matsumoto's, where we got an assortment of flavored, finely shaved ice, stacked on top of red beans and vanilla ice cream. Delicious!


On the way back to Honolulu, we made a quick stop at the Dole Plantation, home of the largest maze in the world (in the shape of, what else, a pineapple). We walked around the gardens, and Hubert showed an Andrew-like propensity for useless photography. He also bought a pack of pineapple playing cards, but more on that later.



That night, we watched War of the Worlds, and I was the only one who thought it was okay. Gina and Hubert had pretty violent reactions to it. None of it took place in Texas, so Ruth seemed pretty indifferent.

The next day, Hubert and Ruth checked out Pearl Harbor while Gina and I slept in (been there, done that). We all met up afterwards at the gigantic Ala Moana Shopping Center, mostly to look for some board shorts for Hubert. No luck, so we headed to Waikiki, where Hubert hit gold at the big Local Motion store. Despite the purchase of a nice pair of black, white, and red Quicksilvers, his search for board shorts would continue and, even after a second purchase, evolve into an obsession...he's probably already in possession of pair #3 by now.

We did the obligatory walk down Waikiki beach, which is touristy, but the scenery is not to be missed:


By then, we had worked up quite the appetites, especially Hubert, so we decided to eat at Curry House, home of the infamous Curry Challenge, which Hubert was determined to conquer. Back in spring of '02, Jeremy pulled off the feat, which requires eating 1300 grams of steaming-hot rice (nearly 3 lbs) loaded with spicy curry and meat, all in 20 minutes. Jer did it in 18:10. Hubert did it in 17:56! For his accomplishment, he got a free meal, his picture on the wall, a nice case of heartburn, and much respect:


That night, we watched How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, a chick flick that Ruth bought for Gina as a thank-you gift for playing host. Then we busted out the aformentioned pineapple cards for a Hawaiian Hearts Invitational, and the damn cards were jinxed! On the first hand, Hubert had three opportunities to drop the queen on Gina, but being the generous guy that he is, he saved her for me. I retaliated on the next hand, then he hit me, then I hit him, and so on, and to make a long story short...Gina 27, Chang 59, Ruth 84, Hubert 109. Gina took down the top two seeds in the SHHNHB, and it wasn't even close!

On the final day of our Hawaiian adventure, we woke up early to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It's a beautiful, popular spot, so some of the coral is beat up, but Hubert and I found a great spot that is mostly ignored, and we saw a lot of colorful coral and huge fish. Check out Hubert's board shorts...actually, mine were new, too (my fourth pair!):



That night, we headed back to Ala Moana Shopping Center for a huge, 20-minute fireworks show, the third largest in America, behind only NYC and Boston. While we waited, we ate more Curry House and played another game of Hearts, this time with a new deck, and it was much more agreeable with Hubert, who didn't take a single queen and dominated. The fireworks show was the best I've ever seen, but getting out of the parking lot was brutal because of non-existent traffic control, except for this one idiot rent-a-cop with a power trip whose crucial job was to tell cars to alternate during a merge. What a worthwhile existence.



To end the trip, we played some Poker War, which basically merges the elements of (duh) Poker and War. Each player plays a poker hand face up, one card at a time, and the winning hand gets all the cards, but you can fold at any time and sacrifice the cards you have already played. The game was invented one night by (guess who) me and Andrew. Six games were played, and Hubert finished last in five of them. Just thought I'd mention that.

It was a relaxing weekend, and just what I needed after a stretch of hectic travel, sickness, and pain-in-the-ass moving. Thanks to Gina and her generous parents for hosting the bunch of us for the extra-long weekend! It was a lot of fun experiencing Hawaii with some newbies, and it's been great getting to spend almost two weeks with Gina in the last month. Hubert and Ruth are continuing their vacation in Maui, but I'm back for the short work week. Time to organize my new room!

Roddick lost :(

I didn't watch the finals, because it was played at 3am here, but based on the score, it looked very decisive. Federer is, for the third straight year, the king of the All-England Club. I makes me sad that he didn't come along at the same time as Pistol Pete, so that we could have been treated to an epic rivalry, probably the greatest of all time. The two would have met in the Wimbledon finals literally every year, and probably in a large number of Australian and US finals, too (let's not kid ourselves about the French). As it is, they both dominated their respective eras on grass, and as no one challenged Pete's supremacy at Wimbledon, it looks like no one can challege Federer at this point, either. He's not unbeatable on other surfaces, so I'll be pulling for Roddick in Flushing Meadows. But once again, Roddick is Wimbledon bridesmaid, and if he wants to turn this into a real rivalry, he'll have to pull a Boston Red Sox and actually win once in a while (1-9 career vs. Federer).

In Tour news, Lance finished with the pack in Stage Two and is still in second place. For those who are not familiar with Tour racing, flat stages don't create any time gaps among the leaders. If you finish within a second of the person in front of you, you receive the same time, so a pack finish gives everyone the same time as the guy who crosses the finish line, and the physics of biking just doesn't allow for anything other than a pack finish on flat stages. A group of ten guys drafting together will still go much slower than a group of 150, because of the amount of wind hitting each rider, and therefore the amount of energy each must expend to maintain the same speed.

If a breakaway group does form, it's only because no one in the group is a threat to the GC leaders, so it is allowed to get away, at least temporarily. Otherwise, if the main pack, known as the peleton, wants to chase down a small group of riders, it can do so as long as it makes its move early enough. Usually the sprint teams lead the peleton's chase of breakaway groups on the flat stages, because the sprint teams want a pack finish, where their sprinters can be set up to dash for stage glory, and this can only be done on a flat stage.

We won't see additional time gaps between the top contenders until we hit the mountains or time trials. Tour biking is definitely a team sport in that teams will not allow their top rider to lose time to another contender if they can help it (and on flat stages, they can always help it). They will protect their leader, allow him to draft and save energy, grab water bottles for him...whatever it takes to make sure he's positioned to make a move when one can be made. Because breakaways can be chased down so easily on flat stages, the top contenders never even bother. Why waste the energy? So they wait until the mountains, where the steep climbs break up teams, leave leaders isolated, and create situations where a rider's own strength--and not his team's--determines his place.

Each time trial also has the potential to create significant time gaps. A time trial is known as "The race of truth," because it's mano-a-mano, each rider on his own, with no teammates to help, so the true strength of each rider is shown.

Lance has the best team in the world to help shepherd him through the flat stages unharmed, and he is the most dominant rider in both the mountain stages and time trials, a combination that has made him unbeatable the last six years. And based on what we saw in the first race of truth, the prologue, he's in top form once again.

I won't jinx him, but...

I will say that things are looking very good for Lance Armstrong in his quest for a seventh consecutive tour victory, and first riding for team Discovery (the light blue just looks weird, but I digress):


The prologue, a short time trial to kick off each tour, usually does very little in the way of separating the top contenders. It's just too short a ride to create big time gaps. For instance, this year's prologue was only 11.8 miles, the purpose of which was to create tiny time gaps so that the yellow jersey can be awarded before Stage 1.

Things don't always go as planned. The yellow jersey was awarded, to a relatively unknown American named David Zabriskie, who posted the fastest average speed in a time trial ever, but he's not a contender for the general classification (GC, the overall standings). Lance, who is the favorite in the GC, finished second, just two seconds behind. Third place, Alexander Vinokourov (a GC contender), finished 53 seconds behind!!! That is a huge time gap between contenders over such a short distance. Jan Ulrich, widely considered the most talented rider in the sport and Lance's main competition, and the only other rider besides Lance to win a Tour (along with 5 runner-up finishes), finished 1:08 back. That's more than the amount by which Lance beat Jan in 2003 in the entire 2,100-mile race in 2003, when the margin was 1:01.

To make things worse, they send riders out one at a time at one-minute intervals, and because Jan was sent out right before Lance, Lance actually passed him on the road. You'll occasionally see this happen on longer time trials, when there is more of an opportunity to create large time gaps, but on such a short course, it has to be a demoralizing blow to Jan to be passed on the road.

So Lance sets out on his last Tour with nearly one minute or more on all of his main competitors on a day when no one expected separation of more than a few seconds. A minute isn't a huge lead for a race that spans three weeks and 2,100 miles, but with the form that Lance showed today, especially relative to his competition, and with the best team in the world supporting him, it's hard to see this Tour finishing any differently than it has the past six years, with Lance in yellow on the Champs Elysee.

The only thing that could top Lance's dominant performance would be a victory by Andy Roddick in tomorrow's Wimbledon final over two-time defending champion Roger Federer. Nothing against Federer, who really is amazing to watch, but I'm an unabashed Roddick fan, and I hope he notches the second Grand Slam championship of his career tomorrow. He almost did it in last year's Wimbledon final, but a rain stoppage killed his momentum as he was rolling Federer, and the Swiss machine came back with renewed focus and dominated the rest of the match. Time to bust out those 150-mph serves, Andy! You'll need 'em to take down the champ and finish the match looking like this:

Happy Birthday, Lo!

I can't believe I have to qualify which Lo's birthday it is...never thought I'd have two Lo friends. I'll let the picture do the talking:


This is Alan making the Jack-in-the-Box run for Russell's wedding reception. Russ was too cheap to get a caterer. :)

Alan turns 27 today, and boy do we have some fun plans in store for him, but I'll refrain from giving details until later. For now, have a great day, Lo!

The dishes are done, man

After a full week of moving, one car-load at a time, I'm finally done! Well, done enough. There are still a few things left at the old place, but nothing necessary for living, so last night was my first in the new place. I haven't organized my stuff yet, but at least it's there, which was the hard part.

This process has taught me a valuable lesson. Hire movers. It's worth the cost. At my old place, I had the ideal location for living: top floor, middle of the complex...the quietest spot you could find. No foot traffic, car alarms, garbage trucks...barely a hint of the trains. But what made it great for living made it horrendous for moving. Three flights of stairs to navigate, and no nearby parking. It would take me an hour to load up the car with stuff that took five minutes to unload at the new place, where I could park right next to the door on the first floor. And because it took so long just to get to my car, I'd load up my body with as much as I could possibly carry (three boxes, two backpacks, and some bundles balanced on my head), whereas I could unload a box at a time no problem.

Anyway, now that that's done, it's time to relax on a beach for a few days, watch some movies, get some reading done, and eat some good food. Perhaps a scenic hike if my legs allow. Whoever decided to give us a four-day weekend...thank you! It could not have come at a better time.