Honolulu's Best of...

One of our local newspapers created a local poll, asking people to rate a range of businesses, schools, etc. And, yay, my family's florist won "Best Lei Stand/Florist"! But I do question the accuracy of this poll in regards to the category "Best Private School". For some reason, some other school won, whose name I have never heard of before. And of course, the newspaper had to add in Iolani and Punahou as runners-up. Whatevahs.

http://best06.honoluluadvertiser.com/best/companies/84

Front Row, Upper Bowl

Lisa and I got our football seating assignments today for the new stadium, and while we didn't get exactly what we were hoping for, we somehow ended up in an incredible spot anyway...front row of the upper bowl!

We were hoping to get into the alumni sections, 232 and 231, but demand was so high (good news!) that we slipped all the way to 230 (bad news). This puts us a little further from the 50-yard line than we expected (right around the 15 instead of the 30), and we landed in the backed benches rather than the seats, which is a definite comfort loss.

So why am I still happy with our assignment? Because we got the front row, baby! Row A! They're the same seats I try to get whenever I go to a show. The view is unobstructed, the action is very close, and I can stretch out my legs. Of course, no stage is nearly as wide as a football field, but I'm willing to sacrifice a lot of centering in order to get Row A Mezzanine. If we could have gotten any seat in 232, I would have been thrilled, but it's evident now that it was a pipe dream, so given a choice between seats in 231 or the front row of 230, I would take what we got (though if we had ended up in 230 but not in Row A, I'd be bent!). And our seats are to the far left of the section facing the field, so we're as close to midfield as we can be. All in all, I'm psyched with the result.

Here's where we'll be:



Or if you prefer the real thing:



The seats are split between me and Lisa, but they are technically under her name only, so I guess this means I have to be really nice to her for the rest of our lives, or I'll lose my tickets. Sigh, how exhausting. I need hand.

Of course, this will all be moot when the law firm Chen & Kim gets its suite in the skybox. :)

Now That's Branding!

Looking to get your name out to the masses? Forget NASCAR or a Super Bowl commercial. Do what I did, and sponsor a football club in the top division of the FA Premier League, the world's most popular and most watched sporting league.

The club that I've been sponsoring since 2004 is Everton FC, in Liverpool. Everton has a proud tradition, having played more seasons and won more points in the top division than any other club. It has the second-longest current run in the top division and is a founding member of the league, back in 1888.

Recently, the club has struggled to break into the upper-echelon of the league, occupied by international giants Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and cross-town rival Liverpool. With consistent finishes in the middle of the standings (11th this past season), relegation is not a concern, but much work needs to be done to compete with the big boys.

But even though my boys may not play the best, they always look the best:



My name is not yet as ubiquitous as Vodafone (Man U), Samsung (Chelsea), or O2 (Arsenal), but I'm getting exposure to over a billion viewers worldwide (at an annual cost of only £1.5 million), and with rising stars like Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill, the club is sure to be a regular contender for the League Championship in upcoming years. So it is only a matter of time before the name Chang is known throughout the world. The best part is, I've got some beer company from Thailand footing the entire bill!

If you would like to get on the Everton FC/Chang bandwagon, you can pre-order your own '06-'07 replica kit at the official Everton site for only £36 (available June 22):

Fun in the Smog

Two things one notices when driving from the Bay Area to SoCal: 1) the air is terrible down here, and 2) the traffic is ridiculous. I guess they go hand in hand. There's a #3, but due to the current political climate, I won't go there, though it probably goes hand in hand with 1 and 2.

I finally got to meet the cousins who are staying at my parents' for the year, the two daughters of my dad's second-youngest sister. The last time I went to South Korea, they were something like one and three years old, so essentially this is the first time we've met (they are now 20 and 22). It's a lot of fun having cousins around. Until fairly recently, my family was the only one on either side of the family tree to move out of Korea (and I'm the first to be born in the US), so growing up, I never really saw any of them.

What are they doing out here for so long? Glad you asked. The culture in Korea these days is such that, if you don't speak English, you don't get a job. So most young adults their age are currently in the US or Canada, taking intensive classes and submerging themselves in the culture for a year to learn the language. It's impressive. And humbling. In just a few months, they've managed to reach a level with their English that far exceeds my Korean or French.

Today we headed to Universal Studios, and on our way there (this is a total aside), I asked my cousins if they had heard of a hip hop star in Korea named Dan Lee. Blank stares. Then I said, with a great amount of uncertainty, "Tablo?" and they freaked. "We love Tablo!" Dan Lee is Tablo, though he's no longer known by his American name. He's also Gina's freshman dormmate, and a pretty big deal in Korea. Gina, they want autographed photos. Any chance you can make that happen? They're big fans.

Anyway, back on topic. It had been ten years since I last went to Universal, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Was the studio still relevant in this digital day and age? And would my cousins be familiar enough with the culture to care either way? The answers were both a resounding yes. Lots of cool stuff on the tour, and the girls had seen everything we came across. One might say this stuff is truly...Universal (forgive me, it's late).

Here we are in front of the ubiquitous Universal Studios sign, followed by a fake backdrop of the Hollywood sign. No, Andrew, I didn't photoshop some Asian dude into the pictures. That's really my brother.





We started the day with the studio tour. Here's a shot of the sets from The Grinch and Psycho.



On the left is one of their more recent sets, for War of the Worlds. On the right, the girls are getting friendly with Tom Hanks in front of the Apollo 13 pod.



I couldn't get a great shot of this, but it's the bigature used for the boat that takes the crew to Skull Island in Peter Jackson's King Kong, along with the beast himself.



Anyone recognize this one? It's Wysteria Lane, from Desperate Housewives.



After the studio tour, we hit all the major rides and attractions, including Back to the Future, Shrek 4D (most impressive), T2, The Mummy (most thrilling), Van Helsing, and Jurassic Park (most photogenic).







The park wasn't too busy, so no line took longer than 20 minutes. And the attractions were all fun. We had a great time, and my pass is good for the rest of the year, so if anyone wants to go, I'm up for another trip. And from some angles, the air even looks clean:



Afterwards, my dad grilled ten pounds of Korean BBQ, and my mom brought out her homemade kimchee from January (ages like wine). I managed to down eight of the spareribs, and I'm still feeling full, 5 hours and a tennis match later:



It's been a wonderful trip, and I only wish it were a day longer so I could hang out with everyone. It's been a surprisingly long time since I've seen Eddy, Russ, Drew, et al. But I'll be down again very soon for work, so I'll see you all then. In the meantime, take shallow breaths, and use side streets.

Down to Downey

I'm calling it an early day and heading to Downey in an hour with my brother. The trip is long overdue, because a) it's simply been a while since my last trip, b) I haven't seen my cousins yet, who are staying there for a few months, and c) it was my mom's birthday/Mother's Day last week. Lots of family stuff to which to attend. Hopefully I'll get a chance to hang out with friends, too, but it's a short trip.

Ultimately, this was the best weekend for me to head down, but there's a fair amount I'll be missing out on up here (damn, three prepositions in a row...that's gotta be a record!):

Lisa's Graduation - The JD is finally done, and Lisa gets to lead the class procession for being a badass. How cool is that! Congrats, Lis! Wish I could be there.

Drew's Visit - Drew was planning to come up for the weekend, but I think I partially ruined his plans. I guess we'll just have to hang out down there instead. How about coming up for the long weekend? We'll barbeque, watch some hockey, and catch X3. I'm sure it won't disappoint like...

Da Vinci Code - The company is paying for 20(!) showings, and based on the reviews, free might be the only way I choose to see it. I thought this movie was a sure thing, but now I may choose to just stay away.

Potential Softball Win - This may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is. Our team royally stinks. I mean, I'm not sure I've ever been on a team this bad in any sport, and I've played on a lot of teams. But this weekend we're playing the other crappy team in the league, perhaps our one chance to win all season, and I'm out of town! Sigh...I sure do miss winning.

A's Game - Hubert got tickets to tonight's A's/Giants game, and hopefully he gets to witness Barry hit 714 (and 715), but that will just make me bitter for having missed out on the history. I hope it happens anyway, but I'll never hear the end of it.

The Rain - What a wacky weather year. Looks like Storm Watch 2006 is back on, with rain in the forecast for the next four days. Craziness! This is one I don't mind missing, and it might negate the previous two as well. So long as it doesn't slow down stadium construction. Speaking of which, the stadium webcams have been down today, and I'm starting to get the shakes. I need my fix!

Enjoy the weekend!

Annaka Got Finalist!

Blog overload. Just wanted to wish Annaka good look in her Da Vinci Code Quest. She made the top 10,000!

As such, she will be receiving a replica cryptex:


And of course she gets the chance to win the huge travel/Sony prize package. No undue pressure on her, of course, as the sheer number of competitors makes victory unlikely, even for Annaka, but it's still great that she gets a chance. Drew finished, too, but he couldn't get to the final puzzle until late in the day, so he had no chance. And Hubert and I got the shaft for being employees (BOOO!). I don't even care about the prizes, since I know I wouldn't win anyway. I just want to play and have a chance to compete. I miss the puzzles. :(

Send good thoughts Annaka's way. If anyone can pull it off...

Stupid ABC

This kind of crap pisses me off. I have only three dramas on my television slate next year, and the bleepers at ABC go and put one head-to-head with another. Twenty-one primetime slots in a week, people, c'mon!

A day after NBC announced its upcoming fall schedule, with Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on Thursdays at 9pm, ABC announced that Grey's Anatomy will be moving to...Thursdays at 9pm.

In the age of Tivo, this shouldn't be a big deal, but with the recent news that Tivo isn't accepting lifetime subscriptions any longer, I'm not sure I'll ever activate mine (though I very much appreciate the gift, guys). That leaves me with my Sony Giga Pocket, and since Thursdays are also Stanford hoops days, I can't always watch one while recording the other. I'll regularly be forced to choose which of the two to record, while missing the other entirely. My only hope is that Studio 60 sucks, but we all know that isn't gonna happen.

This also pisses me off because I want Studio 60 to succeed, and being pit against CSI and now Grey's...how does one compete with two top-five shows?

It will be interesting to see if NBC is eventually forced to move the show in response. It obviously wouldn't happen immediately (egos and all), but the ratings war may leave them no choice.

Just leave Wednesdays at 9pm alone.

CK's Obsession

I think about it at least once every 15 minutes. It's the first thing I check in the morning, and I take a last look at 11pm, before the lights go out. I keep a browser tab open all day, dedicated to the live webcams that provide me with a continuous fix. My obsession has made me the target of my coworkers' ridicule.

But I just can't get enough of the new stadium construction.

Only half a year into the project, and here's where we stand:



Our seats are in! We haven't received official word yet on our exact location (notices are being sent out over the next week), but we know what section we're in, as indicated by the arrow. It is reserved for alumni, and the view will be fantastic.

In the lower bowl, one section has already been poured with concrete, and two others have the wooden forms in place for concrete (the big blue crane is doing the pouring). That work should be done around the entire lower bowl within a couple of weeks, at which point they will start to install seats. In the upper bowl, there are still about 10 rows that need to be installed at the top of the sideline sections, so the steel work isn't entirely done yet.

The gap in the bowl has been enclosed with steel, and the entrance to the field is now just a tunnel. It would be cool to sit in those seats right above the tunnel and scream at the players as they run in and out. Maybe I'll sneak down there one time just for the experience, since it's a student section, so no assigned seating.



Not as much going on here, but you can see that the dirt fill is up to the top level in the foreground, which means they'll soon pour concrete and set the grass for the family fun zone. They still need to complete the fill in other parts of the stadium, primarily in the opposite end, and the dirt is coming from the excavation site for the underground parking lot they're building beneath Wilbur Field(!).

The skybox frame is completed, so now they are putting up the exterior walls (the front of which will be entirely glass). The rooftop will be accessible to fans (they should put a restaurant up there), and apparently, if you take the elevator up to the top viewing platform (that tower jutting out of the skybox), you can see the city on a clear day. Someday, when we're rich old fuddy duddies, we'll have a suite in that thing. :)



My obsessive viewing of the cameras paid off, as I caught the placement of the top of the S on the back of the skybox! Actually, my coworker Steve (the voice of Stanford Stadium and Maples Pavilion) IM'd me to let me know it was about to happen. He's way more obsessed than I am. He has also offered to let me be his backup booth spotter (the guy who feeds him info while he announces), so when his wife isn't available for duty, I'll be watching games with him from the skybox! :)

Four months to the day until opening night against Navy...can't wait! In the meantime, I'll be monitoring the progress. Join the club: Stadium Site

I shoulda been an architect.

Grey's Anatomy

ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!
Enough said :)

Bye Bye Bartlett

I have mixed feelings as I prepare to watch The West Wing series finale tonight.

It was one of the few scripted shows I made a point of watching every week this year, and for the last 5 years (I caught on late, but Andrew and Gerald straightened me out mid-season 3). But despite its recent creative revival, it was also a show that had run out of ideas and inspiration. The election storyline was the last hurrah, a crutch to get the show to the finish line.

Watching the series premiere right now just emphasizes the point. Incredibly witty, fast-paced (to the extent that it was often hard to keep up), and funnier than pretty much any other show out there, sitcoms included. The action was in the words, and the episodes that depended on big story arcs were actually among the least interesting.

The first four seasons were brilliant, the first two among the best of any show ever. The latter two started (only started) to get bogged down by relationship dynamics and "jump the shark" moments (see Mark Harmon getting shot, Zoe getting kidnapped), but I can still watch them repeatedly because of the sharp writing and interesting issues.

The genius behind the show was Aaron Sorkin, who is also responsible for the brilliance of The American President, A Few Good Men (top five on my list), and the vastly underrated Sports Night. Everything he writes is gold. It's with that track record in mind that I anxiously await next season's Studio 60, his new ensemble piece about life backstage at a late-night TV comedy sketch show, starring Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet (and whoa, they just showed a commercial for it, and it also has Timothy Busfield and Bradley Whitford!!! Sweet! Can Joshua Malina be far behind?). Is there any doubt the show will be excellent?

Once Sorkin left after season 4, the show lost the funny, along with many other things...I'm still not sure how I got through the rough season 5. Habit, I guess. But my patience was rewarded midway through season 6 with the introduction of the new presidential candidates, which, as I mentioned before, helped to carry the show to its logical ending, the transition from Bartlett's Administration to Santos'. It was the only thing left to explore on the show, but mostly I'm just grateful that it prevented the plug from being pulled prematurely, as is the fate of so many other shows with fading ratings. I'm sure the Bartlett departure (as well as those of everyone else) will be touching and emotional, and I'm glad I get to see it. It would have been terrible to see the show go the way of Mandy from season 1.

I'll sorely miss the characters (Jed, Abbey, Leo, CJ, Josh, Toby, Sam, Charlie, Donna, Will...sniff), but the time is right for the end. I have no interest in watching another administration go through the same issues that were written and acted brilliantly the first time around. At least I'll always have the DVDs for the first four seasons, which I'll continue to watch regularly. Yes, they're that good (and all Emmy-Award-winning for Best Drama).

Show's starting now. Enjoy the final hour! Sniff...

Not a vacation, a "studying" trip

Hi everyone! Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile (besides the AI blog which I'm still sad about :( ). Things have been busy lately. I ended my second year at school a little over a month ago, and I have about 2.5 months to study for the USMLE Step 1, a national exam. It seems like a lot of time, but there's so much to learn, and it's hard to stay disciplined. Speaking of being disciplined and studious, I spent almost three weeks on a trip- 2 weeks in the Bay Area and the rest of the time in Chicago. I was supposed to be studying, but unfortunately, I came down with viral pharyngitis and was sick for the majority of the trip. But poo on studying because I got to see a lot of my old friends and explore Chicago (and yes, of course, to spend time with Chang)! I apologize in advance for not having pictures of everyone who took the time to see me, but a big shout out to Lisa, Randy, Christina, Annaka, Gerald, Suzy, Roz, Yo, Elad, Dave, Auntie Josie, Uncle Harry, Leanne, Joseph, Won, and Leslie!

Eating lunch in SF with my high school friends


Yum! Dinner at Buca di Beppo with Dan, Hubes, Andrew, Chang, and Dan Fran. Got to see, well, live, at Andrew's house which was awesome and in a terrific location (a block from Starbucks!). Next time, I have to check out Hubert's and Dan's places.


Always have to go to La Fondue when I'm in town! Chang ate all the cream cheese balls (blech). My cousins actually have 2 sheep (and guess the name of one of them... Dolly) that keep their lawn nice and tidy. Chang will be shearing one soon, so stay tuned!


Now on to Chicago! This is a picture of "Cloud Gate" (a.k.a shiny silvery blob as my friend Kenin put it or Tiffany bean) in Millenium Park. You can see the city buildings in the background. Of course, we had to eat deep dish pizza.


I don't know too much about SNL, but apparently this hole-in-the-wall place, called Billie Goat Tavern, was featured in a skit. Can anyone tell me more about this? I think it may have something to do with someone attempting to take a goat to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and some kind of curse because the goat wasn't let in? At any rate, we ate hot dogs and Cheezborgers (the chef in the pic unsuccessfully tried to get me to eat a double Cheezborger!). We also had lunch on the 95th floor of the John Hancock tower (pictured from left to right: Kenin, me, Priscilla, Jeri, and Traci).


Views from our table and the women's bathroom.


Priscilla, Traci, and I took a boat ride along the river and Lake Michigan at sunset. On a side note, we got to see the Trump Tower being built that was Bill's project on Apprentice 1 (?).


Chicago at sunset

I forgot to mention that Traci, Priscilla, and I were in Chicago to attend the American Geriatrics Conference and to present our summer research (mine was on Parkinson's Disease and depression) on behalf of an American Federation for Aging Research scholarship we received. Here we are with our mentors.


Hung out at the art museum with my high school friend, Justin. Unfortunately, the "American Gothic" was traveling somewhere else :( On the last night, we ate deep dish pizza again and hung out with a bunch of high school friends!


It was a terrific trip! Many thanks to Andrew, Gerald, Chang, Jeri, and Kenin for housing me! Now back to studying :(

SketchUp

Sorry for being such a Google shill these days, but this one is ridiculously cool. We've released a free tool called SketchUp (save it, Russell), which allows you to make 3-D models of buildings and upload them to Google Earth, or to 3-D Warehouse, where you can share your models with others and allow them to use your creations. Hubert, you need to get on this project.

These are some of my favorites (hopefully someday all of the buildings will be rendered, but for now it's mostly just the famous ones):



Google Headquarters. You can see the transparency in the glass staircases. The tools allow you to build out the insides of buildings, too, if you are so motivated, and Google Earth allows you to navigate inside.



Himeji Castle, which Gina got to see.



The Acropolis. Looks cool, though I wish they hadn't messed with the colors. Red rooftops? Seriously, people...


Statue of Liberty. At least they got the colors right on this one.



The Golden Gate Bridge. As an aside, there's a new documentary that came out about suicides off the bridge. Anyone interested (in the movie, that is)?



The Space Needle. I can't wait until someone renders the music museum (the colorful blob to the left). Now that has interesting architecture.



PacBell, er, AT&T Park. This one is somewhat disappointing because they didn't get the giant Coke bottle or glove. How could they miss that stuff?

So Andrew, how about rendering your house and posting it on 3-D Warehouse?

Angry American Idol Fan

I don't mean to take away any thunder from Chang's blog about the new Google products (which are pretty neat by the way), but I am just so infuriated about the American Idol results tonight. I cannot believe Chris was voted off. I am in total shock. I admit that he didn't have the best performance last night, but it was consistent and probably should hav fallen somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Kat lost all credibility with me on "Can't Help Falling In Love". It started out well, but she ended up butchering it by screeching out the high notes, and her voice was all over the place. She does have the best voice, but she has nothing new to offer the recording industry which has artists even better than her (ie. Mariah, Christina).

Taylor is fun and unique, but I don't think he has the entire package to make a complete album. He generally sounds the same on all his songs and doesn't do much with his voice in terms of changing the intensity, tone, etc. to really bring any feeling to songs except a good ol' time. But he was really good at his songs last night.

As for Elliott, he has been growing on me, but he's a bit too warbly and weak for my taste.

What really makes a singer good is being able to (this may sound cliche, but it's totally true) get across his or her feelings in a song by changing the intensity and tone of his voice, which is what the guest stars on AI have repeatedly said. Otherwise, the singer sounds robotic and "karaoke", as Simon puts it. In terms of this quality, Chris has been the best. I'm torn as to who should have been voted off based on last night's performance and history, but it definitely should not have been Chris. He has the looks, intensity, and voice to easily fit into the popular music today, and I predict that he'll have the most longevity as an artist out of all the final four.

*I hope I didn't offend any AI fans of Elliott, Taylor, or Kat, but I'm really upset right now. This year's final four probably were the best out of all the seasons so far. Grrr...

Google Trends

zeitgeist n. - the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era

These days, what better way to get a sense of the cultural climate than through search engine queries?

Every week, Google releases its Zeitgeist, which reveals the week's top gaining queries. No surprise that NFL draft is at the top of the most recent list. Colbert is 11!

Today they released a new tool, Google Trends, which takes the information to a new level, allowing you to see the traffic trends over time of particular queries, and more interestingly, comparisons between the trends of multiple queries. For instance, chang is a way more popular query than hubert (though I seem to be slipping a little in 2006):



And of course, the most popular source of queries on my name is Honolulu. Gina, stop searching for me on Google all day and get back to studying. It's kind of embarrassing, and very unproductive. What's that? UH's quarterback was named Chang? Oh... :(

I'll buy dinner for the first person who can find a query more popular than sex...I'm doubtful it even exists, but if you find it, to Mendy's we'll go!*
* Google employees not eligible

Colbert at the White House

This is somewhat old news, but Stephen Colbert, host of the second-funniest (and oftentimes the funniest) show on television, The Colbert Report (pronounced cole-bare reh-pore), was inexplicably invited to speak at the recent White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, with Dubya in attendance. File this one under: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

For those unfamiliar with his show (Comedy Central, 11:30pm, Mon-Thu), it is to pundit shows as The Daily Show is to the evening news (i.e. it makes fun of them). Colbert positions himself as a Bill O'Reilly type solely to lampoon the Bill O'Reilly types. In doing so, he acts under the guise of a somewhat dim-witted, platitude-spewing Bush supporter, but apparently the person in charge of the dinner missed the nuance and figured Colbert was actually a right-wing shill. Whoops.

The result? Predictable. The jokes were pointed, Bush was visibly annoyed (see below), and the speech is still drawing strong reaction. Some even claim that Colbert crossed the line of free speech, or at least fair play.


Check the video out for yourself: full address

The address was in the great tradition of Jon Stewart's visit to Crossfire (which most likely helped to bring that show down). Opportunistic showboating, but with a larger point. And in this case the target wasn't a crappy cable show but the most powerful man in America, sitting five feet away. Did Colbert cross the line? Considering the setting, he probably did, but he also provided a public service. A catharsis for those who are sick of a President who is always armed with meaningless canned answers to questions he's seen ahead of time, so shielded is he from real public discourse with non-planted participants.

But mostly, it was just funny.