{ 31 July 2003 }
12:30 AM |  
wow! it's almost been a week since my last update!? that's crazy talk.

sorry i've been neglecting the blog (and the site). stupid new computer game and job search have been distracting. :)

but.... good news on both fronts i guess: i'm conquering the world as a Babylonian president, and more importantly, I got a call from a TV station up in Montana. I'm pretty excited, considering how much I'm itching to get out there and start reporting (long term blog readers--that is, Jeff and Christine), you know how much I lament not reporting these past few months.

i've already been researching lots of minute details about the position (where I could possibly be a reporter in Butte). Turns out, to save water, Butte residents with odd-numbered addresses can only water their lawns on odd-numbered days, and vice versa.... and to be fair, no one can water on the 31st of any month.

and... and... apparently Butte has a Chinese cultural society. Wow.

Okay, this entry's getting long.... oh yeah, I led a bible study tonight. First time in three years. I hope at least someone learned something.... and it wouldn't be because of me. ;)



{ 24 July 2003 }
1:33 PM |  
Okay, I didn't die. But I can't remember if I had put that "see you" thing on the screen previously or what. I know I used to have "Who R U?" but that's it.

Anyway, lots has happened. I need to post Legoland photos (keep bugging me) because my sobrinos are so cute. It was a looooong day, but I think everyone had fun.... and all the nephews made out like bandits, with Uncle Nelson, Uncle Norman and Grandpa Dad loading them up with toys.

There was one peculiar incident that lay on my head for a while, but I'd rather discuss this over IM, so if you know my IM, feel free to ask me. (it's not hard to figure it out, considering the chat page).

2 more things

I got my diploma frame two days ago, FINALLY, and lo and behold, t'was cracked in the glassy regions. So now I have to wait another 10 days while they file a damage claim and send me another one.

And finally, I got a call today from someone who wanted to interview me as a "student achiever" for winning that scholarship. Unexpected, and pretty interesting. I always get nervous when I'm on the other side of the microphone. I gave her my web address too, so there's a good chance she might read this blog entry. I guess one thing I feel like I should have mentioned (since this was primarily geared toward students) is that it really is never too late to change what you want to be in life. I waited until my fourth year of college. And heck, one of the women in my grad school class was like 40+.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled--read: mundane--programming:

going to target today to return those envelopes with mom; this is going to be exciting!



{ 22 July 2003 }
3:15 PM |  
Dude, this is pretty creepy.

My laptop has this small LCD screen on the front panel, and you can customize is to say whatever you want.

I just glanced down at it, and it says "See you".

This would be less weird if I hadn't changed it to say "Onasteek" a couple weeks back. (which, I know, is sorta weird in the first place) And, even on the control panel console, it still says that the little LCD should say "Onasteek."

See you? See you later? I see you? See your messages on this LCD screen? Or worse, is it see you as in "been nice knowin' ya?" Like... See you "in...hell!!!" (in that weird low voice that always seems to represent demons)

crazy. we'll see what happens. and if i don't post anymore blogs after this, then you know.



{ 18 July 2003 }
6:39 AM |  
I was looking at my friend's web tracker tonight, and noticed that she gets more than 20 hits a day on her blog. I get about 10 (at least two of whom are me), and I'm already a bit skittish about people knowing the intimate goings ons of my life. I try to use discretion in my online postings now, especially if such postings include friends or family members.

But it wasn't always that way.

Dude, what am I saying.... yes it was.... it's 4:28am, what am I still doing up. Oh yeah, I fell asleep downstairs during Conan, and so now I'm back. ::snake hiss::

Watched Pirates of the Carribean, and came away quite impressed. Typical Bruckheimer, nicely done, and as my sister-in-law says, doesn't take itself too seriously.



{ 17 July 2003 }
12:11 PM |  
oh, one thing about the armor of God study.... Enoch, last night's leader, made this cool little booklet for us, and even included an illustration of the armor that he found somewhere.

but, strangely, besides the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit--these are the ones mentioned in the passage--there was something else, a little oval shaped object... unfortunately, we couldn't make out what it said.

we surmised that there were even other parts of armor that Roman soldiers had to wear for protection....



4:46 AM |  
from Lisa's blog:
"okay, so i have this hypothesis -- it's pretty weak, so i hesitate to call it a theory. i think that single people write online more than people in relationships. actually, this train of thought was spawned from a comment i read on someone's website that went something like, 'now that i'm dating this girl, i spend my time doing worthwhile things instead of writing on xanga.' how sad. of course there are people who can refute this. married people. but, on the whole, it might have some grain of truth to it. again, how sad."


and for anyone who's still interested:
Freecell record: (503 wins, 19 losses, current streak: 17, longest streak: 115)



4:23 AM |  
sometimes, being a guy just sucks.

yeah, sure, the upside is you can pee pretty much wherever you want, but there's a lot of stuff we deal with that women don't understand.

in today's Horizon we discussed that whole passage about the "armor of God." very insightful actually.

but what's the point in understanding the analogy if one doesn't take the option of donning the armor?

such is my life...



{ 16 July 2003 }
2:19 AM |  
"one day i'll fly away. leave all this to yesterday. why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming ends?"



1:48 AM |  
As I try to get rid of the taste of watermelon in my mouth (strange, since I only watched my dad and sister-in-law eat it), I started thinking....

Unfortunately, I don't remember what went through my head. Instead, I will regale y'all with a tale of lesser existential value.

Today was supposed to be the day thing got done. Today I was supposed to get up early and go conquer the world.

Instead, I went to a Chinese buffet with my parents and stuffed myself on food that was probably touched by some guy and thrown back (something my parents witnessed and complained to the restaurant owners about).

But it's all-you-can-eat, and it's cheap. How much can you complain? I dunno. How about you?



{ 14 July 2003 }
3:49 AM |  
Megan is crazy smart and crazy crazy.

Megan is only 1.5 years old, and I taught her to do a couple things today--like making a toast--simply by showing it to her once.

Megan is the size of a three-year-old.

Megan is the only toddler I know who will hold a staring standoff with you for almost five straight minutes without wavering her eyes. (and the staring contest was because we were at odds and she refused to do something and I refused to give her the blanket/diaper thing she so desired)

Megan is my niece.



{ 13 July 2003 }
4:31 AM |  
(This one's for Grace, who hopefully still visits every now and then.)

For Richer or Poorer, to Our Visa Card Limit: (from NY Times)
"Wedding bills are weighing down couples and their parents long after the 'I do's,' and many have been forced to seek financial counseling as a result, according to credit counseling agencies. "



1:18 AM |  
been mainly making just little tweaks to my blog. wow, this looks so much better than the old blog. :) slowly but surely times are a-changin'.

i hung out with the boys for pretty much all of today.... they're pretty cool about everything except food. with that they're both pretty finicky in different ways. Malcolm won't eat his veggies ("I hate them. They taste sooo bad.") and Noah's... wait... actually... Noah's not that finicky about food. He just keeps trying to do crazy things while eating, and hopping out of his seat and stuff.

pretty much no time to play Freecell anymore... :)
Freecell record: (458 wins, 15 losses, current streak: 1, longest streak: 115 wins)



{ 12 July 2003 }
5:55 PM |  
Okay, I went to the zoo yesterday with the boys and mom and Susan. was sorta fun, except that most of the animals were GONE.

that's right, most of them have been relocated while construction on the zoo is going on.... so unless we waited until 2006, we weren't going to see any gorillas, orangutans or zebras. how blegh.

some pictures are uploaded, btw, but you have to use the crazy link to get to them, because i haven't made a page yet.

here you go: the zoo ones are #10 and up.

This is my new quote mechanism... i sorta stole it from someone else. hmmm, wonder if it works in netscape.



{ 08 July 2003 }
2:40 AM |  
thanks to everyone concerned about my job status....

but i promise you: you will know when i get a job. i will be sure to shout it from the top of the highest bed in my house, from the depths of my website, from the widths of my lungs, and, yes, i will go to great lengths as well to let you know.

so, instead of asking me how the job search is going.... i wouldn't mind a few "have you sent out your cover letters for this week yet?"s (not to mention an occasional "get your butt away from the stupid time-sucking Freecell thing!").

:) thanks.



{ 07 July 2003 }
10:54 PM |  
The streak ends at 115 in the worst possible way. I mistook a spade for a club, and wasted moves to free it. Curse you, Game#29464!!! You and your acey pitfall....

Darn you, Michelle Madigan. I couldn't multi-task! j/k.

Freecell record: (433 wins, 15 losses, current streak: 1 loss, longest streak: 115)



9:04 PM |  
from CNN.com - Surprising findings about video game players - Jul. 6, 2003: "CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Roughly two-thirds of college students play video games, but the image of a nerdy guy who spends all day in a dimly lit room blowing up computer-generated bad guys is off base, according to a new study. "

So I'm social... not reclusive... whew....



4:53 PM |  
This is insane. In a sort of nerdy kind of way. But I'll be happy if it keeps on going:

Freecell record: (425 wins, 14 losses, current streak: 107, longest streak: 107)



3:22 AM |  
Una chiste mala en espanol:
"Pepito," dice la maestra, "si tengo cinco pájaros sobre una rama y le pego una pedrada a uno de ellos, cuantos me quedan??" "Ninguno maestra....." "Por que ninguno Pepito?" "Ninguno maestra porque los demás se van volando del susto...." "Esta mal Pepito, pero me gusta tu forma de pensar."

Luego, viene Pepito y le dice a la maestra, "Ahora yo le voy a hacer una pregunta... si usted ve a dos mujeres comiendo un helado y una de ellas lo esta chupando y la otra lo esta mordiendo, cual de ellas es la que esta casada????" "Después de pensarlo un poco dice la maestra un poco confundida, supongo que la que lo esta chupando....." "No maestra, la que tiene el anillo, pero me gusta tu forma de pensar."




{ 06 July 2003 }
6:48 PM |  
77!!!

hurray for the new record. hope it goes higher...



5:35 PM |  
Back from church, parents going out to see some Chinese indie flick... there's been so many movies lately in this busy life... this... vida loca....

Gonna study a bit. After a couple more rounds of FC.

Getting REEEEAAALLLY close:
Freecell record: (385 wins, 14 losses, current streak: 67, longest streak: 76)



1:33 AM |  
Just went out and saw T3 with good ol' Katersky. Was good... but not T2 good. There will be a review of this movie as the inaugural entry into the movie section.

And the Freecell count is getting close....

Freecell record: (378 wins, 14 losses, current streak: 60, longest streak: 76)



{ 05 July 2003 }
6:10 PM |  
Fire works!

Okay, I lied about the freecell thing. Man, I'm addicted. At least I've resumed the winning ways. ;)

Oh yeah, so I ended up going to a nearby church (really really big and rich church) which was holding a fireworks extravaganza. Everyone came out like ants out of a flooded anthill.... it was insane. Thousands... of cars alone! I literally had to park on the other side of the freeway in a nonchalant residential neighborhood, almost a mile away.

But it was worth it.

Halfway through the show, they stopped the fireworks... apparently, someone was using a walkie talkie that had the same frequency as the pyrotechnician.... pretty dangerous coincidence. So after giving out a warning, they resumed.

I'm impressive that a church can put on a huge community event (think of the line item on their annual budget... "Pyrotechnics outreach...........$xx,000") that includes cordoning off the streets and using up every last parking spot at the nearby shopping center (not to mention filling up the church parking lot, their makeshift dirt parking lot, and every possible parallel parking spot for five or six blocks.

Anyway... it's probably better that I parked far away, considering the traffic mess that ensued post-extravaganza.

Time to go see T3 now. :)

Freecell record: (369 wins, 14 losses, current streak: 51, longest streak: 76)



{ 04 July 2003 }
9:55 PM |  
($*%&#

i'm giving up freecell for a day or two, while i screw my mind back in the right place. these single digit streaks are killing me.

Freecell record: (322 wins, 14 losses, current streak: 4, longest streak: 76)



12:56 PM |  
Happy 4th of July!!

Freecell record: (303 wins, 12 losses, current streak: 32, longest streak: 76)


It's getting really hot in here. Maybe I'll take Nelly's advice.



3:16 AM |  
one last thing... it's been a really bad Freecell day, as you can tell by my sudden increase in losses today. sad. law of averages caught up, as jeff likes to say.

Freecell record: (291 wins, 12 losses, current streak: 20, longest streak: 76)



{ 03 July 2003 }
11:55 PM |  
I've been contemplating whether to put this online or not... Well, it's funny to enough to write down, and I'll just keep all the names involved to a minimum. It takes a bit to warm up... But I promise the punchline is good.

I decided today I needed to get more copies of my resume tape to send out to potential employers. I'm down to about three (I started with 20).

My first batch had come from this place in DC, so I started looking around for a place in the Valley that might be reasonable. After browsing the Internet for a while, I came across a few options. I called the first place, and they said they'd make me 20 copies for $5 a pop. At first this sounded like a good deal, but then I did the math in my head:

20 tapes x $5 = dayamn. (after this, I called my prof in DC who reminded me that the people there did it for $2.75 each)

So I called a second place, and left a message on their machine. The third place said they'd do it for $3 a piece. Bingo... or so I thought.

Anyway, as i'm about to leave, the second place calls me back and the guy there says he'll do it for $2 and I can have the tapes today!!! ... Eyes bulging, tongue wagging, I decide to go with the third place.

Here's where it gets interesting: I drive to the given address, and it's some little strip mall in the western part of the Valley. I walk around for a bit, and there's a couple office buildings, but i can't see a sign or anything that looks like a video production place....

So I call the guy up, and he pops out of this door that's pretty dark-tinted (the windows are tinted too). Note: I had passed this office earlier because from what I could make out through the window, it looked like some place that sold home tiling.

Anyway, the guy takes me to the back room, where of course he keeps all the tape players--dozens of them, of all formats, digital, analog, you name it.

At this point I'm thinking... dang, this secrecy is a bit sketchy... why wasn't there a sign?

The guy is cool and all, so I pay it no heed.... but while he's trying to get the machines to work, I take a glance around.

That's when my eyes suddenly flit past a video box that catches my eye.... it says "Insatiable Asians."

My pulse quickens a bit, and as my eyes sweep the room again.... they fall upon maybe ten copies of "Wild Party Girls: Mardi Gras."

This is when I realize that this guy's normal clientele most likely ain't some young journalism graduate looking for a small-town reporter job. (he later told me he had just made 50,000 copies of that "Wild Party Girls" tape)

Okay, just two more titles (I promise I'll leave out the really bad ones)... in the tape library on the shelf i noticed "Filth Files." And later, the guy shows me some plain white tape labels as an example of how he prints (in case i wanted sticker labels), and the label says "Teen Fever #2."

Well, you know, maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion, and the first title is about Mongol imperialism, the second is a insider documentary, the third is a Department of Sanitation video, and the last one is the second volume of an adolescent medical video journal.

Anyway, you can make your own call. Not me, though... because he's making my dubs for really cheap, and with higher quality tapes (i helped him figure out his new DVCPro tape deck).

Besides, I have to go back Monday to pick them up.



4:58 AM |  
so tired, going to bed now. why i'm posting this, i do not know.



{ 02 July 2003 }
7:36 PM |  
Dagnabbit.

Current streak was cut short at 15 after a particualrly difficult game. Dare to try it? Try game #6834.

Freecell record: (237 wins, 9 losses, current streak: 1 loss, longest streak: 76 wins)



1:57 PM |  
Dead rabbits.

Saw Gangs of New York last night. Very Scorsese. Por ejemplo, lots and lots of blood. And waaay to long to be going to watch at 10pm. I was so exhausted by the end of it.

Going to Souplantation with Jane for lunch today. I love soup. All kinds. Alphabet, beef noodle, corn chowder, duck-n-sausage gumbo, egg drop, French onion, grilled vegetable, hot and sour, Italian minestrone, jambalaya, kimchee chige, lobster bisque, miso, New England clam chowder, ox-tail, pho, quick Texas stew, roasted vegetable, split pea, tortilla, ukha, vichyssoise, wonton, umm... x-ray (or xylophone?), yam, and (nope, not zuchinni) zuppa toscana.


Freecell record: (234 wins, 8 losses, current streak: 12, longest streak: 76)



{ 01 July 2003 }
4:30 PM |  
THE STREAK HAS ENDED.

But it's a new record. Go spirit of 76!

Freecell record: (223 wins, 8 losses, current streak: 1, longest streak: 76)



12:07 AM |  
Help! Someone's abducted my parents!

At least, it sure seems that way tonight. They're downstairs watching the reality show "For Love or Money" and in a bit, we're going to go watch "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." Because they wanted to, not me.

Weird.

Freecell record: (211 wins, 7 losses, current streak: 65, longest streak: 65)







 

 

 

question: What is "onasteek?" answer: a silly name from a silly joke from a time long past. but enough about onasteek. let's talk about me.

 

other blogs:

IHaveAQuestion - Mofesta - Leesaaahh - Minsoo - MaestraChoe - AYSo - Derfman - E.L.Cheung - Redge - Christine -

 

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