A hidden Pepperdine graduation requirement apparently

Amy: lol

  i think 5 couples got engaged in the last 2 weeks

  i want to shoot someone

  oh is that not a proper response?

me: hmm

Amy: hahaha

me: is that like a Pepperdine graduation requirement?

Amy: i think so

  i missed that memo

me: make sure your diploma is still legit then

Amy: hahahah

  oh no!

My two new favorite tools

Shoutout to my new favorite online tools:

EtherPad
http://etherpad.com

Etherpad totally blows Google Docs out of the water. Unlike Docs', Etherpad is actually real-time, allowing for an awesome notepad for collaborations and brainstorming. Its the best remote brainstorming tool I've ever used. Props to them! ..Although I hear Google just bought EtherPad...which makes me a little scared to see what will happen to this awesome product (I hear it might get incorporated into Wave)

Dropbox
https://www.dropbox.com/

Managing documents across multiple computers has always been a pain for me. This app makes it incredibly easy to share files! All you have to do is install the client on each computer and then just dump whatever file(s)/folder(s) you want into the shared folder and voila!--its available for every associated computer. This is what Microsoft should have done to begin with, instead of the useless Microsoft file-sharing system that was built into XP/Vista. A cherry on top with Dropbox is that it allows you to just as easily share a large file (<2 GB) to anyone! This is much, much better than YouSendIt.

New York, New York

My New York leg was EPIC. It was a whirlwind visit that saw way too many ridiculous late nights/early mornings--but it was so worth it. 


It was incredible! I was able to spend a lot of quality time with family (especially prepping yet again an awesome thanksgiving dinner). Jenn and I are 5 for 5 with this stuff, and we're practically at a point where we can cook up a thanksgiving feast in our sleep. On top of all that, I was able to see so many of my NY buds (OT bros, old Hill'ers, TCHS alums, and more). NYC + Philly reminded me of how grateful I am of my amazing friends, and that though we're on opposite sides of the world (or at least I am) and doing our own thing, when we get together...its as if nothing's changed.


Photo dump!



Highlights:
-First night out with Ed and Kai at my new favorite NYC bar (so long as Jenn lives where she lives)
-Thanksgiving feast: 17 lb turkey, mashed potatoes, mac'n cheese, green bean casserole, stuffing, apple pie, pumpkin pie (more like pumpkin soup), and lots of wine and champagne (no port!--Edlyn's fault)
-The Slipper Room with BSingh and the TCHS gang
-Mac and Cheese (albeit a ridiculous amount) with JHuey =)
-Theta Tau Alumni Brunch! (best line: "...yes, he keeps the hat on" - Tozzo, and this is why we're bros)
-KBBQ and Karaoke
-5 AM MCD's run with Edison
-Watching Barca beat Real Madrid in "el clasico" with Tedde
-Going to MSG with Ed to watch Orlando destroy the Knicks
-Jennifer's stupid neighbor who (supposedly) fell asleep while cooking
-Jenn pretending she was sick to skip work and watch Indiana Jones at home with me
-Asparagus Pizza, Shake Shack and a midnight Chicken and Rice run with Dan (all in one crazy night my stomach has yet to forgive/thank(?) me for)

Philly! - Bro Love

What a great weekend back in Philly!

First night out in town: Rodeo!

Rodeo wouldn't be the same without Pam

Some OT love with Leckie, Roberto and Chuku (who by the way is a karaoke beast)

With Michelle

Keira!

Next night, Theta Tau initiation and party! Congrats to the Etas, and it was great to see OT still going strong. I went and introduced myself to the new kids and they were like "yeah, we know all about you already!" creeepy. The night, of course, ended at Crown Fried Chicken.

 

Michelle and her room (oh the good ole' Hill days...)

Dinner with Kuong, Metter, Tozzo, and Leckie

Rob was back in town for the last night, and that was awesome. We had drinks at Smokes and then went on one of our epic 1 AM, 35-block bromantic walks back to Tozzo Mansion. Then the next day we had lunch with Tozzo by his work for a good old roomie meal.

And now for my two favorite food items on campus:

Tacos Don Memo

New Deck "Awesome Fries"!

mitfahrgelegenheit!

Just got the BEST email forwarded from Dfar:

Total inside joke from the whirlwindbromance that only him and I (oh and Alison and one Claudia Rodomski from Leipzig) would get. But man, that was such a fun trip!

Like my new tatt?

Eulogy for Grandma

My Grandma's infamous slingshot story has been all the rage these past few weeks. As the story goes, my Grandma was once at a street market when she was a little girl. This police officer (who was a I think was some former member of the Indian Army or something) told this little girl to shoo. When he turned away, my Grandma reached into her pocket, grabbed her slingshot, shot the dude, and ran away. Hahahah...go Grandma! And the funny thing was that many, many years later after she had moved to a new city and started a family, the man was passing through town one day and still recognized her as that mischievous little girl! Good story.

This is a copy of the eulogy that was given by my Great Uncle at my Grandma's recent funeral. From a historical perspective, its pretty interesting--I didn't know a lot of what she had to go through to get here. What a strong woman. Its always good to know where you roots are from. =)


--


Oct 31, 2009

Eulogy for Mrs. Shwe Lian Phan (4/12/1919 – 10/24/2009)

By Christopher Lee, Ph.D.

I would like to say a few words to give tribute in loving memory of Mrs. Shwe Lian Phan.  
Mrs. Shwe Lian Phan was born in Pakokku, Burma on April 12, 1919.
She was the 2nd eldest child of seven children of Mr. & Mrs. Kim Ngoke Leong.  
As for her own family, she was blessed with and survived by

• Five children consists of three sons and two daughters, and
• Nine Grand children

Her children and their family members are:

1. Eldest son Ricky & Make Phan and two grand children
2. Second son Hock & Eva Phan and one grand child
3. Eldest daughter Mary & Dr. Vincent Ho and two grand children
4. Second daughter May Shan & U Soe Myint and two grand children
5. Youngest son Andrew & Rosa Phan and two grand children

She is survived by four of her siblings: two brothers and two sisters.

• Younger brother Sik Chu Leong
• Younger sister Shwe Pain Tor
• Youngest brother Larry Leong, and
• Baby sister, my wife Pamela Lee

Her parents, Mr. & Mrs. Leong, emigrated from China to Burma in the dawn of the 20^th century.  At that time China was in the final years of the Qing Dynasty.  Both men and women wore pigtails in their hairdo; including her parents.  They first settled in the town of Pakokku where she was born.  Being immigrants to a new country, life was a struggle at the beginning.  Later Mr. Leong moved his family to a city called Prome, known as “Pyi Myo” in Myanmar.  In historical times, Prome was the capital city of many Burmese Kings.  In Prome, their business was good and the family was able to grow and prosper.  Mrs. Shwe Lian Phan was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a Chinese girl school in the capital city of Yangon during her teen age years. In those days, educating a girl in the family was not a priority, and sending a girl to a far away city to study was a rare instance unless the family was very well off.

Disaster set onto Burma when World War II broke and the Japanese invaded Burma from the south.  In an effort to escape the Japanese occupation, her parents abandoned their businesses and belongings and ran for dear life towards the northern Burma with the hope of escaping to Yunan China.  They reached as far as the outskirt of the boarder town of Bhamo, but were unable to scale the mountain ranges and rough terrains at the border to China.  The advancing Japanese army caught up and her family had to stop running and take refuge in a remote village outside of Bhamo.  The struggle to survive was intense.  After the turmoil settled enough to move again, her parents moved the family to Shwegu, a small village town south of Bhamo on the bank of the mighty Irrawaddy river.   It was there that they hid, took shelter from bombings, and struggled to survive versus hunger and sickness. That lasted for three long years during the oppressive Japanese occupation.

World War II finally ended in 1945 when Japan surrendered.  The family then moved to Mandalay, the capital city of the last King of Burma.  Her father was a talented businessman and he quickly re-established his businesses and prospered.  She married Ah Kyaung Phan on Sept 23, 1946 in Mandalay.   The newly weds setup and operated tea shop in a small town Pyaw Bwe and they had their first born son Ricky in 1947. After a large fire consumed much of the town of Pyaw Bwe in the following year, they moved back to Mandalay and later settled in Myingyan with the help of Mr. Liu, her eldest sister’s husband.  That was where they spent almost thirty years of their lives operating a successful tea shop and various trading business.  During that period, her family was also grown to include five children.  

By 1975, it was an opportune time to move on again.  Under our sponsorship, she and her husband and the youngest son Andy were immigrated to the US in Sept 1975.  The older children later joined them in the following years.  Three years after they migrated to the US, her husband predeceased her on April 5, 1978.  Life was still a struggle at that time.  Even though the children were grown up, they were all struggling to get educated and professional trainings to establish careers in this new land of opportunity.  She was a strong minded and witty leader of her family.  She kept her family together until the children were able to stand on their own feet and settle with their own families.  She was a dedicated and loving mother and grandmother.  She touched the lives of many and we will remember and miss her deeply.   

On behalf of the Phan family, I would like to thank you all, especially those who came from far away cities.  Thank you for your out-pouring of love, support and sympathy at this most difficult time.  The Phan family deeply appreciates your time, care, gifts, flowers and words of condolence.  Thank you very much.

The Fall of the Greenback

In the econosphere these past few weeks, there's been much talk about the imminent collapse of the dollar and how its going to bring about chaos for the U.S and the world. This certainly didn't help last week when the Indian government bought 200 tons of gold to hedge against the global expectations of a falling dollar. And this definitely didn't help when the dollar fell 0.8% yesterday, amidst rallies across most of the major indices around the world.

I don't think that a correction in the value of the dollar is necessarily bad though. This is why: I think that the causes for our recent economic woes, while inextricably complex, can be boiled down to the existence of significant macroeconomic imbalances across the world--much of this has been exasperated by the recent strength of the dollar. For example, a strong dollar helped lead the U.S. to a large current account deficit (as a reminder, a current account deficit is when Imports > Exports). Look at a simplified view of the US-China relationship. Because the dollar was valued so much higher than the Renmenbi (though not as a result of natural market forces, but instead the Chinese government's decision to peg the RMB against the dollar), Chinese goods became cheap relative to America's, and as a result, the U.S. became a net importer and China became a net exporter. Helped by this, the U.S. began to develop a nasty habit of becoming the world's most powerful and extravagant consumers, and as China built up a current account surplus and started to accumulate U.S. dollars, it had nothing else to do with that money except 1) hoard it or 2) invest it (which it did both of--with the latter action being speculated to have helped indirectly worsen some of the real estate bubble over the last decade). Now take this U.S.-China relationship and apply it to most U.S. trade relationships across the world...and you begin to see how huge imbalances led to some of our problems.

A chaotic fall in the dollar would be catastrophic. However, a less extreme correction in the dollar would do great things in rebalancing much of the global monetary system and trade imbalances, because they are so heavily based on the dollar. It would help alleviate our current account deficit, and for once, help our exporters out. As we saw over the recent years, the world economy cannot be propped solely on the extraordinary consumerism of American and a few other large powers--demand needs to come from elsewhere. Rebalancing trade across the world will hurt America's economy in the short term (a fall in the dollar equals higher costs--thus lower demand and a slower recovery). But it will do great things in the long term, such as increase domestic demand in emerging markets (including the powerhouses of China and India), and help our global economy grow in a more stable and consistent manner--of which America, as well as the other countries, will certainly benefit from.

--
note: just realized that the above example can't really be extrapolated to represent all of America's trade partners--as China is a special case and one of America's largest trade partners. In this situation, a simple decline alone wouldn't help. The RMB is pegged to the dollar, and so for any good to happen from this situation, Beijing would have to allow the RMB to appreciate relative to the dollar--which does them no good because it horribly depreciates the stockpile of cash that China has been hoarding. This then leads to a whole other problem that US/China needs to deal with...

Oh The Power of Analytics...

So for the first time ever (and looking back, I'm actually very surprised it took me this long), I joined in a Fantasy Basketball league with some friends. I must say, this has totally sucked away my life. I spend so much time now following the NBA, looking at players' stats, and contemplating adds/drops/trades. Its kind of crazy. Seriously though, if I spend half as much time analyzing the stock market as I do the "NBA Market"...I'd be quite rich by now. But then that's not as fun, right?

Unfortunately for all of my time invested, my team has been doing quite horribly. Granted, its only been a week so far, and my 2nd best player (Antawn Jamison) is injured. I do, however, hate losing, and so am quite perturbed by this. In a bout of frustration last night, I sat down and (in un-abashed Banker-style) built out an excel model for my team's performance.

Judging by the amount of red seen in my team's performance vs. the league averages...you can see just how poorly my beloved "Team Awesome" is doing. Most notably, I'm getting absolutely rocked in the 3PT, PTS and REB categories. No need to panic yet though, this was just Week 1 out of 22 weeks and hopefully we can attribute most of this to early-season jitters.

But oh the power of analytics. This model is great so far, and it flows perfectly so that each week all I have to do is dump in the raw data from last week's performance and it will calculate all of the necessary stats. Not to mention with vlookups, all I have to do is enter the name of the team I'll be matched up against next week to estimate my performance. I think it'll be very, very helpful. By looking at my team's performance relative to the league average...analyzing trends such the standard deviations and skewness, I can determine what areas I can improve on and what areas I should just botch. For example, looking at my results so far, I think that in looking at trades or adding new players, I should work to improve my BLK and FT% categories, as those are the areas I'm not too far from the average in. And I should do so at the expense of my weaker categories--as those I'm way too far behind to catch up in. But hey, its only the first week (<4 games into the season) and certainly not enough data points to come up with statistically significant conclusions. I may just wait this out a few weeks and see how I fare.

Next steps: an overall dashboard to see total performance and improvements? something to estimate my team's performance based on my players' previous performance and extrapolate that to a per-week estimate?

LOL I think I've reached a new state of dorkiness. 8-)

We Will Always Remember You, Grandma

Shwe Lian Phan

1919-2009

who always brought our family together...

...and who always loved me, even when I was a goofy-looking baby:

Halloween

To me, Halloween seems a bit cruel this year. Looking around and seeing decorations of tombstones, skeletons, and coffins...it really hits a nerve.

Shannon Brown....again

And its only just the preseason!!!



Anybody else thinks he should try out for the dunk contest?

Temples of Angkor - Part 1: Angkor Wat

It is reported that there are over one thousand temples scattered throughout the Angkor region! Needless to say, in three days (and 36-ish temples) I was only able to scratch the surface. Regardless, I had a blast just exploring the entire region and visiting as many temples as I could. I'm a huge fan of Buddhist and Hindu architecture and iconography, and so Angkor was heaven on earth for me. In these three days, I was out from sunrise to sunset and felt like Indiana Jones, just running around exploring as many temples as I could...making sure to check every corner and passageway to see everything. In the next few posts, I'll highlight my three favorite temples: Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm.

Angkor Wat

Spectacular! It was so beautiful that I had to visit this twice.

The temple of Angkor Wat just by itself would be enough reason for anybody to visit Cambodia. In terms of size and grandeur, it is without a doubt the mother-of-all-temples. No other temple in the world comes close! What really surprised me, however, was the incredible condition that all of the bas-reliefs and sculptures were in. There are walls upon walls of sculptures that remain completely intact and are absolutely gorgeous to view. And being a nut about Hindu art, I literally spent a total of 7 hours (in 2 trips) just walking around the temple and admiring all of the intricate details and stories. And I totally would have stayed longer had I not been pressed for time.

Random fact about Angkor Wat that I loved: So in college, I wrote a paper about the symbolism of Hindu temples as "cosmic temples", representing the home of gods (i.e. Mt. Kailasa as Shiva's abode). So it was pretty awesome when I learned that Angkor Wat and its 5 towers was built to represent the sacred Mt. Meru and its 5 peaks. I know...a total nerd moment that I embraced.

And while in Cambodia, I was very very happy to find an old friend....

Ladies and Gentlemen, My Cousin Jennifer

disclaimer: the following is in no means representative of the rest of the (normal) family.

just kidding, love you cuz!

..but seriously




Jennifer: sorry belay that, dan and i are arguing about balrogs
Jennifer: make that 20 minutes starting from now
Jason: what about balrogs?
Jennifer: he was asking me what it was
Jennifer: he thought it was morgoth
Jennifer: i told him it was a balrog and he said he heard gandalf say morgoth
Jennifer: and then he thought it might have been gothmog
Jennifer: but gothmog lived in the first age
Jennifer: and the war of the ring took place in the third age
Jason: wow.
Jennifer: but then he realized that gandalf said that it was a balrog of morgoth
Jason: ah
Jennifer: which makes sense because the balrog were created by morgoth
Jason: oh totally!
Jennifer: shut up
Jennifer: whatever, lol

Carmelo Anthony!

Sooo... the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers have an exhibition game here in Beijing this Sunday, and one of my friends, Sean, knew of someone who could get us into the club (Block 8) that Carmelo Anthony and half of the Nuggets were going to be at....

It was ridiculous!!


Melo with J.R. Smith who even in person really annoyed the heck out of me. Anyone remember him in the Lakers-Denver series this year when he was talking so much trash to Kobe? To which Kobe responded: "Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard's going to fall out" and also sunk a ridiculous clutch 3 over his annoying little face. Yeah, JR Smith is a loser, haha.


Cici and Natalie (visiting from NYC!) were able to sweet-talk their way into taking a picture with Melo!! Pretty lucky, I might add, because they were the ONLY people who were able to take pictures with Melo. I tried right after, and the guard just looked at me and laughed. If only I were a girl...
AND its such a shame too, these girls didn't even really know who Melo was. Ugh. What a waste.


So I guess Melo was alright. The highlight of the night, though, definitely went to the world's biggest Mojito:

First Laker Preseason Game!

It was awesome to see my boys out on the court again.

Unfortunately was only able to catch like 5 minutes of the game due to my spotty internet. But was lucky enough to catch Shannon Brown's RIDICULOUS dunk live!



And I know its just the preseason and waaay too early to make any calls, but initial thoughts:

-Its going to be interesting seeing what happens out of the backcourt with Farmar and Brown, who are both competing for Old Fish's playing time. Both had really decent games, though I think Farmar is a more stable PG in the backcourt (and distributes the ball better---6 assists today)

-Bynum totally came out with a message today, leading the team with 24 points. The kid said in the offseason that his goal was to make the all-star team this year. With an effort every game like today's, he could definitely do that.

-Ron Ron's debut! Not too shabby, I like his 9 rebounds and 7 assists, which is exactly what we need. But will he be happy with that role?

Today's game got me really excited. Why? I think that this particular squad has the potential to be one of the best teams in Laker history. Yes, you heard me. With a backcourt of Bynum and Gasol and a frontcourt of Kobe and Artest AND a sixth man in Odom...this is definitely a stacked team on paper. There's a reason why 61% of the NBA's General Managers picked the Purple and Gold to repeat this year. But for that to happen, I think that these two things need to happen:

1) Ron Artest is the big wildcard. If he fits in with the team, we're golden and I'll see you all at the parade next year
2) Bynum needs to stay healthy (no more freak accidents, y'hear?)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Got invited by Xujia to join her and her mom for some awesome home-made 饺子 (dumplings) for the mid-autumn festival!


And of course, mooncake!


Then afterwards, the three of us walked around Houhai and enjoyed the new moon (as well as the hordes upon hordes of other people who also thought this would be a good idea). Nonetheless, it was pretty awesome.

Xujia's mom was pretty awesome, and a really sweet lady. Not going to lie, kinda wish she lived in Beijing so she could teach me how to make some great homemade dumplings. I guess this gives me an excuse to hop over to Qingdao? I mean not that seeing the Tsingtao brewery wasn't enough of a reason to begin with...

All in all, a really cool and traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, and I'm glad I got to celebrate it in a very Chinese way (oh and in China too, haha). Seeing the festivities for this holiday makes me really excited about Chinese New Years next fall, its going to be ridiculous!

Later that night, I get this email from my aunt, and apparently this was what I missed out on back home:

Good stuff! Chinese holidays rock.

Vietnam Part 3 - Da Lat , Hanoi, Halong Bay

(apologies for the recent ugliness of the blog and the fact that the slideshows are cutting across the entire screen, but I figure bigger pictures are better than aesthetics, right?)

Day 3 - Da Lat
-After Nha Trang, we headed up to visit some of Sam's relatives in Da Lat. The bus ride from Nha Trang to Da Lat was intense...it was bumpy and rough, and on top of that, it was raining like no other. That we made it there in one piece is still a mystery to me.
-Da Lat totally reminds me of my Mom's hometown: Maymyo, its a small little town nestled up in the mountains. The weather is substantially colder, and there's also remnants of colonialism everywhere.
-Had a huge lunch with Sam's relatives, ate a lot of great homecooked food! And had a bit of guava wine, good stuff
-At night, rode bikes around the lake

Day 4 - Da Lat and Hanoi
-Woke up mad early to fill in all of our Da Lat sites before we headed out to Hanoi
-Saw the old King's summer palace and this valley with lots of gardens and a huge lake
-Then went to this ridiculous place called "The Valley of Love" which was literally a disgusting valley filled with heart-shaped flowers, heart-shaped photo op places, and a lake to paddle boat in. Totally egregious and cheesy in every sense. Only in Vietnam, I guess.
-Got into Hanoi in the evening, and went all out with food! Ate 4 (yes, 4) dinners that night!



Day 5-6 - Halong Bay
Words are of no more use here. Just look at the pictures:





In all honesty though, although Halong Bay is without a doubt one of the most gorgeous/awe-inspiring places I've ever been to, the atmosphere is ruined by the fact that there are way too many tour groups. It is incredibly difficult to arrange your own Halong Bay journey (because boats are hard to come by), and so 99% of all travelers have to go through a tour...which really ruins the whole mood. I hate tour groups and I would much have rather had the opportunity to just sail around the entire bay and explore it by myself. So while I loved Halong Bay and found it incredibly beautiful, I think I still find places like Yangshuo to be much more enjoyable. Nonetheless, it still is a total must-see for anyone!

Day 7 - Hanoi
-Sam continued on the trip to Cat Ba Island, while I headed back to Hanoi to chill and catch my flight out to Cambodia
-Had the chance to explore Hanoi a bit more, and it was really fun getting from place to place. Literally at every street corner there were people with motorbikes just waiting for customers. Alls you gotta do is hop on the back of one and pay them, and they'll take you anywhere. It was a pretty cool experience!

Coming up next: Cambodia and the Temples of Angkor!!

The PRC's 60th Anniversary

More Vietnam/Cambodia pics to come, I promise. But today was just too important of a day to not write about.

Crazy day of celebrations in Beijing! It was pretty awesome to actually experience this event in China. While Shane, Han Feng, and I were only able to watch the event in our apartment, we were still able to hear the sound of cannon-fire and roaring jets from our window. Very cool.

First off, please check out my thoughts regarding this anniversary on Wokai's blog.

Now for some more informal ramblings.

The parade itself was really ridiculous! Leave it to China to wow us yet again with an impressive display of scale that was also ridiculously precise--no detail was spared.

Funny though how it first started off with a HUGE and awe-inspiring (if not scary) display of military might (not to mention the nukes that were shamelessly paraded down. now that was pretty scary):

Which quickly turned into a friendly "let's just dance and sing and celebrate" parade with warm and fuzzy flowers, floats, and dancers:


President Hu Jintao is pretty baller. I mean, seriously, who didn't want to be him as he rode down the route proclaiming: "同志们辛苦了!" ("Laborous comrades!") and hearing the defeaning response of thousands of military men and women say: "为人们服务!!" ("We serve the people!"). That was just insane.


But seriously, that Mao-esque suit he was wearing is amazing. I need to get me one of those:

Paulina also suggests that I must grow out my hair like that as well. Will keep that in mind.

Thanks to Shane's girlfriend, Han Feng, who, like all Chinese, had taken a few military classes in school, I know now how to do the military goose-walk! It has now become my favorite mode of transportation. Pedestrians beware.

Little did I know, but this was also China's opportunity to showcase its most eligible bachelorettes! A platoon of women in military uniforms, all in impeccable unison, and carrying rifles? Seriously, what more can a man ask for?

Vietnam Part 2 - Food

The food in Vietnam was delicious!! I must say, nothing in the world beats dirty dirty South East Asian street food. The dirtier the street stand and the more questionable it looks...the better (I'm sure that's been scientifically proven somewhere). My whole attitude throughout this trip was that if I didn't start having stomach problems, I clearly wasn't trying hard enough.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:



Next up: Da Lat, Hanoi and Halong Bay!