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!

Vietnam Part 1 - Saigon and Nha Trang

I just came back from an amazing 11-day trip through Vietnam and Cambodia and absolutely loved it! Over the next couple of days, I'll be throwing up pictures and recapping the trip here, so check back often!

First off, many many thanks to Sam and her parents, without whom my experience in Vietnam would have been totally different (much less genuine). Its always great to travel in a foreign country with people who know the language, have friends and family, and know where to go.


Day 1: Saigon
-Got in at 3 AM and slept 4 hours in a hammock at Sam's cousin's place. Totally awesome. I love hammocks!
-In the morning we went to the Reunification Palace, and it was humbling to see the site of where the North overran (literally with tanks) and defeated the South. It was also ridiculous to see the extreme amount of bias in the "historical accounts" that were depicted

-Spent the afternoon visiting Buddhist temples
-Had two dinners by the Saigon river and then took an overnight train to Nha Trang

Day 2: Nha Trang
-Definitely one of the best beaches I've ever been to! The water was incredibly clear and the islands out in the horizon totally made me feel like I was in a Lost episode
-The heat and humidity, however, was probably the worst I've ever experienced. If there's anything I learned from this trip, its that I will never ever survive in humidity. Upon seconds of going outside, I would completely soak through my clothes...any longer and I would have been reduced to a puddle. No joke.
-Went to some ancient Cham ruins and a really awesome giant Buddha on top of a hill

Day 3: Nha Trang
-Went scuba diving! My first time ever, and I didn't even need a license (well I'm sure I technically did, but in Vietnam, anything goes)
-Found and played with two large sea turtles! They were both about a feet and a half in diameter, and I tried to hang onto one like a kickboard...but he wasn't too happy about it and sliced my hand with his shell. I'm sure I deserved that, haha


And here are the rest of my pics from this leg:



Coming up next: Vietnamese Food!

Travels!

Looking forward to some upcoming traveling!

Sept 16-28: Vietnam and Cambodia
Tentatively:
-Ho Chi Minh City
-Nha Trang
-Da Nang and Hoi An
-Siem Reap (Angkor Wat temples!--highlight of my trip)

Unfortunately I just checked the weather and...
-90 degrees F
-100% humidity
-60% chance of thunderstorms daily.

Now I haven't given the concept of "hell" all that much thought, but if I had to imagine the weather...that would probably sum it up in a nutshell.

Also, mark your calendars, cause Jason is coming back to the motherland! (the true motherland, that is)

Nov 21 - Dec 2: NYC and Phillay!
-Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same without Jenn, Kai and some turkey-lovin ;)
-Hill reunion? OT reunion?
-I owe Bsingh a bottle of green label, and we're going to finish it
-"Awesome Fries" at New Deck are an absolute must

Dec 2: Bay Area
-Spending some quality time in SF, my 2nd favorite city in the world, and also working out of Wokai's Oakland office

Dec 11 (?) - Jan 4: LA
-First birthday at home in 5 years
-Lakers vs. Cavs on Christmas Day?? Seriously, let me know if you want in


And sometime in January, I definitely want to make my up to Harbin for the Ice and Snow Festival. Let me know if you're around and are interested, should be pretty awesome.

A tribute to "Ole Betsy" and "Crack Baby"

Was surfing on Lifehacker the other day when I found this Do-It-Yourself guide...which is a total copycat of our very own project 4 years ago: "Ole Betsy" and "Crack baby".



Here's how the story goes:

Around the fall of 2005, Theta Tau (by the way check it out, totally AWESOME new website redesign. great job guys!) was just getting off the ground. As with how most great ideas tend to arise, it was the brainchild of Rob, Tozzo, and me one night where we may or may not have been under the influence of alcohol (funny enough, there's a similar story behind the founding of Wokai). I should also add that serendipitously, Neha too was also coming up with this idea at the same time. So the four of us met up and set out to establish Penn's first professional engineering fraternity. By spring 2006, we had grown to 9 total members, and...to be honest, didn't really know what to do. We were all enthusiastic and excited to be a part of something new, but those first steps were the hardest to come by. In an attempt to get our name out, we threw together a Paper Airplane Contest (which in retrospect, could hardly be called a success); however, what we really needed was a legitimate project to get our hands dirty and result something we could call our own.

It was during one of our weekly board meetings when somebody (I can't for the life of me remember who...but it was probably Kuong or Jeremy) threw out the hairbrained idea of building a grill...from a keg. Looking back, I have no idea why I thought this sounded like an incredibly awesome idea (or how this would even benefit Theta Tau), but we chatted about it and all grew really excited by this. After doing some research, Kuong found out that there was no way we could cut through a keg, and so suggested that we find a 55-galloon drum instead. We sat down and drew together the initial schematics of this grill, as well as put together a list of necessary supplies and tools. Micah did the math and calculated that all of the pieces would come out to ~$200. I gave the go-ahead, and we set forth!

By some stroke of chance Kuong found a 55-gallon drum on e-bay. To this day, I still have no idea who (besides really bored engineers apparently) would want to buy a drum on e-bay. I still remember when Kuong called me up that day it arrived. It went something like this:

"Hey dude, the drum's here. I'm gonna need your help to pick it up from the mail room."
"Oh man, I'm a little busy right now, can you handle it yourself"
"...dude. its a 55-gallon drum."
"Oh right, I'll be down in a sec"

Now for gathering the parts. Seigler went home to grab his Sawzall as well as his car. We swung by Home Depot and picked up all of the necessary pieces. Then on one epic Saturday, the 9 of us spent an incredible 15 straight hours in the machine shop to throw it all together.

It was quite a ridiculous day. The morning was spent putting together the drum, nailing in the guide rails for the lid and the rack, and putting together the handle. This part of the grill was beautiful, and so we appropriately called it: "Ole Betsy". By the night, however, we were so exhausted and confused...and this was definitely conveyed in the eyesore of a stand that was produced. The funniest memory of the night was at the end of the day when we were so tired and delirious that between the 6 of us left, none of us could hit in the damn last nail! We all tried and missed, and by the end, the nail was bent in every which way...it was absurd. And so in honor of this misunderstood creation of ours, we called it: "Crack Baby".



This grill was only ever used at most 3 times in its lifetime, and was far from convenient. It was way too big to be carried anywhere (or stored for that matter). Also because it was so large, it required at least half a bag of charcoal to cook anything (although impressively you could cook up to 15 or so hamburgers at a time), as well as a good 6 hours for it to cool down afterwards. In a strictly cost/benefit sense, it definitely was not worth the investment.

Looking back, however, I think we all grew so much from this project. For starters, it was the first significant step that we took together as an organization. I'm not talking about just the ~$200 we invested, but instead also the time and the energy that we all spent to turn this idea into a reality. There were times throughout the day when we were thinking "how on earth is this going to actually work?" And yet we persisted and remained creative, and the result showed. Realistically, we needed these baby steps and these little challenges to overcome before we could throw ourselves and commit fully to our goal of establishing a fraternity...because once we started recruiting new members and growing, there was no turning back. This project, if anything, was a trial for most of the challenges to come.

Secondly, being a rag-tag group of friends and friends-of-friends, this endeavor was the first instance that all of us spent a significant amount of time working together. We were able to grow together and learn much more about one another, thus establishing the foundations of brotherhood that now serve as the crux of our organization. I know that I personally took to heart this lesson in the years ahead and kept this in mind when the organization continued to grow.

So here's to Ole Betsy and Crack Baby, certainly a remarkable and defining experience for us and Theta Tau.

Krugman's argument for a return to Keynesian economics

Okay this is how big of a nerd I am:
Despite being really tired from a long 6 am - 12 pm day, I came home and was incredibly excited to finally read this Paul Krugman article in the New York Times Magazine. Although it kept me up until 2 am (what?? I'm a slow reader), it is one of the better economics pieces I've read in awhile....and as a result, I slept very very contently. On top of that, it has both challenged and helped the way I view the policies that shape our economy.

Although Krugman is a slightly biased towards Keynesian economics vs neoclassic/Friedman economics, he raises some very interesting points throughout this article. The best part about it, though, is that his prose is very simple and easy to understand--especially for those of us who aren't economists. He briefly outlines the historical trends in economic thought since Adam Smith, and does so in a way that is not only interesting, but also in a way that also drives at his central thesis: that economists and policymakers have to steer themeslves back towards the ugly and unsimplified theories that existed prior to neoclassic/Friedman economics. I'm not going to even try to capture his thoughts (you all should read them for yourself), but they are really good!

First water polo practice in 5 years!

Had my first club water polo practice today, and it was a ridiculous amount of fun...I had forgotten how much I loved playing polo! I'm totally beat though, and it was probably the best workout I've had in a long time. It was really funny though because I while I could still remember all of the fundamentals and instincts I learned in high school (ex: positioning on defense, offensive drives, executing a 6-on-5, etc), my out-of-shape body was totally failing me. So I'd know when to rotate on defense or when to cover the cage with a hand up....except I wouldn't quite get there on time or I wouldn't be able to get my hands up high enough. The worst were my legs. After running a bit and developing puny and skinny chicken legs (okay, not really), they no longer have the meat to eggbeat and keep me afloat. I can't even get up high enough anymore for a good shot. ...Alas, such is what happens when you get old, eh?

Afterwards, Shane and I found this awesome hot pot place near our apartment, and I swear we ate the equivalent of 4 cows, 1 lamb, and 2.3 chickens. It was glorious.

Funniest story I've ever heard

From the awesome June Y. Chu (my favorite professor at Penn that I never had a class with):

junechu: My friend Betty was on campus walking around.

Girl comes up to her and asks for directions...

GIRL WAS LOOKING FOR ADDRESS...AT PENN STATE.
The girl was so confused, my friend finally asked her to see what address she was looking for (my friend Betty kept asking UPenn?)...and that's when Betty realized that the girl was six hours away from where she should be.


Woww.