Disclaimer: this is the story as I remember it. very likely to be incomplete and/or incorrect, but a story nonetheless. Leave comments for corrections. oh, and tell me when i should stop.

And now we get to the part where many of you young readers know the rest of the story, and I get in trouble for not telling it incorrectly.

The summer of 2001 would see me leaving CCIT once again. This time, the occasion was a six week jaunt through scandinavia and eastern europe with my good friend Mr. Benjamin Levy. It was a great trip marked by beautiful women, hikes along glaciers and fjords, near death experiences, and what is, so far, the best story of my life. I still roll over laughing everytime i think about it. Anyway, it was a nice way to cap off a semester of listlessness.

After galavanting across the land of blonde hair and blue eyes, i returned to CCIT. We were operating out of the tin box and luckily my vacation coincided with the move, so i got to miss that part. The tin box was fun, though–I can say that simply because this was the last stop before our subterranean life began. The group was split up over two of the rooms. the big kids (john, helen, and jeff) and the film kids were in one bullpen and the interns were in another bullpen across the hallway. Apparently, there was a lot of fun to be had.

Notice the asian sweat shop theme.

Anyway, the split between big kids and little kids meant i had a decision to make. where do i sit? which side of the hallway do i fall on? either way, i didn’t have a workstation or desk and so i experimented a bit. spent a couple days with the interns, spent a couple days with the grown ups, and after a while i gravitated toward the grown ups. yeah, call me a pre-madonna if you want, but that’s where i felt comfortable.

Jukebox v.0.5 was born that summer. It consisted of lilgeck and some harmon kardon speakers. I served as the only dj and every now and then, AcIS would reassign me an IP address and the music would go into infinite repeat over a 1 second sound byte . . . but, it was better than nothing. The soundtrack to that summer consisted of a lot of Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen, and Pink Floyd.
Anyway, the interns were cooking up a new engineering website and putting out fires on the other sites.  The engineering website signified the fourth website for which we were responsible.  I was tasked with Calendar v.2.0 which was basically taking all that was v.1.0 and making it actually work.

Also, during this summer, I laid the seeds for Hawaiian Shirt Friday.  I don’t know why i decided to this, and, in fact, I’d never seen Office Space prior to suggesting it.  But I think I felt the hallway was just too great of a divide separating us and I was seeking a unifiying agent.  I started out modest.  I mean it was only Hawaiian Shirt Friday and not Hawaiian Shirt Krispy Kreme Friday . . . at least not yet.  It was the initial failure of former that predicated the latter incarnation. Eventually, though, I made it happen as evidenced below:

But this would be much later.

note to yahoo: this is coming your way as soon as i get my hawaiian shirt back.
So, the summer of 2001 was good . . . unfortunately, it would last long . . .

Was rolling to work today listening to the old KCBS when a story about the legislation to censure president bush over his domestic eavesdropping program came up. The legislation was introduced by Senator Feingold (D - Wisconsin).

Interesting on a couple of fronts.  The first being, according to the story, there are only two democrats in support of the legislation.  The second being the political analyst they brought in to delve into the story.  The guy spent the first two minutes of his alotted two-minutes and ten seconds about the election effects that this legistlation has.  He talked about the campaign aspects and how the GOP is using this to their advantage. sending out the messege that all the democrats want to do is impeach the president and if the people don’t want that to happen, then they should elect republicans, etc. etc.

I’d like to take a moment to pause here and say:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

There are so man more important aspects to this than an election.  At stake here is a citizen’s right to privacy.  At stake here is the balance of power between presidential and judicial powers. At stake here is a fundamental interpretation of the constitution.

And all you can talk about is a stupid election campaign? that’s the central issue you wish to communicate? color me baffled.

Was browsing a certain source and saw this post wherein one Bill Walton sings the praises of my beloved Kings. Holy schnikies! what the hell has happened in the fair land of basketball?!? Bill Walton saying something good about a team not from LA or San Antonio?!?  Bill Walton saying something good about a player not named Shaq, Kobe, or Duncan?
What’s next? Steve Kerr pumping a team other than the Spurs?

Oh my stars and garters . . .

Taking this conflict of interest training course.  A blurb about gifts:

Unsolicited gifts and business courtesies, including meals and entertainment, are permissible if they are customary and commonly accepted business courtesies; not excessive in value; and given and accepted without an express or implied understanding that you are in any way obligated by your acceptance of the gift.

so, what you’re saying is i just have to make accepting huge gifts a customary and commonly accepted business practice . . . brilliant!

Travel by air has been tubulent for me lately.  I’m not sure why, but for some reason, the course of human events is telling me i should lay off.

story one: anatomy of missing flight
It’s saturday afternoon.  I’m supposed to be catching a flight to Santa Monica at 3:30.  Instead of bothering someone for a ride, i opt for long term parking. So, i get to the airport at 2:30 and follow the signs to long term parking, follow the signs to long term parking, follow the signs to long term parking. Long term parking is like 30 minutes away from the airport.  doh.  so, i get to the terminal with 30 min to spare.  I pull up to the easy checkin terminal, slide my card into the machine and get “Cannot check in, please see a ticketing agent.” Fuck.

alright, time to see an agent.  I look around for someone to talk to and see only a long line of people waiting.  double fuck. i start yelling at people to get attention. “Yo, my flight is taking off in 30 min.  little help?”  someone takes notice and fast-tracks me to the head of the line.  I talk to the teller, she calls the gate to ask if it’s ok to check me in.  the phone rings. the phone rings. the phone rings . . . someone picks up.  “is it ok to check-in a passenger?” the person on the other side of the line says something to the effect of “yes.” wonderful!

the teller hangs up the phone, punches in something on the keyboard and then hits the print button.  oddly, right before she hits that print button, the teller next to her decides to take apart the printer to add more paper. tick-tock. teller fumbles with the new roll of ticket paper. tick-tock. shoves the roll into the printer. tick-tock. waits for the print to reset. tick-tock. finally get my boarding pass.

I run to the security checkpoint. my gate number is 72, one gate to the left of the security. fantastic.  give the person my boarding pass and id, get to the security checkpoint, choose a line . . . choose a line . . . choose a . . . at that moment all the security lines shutdown save for one. fuck. I’m five back from the front. double fuck.

i have ten minutes.  I beg, plead and negotiate my way to the front of the line. great. there’s only one person in front of me, a girl.  she walks through metal detector and waits for her bags on the other side. waits . . . waits . . . the dude at the x-ray machine apparently likes what he sees. runs the bag through once, twice, thrice, four times, five times . . . “bag check!” noooooo!

unfortunately, the girl has two bags.  second bag gets run once, twice, thrice, four times . . . “bag check!” bag check guy comes over, walks up to the x-ray dude and says, “Man, what’s your problem? you gotta cut this out!”

now it’s my turn, put my two bags and two bins through.  each bag: once, twice thrice . . . I put my shoes through first, so as the bags are are getting x-rayed, i’m getting dressed again . . . shoes on. check. belt on. check. wallet, keys, change, check. ok, all my bags are done scanning . . . except, the person behind me has his bag close to mine, so my bag is still unreachable as he runs the other dude’s bag once, twice thrice . . . I just want to reach in and grab my damn bag, but i know i can’t unless i want to be labeled a terrorist. meanwhile, the security people realize x-ray guy is a douche bag and opens another line. wtf?!? the guy two places back from me goes through the other line and is on his way before i get all my stuff.
finally get my bags, run to the gate . . . flight has left.

It looks like my pleading has yielded a new author. Thanks jlee!

And so, this has been a great trip. To be honest, i was a little excited to be heading back to new york this time. I know it’s only been nine months or so, but the excitement only validated my move back to cali (although, the excitement only lasted about three hours. it’s mofo cold out here). before, things had gotten . . . not necessarily boring, but routine, I guess. There was no more liveliness to my days out in new york. Yeah, i was always the cheery guy. yeah, i could always find a good time. but, things just lost their spunk. both personally and professionally.

anyway, this trip has been exactly what I needed after the project that was the olympics. just letting go, seeing friends i haven’t seen in a long time. trying to be there for them now since i haven’t been there for a bit of a spell now . . .

So, the first night i hung with dave and eliza at home since I got in a bit late (flight was delayed). Second night was back to the old ways. 4pm party for the JLG (fantastic!); drinks at the lions head with sue, janine, jeff, chucky, and joan; and then more drinks with jenny and her boy art, a trip to crif dogs (the Good Morning! deep fried hot dog wrapped in bacon with a fried egg and covered with cheese! to die for, i say! to die for!), then a trip to taishao (unagi tofu! but no a, b, c). after that it was off to a party at Taj with lydia, kevin, and jeff until 4am. crashed at lydia’s place so i wouldn’t wake up dave and eliza.

today? today was a day of not waking up (finally!!!!). just rolling around in bed until the late afternoon hours. finally getting up to lay on the couch and watch a movie. lord i miss having my own time. later in the night, sushi of gari with dave, eliza and lydia. sushi of gari. sushi of gari. sushi of gari. yum. this is the one place i miss the most. $190 later, we find ourselves at payard. one cream puff, one cup of coffee, and a couple cookies later, it’s time to get the night started. i get a call from Alyx and we roll to Bua. first time there. great service. great company. I haven’t seen Alyx since she went to africa. caught up with her, had a few drinks. she was stoked cause UNC beat Duke (at Duke! that’s two straight losses for number 1) and we just chilled. One irish car bomb and one shot of petron later, it’s time to go home (another 4 am night). tried to hit crif dogs, but it was too crowded.

anyway, this trip was exactly what i needed. hopefully monday will be a day of fixing all that is wrong with MLB, and i can head back to cali refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to knock some shit out of the park.

tomorrow is a trip to beard papa’s which will make this journey officially complete. mmmm . . . . beard papa’s.

Disclaimer: this is the story as I remember it. very likely to be incomplete and/or incorrect, but a story nonetheless. Leave comments for corrections. oh, and tell me when i should stop.

Six months at Intel passed without a hitch and I returned to a life that had moved on. My classmates had all kicked off their senior year in style and were preparing for job interviews and life in the great beyond.  CCIT had grown even more and i was no longer an integral part of the operation. And, after six months away, the girlfriend realized what an ass i was and ended the relationship.

The breakup with the girl was the real kicker at the time. In hindsight, it was probably one of the better things that’s happened to me. Lots of self reflection and eighteen nights of drunkeness later (I was gunning for nineteen or twenty three. I wanted to stop on a prime number for some reason, but, well, i got sick on the eighteenth day), I think I came out of it with a better understanding of who i was and who i wanted to be. Also, had it not been for that breakup i probably wouldn’t have had a chance to get to know the WangWongWoo triumvirate which would have been truly catastrophic.

As for CCIT, i stayed out of the way for most of the semester. Compared to the thirty plus hour weeks i used to put in, i was pretty much a ghost, or at least i felt like one. I would drop in on occasion here and there to fix bugs or hang out, but i wasn’t contributing the way i once did. Everything felt wierd at that time. I didn’t have a workstation or even a desk at which to sit. I ended up plucking away on lilgeck, my first laptop that i bought with the intel money. Workwise, it was just a mediocre time for me. I spent most of that semester smelling roses and enjoying the city with friends. I remember a lot of drinking all night . . . it probably had something to do with becoming president of my fraternity.
But CCIT didn’t really need me then.  Oddly, they had grown a film department (comprised of one Johnathan “Hollywood” Hludzinski and Leah Gelpe) charged with producing promotional films for the college, and had spawned many a website for the college and student affairs.

So, things were good for all by the end of the semester.  I had my time away from all things professional engineering and CCIT was doing incredibly well. But, there was more to be had.  I mean, the University has sixteen schools, and we were only playing with two of them.  Soon, the engineering school would be taken over, and in order to accomplish that, we needed more intern power.  Enter two of my favorite interns: Jenny Lee and Andy Shin.

I’m tired . . . and have lots of hair . . . and, until now, i didn’t really mind it, but now i do. it’s time to get a haircut . .. preferably soon.

the ccit story is still in the works . . . i feel like it’s segregating my audience here and i’m not sure how i feel about that.  I’m sure it’s a really boring story to those not involved. but, regardless, it will carry on. i’m just a bit too tired to sit down and pluck keys for 30-45 minutes . . . plus things are getting hard to remember. also, i need to get stop using the “and so” construct. it might just be my “that which.”
also, i’m dismayed that no one has touched the wiki yet. i left it in stub form for ease of contribution, and yet, there is no contribution. =(