lancelott

And now, a short story...

2010-11-09T19:13:00.000-05:00

It had not always been this way. There had been a point in his life that he would have stopped and helped her, a time where doing the 'right' thing seemed natural. There was a distant memory of a house with a small garden, sunlight filtering though large windows illuminating dark wood floors, peaceful afternoons filled with soft laughter. There was a home, a family, a life. There was a distant memory of a time that was, and a pain in his chest that came with the knowledge of a future that would never be.

But that was the past, survival the present, and vengeance the only thing the future had to offer. So he continued down the darkened street, ignoring her muffled cries for help and the bright knife that shone brightly in the moonlight.

peace,
ko

Life in the Nation's Capital

2010-11-08T20:33:00.004-05:00

It is interesting because national news is local news. And, by 'news' I mean politics, of course. It is something that I don't particularly enjoy and try to avoid. Often, if I find myself straying to the distasteful subject, I find that the conversation dissolves into something that one observes all too often in the DC (US) region; a shouting match where neither side listens to the views of the other. I guess its hard not to get riled up when there is so much money changing hands. I mean, I want some more cash. I mean, I can have affairs, smoke and not inhale, point out the location of Russia on a map and repeat empty slogans as well as the next guy. Don't I deserve some love? Click on the picture to find out who to talk too to get some love of your own.

Ahhh, well. I guess it could be worse. I could be submitting noise complaints about those reckless hoodlums living upstairs in NYC. Side note: interesting what a hundred million phone calls can reveal about a city. Seriously though, it could be worse. I was interviewing someone today, speaking about the part of the city I live in and was struck by how many positives I could name. Its not for everyone, but tell me something that is. Jesus? Yeah, you're a smart ..... I do, however, miss certain friends terribly. That is one unfortunate thing that comes with living in the district. It's ok though, I'm working on a diabolical plan to get them to move here too. It involves a lot of praying, a baseball bat, three paperclips and a previously unreleased version of 'thriller' by Michael Jackson. That's right, Diabolical with a capital 'D'.

In a mostly unrelated note, a helpful venn diagram:

Remember kids, there are people out there that follow John Gabriel's greater internet theory to a 'T' (whatever that means), so keep your information safe. It is for this reason that I (and you) should avoid status updates such as: "you make me feel dead inside" or "needs a pick me up" and "getting that Deja Fu feeling... that somehow, somewhere, he's been kicked in the head like this before". First, if they make you feel that way, telling everyone on facebook doesn't make you seem any more like an adult. Second, begging for a pick me up through a computer is not as efficient as meeting friends in a bar (or for ice cream because ice cream is 'the awesome'). Third... well, that third one is actually pretty funny so we'll let that one slide. Anyway, you get the point, keep yourself in the right circle (see what I did there?) and you'll be fine.

Off to get ready for the next fun filled day.

peace,
ko

VietNam is the awesome

2010-10-24T13:08:00.000-04:00

That is all.

peace,
ko

Give me an idea for a mural

2010-08-08T22:54:00.001-04:00

I'd love to create a piece for one of our walls, 4' x 9'.

Go.

-peace
ko

i love macs

2010-05-24T21:03:00.002-04:00

not really, i just wanted to see what kind of reaction i could get out of you. truly, i think apple is an evil company, run by a megalomaniac, but geeze do they create sexy products. so, of course when the pictures of a beautiful new prototype iphone and subsequent dismissal of an apple employee was to me and i guess all of you, par for the course. that was before i knew that the people over at gawker were even bigger tools. i mean, lets say i have a watch. say, i don't know, a rollex which you know i couldn't afford. maybe its dangling from a inside pocket of my trench coat, whatever fits your image. lets say i found it and will sell you it for a steal. and that's where gawker is in the wrong, they bought stolen goods and they knew they were stolen. plus, they aren't journalists, no matter how much they whine. you got to play by the rules my friends.

s'ok though gawker, i found you a quite toilet to go and cry alone in. They even made you a sign:

anyway, now i'm feeling a ton of apple love, even more so after one of my favorite all time drafting software decided to jump on board as well. heck, people are even redesigning outlets to help one be at peace with ones macs.

ahh, its a wonderful world.

peace,
ko

crashing helicopters and killing zombies

2010-04-30T20:55:00.002-04:00

so i've been pretty busy lately. as the title suggests, it has been a little of this and a little of that, but all of it for science. ok, ok, last time i mention helicopters, my family has been telling me that they're tire of hearing about it. i guess i need to do something else to get on tv.

maybe i should start playing with legos again.

anyway, i will be participating is some kind of urban hunt this weekend. we are hunting humans, should be fun.

peace,
ko

michelle and me

2010-04-05T21:04:00.002-04:00

evidently we're the same. we both try to stay out of politics, and fail from time to time. both of us love to promote exercising. both of us love food. o, and that whole MBTI thing. its actually kind of funny, gandalf the grey (who, evidently, i share the same MBTI as well) also tried to stay out of the politics of the age and failed (but also succeeded). are these types of people doomed to be pulled into things they dislike? (i'm only guessing with michelle) am i doomed for a life of being pulled into things i wish to avoid?

what a great way to start out this post. yeah... wait a tick, what is that smell anyway? maybe you should have that looked at... that is, if you can afford it. what did i say about politics? (full disclosure: no, i'm not a big fan of the health care bill. yes, i think that we pay for it now anyway with people going to the ER with no insurance and defaulting on the bill. therefore, i wish there was something that we could do. o, and i might own some GE stock which would benefit from more people buying healthcare equipment.)

i don't know where i was going with that. ah, well. maybe next time.

peace,
ko

traveling back in time

2010-03-16T21:32:00.002-04:00

Let's go back in time, shall we? Because, you know, that's evidently possible and stuff.

We, and by 'we' I do mean the royal 'we' and 'we' meaning chinh and I, will be attending linked event because we are nerds. And, as nerds we are firm believers that going back in time is super sweet. Kind of like Star Trek, and it don't get much nerdier than that. It is one of the many benefits of living in this new location, working in a super sweet job. How sweet could it possibly be? May I suggest just a couple of videos for your consideration. And, no, NASA is not my employer... not directly at least.

Of course I could be doing something like this instead. Which would also be sweet, if not as destructive as one might like. But, you have to admit that its pretty cool. And if you don't, well then you are just not thinking hard enough about the problem. It is funny to read the comments listed under the above videos. They usually fall into two diametrically opposed categories: awesome! and sarcastic cynicism. Both suffer from a same problem, they don't think about the problem (whatever it is, be it crashing helicopters to study injury or solving a rubix cube) and simply same the first thing that comes to mind. Kind of like defecating out one's mouth, its not pretty and leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. So, stop, take a breath, and critically think about the problem, you'll find much better things to praise/criticize. Trust me.

I try to be a bit objective now in this blog. Not that I don't have plenty of opportunities to gush about how I might love one of these (get your mind out of the gutter) but because I feel particularly vulnerable sharing honest opinions, let alone feelings, with the slobbering horde that exists in this medium. (see above for further explanation) It is this very feeling that makes something like this so much more amazing. To be fair, half of my obsession with this publication is the amazing amount of data produced in such a beautiful way. The second part is a grotesque fascination with people who could expose such intimate details about their lives. It's a little like see a horrific accident on the highway, you are repulsed by the death but are fascinated by the destruction. Is that person still alive? Did everyone make it out before the car caught fire (and we all know how many car fires there are in the district)? And so you slow down, and stare. You are not a terrible person, horses are terrible people. One reads these blogs with the same fascination, like watching a train wreck, you want to see how it turns out and thank God that it's not you.

On the other hand, I guess it is good that we are beings that feel and project emotion. The other option is we could all be robots.

peace,

plantains, the better banana

2010-02-21T16:01:00.002-05:00

although i cannot take full credit for that wonderful quote, i not only wholeheartedly agree with the statement but i also personally know the individual dispensing such wisdom. i'll give you a hint; we sleep in the same bed (unless i've done something stupid). above quote was given while having lunch at the amazing delicious tortilla cafe in the eastern market, enjoying some life changing pupusas. seriously, these things will change your life. if they don't, you are not alive and that makes you a zombie. we all know what to do with zombies.

in a past life i used to work for a car maker. as you can imagine, given the recent troubles of various car makers, it is probably good that such a statement is in the past tense. however, one of the things i do miss are the auto shows. why? you might ask. well, suffice to say, i believe this cartoon explains it exquisitely. i will let you guess what category i would fall in.

and, finally, i believe there is good and evil. that there is wrong and right, and often the line between the two is as clear as a giant cleft in the earth. continuing the theme of 'kids say the darndest things', i give you the following story. read and think about good and evil, sometimes there isn't as much 'gray area' as we would like to believe. (note: story comes from the beloved cartoon creator of penny-arcade.com)

I don't mean to turn PA into an episode of Kids say the darnedest things but some of you might appreciate this. I was playing Star Wars with my son the other night when he said something funny. Little Gabe is obsessed with Star Wars and so much of our play time involves reenacting the movies. On this particular occasion he was playing the role of the emperor while I was Luke Skywalker. He had seated himself in my computer chair and when he spun around to face me I saw that he had placed a toy Lightsaber on the arm rest. He patted it gently and said "You want this don't you?" I could not help but laugh at how ridiculous the scene was. This bothered him and he told me not to laugh at him because he was the emperor and he was evil. "Yes I know." I told him and tried to get my act together but his little angry eyes underneath the hood of his Mickey Mouse sweatshirt made me laugh even more. "I'm bad." he said and as if to prove it told me "I litter!"

"What?" I asked "What do you mean you litter?" He pushed back his hood and looked at me seriously "Well littering is against the law and the Emperor does all bad things right?" I imagined the Emperor stalking the halls of the Deathstar and munching on a snickers bar. He finishes the last bite and throws the crumpled wrapper over his shoulder. An Imperial Guard bends to snatch it up and the Emperor raises a hand. "Leave it." he croaks. The guard pauses, his red gloved hand shudders as it hovers over the bit of garbage lying there on the Deathstar's polished Durasteel floor. The emperor watches the guard's discomfort with growing satisfaction, a smile creasing his shriveled face. The Guard stands and follows the Emperor away and he can not help but spare a backwards glance at the trash he left behind. With the glance comes a thought, a thought he will never share out-loud but one that shakes him to his very core. "I serve a monster!"

I looked at my son and realized that in his five year old mind there is no gradient to evil. For him, the act of destroying Alderaan and littering are equal. The sort of person who could to one might easily do the other. I smiled at him "Of course he litters son. He litters all the time." He smiled knowingly and I reached out with the force to summon my Lightsaber.

-Gabe out

neat, right? Dear Lord, thank you for Star Wars and the lessons it continues to teach us. i'm off to get some plantains. don't worry, i'll properly dispose of the peels.

peace,
ko

while watching the olympics

2010-02-14T20:28:00.002-05:00

make sure your kids are not playing with these dangerous things. or maybe you should? i mean, it couldn't be much worse than spending all your time tracking your mouse, or creating a treemap of some interesting data, or contemplating how mathematical functions are represented in the physical world, instead of going to say... your son's soccer game, or daughter's dance recital. your are not a bad person. horses are bad people.

while you are off being a bad parent, i'm going to listen to songs about MRI's. that's right, i'm going to listen to songs focused on magnetic resonance imaging, you have a problem with that? who cares about your opinion, you horse.

...

you know, instead of all that, why don't you watch the olympics? here's a little history to get you started.

peace,
ko

its still cold here

2010-01-26T21:44:00.002-05:00

and yet, it seems that people here in baltimore still don't want to turn on the heat. while i agree that baltimore, maryland is no ann arbor michigan when it comes to the cold, there is a point where saving money just isn't worth it. a co-worker of mine who lives in the city remarked that the area this 'home' (and i do use this term loosely) is located in a mostly college student/medical campus area and while they don't strike me as the doctor type, maybe they are just trying to pay the student loans. more power to them.

just a quick update to let you know i'm still alive. hopefully more interesting things to talk about in the future.

peace,
ko

continuing with the theme...

2010-01-18T22:39:00.003-05:00

... of poaching my friends links sent to myself and reposting them as new information, i give you this: new evidence that we are indeed in an era of progress. or, maybe not, maybe they should have googled the 'how too' manual. o, wait... too soon?

again, now that your sarcasm meters are properly tuned...

in all seriousness, the data is quite striking. for a guy who spends months preparing for a test that might last all of 300 ms (if its long, and yes that is in units of 1e-3 seconds) and then spend several more months pouring over the data, it is amazing to see all of these numbers that must have been a result of a lot of hard work. even better, they took the time to plot it in a way where you are practically force fed conclusions. want to live a long life in the southern hemisphere? austrialia might just be for you. wonder why people are still talking about crippling poverty in sub-saharan africa? learn to read a bar graph. think mexico city has a ton of greenhouse gases? try turkey on for size. all in all, quite a pretty picture. i think that the saddest thing is that men are now the majority. joke is on them though, i'm already married. take that 'sucka'!

yes, i tried once again to call on my thug life. yes, i'm done now.

i've been playing a fantastic, diablo-esk (is that a word?) game recently and throughly enjoying every penny of the $19.95 i paid for it. in an era when games are $60 or more, this is quite a fantastic development, especially considering that i have a $50 per month allowance. if nothing else, it will keep me busy until something else drops. of course, i could also always try to better myself in areas where i'm unfamiliar. but its late, and i'd rather go to bed.

but, one quick thing before i go. i wholeheartedly endorse lying to make people read classics. seriously, its just a reprint, as far as i know. i'd like like a motha' to get people to read dune.

peace,

straight up thug life

2010-01-12T22:30:00.002-05:00

maybe you are not aware, but D.C. can be a rough place. between the shoot outs with cops and the car fires one might think that you were in L.A. kicking it with the good dr, not the nation's beautiful capital. and i would forgive you for that, not everyone can handle the straight up thug life that exists in this area of the country. that being said, at least we don't live in arlington, that place is 'fo' real'.

now that your sarcasm meter is properly tuned... i give you something no one will be surprised at: a train wreck. in simpson character voice, 'most obvious article ever!'

i tend to listen to more mellow music than my contemporaries. it sometimes brings snide comments as it is not 'hip' or 'cool' or even 'manly'. i suppose i would acquiesce to the last descriptor, however i have never felt that my 'maleness' was tied to the things i listened too or the hobbies i enjoyed (although football is one of my deepest obsessions, that is 'manly' yes?). i play way too many 'nerdy' games to be worried about such stereotypes. with all this in mind, i would like to propose another option; most music played today just sounds bad, and here is the data to prove it. crushing, is it not?

finally, i love to watch movies but no one ever wants to see the movies i would like to devour. thankfully, the new york times has stepped in to help me find like-minded people, turns out i'm simply living on the wrong side of the city. who knew? and, what interesting inferences one can make about the demographics of each city based on the data.

also in simpson character voice, 'mmmmmmm, data' *drool*

peace,
ko

the robots are coming to control your brain

2009-12-21T21:05:00.002-05:00

weather it is through controlling the air that you breathe (read: bernoulli's principle, damn fluid dynamics, always gave me problems...) or melting your mind by forcing you to sit in front of the stupid box (yay for those cool looking 3D glasses), the robots are here to control everything. even now they are working to replace the very parts of your weak, fleshy body (another cool thing developed at my workplace). who knows? maybe we've already reached that technological singularity. don't get me wrong, its not that i dislike robots, they help me do many things. like break other robotic type machines. mmm, breaking machines...

so far the coolest thing about google wave is the firefly/serenity references. maybe its because i don't have that many people to collaborate with (read: no friends), but so far i really don't get what all the hype is about. i suppose if i had a D&D group to play with, such a forum would be very useful. we could use it to fight illithid (read: Mind Flayer) in the deep, shadowy, secret places under the earth. that would be fun, about as fun as fighting the devil himself. until then, though, i think i will side with the drow and pound it out on the football field.

and speaking of that beautiful sport, the time of year has come where college students play to make millionaires more money (note: not the institutions they actually play for). its the time of year where we celebrate our Savior's birth and we will be retreating to the land of enchantment. hopefully the two feet of snow that buried our nation's capital doesn't follow us.

peace,
ko

crazy drivers

2009-12-17T21:07:00.003-05:00

when i first moved to the DC area, i was blown away by the traffic. seriously, 4+ hours to travel 15 miles? however, after enough time and lots of hard lessons, i was able to learn the correct ways to transverse the diverse (you see what i did there?) pathways of the district. there is, however, one thing that i will never be able to get used to; car fires. we have a car on fire every day here in the district. an exaggeration you may think? hardly. let me give you two small examples to provide but a taste of the insanity that is driving here in our capital. it is something only delicious food can alleviate.

thankfully my wife is a crazy good cook. and by 'crazy good', i mean she is certifiably insane. behold, her entire weekend:

peace,

you know what would be really cool?

2009-12-10T20:49:00.002-05:00

If you could crash things for a living. Wait... no, if you could crash cars for a living! Wait, wait, wait, no... I got it, if you could crash HELICOPTERS for a living.

yep, that would be really cool. then you could be featured on sites such as engaget, popular science, redorbit and NASA. if only you could be that guy, like one of the guys seen in the video. that sure would be sweet.

peace,
ko

married games

2009-11-22T19:41:00.003-05:00

the buckeyes beat michigan, won the big ten outright and are going to the rose bowl. the universe is in perfect harmony. time to look for other things besides football till january.

that's why friday night is going to be game night for chinh and i going forward. i'm not sure what games we will be playing, but hopefully none of them will be played in divorce mode. this is actually a small *cough* problem that i have; i'm incredibly competitive, and this competitiveness tends to make me hard to play with. this is especially true if you might be married to me, thus being forced to endure my unpredictable bouts of competitiveness. so... you know... watch out for that. on another note, we also have a fairly regular exercise routine that we are implementing soon. this is not in reaction to the things we might be eating, more because it feels like the right thing to do. well, i guess i lied a little, this way i get to eat more chipotle burritos. yum.

i often work with high speed cameras in my job and you can film some pretty cool stuff with technology these days. unfortunately, i wasn't smart enough to start my own television show or film the invisible forces of nature, but i'll keep working at it. if nothing else, i'm learning a lot of cool techniques while unlocking the secrets of the universe (read: simple physics, aka. engineering). maybe i could share my knowledge of physics with future presidents, being that i live so close to the whitehouse and all. till then, i'll keep finding approximate solutions to exact problems.

peace,
ko

so many video games...

2009-11-16T20:58:00.003-05:00

xbox (aka. microsoft, aka. the evil empire) has found so many ways to extort more money from my pocket. from quests to defeat dragons to entertaining a crowded club, nothing is beyond their power. now, with the most recent update to xbox live, they are exerting their mighty power over your very procreation. what a crazy world we live in.

i have often thought about the problem of how to power a nation. while i think that water, wind and solar (heck, i came from new mexico) all have a place in the grid, there are probably some other options that will have to be considered. however, converting russian nukes to energy probably wasn't first on my list. that being said, i'll take the energy wherever i can get it, just find a place to dump it for the next million years (note: new mexico is off limits). truth be told, i don't know what the answer is, i just hope it turns out to be the right decision.

i'm full football mode now that its officially hate week. having lived in the state up north (and making some wonderful friends up there), i can say with no reservations that i hope we beat the crap out of michigan. o, and yay for the rose bowl.

peace,
ko

sickness

2009-10-31T10:27:00.003-04:00

i have a cold and that is the suck. it is the suck in the sense that i almost never get sick, but when i do it is usually painful. plus, it gives my relatives an excuse to pick on my habits saying that those habits are the reason i'm sick while totally discounting the majority of time which i feel fine. awesome. even my boss is getting into the act which dissolved into the following link being sent. and, no, for those who are wondering i don't have a third nipple. anyway, this means that i will spend my day not watching the buckeyes (thanks big ten network) and looking at giant trees and lego kitchens.

npr is something i listen too every morning. i find it more intelligent (usually) than the other talk shows that are on, with reports such on everything from faith to ghosts. i don't mind that listening to such a station puts me into the 'old' category, generally its the only way that i get to hear the news, and news in such a way that someone isn't shouting at me. don't get me wrong, though, i am conservative. i just think the main thing holding back the conservative movement is the republican party and the far right.

but enough of my babbling, i just received windows 7 in the mail! time to update my machine, i've heard that this version is not 'the suck'.

peace,
ko

games

2009-10-04T20:46:00.002-04:00

after a visit to our local lego store, i was once again bitten with the desire to collect a complete star wars army. it was a surreal experience in the sense that i saw the same (literally) toys i used to play with when i was a lad. and this experience teleported me to a different time, when i might imagine myself somewhere in the various stories that these wonderful tiny distractions would provide, living a 'normal life' in the sci-fi universe. i think this has given me a new idea when it comes to pumpkin carving this year.

fun. unlike some of the other sci fi distractions that have come out recently. well, maybe 'not fun' is a little strong, maybe 'price gouging' is a better way to describe it. i mean, there are much better things to spend your money on. geeze, i miss gaming.

finally, it is football season and that means my nights are pretty much shot, although i will be making a few exceptions. usually i like to watch the games at home where i can make a fool of myself and most people won't hear about it. recently, however, i've been looking for a local hangout to watch 'the game', mostly because the big ten network is 'the suck' and is not shown here on the east coast. hopefully, though, the rest of the dc metro area will not be subject to my groans.

peace,
ko

better visit while you can

2009-09-19T18:35:00.003-04:00

we just got back from the motherland (fatherland?) and it seems that we visited it just in time. you see, there are certain parties that wish the lovely swiss alps would just disappear. what a crazy world we live in... of course, we were able to miss the painful loss that shouldn't have been which was also an added bonus and returned in time to see a much happier game. its a testament to how much i love football that i speak of it after such a trip. in all seriousness though, this was one of the best trips ever and i hope to post pictures soon. if you have a chance, you should visit too. one word of warning though, it is a bit expensive. if you live in the DC area, however, this is obviously not a problem.

we are looking to get a ps3, it being a great option if you want a blue ray player, not to mention being pretty popular now that it got cheaper and shed a few pounds. it might be a little much for us in the sense that we have a Wii, xbox 360, ps2, psp, 2x DS, 3x laptops, desktop... but, in our defense, there is no blue ray player in that list. plus, we would be able to play fat princess.

and, finally, i still think mark may is a moron.

peace,
ko

thinking about weddings or...

2009-08-21T22:12:00.001-04:00

...how i learned to stop worrying and enjoy the ball and chain.

i wrote this a while ago, but never posted. please enjoy...

given that it is coming up on the second anniversary of my tricking my wife into saying 'i do' (and that we just recently got our wedding pictures), i have been thinking about weddings and such. maybe we should have had the wedding in albuquerque, it is after all the best place to live. or maybe we should have served some different food too our guests, i mean who doesn't like burgers and fries?

in the end, though, we had one kick a$$ wedding, and i wouldn't change a thing.

back to the present...

we have moved to a new state, a new set of jobs, a new adventure. that is part of the reason that i had not posted in so long. prior too and during the move, i oscillated between huge excitement and debilitating depression, partly because we were leaving such good friends and partly because i didn't really know what i was getting into. it is this fear of the unknown in every new situation, be it a new school or a new job that gives one pause and can destroy any good thing. fortunately, we are nothing but happy here. come visit, we'll show you.

my job is fun, rewarding and generally 'the awesome', read more about it here, chinh will find out more about her job in september. the one thing that is terrible here is the traffic. 45 min is a good commute here, and coming from a place where my work was 3 mi away that is a tough pill to swallow. that being the case, it certainly seems like there are more things to drive to.

o, and super grandmart is much better than h-mart.

i hope to post more in the future. till then...

peace,
ko

tiger resistant laptops

2009-07-20T20:21:00.005-04:00

i have to get a new computer (laptop) for work, and i am lucky enough that it will be ordered for me. unfortunately, i immediately thought of my problems with various 'dell' s and begun to quake with fear. on the other hand, maybe i will get a tiger resistant laptop. either way, things could be a lot worse, i mean keanu reeves could be destroying one of my favorite series of all time. now that would be hard to live with...

in other news, my phone is 'the awesome'. "its just an iphone" you say, "you sound like a fan boy". well, does your phone have a super sweet HP calculator? i think not. i mean, if there is anything that will make my father love a phone, it is this app. though, to be honest, i do think that at&t is a pile of epic fail. its just that verizon would fail in so many more ways...

and, finally, i have built a new computer. it is also 'the awesome'. i will try to post pictures when we are settled in our new place.

o, you didn't know i was moving? you must not be part of the 'cool club'.

peace,
ko

ps. i should have built my computer like this... i am not as uber awesome as this...

pps. this is an awesome shirt and i think it sums up my general feeling about social networking sites

evidently everything's emerging

2009-06-08T23:04:00.002-04:00

and the things that are coming to light are quite impressive indeed. i did not get to go to this year's elitist gathering of the electronic upper echelon (also known as E3), but i still wish to draw your attention to some of the more interesting reports that have come out recently.
first, for those who warhammer 40K means something, there is a new game that is coming out that takes a drastically different look at the warhammer universe. no longer are you controlling large companies of deadly troops, no sir. four will do just nicely.
second, i love rock band, and i have a turntable at home. logic says that the combination of the two will bring me joy unmatched. lets hope that such logic is sound.
third, for those who can't get enough halo, a pair of games to help further satiate your hunger. hopefully these will do better than the middling 'halo wars'.
fourth, and finally microsoft gets rid of something that was a bad idea from the start. so you want me to take my real money, exchange it for some exotic currency you have dreamed up and then give you that said exotic currency in return for a game? right...
fifth, another title from our friends at nintendo is trying to encourage us to use that lump of gray matter perched on top of our heads. next your going to tell me they want us to exercise these fragile husks, o wait...
sixth and lastly, i think i have touched on this before, but i think that a game where you are encouraged to live with your consequences is just awesome.

yay, all done.

peace,
ko

results

2009-06-02T21:04:00.002-04:00

the results are in, and the long and short of it is that i achieved my desired time.1:45:02, which equates to an 8.02 per mile pace. i don't know if i could run it any faster if i wanted too, but we'll see. half marathons are much more reasonable to train for when compared to full marathons. in the end, i'm just glad that my timing chip worked because it didn't work for the detroit marathon and i had to get my results added by sending in pictures of me crossing the finish line.

other results are coming in as well. some are the result of someone accidentally posting something they shouldn't. let this be a lesson boys and girls, if you are working on a list of the u.s. nuclear sites don't post such information on the internet. people will find it. i guess this whole thing is a little interesting for me in the sense that i am fascinated by how much is recorded in this current time. i mean, a bridge can't even collapse or a plane land in a river without a couple of cameras pointed their way. i mean, what is facebook but a giant stalker organization? ok... maybe its not that sinister, but it certainly could be used as such. i know i don't have to go to any high school reunions any more...

finally, looks like the results are not quite in for FFXIV, but the 360 seems to have a fighting chance. too bad for sony...

peace,
ko

please read the reviews

2009-05-26T19:20:00.003-04:00

before you buy anything. for instance, you could pass up this beauty on amazon thinking 'i don't need another wolf shirt', but if you read the reviews you could become better informed to the lurking awesomeness that lies within such a product. and, don't think that this thinking exists for awesome wolf shirts, at one point earlier this year most 'gamers' would have declared the death of the ps3 (yours truly included). this has been since soundly crushed by the current release of something infamous and the upcoming 'all grown up' game. that's right children, you have to read all the reviews in order to know what you are getting into.

in other news, it seems like i'm not the only one who thinks espn sucks. now, the new york post isn't what i would like to call an 'upstanding media organization', and has been known to sensationalize various articles. However, they are dead on when it comes to the article in question (of course this particular instance is the exception to the rule. that makes sense, right? ...).

i am working on a funny comic, but this week will be really busy. sunday i'm running for 13.1 miles. yes, it makes me nauseous too when i think of it.

peace,
ko

other words

2009-05-18T17:45:00.004-04:00

another night slips away/ in other words, i should say/ there are other words, you should say/ there are other words...

a co-worker was let go the other day. this is neither a radical statement, in this day and age, nor is it necessarily an implication about the current state of the company i work for (since my co-worker was a temp.). that being said, it is interesting to see the reactions around the office, how certain conversations are missed, how there is an overall different 'tone'. one gets used to the idea of having people around and therefore we do not sometimes say the words we want to say. because, after all, there is always tomorrow, right? i guess not. i recently found out about this 'third place' that we sometimes create at work. needless to say, such changes in the landscape of people around us has a significant affect on said 'third place'.

at least my co-worker will no longer have to suffer through the michigan commute. i wish him all the best.

i want to say more, but tomorrow comes quickly over the horizon, and there is much still to do.

leave it for another day then, there will always be another day, another night... don't you think?

peace,
ko

embrace your inner nerd

2009-05-14T19:50:00.002-04:00

only an engineer could get excited over sites such as this and this. well, that's not quite true. but, i do know that all the bar charts, color graphs, visual comparisons, etc. excite a part of my inner core not usually bathed by warmth. its dark and sickly place, inhabited by creatures that have not seen the light of day for many millennium. i don't know why such beasts would be excited by the performances of new technology, maybe they have watched too much ghost in the shell. they certainly not interested in the recent stories losely connected to their ancient past.

i have recently made a purchase that i only have slight buyers regret for. 'slight' in the sense that there is a digital version coming out soon. that, and the same french studio is going to convert a favorite set of books into something else i can waste money on. maybe this will convince old george to finish his latest book... anyway, since i also got this in the deal and both for under the price for one of it new (which is no longer in print), i think i did alright.

finally, it seems my favorite gadget is getting cheaper. maybe chinh will buy one as well. hope springs eternal.

peace,
ko

upgrayedd...

2009-05-11T21:57:00.002-04:00

...for a double dose of my pimp love. if you have not seen the movie that corresponds to that quote, you are doing the world a great disservice. i mean that in all seriousness. it is one of the main reasons that i avoid using 'txt', 'thx', 'lol', etc. to express myself. (that, and my genetic makeup has a deep seated love of the english language, despite my many attempts to evacuate that part of my psyche...).

speaking of good movies, i loved the new star trek. i found it a refreshing combination of the old formula and innovative thinking, joined in such a way to keep me thirsting for more. not only this, but the casting was fantastic. who could have thought that my own simon pegg could make such a good scotty? amazing.

anyway, the reason i started this post is that i plan to 'upgrayedd' my computer soon, a task that leaves my palms sweaty both with fear and anticipation. my brother in law mentioned this site to guide me in the ways of the force, and i don't know how i ever got along without it. however, should the worst happen, know that i love you, and our separation from the web won't be forever.

peace,
ko

ps. still working on some new drawings...

the joys of modern technology

2009-05-07T20:50:00.004-04:00

i can't really imagine a world where one would have to drive, or walk, from business to business, handing out paper resumes. sure, for the occasional summer job, the time changing oil or cleaning hallways as you realize that maybe school is not such a bad thing after all, such a method of finding a job might be well and good. however, with the advent of technology, this practice has certainly become antique. still, there is something to be said about handing an breathing person a physical resume. it implies, if nothing else, that some stranger has given you the slightest acknowledgment of your own existence, if only for long enough to drop it in the trash when you are not looking. technology has changed all that.

working in the car industry, especially now, you are even more aware of how fleeting one's job is and the soul crushing feeling of filling out countless online applications. makes you want to do something else with all the vehicles scattered about you. that, or look for another line of work. this brings us to the sad little 'comic' above. remember the mantra, 'just get the product out' and keep your critiques to the more helpful. such as, how the heck do i make simple straight lines in photoshop?!?!! i want a tablet...

speaking of things i desire, this was just announced. between that beta and blood bowl's beta, i could become a beta machine. now, to slit that alpha male's throat and take leadership of this pack. that's how it works, right?

peace,
ko

a lego for every day

2009-05-02T23:39:00.003-04:00

chinh showed me this site (she usually is the first to notice something 'cool') and i thought that i would share it with you. the dedication that such an endeavor requires is beyond me (obviously) but it certainly has sparked my interest and made me want to strive for 'more'. hopefully, you will reap the benefits like the good Lord has taught us.

oddly enough, i recognized many of those legos, and it got me to thinking how could i better use the things around me? well, i (and maybe you) are in luck. can't run to the bank to deposit a check? have a camera phone? you are in luck. this is the kind of thing that while i was a young pup, playing with said legos, i thought could never exist. this is not to say we have reached some kind of promised land as far as technology goes, however it is nice that there are those who are working hard to get us there. now if only i could get my coffee machine to do my laundry...

i finished the blood bowl beta the other day. 'finished' is another way to say; 'the beta was closed (ended) and now i feel a gaping hole in my chest that longs for some sweet nectar to restore its fire.' needless to say, its not as bad as some people have it, but i do hope that such delights will be returned to me soon. between that and starcraft 2, this year could shape out to be very exciting game wise. till then, i'll just have to chew on less desired cuts of meat.

finally, if a company is failing, they should be allowed to fail. i, as a taxpayer, own planes, trains and now automobiles (and of course, banks). but, i do understand the moves that need to be made. after all, i am a conservative and a pragmatist, and that isn't the same as being a republican. so, with a shrug, i say lets see what the next 100 days gets us. who knows? things might actually get better. hopefully they don't get any worse...

peace,
ko

baby steps

2009-04-28T22:58:00.003-04:00

that's what i feel like i am taking in this whole 'photoshop' thing. that's ok though, because i'm spending more time grinding it out on blood bowl than i am drawing. which is a shame, since in the end i feel like i've failed myself, cheated you and done the world a disservice by not trying my best. o well, chalk it up to immaturity. i have acquired some new tools though, maybe i will try them out soon. if you have been following at all, you know that i have several things on my plate.

tycho sums up my general distrust/dislike/disinterest and any other 'dis' you can think of when it comes to forums. i have talked about this before (again using someone else idea's to explain better than i could ever hope too) and i can't help but think that this is a losing battle. maybe not even that; its not that i'm lazy, i just don't care. and this something that i'm going to have to work through.

short post tonight. more later this week.

peace,
ko

quick update

2009-04-22T22:14:00.002-04:00

i don't think my love of all things 'nerd' is a secret. and if it is, well now you know, and knowing is half the battle. thank you g.i. joe! however, it seems that i am not alone. that such a man would play d&d is nothing but validation for me, and for that i love him. is that bad? its platonic love, i promise. that bald head is pretty attarctive though...

but, enough of that, let me get back to my original point. about 'knowing' and 'half the battle' and such. well, it seems that in addition to being made into a live action movie, g.i. joe has another job. that's right, he's too much of the perfect soldier to be displayed on the big screen. he has to protect freedom on all fronts.

peace,
ko

the new addiction

2009-04-21T18:02:00.002-04:00

for the past couple of days, my schedule has been as such:

7.00 am: leave for SAE Congress in Detroit
4.45 pm: return from SAE Congress
5.45 pm: finish shower after running 3 - 6 mi (length of run will obvious shift this time)
6.00 pm: leave to go study for PE
8.00 pm: return from studying and eat
9.00 pm: work on the computer, catch up on emails, etc.
10.00 pm: play blood bowl till my eyes bleed

the last entry is familiar to me although it has come in some other forms (such as this), but the effects of it is generally the same. i'd like to think that i get all the important stuff done first, but such a schedule leaves little time for something i love. like sleep.

however, i'm not going to talk about video games this post. no, i'm going to talk about an earlier addictions. there has been a plethora of information coming out of buckeye land, and it seems mostly good. so much information and openess that they are once again letting you come down on the field (for a small fee, of course). i, for one, are out of said cash until further notice, what with being hospitalized and all at some time in the distant past. i am, of course, incredibly excited about seeing what this new season will bring us. i have already decided that anything short of a mNC would be a dissapointment. too soon? i don't care, deal with it.

sorry, maybe no comic till next week. i got a stomach ache from something i saw....

peace,
ko

just get the product out the door

2009-04-16T23:34:00.003-04:00

i dislike that phrase. i always thought (and were instructed) that if you were going to do something, you should do it right. you were demanded to do it right. and yet, i think i now understand it. the silly comic you see took entirely too long and is far form where i wanted it to be, but its finished. one thought i am going to keep in my head from now on is that it is better to get something out than nothing at all. plus, i got a lot more experience in layers, effects and such. i hope you like it, and even if you don't, i hope you keep your comments constructive. i hope to be doing this so long that you're going to want to eventually force me out the door. bumbling and old as i may be...

with all the news coming out, you may have missed this. i think its a good idea, and i work for a car company. a car company that isn't doing so hot. i think that its long overdue and i think that it will fail. but, i hope that it doesn't. after all, a previous great revolution involved trains right? or, we could use the two legs God gave us (with a little help of course). speaking of fast trains and unique technology, you may have also missed the plethora of news about this. one of my top games of all time, if only that ps3 came in an english version... ahh, but i supposed with all the money i'm losing it's better that it doesn't.

finally, can we say 'conservation of momentum'? i hope the news wasn't a shock to any of you out there...

peace,
ko

ps. i've been selected as a blood bowl beta tester, i'll let you know how it goes

give the people what they want

2009-04-13T22:32:00.003-04:00

my own mother didn't like the way i drew eva. i guess that just goes to show i don't know when to stop. hey, it worked well enough in getting me a super sweet wife. o well, hopefully some of you out there had a different opinion. (just kidding with you mom, you always taught me the best sarcasm)

while waiting for me to slog through another project, i though i would upload what i have finished so far. the working title is 'the adventures of brown bear'. enjoy. or don't, you'll be in good company.

future projects: hera (you don't want to mess with her), falling cherry blossoms (single frame comic), mac and pc (three frame comic), the promise of 'on live' (two frame comic), images for iphone app (single images)

looks like i have a fair amount of work to do. i should take a day off to get some of it done. that and stop crashing those castles...

peace,
ko

learning about cupcakes

2009-04-09T23:00:00.007-04:00

well, maybe not cupcakes, but at least we are learning about something involving food. from personally enjoying said sandwiches, i can tell you that they are by far the best meal between two pieces of bread that you could possibly have. in fact, its at least in the top ten meals of all time for me. that's how you know its 'for real'. similar to those in the article, i have taken my own spin on this traditional-colonial dish, adding a bit of this and that. however, nothing i could ever do could top mrs. nguyen's recipe. it is truly a work of art.

unlike my darling to the left, which is not a work of art. yes, i know there are areas that look unfinished and sloppy, i don't care. right now i'm teaching myself photoshop, so i suppose a few errors are to be expected. that and i am trying to flush out the characters in my mind. for instance, does lancelott like blue shirts? does eva wear lipstick? is that cupcake full of poison? you know, the normal character development. in addition to the acceptance of putting out work that i don't feel is 'perfect', i'm trying to be laid back about the entire process and not force anything. so if any of you are tracking said progress out there, come back every week and there should be something new and 'improved' for you too see. in the meantime, satiate your cravings by following this. insane...

following up on that link, seems like some retailers are not doing so hot. i have a significant amount of a&f merchandise, primarily gifted to me, and i can say that on the whole its not too bad. then i look at the prices for my shirts with holes in them and something inside of me dies. that's ok though, i didn't need that bit of compassion anyway. besides, i will always have tiny ninjas to teach me things like compassion. who knew that ninjas actually liked pandas?

and, finally, i know that this is not news to most of you who follow our Lord, but i just wanted to let you know that dark days are coming.

peace,
ko

some explaining to do

2009-04-04T22:19:00.006-04:00

maybe you noticed. maybe you didn't, and maybe you don't care. but, i thought i might explain the pictures that will (and are) coming to this site. first off, i want to make it perfectly clear, i never took steroids *wags finger*. this guy obviously did. i did, however, start to make good on the promise i made to myself a long time ago. the picture on the right is lancelott, in all of his photoshop 6.0 glory. it took me at least an hour, if not more, to produce that marginal character. i hope that further attempts not only look better, but also take significantly less time. all in all, i'm not hating the result completely.... yet. ask me tomorrow.

this does, however, bring up a good point. i'm developing a girl character and need name ideas. your input is appreciated (read: desperately needed). it is, after all, not a bad time to come up with some neat graphics to spice up one's site. lets say you want to learn about inflation, a neat flow chart with snazzy graphics might help. or, how about 27 diagrams, images and such showing where all the money went, would that hit the spot? i thought so.

so keep those ideas coming, and stay tuned. maybe something sweet will show up.

peace,
ko

ps. espn, you can't deny the magic any longer

day in and day out

2009-04-02T22:38:00.002-04:00

its the same old grind, another day another 75 cents. makes you with you were working on something 'cool', like this. i see a lot of future for this kind of device, and the video shows the first, painful, baby steps into the brave new world.

other than that, not much to report. more snow for the midwest. love the spring out here...

peace,
ko

we, who are about to die...

2009-03-25T22:07:00.004-04:00

who knew that crawfish races were such an intricate endeavor that it would require several engineers to come up with rules summed up in the following diagram:

yes, this truly is progress. when one can dream up games involving the use small animals, shortly before consuming said animals, then one has achieved a level of sophistication and civilization that will be studied in text books for centuries to come. and, why stop at small animals? why not also take a harmless child's game and bend it to the will of one of the original hardcore shooters? yep, you guessed it, contra.

news of this magnitude might kill a lesser publication, but that is not the case here. no, dear readers, we make like andrew bird and soldier on.

in the past, we have might poked fun at the plight of those friends who might own a ps3. this overly expensive, non game carrying device that screams elitism has long been the butt of many jokes. however, a new day might be dawning, and it should strike fear into the hearts of microsoft and sony alike. the upside of such a system is obvious and mindblowing... although, i would tend to agree with those checking for scars on wrists before crowning a new messiah, but i've always been a bit of a thomas. the problem that comes with everything from vehicle simulations to online videogames is the amount of stuff you have to cram down that pipe, the bigger the pipe is required to become. a smaller pipe only leads to sadness and shit everywhere, and unfortunately a small pipe is all that most are available to afford. like i said, if the technology can overcome this semmingly impossible obstical, all the better. personally, i'm going to wait to crown a champion. after all, this isn't the first time we've heard this song and dance.

sheading the nerdy image

2009-03-18T22:22:00.004-04:00

that's right boy, i'm making like the syfy channel (not to be confused with the scifi channel) and changing up my image to something that truly reflects my life and personality. from now on, 50 and i will be sipping our own personalized drinks down at the club before we go out and put some blood on the sand. it will truly be ill...

...and by that, i mean i will be sick. seriously scifi? that's as lame as petsmart (pronounced 'pets *pause* mart') changing their name to petsmart (pronounced 'pet' *pause* 'smart', notice how they are both spelled the same way....). this was one of the integral parts of my childhood. i learn wisdom and courage from jean-luc picard, i enjoyed comedy and laughing at one's self from a guy and two robots, i watched immortals battle and men make giant leaps. then you go and drop this on me? i guess its high scool all over again and you've gotten too cool to hang out anymore.

its cool, i'll just go kill zombies on my xbox (sorry ps3 friends).

and, in conclusion, it seems apple has done at least one thing right.

peace,
ko

evil

2009-03-16T21:05:00.003-04:00

no aig employees here, just giving up to the latest local trend. to be honest, though, i feel like a small part of my soul was ripped from its cradle nestled deep withing the beating warmth of my chest, carved out by own weakness in resisting the pressures of my peers. looking through that lens, i guess if i had a multi-million bonus coming, i would do the same thing... then again, i still have at least part of my soul remaining to warm this broken husk, to direct me in the very most basics of 'right' and 'wrong'.

the other day i had the opportunity to regret the purchase of my awesome, l337, super sexy car. and, while this new contender is certainly doing well, i still have no regrets. i would, however, say that if one was looking for a good hybrid that this new insight is a good bet. this does, however, create a small conundrum when one works for another automaker who produces a popular hybrid. ahh, well, strong competition is good, right?

in other news, for those who know castle crashers, this is where they grew up:

peace,
ko

why do churches fall down?

2009-03-11T21:37:00.003-04:00

this is on the wall of a church in lausanne, switzerland. pretty, yes (larger picture available by clicking on said image)? well, maybe not pretty but at least it seems interesting. you might wonder why they have such a diagram, with its various arrows (forces and moments) drawn in a seemingly random way. if you could read french, you might gather that the church is falling down and the diagram is discussing the various forces that the arches of the church must support. after long moments of staring at the picture, marveling at its beauty, it's genius, you might wonder why someone would have taken a picture of a diagram of an arch. well, don't look at me, seems like people are taking pictures of all sorts of crazy stuff these days. turns out that if your are taking the picture, that's manufacturing. if you are sending the picture, that's distributing. and, if she is under 18, that's called child pornography. crazy, indeed. i'd much rather look at force diagrams, but both pictures might make you think of falling churches.

in other news, related only in the sense that it also involves engineering, the new insight looks freaking cool. don't believe me? seems like you'd be in the minority.

peace,
ko

america, where you're punished for saving...

2009-03-08T12:30:00.003-04:00

(...and get a bail-out if you spent too much on your house or are the head of a major bank)

i just finished my taxes, can you tell? if it was uncle sam's goal for me to buy a house in the next couple of years, he failed. he failed real bad. well, old boy, i hope you enjoy spending my cash bailing out your buddies and those 'poor' people who did not bother to read the contracts they were signing.

in other news, watchmen came out this weekend and has received mixed reviews. although i have not seen the movie, i think that if you enjoyed the 300, you will have no problem with watchmen. what i find really exciting/interesting about these type of movies is the physics that go into it. yep, you heard me, physics. i watched a special on einstein the other night and was struck how many ideas were born from daydreaming (read: 'thought experiments', but evidently you need to be a great physicist in order to call your wandering imagination a thought exeriment). the special theory of relativity, energy is related to mass, the curvature of space and time, all these were born of this imagination. so remember kids, the next time your mother or father tell you to put down that comic book, tell them you are studying your physics.

in other, slightly related, news, it seems that it has also been known that gamer's faces are much different than everyone elses. surprised? don't be.

finally, there is some more fun coming to us from the evil empire (read: espn). this is a bad idea, reeeeeeeal bad.

edit: evidently doing drugs affects your ability to game. surprised? i thought not, but the idea is still a very cool one.

peace, ko

bumps and bruises...

2009-03-01T22:29:00.004-05:00

there i was, hitting the jump perfectly, 160 degrees though my 180 degree old man trick when i realized that i was not going to make it. naturally, i stick out right had to catch my fall, breaking my wrist. fortunately, i write with my right hand... next time i'm going to use my rear to absorb the impact. on the flip side, maurice and i can spend more time blogging now. he seems to have matured quite a bit, i wish i could have seen that kind of progress in my own life.

all the best, old buckeye, all the best. i hope you continue turn a new leaf. me, on the other hand, have been cursed with "the knack" and therefore am doomed for life. fortunately, my mother did not give up on me, molding me into a human being capable of interacting with others without immediately being stoned. well, not immediately anyway...

on the flip side, i've found a comic that explains my relationship with chinh:

peace,
ko

continuing economically (or a discussion on videogames)

2009-02-22T12:30:00.003-05:00

car companies are doing poorly, like everyone else, but it seems like there are some bright spots. hopefully this means that i can sometime move back to the buckeye state.

but i don't want to talk about that, instead lets talk about killzone 2. overall, the game has gotten great reviews. what i have gleaned from interviews and most of the reviews, you will find that visually killzone2 is considered a great game. story wise, it has some ground to make up, that and some people have been saying that the ps3's controllers are not made for fps. i tend to take all reviews with a grain of salt, positive or negative.

that being said... basically the makers of killzone2 have run into, once again, the halo problem. how do you create depth in an fps? gears of war (1 and 2) certainly didn't do it and it seems like killzone2 might fall short as well. conversely, the halo franchise is so rife with spinoff options that they are even creating a starcraft based game (halo wars, i've played the demo and it is a lot of fun. the controls are terrible for this type of game, but still its fun), a prequel halo3:ODST and who knows what else. while none of the sequels (except maybe Halo 3) is expected to match the success of the first, the game as a whole has been proven to be able to be stretched well beyond its initial release. this is also what made (makes) the final fantasy series so compelling. fairly consistently they are able to create believable worlds with rich back-story that most players don't even scratch and the 'hard core' tend to devour. (hence the ph34r of the franchise going to microsoft) the problem now for other fps developers is that halo has already been there, done that. without a significant leap forward, everything else will be considered cliche.

will killzone2 sell ps3's? will the game itself sell? i, for one, hope so because sony is in it deep and i would hate to have microsoft be the only developer for this type of game. furthermore, i do think that it does look stunning and i hope it is a fun game to play (sad that there is no co-op mode).

why bring this all up? because i have become addicted to my new super sweet game.

peace,
ko

the problem with people

2009-02-07T20:10:00.004-05:00

let me preface this with saying that my religion requires that i love people... all people, no matter how terrible, nasty or annoying they are. this is because all people are made in the image of God, and being so they have intrensic worth. that being said...

i have never made my love of penny-arcade a secret. they are often coarse, irreverent, and generally abrasive. that being said, i think they have a lot of smart things to say. specifically, i completely believe/endorse John Gabriel's greater internet theory:

never mind the 'unreal tournament' part, the equation is what i want you to focus on. if you have spent any time online, any time at all you have run into the above individual. it's not that these people are inherently bad, if you examine the equation carefully you will notice that input 'A' is as normal as you or me. it is the addition of 'A, B and C' that creates the result 'D'. observe my most recent run-in with result D and realize why I avoid most online forums. (side note: if you don't have enough time to scroll to the end of the conversation, know that it ended well) this is why i find the following video both refreshing/validating, please take the time to view here. note: he gave killzone 2 a 5 out of possible 5!!!1!

penny-arcade has talked about this kind of reaction before:this kind of insight gets me to thinking... why was 6 afraid of 7? because 7 ate 9? seems to me that seven is the one to watch... or maybe 8 because he just apparently just stood around and watched the whole thing happen. i am, however, fairly certain that 7 can't ever become 9... unless of course he ate 2, but then he'd really just be a sum and not really a 9... unless i have couple of beers, then there are lots of 9s... or maybe after 5 drinks a few beers then 7 might get a little 6 that night... i could go on, but i think you get the idea.

needless to say, out of the hundreds (millions) of opinions out there, only a few are worth hearing. this, of course, brings up the question; why do so many people think their opinions are so important that everyone should know their inner most thoughts? the answer is that we (and by 'we' i mean the current generation of twenty something year olds and younger) were raised by hippies and children of hippies, and thus were raised to believe they lie that we are all special. yes, as stated before we are all made in the image of God, but to also quote a recent movie, when everyone is special, then no one is. all this means that although one might be a fantastic artist, mathematician, burger flipper, engineer, taxi driver, etc. it does not mean that your opinon on anything from video games to college football is relevant or wanted. translation: you are not special enough that everyone should hear your every thought. this is the reason i find 'twitter' so distrubing... but i digress.

note: in all this negativity, i would like to again bring up the ending of the video i directed you too above where steve invited people to an inteligent conversation. i also believe, and hope that this is possible.

in other news, our basketball team keeps doing well.

peace,
ko

girls and video games

2009-01-27T22:59:00.002-05:00

chinh is addicted to castle crashers. she will play for hours, the same level over and over again, just to level up her character. she plays with or without me, to continue the story and to find new weapons. i love it. i love it primarily because this is not our relationship (picture c/o penny-arcade):
or, more specifically, the roles are reversed. envy me, my friends.

in other news, nader abdallah, besides being the only Palestinian (i think) in college fbs, is an american bada55. just ask the boys over at our honor defend. he's won an 'award' and stuff. but seriously, i love his story. everything this country is all about.

finally, our buckeyes are not doing so great on the hard court. short story, we need to beat michigan tomorrow. if nothing else, beating michigan again will feel good.

peace,
ko

basketball season

2009-01-24T19:17:00.002-05:00

with football over, now starts the long wait. while we wait for the harvest season, we have a nice distraction that's played on a hardcort. this is basketball. and even though the buckeyes look like a long shot to make the big dance, it is our duty too root our beloved bucks. (the boys over at eleven warriors seem to think we'll get in if we are in the top 5 in our conference)

that being said, i'm excited about next year. with lebron in cleats, who wouldn't be?

peace,
ko

let me start of by apologizing

2009-01-13T17:49:00.005-05:00

yes, i know. i have been bad. i have not posted and that is number one sin of all blogs, be they large or small, well read or mine. i apologize and ask your forgiveness. i hope that you don't start fearing me because of our lack of contact. as smart people point out, that would be stupid. we are clearing out our space here at lancelot, though i guess we should have started in the kitchen. maybe we will get back there eventually, we are the kings and queens of organization.

in other news, this is the time to buy a car. most of you know that i work in the auto industry and have heard my opinion on modes of transportation, and for the rest of you who have been living in caves know that the auto industry is struggling. i took this to heart (see picture), and my family evidently did as well. three new cars in one year? crazy... be jealous.

of course, you could always buy a tablet and crayon physics instead (it would only be marginally less expensive).

finally, i love this house and you should too.

peace,
ko

merry Christmas

2008-12-25T09:54:00.002-05:00

from all of us to all of you, may your seasons be bright and may you have a wonderful Christmas.

peace,
ko

the greatest profession

2008-12-09T21:40:00.002-05:00

i don't hide might immense pride in my major and what i do now. i love engineering, i think that it is the greatest profession. i may be wrong in this, but it is what i believe and i have a strong belief. i recently read to engineer is human and i would like to quote something for you:

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope that the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny that he did it. if his works do not work, he is damned. That is the phantasmagoria that haunts his nights and dogs his days. He comes from the job at the end of the day resolved to calculate it again. He wakes in the night in a cold sweat and puts something on paper that looks silly in the morning. All day he shivers at the thought of the bugs which will inevitably appear to jolt its smooth consummation.

peace,
ko

work = the crazy

2008-12-09T20:51:00.002-05:00

work has been busy lately, hence the lack of posts (for the past couple of weeks and untill the end of the year). fortunately, i have been at work 13 hours a day (at least), take that work/life balance!

peace,
ko

a good thanksgiving

2008-12-01T21:15:00.002-05:00

chinh and i went to virgina to celebrate thanksgiving with my little sister's family and our parents. it was a week full of having good drinks, visiting historic sites, eating good food and enjoying the company of family. my sister (zoe) and her husband (tim) have a wonderful house, decorated with a mix of american history flair (they are both history majors), family pictures and comfortable furniture done in such a way that i immediately felt at home as soon as i entered (so much so that i draped myself across their couch and started watching tv). that and they have the best dog in the world (duke) who i hope i get to play with again soon. in short, a wonderful place for a thanksgiving week.

and, coming back to the snow, ice and cold of michigan, i naturally got a bit nostalgic about the previous week. even on the plane ride home, chinh and i teared up a little knowing how special the week was. how fleeting these moments are and how blessed we are that we have a family that not only gets along with each other, but truly loves one another. the de-emphasis of the family unit by our parent's generations (depending on the age of one's parents) has made this kind of get together odd and awkward for many of my friends, even more so by taking a long vacation to visit family (both natural and extended). how many jokes are made about in-laws? how many people dread time with the family? many times the week before our vacation, most people seemed surprised at my excitement at spending this time with our family, their thinking that the time would be much better spent with friends or with the immediate family.

when those friends are gone, who will be there for you?

in other news, its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. everywhere you go, even. this truly is my favorite time of year. not only because i love the snow, but i really enjoy the upbeat feeling that i get. the Christmas carols, the hot chocolate, the time with family, it truly is the greatest season of all.

may you have a wonderful Christmas.

peace,
ko

happy thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T09:51:00.004-05:00

from the land of lovers (aka. virgina)

peace,
ko

friendship

2008-10-15T21:16:00.004-04:00

i think i have written about friends before, but i thought i would bring it up again. driving back from springfield on tuesday, thinking about the future, a couple of tenants came up again and were refined. it can be boiled down too two rules:

1. friends take effort
2. friends are rarely eternal
(edit: see the awesome redhead's comment) 2a. friends are rarely eternal (bold words seem to imply something

a result of 1. is that friendship is largely based on proximity. this is because proximity and effort is inversely related, as you decrease proximity the amount of effort increases. you can see this as you move from elementary to middle school, middle to high school, etc. and even job to job one often loses touch with many of the friends you counted as being close. 2. is a result rarely of 1. with 'rarely' being a critical word. let me point out an obvious exception: family. i have not had a friend longer than that of my family, with a handful hopefully coming up close behind. and as i've always said, my best friend is and will always be chinh. (edit) there are those friends that seem to stay with you forever. i can call up mr. poon and talk football any day of the week, regardless of how long it has been since we have last talked. i can call up mr. chang any day of the week and talk about anything and nothing for hours , no matter hod long it has been since last we've talked. i met these individuals in college, my little redhead hero (see comment) met her's earlier and later. this is a function of one's maturity (mine has taken longer to develop than my redhead hero's) and is for a separate discussion.

what really brought this up was a statement that came up, 'you can not go home.' this is a very general/vague statement so let me explain through example. i graduated college (again) in 2005 and went back to visit this past weekend. i saw the same buildings (and some new ones) the same students (and some new ones) and the same wonderful university, however i felt out of place. why? because i had already been there, i had already had that unique experience and this was something i cannot go back to. just like i cannot be five years old again.

what does all this mean? you have to continually make new friends (result of 2.) and this will take time and be hard (see 1.). you have to continually work to keep your old friends (again, 1. and 2.). you have to choose a specific group to invest in.

see you in the next city.

peace,
ko

if i were a cupcake...

2008-09-19T22:57:00.004-04:00

i'd be from outer-space. i'm not sure if i would be green, or have a laser gun that went 'pew! pew! pewpew!', but its the kind of oddity that makes me smile. i guess that being a cupcake would also mean that i was a pushover, an easy win, a trap game, etc. but, would these things really be true if i also had that laser gun? maybe i'd shoot your big 1-A team all to h3ll.

pew! pewpew! pew!1!!

i'm 2-0 so far this week, predicting the louisville and colorado upsets. ya, i know, i didn't write it anywhere, but you can ask my wife. she wouldn't lie to you, she doesn't want my head to get any bigger than it already is. so, with that being said, here are the predictions for the remaining games that i plan to watch:
uconn over those terrible baylor bears
tOSU over a dangerous troy squad
penn st over some school involving organized religion, or at least their name indicates something of the sort (see earlier cupcake reference)
minn gets revenge over another school that's popped up in florida (seriously, give me $50 and i'll start a football school in florida)
iowa beats a team that still curses the fact that mark may is a alum
purdue rebounds against cmu
florida squeeks out a close one against rocky top (lets be serious, tenn can't win anything)
mich state runs all over some other school involving organized religion
wake forest beats florida st. (i seriously dislike florida...)
auburn gets revenge over lsu
georgia beats asu (7 - 3, second most boring game of the year)

i'm in cbus this weekend, give a shout.

extra point: now i get to see my wife even less.

peace,
ko

mexico city

2008-08-18T22:56:00.004-04:00

mexico city is awesome. so many times you hear on the news about kidnappings, the violence and the bad water that it often clouds out anything else that may be redeeming about the city or its surroundings. this is one of the biggest cities in the world, and yes there are a lot of those problems, but there are many beautiful things as well. i think that one thing i always remark to people is how good the food is. i think we broke most of the rools when it comes to ordering food in mexico, we ate from street venders, went to little hole-in-the-wall food stores and had drinks that probably contained some of that dreaded tap water. did we get sick? not till we got back and i'm not convinced that it is because of the food. either way, it was worth it (i'm better now, by the way, thanks for asking). the food is so good. sooooo good. seriously, we had 25+ tacos a night.

next are the amazing sites to see. wonders of the world, from the ancient teotihuacan to miracles of God including the virgin of guadalupe can only be seen in mexico, specifically in and around mexico city. the history here is rich and diverse in ways that many countries can only aspire to and the mesums do a wonderful job preserving this history for all future generations.

Four days were not enough to do everything we wanted to do, but just enough to taste everything mexico city had to offer. i hope we go back some day.

peace,
ko

hello from mexico city

2008-08-16T10:47:00.001-04:00

hello. food here is the win. that is all.

more content to follow.

peace,
ko

amazing olympics

2008-08-10T16:21:00.005-04:00

the most amazing opening ceremony ever. i believe that is the sentiment that i have heard over and over, from friends and commentators. i agree, but 'amazing' might not even be able to capture it. i think that other nations will have a hard time matching this; the majesty, the history, the power of so many people. how many times did you say, 'that must be computerized' or 'wow, look at all the hydraulics' only to have another human being pop out of a box and prove you wrong? how many times did you get chills at seeing so many individuals working as one?

i think what i loved the most was the confirmation that, when we (read: humans) do work together, we can achieve amazing things (read: go to the moon, develop hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, create weapons of mass destruction, produce beautiful pieces of art). i hope that people around the world got that message, hidden within the multitude of other messages sent that night (because obviously china was sending messages as well, and they have too. with a growing middle class, a strong sense of national identity is essential to maintain the countries unity), and continues to hold onto it for years to come.

other things to note: phelps is as good as everyone said, ditto for hoff, our basketball team(s) will soldier through, our soccer team(s) will make it out of their group(s), our men's volleyball have rebounded (both beach and normal), etc. etc. please watch, all these links are making me tired. i promise that you will not regret it. go usa, switzerland, japan (gave me my first 'real' job), germany (ancestrial commitments), great britian (again, ancestrial commitments), china (for hosting such great games), etc.

indeed, as morgan freeman says, 'go world.'

in other news, albuquerque is the place to make movies. i saw sin city and loved the artistic elements of that movie and i'm sure i'll love this one as well. besides, both chinh and i think that eva mendes is flipping hot.

peace,
ko

i submit

2008-08-07T21:14:00.005-04:00

i've done it, i confess. i am weak and have consumed a product both reviled and loved by the masses. i have given into the glam and glitz and made the big purchase. my soul is forfeit, i need saving grace.

i have bought an iphone.

in other news, it seems like the blizzard fan boys are bitter once again. i stopped visiting the starcarft 2 forums (and rarely visit the site at all anymore) due to trash such as this. as mr. brahe says, 'the sort of person who takes world-class design, changes the contrast, and then calls themselves the artist' is the sort of person who has no business making his opinions known. indeed, the vary character of such an individual is easily constructed. the thing i find amazing (or maybe not that amazing) is that 95% of the people on these forums fit directly into a similar grouping. it is unfathomable that these people think that comments such as 'wow gayness' actually helps drive their point (if they had one at all...).

this brings me to a bigger issue and that is online play. obviously, the bottom feeders of these forums are the same people who go out, buy these games and play online. however, the transition from forum to field of play does not at all improve their demeanor or character. indeed, i postulate that the greater dickwad theory still applies. now, don't get me wrong, i have met and played with some incredibly fun, talented and intelligent people online (mostly through halo, but i digress). however, it is my experience that these people are the exception and not the rule. this is one of the reasons i find table top gaming so refreshing, that you in large part are able to escape the GIDT. i further postulate that given the subtraction of anonymity from the GIDT, we find that the theorem itself falls apart, the 'normal person' thus preserved. in other words, when one must stand across a table from your foe, respect is not only expected but necessary.

in other news, the mayor is in jail.

peace,
ko

good music

2008-08-05T22:29:00.003-04:00

i am in the process of ripping my cd collection onto my macbook in an attempt to discourage loss (as they say in 'the industry'). as i flipped through the pages of old cds, i felt myself moving farther and farther back in the years, each turn of the page like another turn of my adolescent life. and i was struck by how much good music i had (i don't care if you think its good or not, because ultimately you're wrong). soundgarden, rage against the machine, alice in chains, incubus, beastie boys, linkin park, these were the songs that shaped me in so many ways. notice that most of these bands are either considered 'dark' or 'anti-establishment'. yes, i was a 'goth' type of kid, a far cry from the 'rhuel' boy i am now, yes?

of course i should temper this by noting that i also own beethoven's moonlight, mendelssohn's symphony no. 3 and a collection of bach.

i want a vulcan. yes, i know i'm a child, but i hardly think that anything that takes 6 D-cell batteries and shoots 3 darts per second is considered completely a 'child's toy'. besides, based on the nerf rules of engagement, i think that swinging something with that much weight around will make pistol whipping much more enjoyable. come on over jason and andrea, we got something fun waiting for you at the top of the stairs.

speaking of goth and guns, the dark knight was fantastic. i really think that heath did an excellent job of portraying the madness of the joker. the jerky, obsessive, vicious nature that i loved in a villain. he truely was/is the best villain of them all, both in terms of his cunning and madness, requirements for a good villain. please go see it and push titanic off its high hill.

angry little girls

2008-08-02T19:03:00.008-04:00

we were driving to novi today, chinh at the wheel, thi in back with myself riding shotgun, coming along at a good clip eagerly awaiting the fruits that our wonderful consumer society would drop upon us. when, out of nowhere, my darling, quiet, giggling wife turns into a angry, yelling, cursing psycho shaking her fist at the passing drivers and careening around turns. i guess driving really does bring out the worst in people (that and my wife really is an angry little asian girl, we just got the first collection of comics from a small bookstore in chelsea, they describe our releationship perfectly). not that i could really blame her, i hate people as well. good thing i have a God that tells me to love.

all in all, the day went well. we bought staub pot for the kitchen ($40), i was given clothes that were appropriate from rhuel (translation, i was dressed and paraded about) and chinh found unreal tournament for $1.99. how can you beat that? that's right, you can't, so stop trying. you're only embarrassing yourself.

during my 10 mi run this morning (see earlier post on running), i was thinking of this ruling and the possible consequences. of course, my initial reaction is that this will be sweet, force the cell phone companies to drastically improve service in order to keep their customers. that along with competitive plan pricing would make the world a beautiful place, yes? and who cares if phones are more expensive? maybe the companies that make them will actually spend some time in development...

and, finally, we will see the dark knight tonight.

i'll leave you chuckling at that one.

peace,
ko

a new page

2008-07-30T22:25:00.005-04:00

hello everyone, see anything different? no? well, then you don't come here enough. i've changed the look a bit, added a bit and taken a bit(e) out of crime. so, all you thieves out there best watch your back. i'm slicker than dr. horrible and that's the truth.

apparently its still the same weak content...

one of the main changes will be the introduction of labels for each post. i believe (hope) that this is a great way to try and organize the posts into the various themes/content that you or i are interested in. makes it easier to link to it later. this is a big step because it means that i am investing in this particular location. previously, i could post, or not. i could update the look of the site, or walk away, and not feel like i wasted any effort on the whole. committing to posting a couple of times a week (surprise) and keeping the look up to date means that i do not have the freedom i initially did. why make this commitment? i guess i would answer that with my own question, do you have anything you created online that has lasted more than a couple of years? yep, i would like that as well.

all this website theorizing would probably be much more believable if i wasn't so addicted to defending my desktop. ya, you heard right all you creeps out there. i got a level 5 basher and water cannon just waiting for you (that is, if you make it through the level 5 frost and dart). seriously though, don't click that link, it s like super intense crack laced with caffeine and a pinch of saffron for color.

speaking of good movies, chinh and i saw the hulk this past weekend at the "dollar" (i think it was $1.50) theater. it was such a relief to see a movie redeem a hero like that, i encourage you to wipe your mind of any previous hulk movies. also surprising is that i liked the hulk much more than the golden army. while the character costumes, set work and even overall story (idea) was impecable, i felt that the acting prevented me from really being able to lose myself in the movie. ahh well, third (or fourth, or whatever number it is now...) time is a charm.

peace,
ko