Soul Searchings

So we had our first snow of the season last night… a little unusual, being that it’s not even December yet. I have a feeling we might be seeing a significant amount of snow this year. For whatever reason, I’m not that hyped up about snowboarding this year at all. If there is a lot of fluffy snow and a nice ramp, my goal for this year (and has been for the last several years) is to be able to do a rodeo flip. I tried it one time, but ended up landing completely upside down. It’s pretty easy to do the first half rotation, but I didn’t "know" how to do the second half of the rotation. I think I should have a better time attempting it now that I’ve done some gymnastics since then. After seeing some of those martial arts tricks videos online with all the crazy flips and stuff, I wanted to learn. So sometime last year, I went to a few gymnastics open gyms and learned how to do a few moves. I actually only did end up going to about 5 or 6 sessions, but I did manage to successfully do a front flip and a standing back flip. I started learning a couple other moves like the butterfly twist and the misty flip, but never got them down pat. I came to the realization that it’s one thing to have the ability to do these moves, it’s another thing to have the guts to attempt them in the first place… and I’ll never have the balls to attempt really crazy stuff that people in the videos do.

To end off with a rant, a big fuck you to the asshole who opened their car door hard enough to put a ding in the driver’s side door on my one month old Yaris. There’s a small, but noticeable dent concaved into my door. Son of a bitch.

I’ve been playing no limit Texas hold’em for about a year now… started off with just playing a weekly house game. A little over half a year ago, I started playing online at PartyPoker, solely because of the Instant Bankroll promotion offered by PokerSourceOnline. In short, they give you $75 absolutely free to play on PartyPoker, no strings attached. You don’t even need a credit card. As long as you’re 21 and have never had a real money PartyPoker account, you qualify. The only "catch" is that you have to play 500 raked hands (pot must reach only $1 to count when playing no limit, and you don’t even have to contribute to the pot) before you can withdraw the money. Just to add to that, when you reach that 500 raked hand plateau, PartyPoker gives you an extra $25 as a bonus… and at this point, you are free to cash out whatever you have from the original $75, plus the extra $25. Just between you and me, you could sit down for 500 hands and fold EVERY SINGLE one and you’d only be down $20 or less (assuming you’re sitting at a 10-handed $25/NL table). Doing this won’t be any fun, obviously… but you could guarantee yourself US$80 free if you really wanted to. =P

Believe me, this promotion is absolutely the real deal, so if you want to try playing online poker but are apprehensive about it, then do Instant Bankroll. You honestly have nothing to lose.

I was one of those apprehensive people, and realistically still am, even though I’ve had decent success in the time I’ve played online.

Back in June, I was lucky enough to be one of the random selections to be part of the 800 participants to play in the western qualifier of the Degree Poker Championship that was aired on TSN in September. Unfortunately I was still much to green at the time, so I ended up bowing out in about 65th place out of my 200 player starting pool. I probably would be able to do a little better if I had the experience I do now, but probably still wouldn’t have been able to make it to the next round. I remember getting very little in the way of playable hands during that particular tournament… and in the three hours or so that I was playing, I remember a stretch of over an hour where I was a folding station because I couldn’t get any decent cards to play. Regardless of how much skill you have, you still definitely need your share of luck in order to do well in any given tournament. Whatever the case, it was great fun playing in a large tournament like that… and I definitely plan on playing in some real live tournaments again someday.

I’ve had some fairly good showings in online tournaments, but mostly small ones, like the tiny $50 purse freerolls that AbsolutePoker has all the time. There are usually a full 2000 players that sign up, and I’ve made it to the final table several times, placing 8th, 9th and 9th. The closest I’ve come to winning a significant prize is a couple weeks ago, in a PokerSourceOnline freeroll where 1st and 2nd place both receive a cruise package worth $10,000. I made it all the way to 5th, busting out when my pocket 5’s couldn’t hold up to QTs. I’d be right in the thick of things if I had managed to win that hand, but oh well. Alas, it was a very good showing by me, and I think I earned some respect from the PSO crowd.

I finally made the step from playing only no limit to playing limit hold’em just a couple weeks ago, and so far the experience has been quite positive. It really is a very different game, and if things continue the way they are, probably a game that’s more suited to my style of play. Playing limit is very much just a math and numbers game… and such a game is and has always been my strength. Playing limit means you can’t be bluffed off the pot nearly as easily, but it also means you don’t have the same ability to drive people out of draws. For example, say in no limit you’re holding AT (ace ten) and the flop comes AJ8. You bet and someone reraises you big and you decide to lay your hand down thinking you’re beat… when unbeknownst to you, your opponent has an even worse hand, like ace with a lower kicker, or maybe just T9 for an open ended flush draw. But from the fact that your opponent bet very aggressively, unless you have a very good read on him, you might be forced to fold. But say this was limit poker… your opponent won’t be able to reraise you big. At worse, you could just call him down to the end, and at 25¢/50¢ limits, it could cost you as little as $1.50 to see it to the end to find out that you actually had him beat all the way. Of course, limit has its downsides as well… such as when you have pocket rockets and can’t drive anyone out preflop because you were only able to raise to 50¢. I had such a hand yesterday, where I had the rockets in early position and made the raise, but yet still had five callers to see the flop. With that many people seeing the flop, even though you have the nuts preflop, it is very possible, if not even LIKELY that SOMEBODY will have screwed you over by catching two pair or better. However, for this particular hand, the board came 34668 and even though there were a few callers that saw it all the way to the end, nobody did end up sucking me out… which is odd, because in no limit, even if I was able to isolate one player preflop with rockets, it seems like most of the time I end up losing. =P

I find Texas hold’em really fun to play, and as such, I’m content playing even if it’s not for big money… at least at the moment. For awhile, I was perfectly happy even to play for fun money online, just to practice. As time goes on, I do plan on moving up in limits… but being the cautious person I am, I’ll definitely be taking my time to become comfortable with my game at each level before venturing on.

I actually wrote this two weeks ago, but am only posted it today on November 29th. Guess I’ve had a rather uneventful couple weeks. =P

I’m frugal. It’s not quite the same as being cheap. I’m not afraid of buying things, sometimes even frivolous things, but I hate spending more money on something than I need to. I try my best to stretch my dollar and maximize my savings on things that I buy. Many times this means buying online, and I’m sure I’ve saved hundreds of dollars by doing this over the years. One of the forums I frequent regularly is RedFlagDeals. They have a forum where Canadians report on great deals to be had, freebies that are available, and contests that companies are offering. In fact, this is where I found out about the AMD Lance Armstrong Livestrong promotion/contest. One word of warning though… once you become a deals addict, it may be difficult to stop! Frequent symptoms may include purchasing things you had absolutely no intention of buying, just because you found a really good deal for it! Believe me, I’ve been there. For instance, I saw that there was a deal for Logitech computer mouses* for $20 after rebate, when usually they sold for about $50. Even though I had no need for them, I ended up buying two… and they were then promptly put aside and now it’s been like a year later and I haven’t touched them yet. And then there was a much larger purchase. I already had a P4 2.2Ghz laptop that suited my needs fine, but then one day someone posted up a thread about a very good Dell laptop deal. After a lot of deliberation, I ended up buying one… even though I really didn’t need it. For the most part, this laptop has just been sitting unused for the last half year now. Even though by all accounts, it was a great deal, I really should have just passed on it. To compound the matters, I’m just too damn lazy, as I probably should have at least tried reselling it months ago. Especially now with that HP Lance Armstrong special edition laptop coming, I’m going to really need to sell a laptop or two. Anyone interested in buying a laptop? =P

* There seems to be some debate of whether the term should be computer "mouses" or computer "mice". In my opinion, I think the proper term should be computer mouses. Yes, I obviously know that the proper pluralization for mouse, referring to the rodent, is mice… but I believe the idiom should not be attached to the word "mouse" itself, but rather only in the context of the word being associated with the rodent. So when "mouse" is being used to refer to the computer input device, I don’t think the idiom should be applied. However, I do note both Logitech and Microsoft refer to the devices as "mice" on their respective websites, and being that they are two of the largest manufacturers of "mice", I suppose the industry has decided to go with that term.

For those people that shop on eBay, there are currently some coupons available when paying via PayPal. These expire at the end of November 30th and can only be used one time each per PayPal account.

- C1-Holiday2005 : 10% off (Up to $25 maximum discount)
- C2-Holiday2005 : $5 off $50
- C3-Holiday2005 : $15 off $100

Discounts valid on SINGLE items only and minimum purchase amount does NOT include shipping cost. So to use the $15 off $100 coupon, you have to be paying for an item where the winning BID AMOUNT is at least $100. It cannot be used if the item costs $80 and the shipping is $20, and it cannot be used if you’re paying for two items that cost $50 each to total $100.

Happy shopping!

Actually, the title is quite the lie. Nowadays, the more appropriate title would probably be "Hardly Working For Your Money".

I’ve been working at the same office for over six years now… an eternity for the average young adult. My saga with the company started all the way back in high school. It was the Christmas season of 98, and school was out for a couple of weeks for the holidays. Elaine was working at Ming Wo Cookware at Metrotown, and just outside the store was a novelty slippers booth - those large plush slippers that come in animal and sneaker designs. Anyways, Elaine had talked with the woman running the booth, and found out that she wanted some help running the kiosk. So Elaine suggested I help out… and I did, for those couple of weeks. After that, I was introduced to the company, and started doing some data entry work for them from home. I don’t remember when it was, but eventually I started working in the office… and basically have been there ever since.

My position here in the company has been ever evolving. You wouldn’t believe how many different roles I’ve played here in the company in the time I’ve been here. Among the jobs I’ve done, for awhile, I was a full time receptionist and office assistant, mainly answering phones, entering orders and doing the filing. For one summer, I was the showroom manager, the one person in charge of handling all the showroom sales of professional massage equipment. In the past few years, I’ve settled into being the administrative assistant and all around tech guy, being the webmaster of the website and estore, and handling all computer and networking issues around the office. I also get contracted out to do some side work as an IT consultant, and so far, it’s been a fairly positive experience.

I’ve only ever received one raise in the time I’ve been here, and have never asked for more… but I was fine with it while still attending UBC, as my boss was very flexible in letting me work around my school schedule. Now that I’ve finished school and gotten my degree, I guess my personal worth has increased, but my pay hasn’t… so in turn, I’ve been more lax at work as a tradeoff. I’m pretty sure my boss knows this… while I try to not make it completely obvious, he must know I browse online all the time… but he has never said anything, and I’m assuming we have an unspoken understanding of the situation.

However… the time is definitely nearing for me to head out into the world in the pursuit of the right opportunity. Finding that opportunity will be when I close this chapter in my life and start a new one…

I got an email notification last week that apparently I am one of the grand prize winners of a special edition HP Lance Armstrong Livestrong Laptop! Obviously any such email has to be met with a large degree of skepticism and caution. I would venture to say that I am quite versed in the realm of online scams, and after doing some research, have come to the conclusion that everything here looks to be on the up and up. =)

I vaguely remember entering into this contest online, about three months ago. Actually, when I signed up, the primary purpose wasn’t to enter this contest, but rather to just get a free Lance Armstrong Livestrong wristband. The offer was that if you viewed an AMD web seminar, they would send you a wristband and/or a shirt… and apparently you are also automatically entered into the grand prize draw for the laptops. Ironically, I never did receive the wristband and/or shirt… but I’ll gladly settle for this laptop!

So I’ve now sent in the release forms and stuff, so now just have to wait 8-10 weeks for it to hopefully arrive.

Supposedly the laptop is worth about US$1200. I don’t know the exact specs, but at the very least, it should have:

AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-28 (1.6GHz/512KB L2 Cache)
14.0 WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280×768)
ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/productivity ports
512MB DDR SDRAM (2×256MB)
60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Would be nice if the prize units had some upgraded components like an ML-37 (2.0GHz/1MB L2 Cache) CPU, but hey… I’m not gonna complain. =P

This would definitely be the biggest prize I’ve ever won… before this, it would probably be the mountain bike that I won back in elementary school as part of a Spell-a-Thon contest, I think it was. If I recall correctly, I only had like one entry in that contest which was determined by the amount of pledges you solicited or something… and amazingly that one ticket was selected. I didn’t really get to enjoy my prize very much though… it was too big for me at the time, so I don’t think I ever even rode it… and never did get a chance to, since my late-brother got it stolen shortly after…

Asides from that, the only other notable win I’ve had was from a couple years ago, I won about $150 when I matched five numbers on my Super 7 ticket. I still remember when I was checking my numbers and getting all excited, thinking that 5/7 numbers would be worth more than the $150 or so it turned out to be. =P I was fairly close to getting all 7 though… I matched the first three numbers and the last two, and the two in the middle were just a few numbers off. But alas, I didn’t get rich off that square piece of paper. =(

Oh, what it must feel like to win a jackpot… especially the 6/49 draw of $54M from two weeks ago. It was actually quite amazing that only a single ticket won. I believe they estimated that there were about 50 million tickets sold… and if that is true, that means by the law of averages, being that the odds of winning are roughly 1 in 14 million, there should have been at least three winning tickets splitting the prize… but alas, it was one lucky group of coworkers that had the lone winning ticket. I think there are 17 of them sharing the prize… so each should have received a little over $3M each. I’d be more than happy with that. I don’t need $54M… just a few million will do. I’d just put most of it into safe investments and live off the interest. With $3M, even at a modest interest of 3%, you’re looking at $90,000 a year… which is enough for me to live on at any rate.

Unfortunately, like for most others, that dream is likely never to become reality, so I must continue to toil away at work. Well, I don’t toil per se… being that I’m at work right now writing this blog entry… but you get the gist. Sometime soon, I really need to trade low paying but lax job for a higher paying but presumably much less lax job.

Exactly two weeks ago, on October 20th, 2005, I became one of the very first owners of the brand new 2006 Toyota Yaris in Canada. In particular, I purchased the 5-door RS with Package B in Silver Streak Mica.

So far, I have no real complaints with the car whatsoever. My top priority was getting a vehicle that is small, easy to park, and great on gas. The Yaris exceeds all these criterions with flying colours. With the top of the line model and trim that I opted for, you get features such as power everything (locks, windows, mirrors), 6 disc in-dash CD player with MP3 playback, 15" alloy rims side skirts, rear spoiler, leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter, and more. It’s really all the features I would need in a car. With the engine being SAE rated at just 106HP, even though the car has a curb weight of under 2400 pounds, obviously it’s not the quickest vehicle on the road… but on the other hand, it really isn’t all that bad. Most reviews have the Yaris’ 0-60MPH time at about 8.5 seconds… which really isn’t that shabby. One of the side features I want of my vehicle is good handling, and the Yaris has just that. It really is a very nimble car, and I can take turns at speed with very minimal body roll, thanks to a stiffer chassis design than the previous generation Echo hatchback model. I also love how easy it is to do tight turns and U-turns with it! The Yaris turns on a dime - the turning circle is only 9.4m. In many places where you would have to do a 3-point turn, the Yaris can bust a U-turn easily.

All in all, I’m very satisfied with the vehicle thus far… and I hope my sentiments remain the same for years to come.

So I’ve decided to start a blog. I’m not sure why, really. I don’t even expect anyone to even read my posts, but I thought I’d start one anyway.

A long time ago, back in early high school, I used to keep a personal diary. I faithfully tried to update it every single night, and did so for several years. Even when I would accidentally miss a day or two for whatever reason, I would always make up for them and still write entries for each day that has passed. I think it was sometime after grade 10 when I just couldn’t keep up with it anymore. Grade 10 summer was a great time… we would stay out all night just hanging out day after day. Now that I think back on it, I find it pretty amazing that we were allowed to do that.

For me, when I start doing something, many times I’ll devote all my energy to it… and then at some point, I’ll almost instantly lose all interest, instead of it being a gradual decline in interest.

One such example was my diary… it went from an everyday thing to being something I never did in the blink of an eye. Instead of even doing maybe an entry a week, I just stopped writing in it completely. Same goes for several other things in my life.

Another example would be monster trucks. As weird as it is for an Asian, I was always fascinated by them, even from when I was about 8 years old. I followed the TV shows religiously for years and years… and taped every single broadcast I could, even waking up at 5am on Sunday mornings just so I can watch the show and make a better recording than if I had just set the VCR. But then, like 10-12 years later, I stopped following them. I stopped recording them, and didn’t even care enough to check when they would be on TV. How much interest I had lost became very clear when several years ago, I didn’t realize they already had the yearly monster truck show at BC Place until the day after it took place. In years past, I would be there at BC Place every February when the monster trucks came to town… almost always by myself, the lone Asian in the sea of mostly Caucasian folks, but I never minded. Even when I was 13-14 years old, I would go watch them by myself. Nowadays, I still try to catch the live show whenever they come to town… but it just isn’t the same anymore.

Moving on, then there is AsianAvenue. I was a hardcore user of AsianAvenue for several years… about as hardcore as there was. Anytime I was at the computer, I was logged in and chatting or doing something else on that site. It consumed almost all my free time. And then… ironically, just after I obtained the coveted position of being the site’s Member of the Week, I quit cold turkey. From being logged in 24/7 for several years, to not logging in at all for months at a time, instantly.

From there, I moved on to IRC… mostly hanging out in KPOP channels. Now this ended up consuming all my free time. I hung out in as many as two dozen channels in 3 separate IRC networks, constantly chatting away and downloading music and videos… and then, same story. No particular reasons, but I just stopped chatting on IRC. I still had it logged in most of the time 24/7 because I leave my computer on always, but I never even bothered to check in to see if there were people chatting.

So now, it’s been 2 years since then, and I don’t really have any true fixations that take up all of my time. If anything, I just browse several online forums daily, usually while I’m at work.

Now that I’ve taken the big step of actually starting a blog, I don’t know where it’s going to lead. I don’t know if I’ll be updating it daily, weekly, or monthly.

What I do know, is that it will be whenever I feel like it.