A View of The World

Ponta Negra--Natal

2010-03-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

It´s an especially cool part of a very cool city on the coast in Northeastern Brazil. I have a strong impression that this place will become more and more of a hot spot for international tourists, especially with the construction of the new airport to be completed fairly soon.

traveling outside the country?

2009-09-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

This nifty website is convenient for searching flight plans flying outside the US, especially for smaller airports outside of the main airports, the map feature facilitates searching multiple cities fast. WWW.DOHOP.COM

How We Decide

2009-08-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Even though there were many instances in reading where I felt I was re-reading something I learned from Psychology 101, or from the books "Blink" or "Paradox of Choice", I really enjoyed this book. It deals with goes on inside the brain in a simple and cutting edge sort of way. Mostly a collection of case studies delivered rather well by Jonah Lehrer, a Rhodes Scholar, this book should further convince most people of the relevance to the field of neuroscience.

Some of the stories go through the step by step process of the brains thinking patterns and how it plays out in everyday choices. It helps to explain a lot of the different impulses we experience when seeing something cool to buy like a nice car, house or a pair of shoes. The rush of euphoria we feel when we see something we want is usually negated with with a counteracting feeling of rationality when we cannot afford it. However, credit cards, peer influence, flashing lights, the idea of something being 'on sale' all serve to mask these feelings of control, and we end up making the purchase...

Obama Phoenician style

2009-08-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

Driving to church in Scottsdale I was surprised by how many police I saw on every corner. Outside in the 105 degree heat they were on motorcycles, in SUVS and of course in cars. In the middle of church the Bishop got up and asked everyone who parked their car on 56th st. to move their car because a motorcade would be coming through. So with some laughs about a dozen people got up to move their vehicle. I did some quick searches on my iPhone, I remembered Obama would be in Phoenix to make a speech this weekend. Turns out he was staying at The Phoenician which is one of the three 5 star hotels in the valley, and it is also right around the corner from the church on 56th st. and Camelback.

President Obama has made a couple visit to AZ already this year. I wondered for few seconds why he would be spending so much time in a state that didn't elect him. Then I did some political calculations. Arizona is traditionally Republican, but elected a Democratic Governor (Janet Napolitano), who Obama appointed to be Secretary of Homeland Security. McCain won AZ last November, but not by a large margin, and had it been some other Republican, the state may have gone the other way. And so, for the next 3 years I anticipate Obama making at least a few more stops in AZ.

LAX

2009-08-15T22:12:00.001-07:00

You never really know which facebook status updates will get the most response. But those three letters typed around 11 am this morning incited 3 fairly detailed comments with a few hours. And thats about as long as I stayed in the City of Angles. Mostly walking around enjoying views of the ocean, sunshine and some sushi and an IN N OUT burger. The "Big Blue Bus" I discovered will take from LAX all the way to Santa Monica in about 25 minutes for only .75 cents, a nice surprise. My friend Zach Olsen works for Crocs (an alternative shoe company), I saw a retail outlet in the nice shopping area of Santa Monica, I went inside and was taken by the powerful smell. Since the shoes are all made from a "foam resin 'croslite', which is made using ethylene vinyl acetate", they have an interesting artificial scent. It actually fits to your feet.

On the flight home I ran into a missionary returning home after spending two years in Cambodia. He had some stories, and some really great pictures of Angkor Wat that he showed me.

Musica Brasileiro

2009-08-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

So I just heard this music, and I feel way behind the times. Seu Jorge is Rio de Janeiro and been around for a while. He covered a bunch of David Bowie songs, all in acoustic, and they came out with a really smooth sound. I had heard of him before, but first time I really heard the music. Here is a link to one of his songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvhGvxuOREw&NR=1

The end of Google as we NOW know it

2009-08-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

It appears the seeds to the decline of web domination of search which Google commands today are in place, and have been for some time. Primarily this could be attributed to:

A) Web 2.0 has developed several major hits which provide primary sources of information (twitter, wikipedia, facebook), completely skipping the need for a search engine to find a websites. For a large portion of the past 10 years people didn't know which sites they would want to use, so they had to use Google to find them, now they have.

B) Search alternatives such as: Bing.com , Cuil.com , technorati.com, all combined will most likely never equal half of what Google.com has today in search traffic. But as they grow Google will decline.

C) IBM, Microsoft, Intel. All large technology companies who underwent (or are currently undergoing) major alterations in how they make money to combat competition and avoid obsolescence. My guess, 1 to 2 decades from now, Google will have undergone something similar to what these companies went through.

Blinker the Star

2009-06-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

On this really cool website www.songza.com I was able to find some music from a band I heard a long time ago on 107.7 The End in Seattle. When Marco Collins was the night DJ he would play some new music that he thought was cool, some of it ended up being sort of big like "Harvey Danger" others like "Blinker the Star" never reached their full brilliance on the national stage. This song "My Dog" was really cool, and until now I couldn't find it online, http://songza.com/~1gc2r9

Some Tokyo Vignettes

2009-05-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Pretty sure this is Shibuya at night.

This was a really nice looking set of Samurai Armor

Asakusa Temple Tokyo

Banana Milk drink. Very tasty.

Danzin in Beijing

2009-05-20T18:50:00.001-07:00

There were many moments which made this trip unforgettable. I wish I had a better video. You see this in many parks and public areas in China. Groups of people doing some coordinated dance to the rythem of a boom box.

The road more traveled

2009-05-13T02:06:00.001-07:00

It's been difficult to decide where to go since I started working for an airline. When the actual flying portion of the trip is relatively inexpensive, there is a strange feeling of empowerment which comes with strings attached. First off, flying as a standby passenger has limitations. While it is cheap and often free, you are also the first piece of cargo to be jettisoned if the flight fills up with real customers. So while going 'anywhere' may be possible, 'anytime' can be the difficult thing, so one must select airports to travel to in off-peak season times. In the current global economy, traffic to China has slowed a good deal.

In traveling through China and seeing the Great Wall and Forbidden City and other famous must see places, it's easy to start feeling like the views and experiences you are absorbing are very similar to those of literally millions (and potentially billions more). Richard Nixon travelled to this same part of the Great Wall in his trip to China in 1972, I guess I never would have thought we had the same travel tastes.

Bicycling through Beijing, is awesome. While dangerous and a bit frightening at times, I would highly recommend this to anyone who can handle themselves on a bike. The hostel we stayed at actually offered free bike rental, and I saw this as an opportunity to experience Beijing as much of the population of Beijing does everyday.

At Wangfujing there is a snack street, which is famous for having grilled scorpions, starfish and other exotic things on sticks, in fact offers many tasty treats for the more westernized tongue. I ate candied pineapple and grapes, along with grilled squid, lamb and chicken and some others. All in all the place has a variety of tasty things to try, and a great place to pull back some of your food inhibitions. We found lots of good food in the streets all around Beijing. All that said, I realize going to an open eatery loaded with tourists the same day a swine flu case was confirmed in China, is probably not the safest thing. But at least I have lived to blog about it.

2009-04-19T15:24:00.001-07:00

It's been a couple of months since I have posted anything. I guess I have been somewhat productive in the meantime. I have tried to make good use of www.google.com/finance since the makets have been so diminished, and so full of opportunities the last couple of months. It appears my last posting did not stimulate much of a response judging from the 0 comments it recieved. So my next post should be something a bit more controversial.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE

2009-01-27T23:08:00.000-08:00

I try not to make boring entries of each book I have read recently, but its still fun to self indulge in a bit of that. This book fascinated me almost instantaneously due at least in part to my University BYU-Idaho (almost anyone reading this blog already knows this of course) recieving Dean of Harvard Business School Kim Clark as University President in 2005. I was increasingly fascinated by the school (Business school and every other school attached to the Harvard name) and materialized itself more and more as a real institution as I saw the personification of the qualities it represented in Kim Clark during many meetings and events I attended on campus.

The concept the title is demonstrative enough--- HBS students are at the top end of the curve, so even the lowest performers (bottom 25th percentile) are far ahead of nearly all students at other business schools. The book is focused on what its like for a non-business/journalist to go struggle through 2 years of rigourous business training in classes with image crazed over achievers.

Cocio

2009-01-17T23:08:00.000-08:00

I noticed this chocolate milk called Cocio at Target, I was in the mood for some so I bought it. Its all naturual milk, chocolate and sugar freshly made in Denmark. In 1950 a Danish guy named Anker Pallesen came to America and tried chocolate milk during his visit. He returned to Denmark and tried a bunch of formulas and discovered the secret was in using fresh ingredients.

It was different at first, but by the I was actually what I found other people were saying on their website "its the best chocolate milk I have ever had"

and they have some really fresh ads and vids right here: http://cociousa.com/index.html

Morroco: Town Square in Marrakech, Baadi Palace with the Atlas Mts, Great Mosque in Casablanca

2008-12-02T19:03:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong pics

2008-11-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

A night view of Hong Kong from Kowloon Bay. We took a few shots and this was the best one...

Hong Kong from up on the hillside

A couple Korea Pics

2008-11-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

This was at a small art studio in the Insadong area of Seoul

Flora was very excited about this bowl of ice cream mixed with kiwi, oranges, bananas, marshmallow type things ice and chocolate. When I ate it I thought it was just about the best dessert I have ever had.

Playing Piano in Seoul

2008-11-03T22:30:00.000-08:00

I met up with Ella Kim in downtown Seoul right next to the capital. I was running late and my Korean cellphone was a bit unreliable, so Ella still didn't believe I was coming until I saw her. And when I saw her I was happy since she was laughing (partly because she couldn't believe I was there having made so many jokes about Korean food, language and culture while interning at the U.N) and she also had some Dunkin Donuts and I had not had breakfast yet!!

Dunkin Donuts are ubiquitous in Korea-- as are 7-elevens and many different food chains and street vendors. Food is definitely one of the most enjoyable parts of being in Korea...if you have been previously initiated to KOREAN CUISINE. This photo was a large set of Piano Keys we found along some back alleyway clustered with all kinds of shops, bars, restaurants and tons of fluorescent lights. Some kid took the photo... Koreans are nice.

Downtown Seoul....filmed by Ella Kim

2008-11-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

This was the first video we shot. It came out ok, a bit rough.

Me in Seoul...Recording by Flora Hung

2008-11-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

Me in Seoul...Recording by ELLA KIM

2008-11-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

Oops! And that was 2008

2008-10-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

I notice nobody ever comments on my political analysis blog entries. I supposed they are right on and no comment is needed, or maybe not.

Its not too early to define 2008 as the oops! year. Only that the people saying oops! are the well educated, established and self assured experts, and they were wrong in very conspicuous and highly visible ways. I offer just a few political and economic evidences of this that were heavily consequential:

1) Hillary Clinton with all of her political experience and highly paid consultants completely missed the mark by underestimating the Iowa caucuses as playing an pivotal role in the primary elections. She said in one interview essentially: "I don't put too much emphasis on Iowa...who knows who goes to the caucuses". Obama won by a huge margin and the rest is history.

2) The Romney campaign consisted of many people who previously worked on the Bush campaign. They assumed it was still in style to launch attack ads and underestimated the changes in the Republican and general American demographics. They were wrong.

3) I really find it almost appalling that people blame Greenspan so quickly. They loved the guy for 25+ years through 4 administrations, then times turn rough after turning over the mantle at the Fed and people blame him for their problems. But it is significant that he admitted mistakes and took some blame for his free market ideologies he unflinchingly supported for years setting the stage for the financial crisis to occur.

4) Lehman Brothers specialized in working with high net worth individuals and was known in the right circles and time and time again claimed everything was fine with there company as the marketplace got worse. Their headquarters stood defiantly just north of Times Square in Manhattan, it's a dark building in a way emitting an elite sort of invincibility. And yet no amount of CEO spin talk could cover up bad assets.

The very people whose job was to know the political and financial world the best made huge miscalculations. Many forces at play affected these and other decisions. Some of this is at least in part a general shift away from the traditional experts. The experts are wrong or the times and changing along with the culture, politics, technology and demographics.

Presidential Seperation

2008-10-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

It was never more apparrent than at last night Presidential Debate how separated from the masses these two senators have become. They obviously had very different lives and mingled with starkly different crowds than the people in the room. But to me it was comical how often they could hardly feign condescending to relat to the people in the room.

With McCain incessent 'my friends' blurted out multiple times (often in the same sentence) to approximate himself to the crowd. Or Obama's afterthought comment stating he and McCain are two people who will be largely unaffected by this or any economic turmoil.

They seemed like two extremely self focus senators who either didn't know how long a minute was or couldn't figure out what the red light signaling them to stop meant as they blurted out the convoluted and often very unrealistic economic plans and packages. (Which I am sure their economic advisors spent days drilling them and dumbing down for them to understand). I mean McCain suggested Warren Buffet for Secretary of Treasury, when he A) Wouldn't do it and B) is advising Obama....

They seemed less comfortable in this atmosphere than ever and more accustomed to tony fundraisers with the rich and powerful-- and both seemed to look forward to a time when that type of social environment would compose most of their social life and encounters like this would be mostly in the past.

A time of Crisis

2008-10-04T11:58:00.001-07:00

I remember in 2004 I was signing up for a checking account in California while I was working at summer job. I was returning
to school in a couple months so I really pay too much attention to the banking officer's push for me to try to
qualify for a special 0% interest loan for 24 months. But as I said no a couple different times and she piled
on incentives they had for young people to their first home I was struck by the oddness of the whole situation.

I was 22, working out of state, returning to school and leaving the state in 2 months, and my initial deposit
to open the account was not even large amount. She enthusiastically presented to me this program for getting
people 'like me' into a house. I had Economics with a former VP from the Federal Reserve who described in some
detail how the Fed sets rates and they fluctuate over time. Interest rates and Inflation was at an all time low
in 2004, but I knew all that wouldn't last much longer.

From this and other experiences it was obvious the level of aggressiveness exerted upon customers who probably didn't
understand the fundamental forces which affect the true cost and value over time was risky at best and illegal
at worst. It took 4-5 years for some of the effects of these loans to come to fruition.

Hong Kong Vignettes

2008-09-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Seriously if people took pictures quicker my eyes wouldn't be closed, it was so bright and eyes are really sensitive

This is an awesome view of Victoria Harbor up on the Hill--- Tons of tourists---and the view is awesome.

Sunny Daze

2008-09-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

I got in my car today and put in an Sunny Day Real Estate pink album. The music brought back so many memoriesof being 15 and listening to the lead singer Jeremy Engicks unimitatible voice and melodic layering of guitar, bassand drums. I cranked up my car stereo. The pink album was their second album but the first of theirs I heard. I found out about them from someone in an internet chatroom. It took me morea than a few listens to get into it, the soundis more distant and less accessible along with the instruments and voice being much quieter than their other recordings. But as I listened to the tracks in my car it was nostalgia mixed with euphoria knowing that music could still express those same feelings it once did.

The band broke up right after this record and the lead singer Jeremy became a born again Christian. The bandreunited to do a couple more albums before pursuing other projects. They had a small but very dedicated groupof fans all over the country. Sadly they have been widely credited to have been a prime influence to emo music,even in this wikipedia article here their genre is listed as emo...ridiculous. This is something the band has denied or been clueless of. There music is so much deeper and involved than the emo trash I've heard.

This will be my favorite of theirs, and it reminded me of how much sounds shape you over time. I went to a JeremyEngick concert summer 2007 with my friend Brock Judkins, he played a bunch of new stuff and some old stuff, itall had the same passion as before.

Check em out--- the new band Paramore has been doing a bunch of covers from Sunny Day, they sound pretty good with a girl singer

Hong Kong Pictures

2008-09-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

A view from the Buddhist temple on Lantau island in Hong Kong

Causeway Bay--the epicenter of coolness in Hong Kong.

Korean Pictures

2008-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Downtown Seoul the financial district. Ella took this picture and told me this river was new to the city.

Ella knows the best Korean in town--- This was near the historic place called Insadong.

4th of July

2008-07-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

Four visits to SFO in 6 months is something-- I am very much over Pier 39 and the Wharf and all that area. But I like the weather and generally coastal feel of the area. The fireworks were a bit underwhelming since they were about 50% blocked by fog which mixed with the smoke. I stayed in San Mateo which was the first time down that way--nice area.

On the flight back I sat next to a Virgin America pilot who lives in Scottsdale-- He lived in Taiwan when he was 18-30 studying martial and working as video DJ in the early 90's when video DJ's actually meant something-- and he had huge dreadlocks-- We talked about the airline industry of course and there plans for growth and rumors and speculation about other airlines. Virgin America could be strong airline if it makes it past this oil crisis.

Also I noticed no one really comments on my political analysis and commentary posts, which are sometimes drawn out and wordy---but still

prediction come true

2008-06-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

So I don't come out say this stuff too often (atleast I'd like to think that). But sometime in January/early February it was my opinion that presidential candidates based on the east coast (Guiliani, Romney, Clinton, Edwards) were having and would continue to have a tougher time connecting with people west of Virginia and East of California (generally speaking). Candidates like Obama and McCain seemed to have more success in these areas.

I based this off of looking at the results of Presidential elections for the past 50 years, taking a look at the home state of each candidate. This is mostly an extension of the whole red state blue state concept but looking to the past its not a new concept or atleast it shouldn't be. Both Bush's came from Texas and Clinton came from Arkansas, Reagan California, Carter Georgia. So a candidate from New York or Massachussettes... well its been a while since this was successful. Massachussettes vs. and inner state like Texas has lost since JFK (Kerry 2004, Dukakis 1988), so it seemed far fetched for New York or Mass to prevail against an inner state.

It was late afternoon when I remembered explaining this to a co-worker, I am glad I remembered.

cool comments

2008-06-18T23:32:00.000-07:00

Just read through recent comments people have posted. They were mostly interesting and had some sort of insight to the post such as a connection with the location, or their view on future of x topic.

babycakes

2008-06-18T23:29:00.000-07:00

On the flight back from Fresno/Yosemite as we landed the guy sitting next me opened his cell and I couldn't help but notice the person he was calling on his speed dial was "babycakes" I was and still am curious of whether that was a: wife, girlfriend, daugter or who knows what else...

Satur-DAY in New York

2008-06-02T22:21:00.000-07:00

You can do a lot in a day-- but taking the red-eye into New York from Phoenix arriving around 6am, I mostly napped and hung out at my friend Alberto's apt. in Queens (15 min from JFK) until the afternoon. Then went to Union Square, checked out some stores, made a few purchases, got some food at a Spanish Food Restaurant with my friend Vanessa and Alberto (ate clam, lobster,oyster, shrimp, and chicken all cooked fresh in one dish) and then went up to Times Square to catch a cruise around Manhattan Harbor-- then got some food around midnight at ESPN zone in Time Square.

Balmy weather and mostly overcast day. But I saw a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while. In retrospect it was really interesting seeing the place and people where you once lived and then to come back and see the same people in a totally new perspective-- in a way they are the same-- but your different. I had that experience a couple of times, moving to Denver then back to Seattle, going to College for a while and coming back, going to Brazil for a mission for 2 years and coming back. They all share that unique feeling that blends the past with the present.

Flew back sunday.---oh and I apologize for no photo on this post-- the 3-4 i took weren't very good and definitely not worth a thousand words...

Another S.F vid--Golden Gate Park-Japanese Tea Garden

2008-05-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

Never been to Golden Gate Park before- its like a newer, cleaner and more botanically diverse Central Park. Wish I had some more good pictures to show. From the BART you have to take the N train-- so you ride with real san franciscans, not too easy to get to, but so worth it.

Grand Canyon- South Rim to North Rim: 11.5 hours

2008-05-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

The Grand Canyon was incredible--It is enormous, quite the sight. This video was taken near the end. The total hike was 17 miles and we did it in 11.5 hours, which is actually really good time. At the restaurant after the hike a lady came up to our table and asked me if my name was Greg? I asked her "Do you want it to be?" She then laughed and said I looked just like somebody she knew (probably not very well), and thought I looked just like him. I then proceeded to explain that people have told me stuff like that about a dozen times in my life. I guess I just have an easily replicable face and physique, for better or worse... As the older lady left and all five of us at the table were laughing, she said she doesn't do stuff like that to pick up guys... True Story! It made the night for some people

No Habla Espanol at Food City

2008-05-22T00:23:00.001-07:00

There is a chain of Grocery Stores here in Phoenix called Food City which caters primarily to people who speak spanish. They have a variety of Mexican foods and most products are labeled in Spanish as well as English. Most people there speak spanish- however I heard a commercial on the radio featuring the fact that they don't only speak spanish. So I finished my ultimate frisbee practice and didn't want to drive to Trader Joes so I stopped at Food City, I got some cheap grapes and strawberries and some Coconut Ice Cream (hecho en Mexico!).

Whenever I'm in a predominantly spanish speaking area or store, I use what spanish I know to communicate. So I did the same as I arrived in the checkout lane asking "esta cerrado?" (is it closed?) when I got closer she asked "How are You?" in perfect English, I responded "just fine", more than a little bummed that she didn't want to speak spanish with me. For me that's half the fun of places like that, but oh well.

LIPO-sUTAHTion

2008-05-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

I was in Utah over the weekend for an ultimate frisbee tournament. I reserved an economy rental car to pickup at the airport on orbitz for about $15, but when I got there all they had left was a red dodge minivan. The minivan actually had some pickup to it which was nice on the freeway.
But really what I found most interesting while I was on the freeway in my red dodge minivan was the amount of Billboards around Salt Lake advertising various forms of lip-suction service. I guess liposuction is what is in utah?-- (or maybe it is what is out in Utah...)

Letters from Iwo Jima

2008-04-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

I saw this movie last weekend, I had heard about it when it came out and wanted to see it, and I finally did. It's a very intense movie in many ways and deals with a very harsh battle towards the end of WW II. It is all in the Japanese perspective of the battle. I really like when war type movies are able to portray what it was like for the individual during the battle. While watching is at times rather depressing I wouldn't say the movie is a downer, the english dubbing is done rather well.

Harvard Style Update

2008-04-24T22:49:00.001-07:00

I really don't have much to post here---Since I wrote last I went to Boston and visited the Harvard Business School (HBS). I went to Boston for a day last year and blogged about it, I think Boston is pretty cool town, especially for going to school. HBS has a very nice campus with nice buildings that are well maintained-- and with the most billions of dollars of any business school, it should. So many leaders in Business and Government have gone to Harvard (I can think of atleast 4 presidents)

I am pretty big fan of the Case Method in which students read a case about some type of business problem for each class and come prepared to discuss and argue what the protagonist should do given the information outlined in the case and any other research or theories each student can come up with. I was in a last semester class of 2nd year students, so most of their ideas were well developed and articulated with a high degree of fluency.

I also had lunch at the Kennedy School of Government- They are dealing with issues related to students taking jobs in the private sector which is contrary to the school established mission which is educate leaders to go into public service. Not sure where I stand on that issue, but I do believe the person who assumes the heaviest individual debt should have a say in what career path they ultimately choose. Tuition is around 30k per year, and international students need to have 60k per year

...And the clam chowder is good in Boston...

feeling 15

2008-04-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

Listening to the Silversun Pickups in my ipod makes reminds me most of that feeling of being a teenager listening to alt-rock in the 90's. But the music has this sort of fresh feel to it that seems to set it apart from so much other music.

finally finished it

2008-03-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

I got a book called Team of Rivals-- about the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln- for Christmas. I just barely finished it. Written for more of a broad audience (ex: no footnotes on the pages) in a very comprehendable voice. It focused on the inside story of Washington D.C and more specifically the inner workings of Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War.

Nearly everyone in Lincoln's cabinet was very intelligent, had studied law and had experienced tremendous amount of loss during their lifetime. The author paints Lincoln almost as a miracle worker in getting the most out of the people he appointed to assist him in cabinet positions.

On the final page it summarized Lincoln's ambition to achieve based on his disbelief in an afterlife and his desire to accomplish something his fellow men could remember him by.

Although it generally doesn't go very deep, there is a lot of information there to really digest and internalize to understand the timeframe and thought process of the President and Cabinet. It really makes life in Washington seem pretty swell.

Gelato, Panini and Rome

2008-03-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

From top: 1) Colesseum, 2) Fresh Gelato closeup, 3) Inside the enourmous St. Peter's Basilica, 4) Trevi Fountain

St. Peter's Basilica-- very very large.

This place is where the Roman Senate and Government

headquarters was located, Ceasar was cremated around here.

Also it was all underground until the 1930's, when Mussolini used

dynamite to excavate it to what it looked like at the time of Christ.

Oahu

2008-03-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

My favorite comment I overheard in Hawaii was while I was down by Waikiki, it went like this:
Woman: "No, I like Hawaii"
Man: "uh huh"
woman: "I would just like to change the people of Hawaii..."

Unfortunately I didn't catch the rest. But here a couple videos from last Saturday in Oahu:

These are what they use to practice with for when they twirl fire. I had it for a little while, it was pretty fun while a bit frustrating to balance the stick on your thumbs just right.

Sunset Beach-- Great for surfing, the sand pebbles were huge and so soft.

Viral comments

2008-03-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

Alot of the comments I get to my posts lately appear to Spam or possibly some other type of virus. I thought the strange looking letters you type in to make a comment would prevent that.

Not shy to be unshy

2008-02-26T23:32:00.000-08:00

I have seen a lot of people labeled as shy. Some of these people who had just had a unpositive encounter will be protected later by friends or aquaintences by simply stating that "that person is shy" as an excuse for there ungracious or even somewhat rude behavior. While I believe many people are shy, I also believe that people often mislabel people as shy who simply don't like talking to people in general or more specifically don't like or want to converse with or associate with certain people. Maybe even this consistent behavior has led to people to lose social prowess they may have otherwise had, had they been interested in meeting people.

The Obaminator

2008-02-21T18:10:00.000-08:00

So Obama has been recieving a bit of criticism for 'borrowing' some words and ideas in his speeches, most notably from the current Gov. of Mass. Deval Patrick with whome Obama openly admits they exhange ideas and phrases.

But here is another phrase which has been central to his message lately and I believe I have the approximate source. He stated recently "the problem that we face in America today is not the lack of good ideas. It's that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die." reference here. Now one year ago I was talking with a roomate about the Univ. of Chicago where Obama was a lecturer (I will let you check Wikipedia). My roomate said that his friend who attended school there said that people at the Univ. of Chicago called it "the place where fun goes to die". Of course the Univ. of Chicago and Obama are not the first places or people to have this statement attributed to them, but I found it very interesting given Obama's time at Univ. of Chicago, and especially with the claims from the Clinton campaign that he is borrowing ideas.

Really politicians in my opinion, very rarely 'create' ideas, they are more often the messengers who synthesize and communicate most effictively a certain message to the right audiences, and that is really what makes all the difference.

San Francisco

2008-02-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

I just shot both of these yesterday in San Francisco at the Martin Luther King Waterfall (right by the Museum of Modern Art) and at Fisherman's Wharf with Alcatraz in the background. I noticed the video angle isn't very good in one of the videos. I could blame the person who shot the video however I did watch them film it so I could have taken more notice of this.

AntiAntiBiotics

2008-02-09T16:57:00.000-08:00

So for a long time I really didn't get very sick. I would feel a little sick a few times a year for about a day or two, that's it. Then two years ago right after the bird flu scare started I got really sick for 7-8+ days. Since then when I get sick it lasts 4-5+ days, although it doesn't happen very often.
So I have learned with Anti-Biotics that the more people use them the more the strand of the bacteria is strengthened. So theoretically over time the bacteria that causes you to get sick with the flu will make you more sick for a longer period of time than it did before.
So I don't have much to base this off of, but I think Antibiotics have been overused, and right now I am anti antibiotics.

costa rica videos

2008-02-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

Costa Rica-worth the sunburns (for now)

2008-01-29T20:09:00.001-08:00

For about 7+ years I have really wanted to go to Costa Rica, I don't even know completely why. Starting a couple of years ago I would take a picture of myself on my cellphone in the greenhouse and would tell people it was a picture from a recent trip to Costa Rica-hoping that the greenery with convince them for atleast a minute or two. It usually didn't work, but now I have pictures and multiple witnesses. Its quite a paradisically beautiful country with volcanos, rainforests, misty mountains and sunny beaches.

Here is photographic overview of my trip:

This is from the canopy tours, a few hundred feet in the air-- spectacular view of so many trees/plants.

Arenal Volcano- still an active Volcano with flowing lava and usually cloudy on top

I like this picture because it shows some of the natural beauty of Costa Rica. There were so many moments where we just sort of stood in awe at something like this.

The first beach at Manuel Antonio Park. We did some body surfing and built sand castles here. Mine was the strongest, if maybe not the best looking.

This is in some deep rainforest, I think we were going for the hanging from vines Tarzan look.

Below: We did a rather intense short hike to get to this beach, which we actually left right after this picture, because we wanted something with more sand. From left to right: Me, Fiorella, Maria, Laren.

2008=Bad Election for Bigots

2008-01-20T15:56:00.000-08:00

I am thinking one plausible reason that candidates this election season tried for a long time to play clean campaigns was to avoid as much as possible any criticism and bigotry associated with each candidates respective race, gender, religous or ethnic background.

On the Democratic side you have Hillary and Barack. A strongly racist or bigoted person would most likely have a difficulty voting for a woman or African American. John Edwards although probably not viable at this point for president (V.P perhaps?) made it clear on many occasions in 2007 that if a certain voter would vote for him based solely on the fact that they would not vote for a woman or an african american that he did not want their vote. And so amongst the top three democratic candidates, there is no clear candidate for people with strong bigoted or racist views.

The republican side have a bit more to offer towards people with bigoted or racist views but not much. It's interesting with Romney how on one side people may be prejudiced against his religion because they don't see it as Christian, while others have claimed the religion is racist based on their own interpretration of church policy prior to 1978. You also have Rudy Guiliani who was particularly welcoming of any person (legal or illegal) who would work in New York City, many people with bigoted view may take serious issue with this. McCain and Huckabee also rather soft on illegal immigration and support what many in the anti-illegal immigration movement see as a rather easy path to citizenship.

McCain and Huckabee have sharpened up there stances and given greater emphasize to ''securing the border'', from a certain angle this could be an indirect way to offer appease bigoted voters as illegal immigration has become an issue at the forefront in surprising places like New Hamphsire and South Carolina where immigrant populations from Mexico are small but growing rapidly.

Guiliani comes of from a Italian Roman Catholic and McCain from Scotch-Irish descent (according to his website). In many parts of the country it may surprise people the strong prejudices and animosities which existed in the past towards people of these respective groups. Things are different now than they were then, which may be a sort of omen for what the election could like in another 4,8,16 or 32 years?

Either way with peoples views as they are today there may be no real clear candidate for the bigoted vote to flock to.

Some books I read last year (featuring mini reviews!)

2008-01-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

These are some of the best books I read last year. I didn't get to nearly all the books I wanted to. But I did get to read several especially good books. (note: I have blogged previously about some of these, so I keep it brief here).

Perhaps since we are still sort of in the season I could rate these books as library card or amazon card worthy?

Freakonomics- Read it mostly on the subway. Easy to grasp and a fast read. It includes quite a bit of economic and social commentary that is good fuel for thought and conversation. I conversed with I think 5+ people about what the books states about the relationship between Roe V. Wade and crime. The book seems to be part of modern econ-political mantra these days.

Rats- Like the first book its a freaky title, but if you've lived in New York (or many other cities) you have probably experienced what led this author to write this book, seeing rats in all over alleys and subways. In interesting fashion this book describes the history of the struggle and clash cities have fought with our crawling fury little foes. Its mostly interesting, occacionally gross and like good non-fiction good come away with some off the wall facts that come in handy when you are talking about, say poison gasses used in Korea in World War II, seriously it happened to me.

P.S--I lived in NY less than a short block from where the author observed rats for a year as part of his research, crazy huh.

The Brother Karamazov- This is 900 pages of some of the deepest stuff I have ever touched. First 100 pages were not too captivating but it really had me soon after. It follows a pattern of story-philosophy-story-more philosophy/social commentary-story. The author explores some of the deepest human struggles with questions about religion, government, law and social mores. Very deep, very fascinating and worth the unending paragraphs and words that fill up the entire page.

Icon- This books takes you through the ride that is the life of Steve Jobs. Intertwined heavily is his life with the respective lives of the companies he helped build (Apple, Next, Pixar) and later reinvent. Not too techie and written so anybody interested in Apple, Business, Entreprenuerism or even just entertainment would really enjoy it. Insightful and motivating

The Innovator's Dilemma- This book is just over 10 years old now, and is still higihly regarded as an authority on why most companies (not just tech companies) succeed for a time and then fail. Not all of the companies discussed (in Harvard Business School's very Case Study Method style of course!) are equally interesting, but the business insights reading this gave me were invaluable. It seems like my few years of business study and experience were sort of pieced together as I read this (Hooray now I can strategize with the corporate Big Whigs), and it just might for you too... Maybe thats a sappy endorsement.

scrabbled

2008-01-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

word to the wise-- Be cautious when playing scrabble with people who A) don't read much, or B) have weak vocabularies.
Most of this can be solved with a really good dictionary, or with dictionary.com -- Even so, the game can turn painful as some people realize there is more than about 500 words included in the English language.

Opportunities

2008-01-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

sometimes when an opportunity is over its like when a door is slammed shut, much to the shock to everyone present. There are other times when we see opportunity slowly fade away, like a gradual colored sunset.
Additionally its usually impossible to discover what additional opportunities were averted by not choosing the initial opportunity.

See what the polls don't show

2007-12-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

This link was fascinating. It shows breakdowns by income, ethnictity, region and even job type of who supports which candidate. I was a little surprised by some of the results and not surprised by most of the results. Hillary never looked so dominating

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/info-flash08.html?project=DEMOPOLL1207&party=rep&sortBy=3

Four Corners to Florida

2007-12-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

Explanation of the title: In 2007 I reached what effectively are the four corners of the U.S.A- Boston (June), Seattle+Vancouver B.C (July), San Diego (October), Florida (December).

So I took what originally was a day trip (turned overnighter) because I wanted to complete travel to the largest cities in each section of the country (NW, NE, SW, SE). Fort Lauderdale has really cool sand on the beach. It was almost 80 degrees and very humid at 6 in the morning (thats right 6am and in December)-- but the winds made it feel refreshing.

The whole place is so tropical teaming with bright verdant foliage and huge trees with sprawling branches and heavy leaf structure. On one street down by coconut grove in Miami the the green plants and trees encompassed the road in an almost surreal way.

I walked through little Havana, the shops along the street along with the pastries and vibrance of the culture reminded of Brazil more than I ever seen in the states.

That area is refreshing and one my favorite places I have ever been. I can't wait to go back

Times Square

2007-12-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

I think its funny how much I feed off the energy and enjoy the atmosphere in Times Square. It seems most true New Yorkers and seasoned visitors of New York will not normally deign to grace the square with their presence and will generally avoid it when the tourists are there (which is nearly always). Most of the stores and restaurants target a very suburban not too savvy tourist.

But I had my radio show in High School (89.3 KASB Bellevue), I studied T.V production and how advertising and commercials and brand promotion worked. Plus I grew up listening to my older siblings play the music and talk about Broadway shows.

I guess all the lights and T.V screens synergize into an epicenter of media that fascinates me. Atleast it did when I first saw it in January and it did last weekend.

Juicy Review

2007-12-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

I tried the Tangerine Juice from Trader Joes today. It is quite tartful, and with 23 grams of sugar per serving is exquisitely sweet. At $2.99 a bottle is cheaper than most other juices they sell. But really, with as much sugar as it has (as most Trader Joes juice products do) doesn't it essentially dilute the purpose of getting a non-concentrate juice when it has tons of sugar in it?

The carrot juice is very good too. But don't drink too much- there may be some harmful side effects for excessive consumption.

Lame phone calls

2007-12-06T22:29:00.001-08:00

I was pranked called last night. Someone called and didn't say anything around 11:30. I heard a girls voice in the background as I said hello about 4 times. Really only a few people have my new number so there is only a few it could be.
For reals though, call up someone and don't say anything? What happened to creativity. They didn't even shield there number so I called back and the girl said hello and then hung up, lame. They (I could here two girls giggling each time in the background) called back with a disquised number 2 minutes later and connected me to some girls voice mail, I hung up in boredom as I heard "Hi you've reached Jessica..."
I have done some prank calling, the least you can do is make it entertaining enough to keep it going. No dialouge? Just silence and giggling? I would be ashamed if I were entertained by that. Prank calls are for talking, I would not even dignify those calls by calling them worthy of being prank calls.

Death to YouTube

2007-12-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, just because you figured out how to push record on some crappy cellphone video recorder and you want to impress friends that you were at some show by placing some horrible sounding video which documents your presence at the venue, does not-repeat- does not mean you should upload that 30 second or one minute piece of the song onto youtube.

Bad quality on youtube will lead to lower expectations and hence cause a slow death to youtube.

Probably never will

2007-11-30T19:17:00.000-08:00

So you get through Airport Security having de-shoed, placed your laptop in a separate crate, put every remotely liquid related item in a tiny plastic bag and on occasion frisked by a TSA agent. Then they pull out some item like deodorant and tell you its a whole ounce to heavy and ask in a polite and calm tone "would you like to go back and check it with your luggage, and come back through?". Are they joking? Seriously they can't seriously be asking that question. It took a significant amount of time and emotional energy to just get through that line, and they think you might consider going through again and waiting behind another person who doesn't understand which metallic objects will set off the alarm?

I've never seen anyone actually go back and check the item the TSA agent said couldn't go through, probably never will.

P.S In Bon Voyage Charlie Brown, all they took off to go through airport security was their watches, what a time.

So Old Navy

2007-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

I guess the main downside to buying clothes at Navy is somewhat awkward feeling you experience as you go to a crowded area and you can sense its obvious to everyone around that you actually shop at Old Navy...

Most frequented sites

2007-11-25T21:21:00.000-08:00

Due to their utility along with the ease and beneficial nature of repeat use these are most most used/favorite sites: Gmail, facebook, youtube, Blogger, google.com/news.

These fairly common for a lot of people which are around the same age group which I currently reside. Only I don't have a MySpace page (actually I do, I just never really used it), and I don't use hotmail.

Also I really like what YouTube has done a lot-- I think my appreciation for what they have accomplished with that format is exceptionally high.

New Cell Phones

2007-11-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

Its can be a bit of a hassle learning all the new buttons of a new phone and even more so if you switch phone companies. It takes extra time to do anything.

But atleast it saves time as you don't have to scroll past as many people (who you don't really call anyway) in your phone directory, simply because you haven't bothered to add them yet.

N-O-S-T-A-L-G-I-A

2007-11-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

2 years before I was born Bon Voyage Charlie Brown came out. I remember watching this all the time when I was 6-9 years old. Watching brought me back to those times when I watched it and feeling a curiosity for going to Europe and having adventures like Charlie Brown and his whole peanuts gang did.

It would be amazing to have a dog half as witty and smart-alecy as Snoopie. Here is how slick that dog is: A) Snoopie rides first class on the flight to London while the rest ride in coach B) He has a membership card to Wimbeldon (which he gets kicked out of!) C) He drives the rented car with everyone inside D) He goes to and hangs out at the Pub late at night when he is supposed to be on guard dog duty. He is not limited in his experiences by his status as a dog, go figure.

I didn't understand it when I was a kid but this cartoon has a sweet love story. Charlie gets a letter from a girl named Violet asking him to stay at her Chateau in France. Charlie Brown's Grandfather met Violet's Grandmother when he was stationed there in World War I. They had a crush on each other and wrote letters for a while until they stopped writing got married and had families. But she never forgot the charming American. Sigh... Wish I was charming like that.

The movie has some funny parts. I tried finding this movie before and it was very rare. Luckily my cubical neighbor at work brought it in after I mentioned it a few weeks ago.

Ferret Surprise

2007-11-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

Sleeping on a couch at my friends condo on Lake Michigan was great until I woke up around 3:30. They had told me just before I went to bad that they had two ferrets who slept under the chair in the room, but that I would be fine if I zipped up my bag because they like to crawl into things. So I zipped up my bag and fell asleep for a few hours.

I don't what it is that makes me a little nervous about Ferrets, maybe how they wander around and stick there bodies nose first into anything object they are able to, or I was scared they might nibble on me as I slept? But When I awoke I could here them wandering around the room energetically. I thought if I held still they would ignore me. After I shuffled my feet and arms several times to stop them climbing up the couch I got up. With intense curiosity kept crawling towards me and since I've never even held a Ferret I wasn't really comfortable doing so now. I turned on a light and they followed around the apartment through the kitchen and dining room area. One was albino and the other brown with a stripe and together made a tag team cornering me as I backed away from them around the apartment. The more I moved away the more interested they seemed to become. The albino ferret had red eyes so I don't think he had good vision since he would pause a little as he came close and wouldn't stop until I brushed a pillow at him.

Finally as the sunrose I came up with a plan. There was no cage, but I figured I could lure them in the bathroom and they would be fine for a couple of hours as I caught up on lost sleep. I used a stick and lured them in seperately. It took awhile but after about 10 minutes both were inside the bathroom and made little noise.

Chicago's Millenial park is pretty cool and the city skyline deserves some eyetime.

How British

2007-11-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

I am minus $300, minus one blackberry and plus one trip to London than I was 6 days ago. The weather in London is similar to my native Seattle only a little warmer and less drizzly.

I was really impressed with how nice and informative most Londoners were to me as a tourist--( I mean they get millions of us a year, so you wouldn't be surprised if they got a bit jaded). They seemed enthusiastic in answering even no brainer questions like which "This (the house of parliment isn't Big Ben is it?...oh just around the corner...(duh)"

Leicester square has a cool vibe and nightlife scene. The china town of London is quite a bit cleaner and brighter than China town/NY.

Its always best in my opinion to learn and visit places with someone who lives locally-- So when I saw the Thames river for the first time it really was impressed firmly in my mind how filthy that river can be as my friend Nick (who I stayed with) took a big spit right into the river!!

The first 6 months of this year I was in NY doing an internship at the U.N. While there I came up with this concept (in March 2007 blog entries) that people move around city to city or country to country and usually stay in neighborhoods they lived in previously (ie similar levels of education, economics, culture etc.). And I we saw another case in point as Nick and I left the library of the London School of Economics we bumped into 2 people who also interned at the U.N during the same period earlier this year!! At first everyone was surprised, but aftwerwards not so much since really people with similar interests, goals and connections who bumped into each other once have a fair chance of bumping into each other again before too long.

Hyde Park is really nice the autumn leaves were coming out really well. I met a nice girl from Canada who went to school in London and works in Hong Kong who gave me directions how to get to Victoria Station. And it was funny that almost everyone else I met had no idea which buses or tubes (subways) went to Victoria station or anywhere else! It's like "I don't know how to get anywhere in this city, I just live here", but they were nice about there ignorance.

I firmly believe that London (and probably most of Europoe) has the best drinkable yogurts. I bought 4 or 5 of them in one night, thats how good the blackcherry flavor was!

I also lost my blackberry so I have no cool digital photos to download here., just plain stuff off the internet..

Yosemite at Last

2007-10-15T18:08:00.001-07:00

In three and a half words I describe the place as Pristine, Majestic and awe-inspiring.

I wanted to visit Yosemite for a long time-- to take a pilgramige to stand in awe of the towering granite walls of Half Dome and El Capitan (the steep rock faces you see in pictures). My friend Michael and I hit the main portions of the park which are home to the picturesque vignettes featured in many photographs. The serenity of the whole area is preserved with conservation efforts including hybrid buses which transport visitors around the park for free and thus decreasing carbon fuel emmissions. The air was fresh and water in the streams and rivers was crystal clear.

People were so nice to us that day:

1) After ripping out the gas pump hose (because the nozzle was still attached) the owner of the Qwiky Mart, said it was ok, and we went on.

2) Another hiker gave us instructions up a trail and advised we take water-- we didn't have any so he just gave us some!

3) AND WE EACH FOUND FIVE DOLLARS!!! just kidding but that would have funny.

My Rating for Yosemite: 10

Benefits of Contrarianism--Reading?

2007-10-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

There are major disadvantages of constantly going against the grain. It may just be a reluctance to accept the outcomes of decisions others have made if you don't feel personally involved in the decision or recognized/respected by those who made the decision.
Or maybe you just want to go explore where other have not or will not go. You can miss out on a lot by venturing off, working in the small startup opposed to the fortune 500 company.
But really, I love how when I am around people who don't read, I read more. When I am around other people read, a read a little less, because I just end up talking to the people. Interesting books probably make interesting people-- So if you like being the contrarian and want to read more-- surround yourself with people who hardly read, lonely- but interesting--

Gmail

2007-09-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

Gmail increase in value as more of your friends use it. I recieved an invite to join in early 2005. Now a lot of people have it, but some don't, and I don't always understand why-- its so useful.

Time after Time

2007-09-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

I have thought a lot about time lately. I listened to a scholar on NPR who was held in Iran for 8 months. She was in her 60's I believe, and said she wasn't mad about the experience, just mad at the lost time, she explained that 8 months is a long time for an a person of her age.

Really, I contend its a long time for any time of life. You only have so many hours and days and weeks to learn the right lessons, read the right books, meet the right people and ultimately make the best choices which will in theory grant to each what they want. And so much of time is travelling to work or school or waiting for our next job or class to start or to move to a new location.

And then there is the constant concern of not having done the right things in the past tense and trying to make up for lost time. Also there is the mental blockage we apply to many experiences in my life. College has to be done by the time I'm 22, my Master 24 full time job at 25. I have to make X amount by the time I'm 30 or live in a house. Own my own company by 40 or run for President before 60, or whatever.

And in the meantime while everything is speeding up; individually and collectively time slips away- too the point which some distract themselves with music, movies or whatever, and a few even console themselves by blogging it out.

Sometimes I think those who deserve more time, seem to be short of it, and those who don't appreciate it have plenty of it.

How much do we really read?

2007-08-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Fascinating short article on a survey of how much we read. One fourth of the people hadn't read a book in the past year, wow. Over the past 12 months I have only read 6-7 books, which puts me in the average of people who had read something (avg. 7). The demographics were interesting as also was placement of fault for people not reading; T.V, internet and movies. Plus last year there were 3.1 Billion books sold, just enough for all of us on the planet to share with a friend, chuckle.

A Biography of Presidential Repore

2007-08-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Interestingly enough none of Thedore Roosevelt's close friends and associates actually called him "T.R" mainly the public and other associations of this nature. And also the toy dolls called "Teddy Bear" grew out of a cartoonists impressions of T.R on a bear hunting trip, with the bear given a smily friendly face, which sooner thereafter inspired a toy maker. Amazing huh?

The author Edmund Morris wrote this book (he also did the authorized biography of Ronald Reagan, "Dutch). He is a gifted scholar born in Nairobi with a precise skill with language and vocabulary (a great book to improve your vocab and thinking skills).

Here are some highlights and lessons I picked up:

Arguably the Best Political Mind to sit in the White House: Whether it was carefully convincing certain cabinet members to stay, avoiding a near war with Germany in absolute secrecy from the public, arbitrating between the mine owners and miners in an economy crippling strike, orchestrating the political and military pieces for Panama to secede from Columbia and in turn purchase the land for the Canal-- T.R consistently astonished even his harshesed critics and kept most of the people quite pleased with the outcomes of major initiatives. He read the public as well as individuals accurately and knew how to influence (& occasionally manipulate) the parties to achieve the desired results.

Renewal through Vacations: It seemed like every few weeks or months Teddy needed to get out of Washington to hunt some bears in Colorado or head to his summer home on Long Island or take a horse ride in the countryside around DC. It appears that while being President he still made ample time to get out of Washington and into the woods for hunting or to visit people small towns on the western frontier where he was hugely popular. He found a gifted and famous scientist to accompany him in Yosemite Valley for four days. His love for the outdoors was fuel to expand much of the then existing national park system closer to what we have today.

Read Read Read: After he had been President for about a year the President of Columbia University asked for a list of some of the books he had read during his presidency. He sent back about a page worth of titles of European and World History, Greek Philosophy, various works of poetry contemporary and old, and many other titles on a variety of subjects with an apparent focus on history, philosphy and literature. How he made time to for all this as President is mystery to myself, maybe the vacationing and time in the rail cars helped.

These are just a few lessons I gleaned. The book never really gets too dry, Teddy is so focused on power and always on the go that his presidency never really gets boring. All the inside information and inner working of the White house with regards to International policy may cause a reader to 're-think' some of our country's involvement with other countries.

YouTube Debate

2007-08-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty interesting exchange for the 3 top Democratic Candidates during the YouTube debate. Not talking to countries I guess can be like giving someone the silent treatment or as Dwight from the Office would say: Shunning Someone, and it undoubtedly can affect the neglected party. Obama seems to be very much for talking with leaders while Hillary attempts to build as much distance with the potential implications of such meetings with foreign leaders. This next clip is pretty rich, candidates are asked to say something like and dislike about the candidate to their left...yeh, almost unanimously ignored (or don't answer seriously) second half of the question where the are supposed to list off something they dislike about the candidate to their left and resort to "I love you guys" type generalites. Hillary's laugh in response to Edward's saying "he's not sure" about her coat sounds like true from the gut laugh that I am not sure she lets out in public (or maybe even private) too often.

North to Canada--

2007-07-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ok this is another slightly repetitive travelogue type entry (I should just be a traveling journalist, haha), so if don't like these just take a glance and move on... Vancouver B.C has a very international feel to it and tons and tons of Sushi places. A lot of cities have concentrated areas within the city such as Chinatown or Korean town, Vancouver has that but also has many stores and restaurants spread across the city. Crossing the bridge into the main downtown area with all the condos and buildings with the mountains to the foreground gave it the look somewhat a kin to Hong Kong I thought (never been there, seen pictures only).

Ate some cheap sushi, which is seriously all over and walked around broadway and passed through downtown and gastown which is the oldest part of the city which grew rapidly around a single pub. The port feel is similar to Seattle with all the huge cranes for loading the ocean liners at the port. It would be good to see more of this place and walk around the streets- it is fairly compact in the downtown area and definitely resonates a feeling of vibrance.

Surprise Opening Act

2007-07-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

I went to a show with Jeremy Enigk the former lead singer of Sunny Day Real Estate (very well known in the Seattle music scene). The show was really good. I really like it when artists who have gone solo are still willing to throw in a few songs from their previous projects from which they gained most of their original fans. When my friend Brock and I were entering the club I noticed the opening act listed was fronted by a guy I went to elementary school with, we talked a little after his set. Funny little coincidence, made the whole show a little more interesting, you never know who and when you are going to run in to people.

Bostonia

2007-07-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Dave Gleave and I were in Boston on July 3rd. You can definitely see a lot of stuff in a day in Boston. The liberty trail downtown takes you through many historical and revolutionary war era sites. The weather was a very smooth 71 degrees with some breeze, nice. Bunker Hill had a huge monument, and I was taken back by the pervasivity of churches, Bostons Puritanical roots are abundantly evident today. In Cambridge people were nice and the Harvard campus very well maintained. Boston seemed like a very clean city with very clean public transportation (bus and rail)

Romney in New York!

2007-06-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

I volunteered for two Romney campaign fundraisers today downtown at the Intercontinental Hotel in Downtown on 48th and Lexington (close to Grand Central). The first event was primarily big doners featuring a photo with Gov. Romney for donors of the maximum $2300 legally allowed to the Romney Campaign. I stood at one of the main entrances directing people to wait in line for a photo with Gov. Romney. Mitt does exude strong charisma and ere of optimism particularly evident as experienced businessmen wore grins of joy as they exited their photo with Mitt. In his 5-10 opening speech (sprinkled with some thoughtful humor) he sounded very confident.

I handled the microphone for the brief Q&A with the big donors. The questions were well informed and incited interesting and fairly in depth response about topics such as China in the 21st century, Culture Preservation and of course immigration. Romney advocated increased spending for by the federal government beyond $1 Billion, and in a few comments he was supportive of improving marketing our country and its people to the rest of the world. He also gave strong emphasis to getting the best people to work on projects who would most likely disagree and argue to arrive at the best possible outcome.

I was fascinated in his remark that people expect constant campaigning to be wearisome and exhausting for incessant meetings and speeches (his 8th meeting that day), he said he is energized from all the people he meets and when he gets to the hotel late he reads for a couple hours to wind down- (I've had similar thoughts in my limited campaigning experiences in college). That nightly routine is believable listening to his citing of various books and articles in his speech often with a sensitive disclaimer "not sure if you happened to have read this...". He made some good case points (success stories such as the 2002 Olympics and Healthcare in Massachussets) for his campaign and demonstrated a wide breadth of knowledge.

On a side note the food was superb. I ate so much fresh tasting jumbo shrimp and mini open faced salami sandwhiches with cheese it took care of dinner and most of breakfast!

One Shot!

2007-06-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

I won a great game of chess over the weekend. Although it took me awhile to put the king into checkmate so I ended up wiping out nearly all the pieces of the opponent. The funniest part was my opponent made a silly mistake that would forfeit the king and then I asked if she was sure about her move, and she then looked at the board more carefully and took some more time and then made a move that would still allow her to lose her Queen!!

Sometimes when you get a chance to correct a mistake, you only get one shot!

Phila DC

2007-06-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

I went to Philadelphia and DC last week. First time in Philly, lots of cool history since it was the biggest city in the revoltionary war period. This picture is me behind constitution hall where the constitution of signed. I stayed in Fairfax county which is a pretty pleasant and relaxing place in my opinion. I really just loved being away from the city for a bit and being surrounded by trees. For me the trees and all the outdoor stuff really just gets the imagination going in very exhilerating ways.

But I probably speak for most in saying that toll roads have got to go.

Geographic Predictors

2007-05-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

Ok- another potentially cool idea- ready for thesis writing. What if you could "Predict the locations of the next technological innovations and breakthroughs?". It's so fascinating if you think that Sillicon valley is home to so many innovative companies (Google + Apple just to name a couple of recent hyberbolic examples of what many associate with innovation) and also some of the best weather in the country (warm, sunny, mild coastal climate).

So Why?

Are people who invent and create stuff magnetically drawn to certain creative poles ? Really what is most interesting is what are the other politcal, cultural, business and legal (to name several) conditions in certain areas. For so many thousands of years China came of with so many inventions before modernized equivalent came to fruition in other parts of the globe. Something has to be different in more than just the climate.

Some countries produce way more patents every year than others. And what if historical data (economic, educational, scientific was used to extrapolate and predict what areas of the world most closely resemble those which have in the past fostered so much growth in new ideas, inventions, innovations. Using varied forecasting techniques predictions could be made on where money should be invested years before its too late too make 'lots' of money.

Taking a broader perspective you could attempt to predict where the next dictator or bloody riot would take place. You could also predict which Universities will pump out the best graduates each year by automatically updating the most current campus information and not simply what some tradition tells employers where to hire. I realize various attempts have been made with different types of outcome predictors- but compiling this information on a global scale constantly updated would be amazing. I think I should talked to some programmers, economists, and scientists from across the fields- this would be incredible.

Easy Friends

2007-05-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

Since being at the United Nations in January, meeting people has been, well... let's say interesting. People always conciously or not calculate how much how time effort or thought they wish to devote towards a new aquientance they meet through a friend, at a party, social gathering or randomly on the street. In New York for most young college educated people the questioning goes something like:

1) Where are you from?
2) How long have you been here? and
3) What do you do?

This is the clincher for many in deciding whether than can really relate to this person, or have any interest at all with further association.
I've noticed that certain places seem to get people excited and they really seem to care about knowing you as more than a forgotten name, based simply off of whether what you do is exciting, lucrative, or otherwise intersting to them.
I've noticed the U.N more often than not fits the bill of prestigous and intriguing place for many people, and people want to be your friend.

JetBlue CEO voted out

2007-05-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

I have basically loved the whole concept of JetBlue since the first time I flew on a commercial airline in 1995- 5 years before JetBlue made their first flight-. I always thought service could be more meaningful and the whole experience of flying should be fun. In Fall of 2003 I found out about JetBlue from a news special I saw in Business class, I was totally taken back. There was a certain excitement and enthusiasm about the flying with great service, nice seats and T.V's all standardized for a low cost. It was like the airline I had been imagining should exist.

Behind most of what JetBlue is today are many great planners, advertisers, and people who implemented the venture, but the most significant portion of what created JetBlue is the founder and now former CEO David Neeleman. His whole persona and track record convinced investors this idea would fly, and it has been largely very successful since its inception.

It's amazing how big ideas come to fruition. It makes you wonder what you are really capable of, and more importantly gives some inspiration to find out.

Pears are GREAT

2007-05-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I bought some of the best pears I have ever tasted. So soft and juicy- with just the right 'pear taste'. Ripe pears are so good- It's really a shame that only a few species of pears are actually edible. I highly recommend pears.

True Reality

2007-05-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

We live in reality. Or atleast the one 'we think' we are in. There is a varying but constant distance between:

1) The true reality

2) The reality we are cognizant of

3) The reality we hope for

and finally

4) The reality that will be

Friction generates as the differences among these four definitions of reality emerge.

The largest type of internal conflicts occur I believe when the true reality (1) collides (sometimes crashes) into the reality we have knowledge of and are cognizant (2) which may drastically alter (or shatter) the reality we hope for. We may feel so secure in what we know (2), and the real danger is when we arrogantly assume that our reality (2) is true reality (1). If we don't give place in our mind for more than what we know, we can hardly improve the reality we hope for(3), and limit our personal influence on true reality (1) and the reality that will be (4).

The most soul rattling occurance of these clashes occur between number 3 and 4 realities when the reality we hope for is extinguished by reality of what must unavoidably be.

For example most people hope to be healthy and live a relatively long and happy life. This can be shattered from discovering a health ailment or terminal illness or cancer in the younger portion of life.

So this really, really is reality, really.

Another day another Doctorate

2007-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

While interning at the U.N I've been getting all sorts of ideas that have good potential to become a Master's or Doctoral Thesis and I even got a few people who agreed. I wondered for a briefly if I should start selling them because it seems many graduate students hit a mental barrier in coming up with and choosing a thesis to write about. Here is just one idea- A detailed study of the tansfer of power from royalty to society.

This idea would basically look at the differences in countries that transformed themselves from a Monarchy to a Democracy. Obviuously some countries have done this far more effectively which tend to correlate with a happier and more empowered people. Assuming the role of governments is to help provide some order and benefit to the populace this would look at general quality of life indicators before and after in countries like Spain, the Ukraine, Canada or others. It would at macroeconomic indicators of growth compared to disimilar parts of the world.

The idea could be huge (ie a long book) and you could also cross-analyze dictatorships with theocracies, socialist societies with more capatilistic natured countries. You could even do a comparitive analyses within the country's demographics and geographic regions to unlock what types of governments are seen as more favorable to different peoples. Fascinating- and hopefully not too boring.

Passing intelligence

2007-04-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

We benefit or hinder those in our close proximity. Both the good and the bad can be passed on through absorption in social, genetic and in familial relationships. However some skills transfer better than others. Well duh, but how does this apply?

Does having a friend who is fluent in a language you are not benefit you at all be it a foreign language, a programming language, legal jargon or whatever. Not really, unless it allows you to unlock a door previously shut by your own lack of knowledge. But if a parent has that capacity they may have passed that same capacity onto you as well. Some aptitudes can be passed on from close relatives- but not always- So a parent who has certain skills, knowledge or abilities may be a positive point but not always.

Really I think our closest colleagues have a powerful impact on how well and how much we learn. The influence of our colleagues sets much of our expectations and probably often determines how high and fast each member flies. Since most people are neither the fastest or the slowest but in "the middle" (of the bell curve) most will gauge their expectations to the closest visable realization of their groups definition of "success". Just like in a race most are faster than the slowest runner yet slower than the faster runner. Moral here: Be your best- Aim high, and of course be a fast runner!

Rainy Sunday thought

2007-04-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's been dark and rainy all day here in New York. I was thinking about some goals in life and then this thought hit me: "What talents, gifts, abilities do we now posses which are currently dormant because we don't have the wisdom to see or use them, or possibly we are aware of them but don't take the intitiative or time to develop them".

I believe our potential are not as limited as we often may think. I think we very often remember when we learn new things or aquire new skills- there remains a greater portion of unused potential, ideas, knowledge or whatever that we have not tapped into yet.

I believe ideas fed by action create more and better ideas which can be put into action as well, and thus the process continues.

Mr. Jorgensen goes to Washington

2007-04-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

I went to Washington D.C last easter weekend. Although it snowed a little bit it, the main sites around the Washington Monument were great and I saw some of the Cherry Blossoms still in bloom. There are quotes everywhere from former presidents, some much more inspiring than others. From Roosevelt there was a quote about not letting your fears of today determine your future, and from Jefferson there was a quote about maintaining the right to freedom of mind and thought. It's good stuff- I like Washington.

Percentages of life

2007-04-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

Ok my roomate said this would be a hit. I noticed I've lived 1% of my life in New York- so I added up all the months of my life and time spent in each location. And so these are the locations of my life with percentage thereof. I don't think these percentages correlate with actual influence each location had, but who knows? (Each is listed with months and then percentage)

Total Months: 302

Location:
Brazil (Mainly Northeastern)
24 months
8%
Seattle, Washington
200 months
66%
Rexburg, Idaho
40 months
13%
California (half Bay Area, half Southern Ca)
8 months
3%
New York
3 months
1%
Denver
27 months
9%

Free thinkin

2007-04-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Which regions and re'li'gions of the world allow most freedom to think? Do these areas correspond to high levels of entrepreneurism? Living for 1% (3 months) of my life in this interational hub called New York and spending most of my waking hours at the U.N learning about all kinds of different countries culture, politics and history has caused me to wonder about this.

No big idea or concept yet- I was just fascinated this morning contemplating different regions of the world which are predominantly various branches of Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Confuscism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism- I was so fasinated I scribbled ideas onto paper for about 10 minutes. It would very naive to assume religion has and does affect heavily regions of this planet.

Comparisons

2007-03-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

I met Richard Bushman yesterday. He gave a lecture to the J. Reuban Clarke Law Society New York Chapter. He is a proffesor emeritus at Columbia University here in New York. He has a written a bunch of books, including "A rough stone Rolling" which is cultural biography of Joseph Smith. He lectured on the law in the United States during the lifetime of Joseph Smith giving a number of insightful details of the history of law in this country.

I spoke with him for a moment afterwards. I explained to him an article I wrote for a Pre-Law Review less than a year ago comparing and contrasting Slavery with Illegal Immigration (I guess it might benefit to explain what I said so I might blog that out later). I asked if any of his colleagues had proposed similar ideas, or if he saw comparisons, and most importantly perhaps if he thought people would even care about that concept. He responded to those questions: No, Yes, Yes. So it probably a fair and interesting comparison to make- between slavery and illegal immigration. I will have to blog more on this later

Only 405 pages to go!

2007-03-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Just finished the prologue of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond. It's about essentially why some societies conquered others- very summarized that is. I still am not sure what it will be like. But so far it has got me thinking, about a lot of things derived from his main thesis.

Amazing Lectures

2007-03-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

I am fascinated by these Stanford Lectures. Two of them I have heard (Google, eHarmony) are great. I learned that 200 people are married each day that met on eharmony, and that they have rejected 1.5 million people for things like being married 3 times. And now I know most of Googles ideas come from everyone at their company. Google News came from a worker who after 9/11 became a news junky and everyday looked at his favorite 15 news sources, and one day he decided to sort them. If you like fresh innovation and achievement, you gotta check these out!

http://edcorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html

Sticking to Strengths to Look Smart

2007-03-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

If you always particpate and work with things and people you are naturally good with, it is easy to lead in then you look smart. Stepping outside of this zone however, is an increased risk to trip, fall and look dumb to everyone. Why? because you are not sticking to your strenghts. I think we should generally stick to our strengths- it gives more opportunity to excell and lead in our area of choice. Stepping outside our 'comfort zone' of things were naturally good at can do even more to enhance our strengths. This could be analagous to excercising your heart- this improves all other areas of your physical health. Our how climbing a mountain makes living in a valley seem easier.

I love Kimchi

2007-03-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

I vistited New York's lovely Korea town off 34th st yesterday with two fellow interns. I had not eaten Korean food in a while. The scents in the restaurant took me back to my high school friend Peter Park's house where I ate Korean food many times. I ate a piece of the pepper aftern my intern friend Ella said they were not supposed to be too hot. My second bite burst tears out of my eyes-and as I write this I feel it a little bit again- and my mouth felt on fire for about 5 minutes. But the pepper taught me a lesson, it's like it screamed at me: "Wake up!, you don't wander through life quietly, there's a world to be experienced!". So that's my new motto and I owe it all to that pepper/Korean food. And the Kimchi was great

Wikipedia- The Modern Expert

2007-03-13T07:26:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia is in my opinion an amazing academic, intellectual, social phenomenon. I used it first in 2005, it wasn't exactly new then(created in 2001) and is improves everyday. It contains a plethora of information-significant stuff to insignificant- on an incredible of amount of ever expanding topics. If this had been here sooner we could have all spent so much time finding out insightful details about the lives of our favorite music stars, some city like Valparaiso Chile that you've barely even heard of. And best of all: correct information about historical events or people which the people who lived through it or already know about it are too biased or their memory does not serve them properly to actually relate it themselves. Note: Picture is a snowflake uplclose compliments of wikipedia.

Some people critique Wikipedia (just as they did the internet circa mid to late 90's) for its authenticity because literally 'anyone' can add or edit an entry. Misinformation on the site, is I believe limited and much less than people suppose for two reasons.
1) It's updated frequently-by good sources. (I once made a posting before lunch and when I returned it had been improved with more info).
2) It's difficult to miseducate people on topics on which you are ignorant.

So it's still good to double check sources for research. But Wikipedia gives further illimunination that we know more collectively than individually.

Little Italy- Everyone getting older

2007-03-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

Little Italy is really little. The restaurants are bright, the foods delicious, and you definitely pay for it. I went on Saturday, the bread was so good. Having good bread when you first sit down is a great thing for the customers. And the restaurant can get away with putting less food in the entree dishes. 3 groups were sung happy birthday while we were there; seems like a place where people enjoy getting older in style.

Moving All Over and Never Leaving Home!

2007-03-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

I was listening to my friend Nick(he's sitting on the right) speak with an acquaintance on the phone when they discovered they each lived in New Canaan Connecticut and the same area of Surrey England. Coincidence? Yeh a little, however under closer examination maybe not. Why not?

Well it really seems that people most often live in places based on 1) What they can afford and perhaps slightly more important 2) What they are comfortable with. A kid growing up in a suburb of Atlanta is probably more likely to live -if he moves- in a suburb of Chicago or Denver or San Francisco or wherever which will probably have a similar demographic makeup as the one he grew up in. People from rural small towns in the inner mountain west often eventually stay in rural areas with towns with similar population sizes.

This is definitely not always the case, but I believe is more common than not. Often people in socio economic brackets keep some distance from each other, so it is easier to bounce around the world in the hot spots and bump into the same faces.

Obviously changing countries or states or areas within states where the economies is significantly different has a huge affect. The point here is that often when people move address and actual city or town name changes, but the city or town itself doesn’t. The Wall Street Journal lists every Sunday the property value in select zip codes across the country. You meet people from those places and find out where they have lived, their friends they see on the weekends, often their extended families live in those same select zip codes. It’s easy to change locations, but with respect to the values and standards and way of life that emanates each city; we generally stay close to home.

Thai Noodles

2007-03-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

I ate some Thai yesterday with my fellow intern and friend Nick who is returning to London today. The restaurant "Republic" is on the northwest corner of Union Square next to the McDonald's. I got a safe dish, noodles and chicken, but I put lots of spicing in it so it got really hot towards the end. The service is friendly, but I was a little shocked when they sat us next to some total strangers (I looked at Nick and said "are they serious?" incredulously) on a long table-kind of cafeteria style. The food was fast, fresh and not too expensive. Combine those elements with a highly charged atmosphere and a restaurant I would definitely recommend checking out, especially if you like those clear noodles (which according to one source have little nutritional value).