Jan 3, 20081
Jan 3, 20083
Never lie to your mom
Ha, this story is cool and funny.
A mother was invited for dinner at her son Brian’s apartment. During the course of the meal, Brian’s mother couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Brian’s roommate, Jennifer, was.
Brian’s mom had long suspected a relationship between Brian and Jennifer. Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between them than met the eye.
Reading his mom’s thoughts, Brian volunteered, “I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you Jennifer and I are just roommates.”
About a week later, Jennifer came to Brian saying, “Ever since your mother came to dinner, I’ve been unable to find the beautiful silver gravy ladle. You don’t suppose she took it, do you?” Brian said, “Well, I doubt it, but I’ll send her an e-mail just to be sure.”
So he wrote: “Dear Mom: I’m not saying that you ‘did’ take the gravy ladle from the house, I’m not saying that you ‘did not’ take the gravy ladle. But the fact remains that one has been missing ever since you were here for dinner. Love, Brian.”
Several days later, Brian received an e-mail back from his mother that read: “Dear Son: I’m not saying that you ‘do’ sleep with Jennifer, I’m not saying that you ‘do not’ sleep with Jennifer. But the fact remains that if Jennifer were sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the ladle by now. Love, Mom.”
Mackay’s Moral: Never lie to your mother … or anyone else.
Jan 2, 20086
Obama visits Iowa School for the Deaf!
Crowd turns out for late Obama rally
“Hope” and “Change” is how Democrat Barack Obama described his path to the White House, and he urged the estimated 1,050 people who saw him Tuesday night at Iowa School for the Deaf to join him and bring a friend to Thursday’s caucuses.
It’s important to do so, he added.
“We are in a defining moment in our history,” Obama said.
He has my vote and my endorsement. :-)
Jan 2, 20080
Work partners grow special bond with language
Good story.
By Christina Salerno / The Modesto Bee
Lots of people make friends with their co-workers. Few go so far as to learn a second language to communicate with them.
That’s the story of Timothy Lopez and Brandon Bearce.
The duo have been hauling away piles of discarded furniture, yard debris and other materials for three years as employees of 1-800-GOT- JUNK?, a junk removal service with a branch in Stanislaus County.
The first time they met, Bearce was “a little skeptical” about working with Lopez, his randomly assigned partner on a junk removal truck.
Lopez, 25, was born deaf and has limited speech because of his disability.
Bearce’s doubts were erased when he saw Lopez in action.
Jan 2, 20086
VRS service at Burbank airport
Cool! wonder how many of these that are installed in airports around the U.S. ?
Jan 2, 20082
My last-minute Rose Bowl trip
After finding out that Illinois has been selected to play in the Rose Bowl, I’ve been wanting to attend the game as I’m a big sports fan, familiar with the exquisite history that Rose Bowl is known for—being the oldest college bowl game, big rivalry between PAC-10 and Big Ten conferences, my home state is in it this year and I haven’t visited SoCal yet except for one time when I attended an award banquet hosted by Nestle Co.
I asked around to see who wanted to go and two of my friends expressed interests but as the date approached closer, they couldn’t make it. Frankly, I was disappointed and wondered if I should just go there by myself.
It wasn’t till my mom told me that one of her friends had mentioned to her that the last time Illinois played in the Rose Bowl, it was in 1984, which they lost to UCLA. That’s 23 years ago, the same year I came to the United States when I got adopted. So, that pretty much does it for me. I knew I had to go. Luckily, I have a friend who lives in North Hollywood and asked him if I could crash at his place. He said sure. The game’s on.
Dec. 31st, Monday
12:57 pm: lying on a new couch bought from IKEA, staring at the ceiling.
1:00 pm: made up my mind to go to the Rose Bowl, sent a page to my friend.
1:05 pm: got a reply! he said sure, I can crash at his place.
1:10 pm: logged onto ichat to start video conferencing with my friend to make plans.
1:20 pm: plans made, logged into southwest.com, purchased with my new credit card from Southwest, double reward points!
1:25 pm: sent a page to my other friend to see if he can drop me off at the SJC airport. he said sure.
1:30 pm: pack my clothes last minute, couldn’t find my black gym bag (must have left at the Google gym), used a christmas shopping bag instead.
2:00 pm: my friend picks me up
2:30 pm: dropped off at the airport
3:15 pm: plane takes off
4:30 pm: my friend picks me up
5:00 pm: got to his place. nice place. met his bro who’s deaf too.
6:30 pm: went to eat at a taco shop. great tacos.
8:30 pm: driving to riverside for a NYE party. damn, LA traffic!
9:30 pm: met my friend’s friend and his wife. cool dude who’s a writer (has written scripts for cable shows like the Discovery channel) and his wife works in DA office. nice couple.
10:00 pm: got to the NYE party, introduced myself to the host and thank him for welcoming me.
11:59 pm: last minute of 2007 before 2008 begins! hugs time and celebration. great party.
Jan. 1st, Tuesday.
3:00 am: time to leave, helped my friend’s friend’s wife with directions back to the house, using Google Maps on my blackberry and hers too.
4:30 am: had a good chat with my friend, catching up old times, then went to sleep.
10:00 am: my friend’s friend made breakfast. met his parents who are deaf too. chatted.
12:00 pm: left house *note to myself, write a note to them for letting me stay at their place. they have a beautiful, gorgeous Italian-style house. nice family.
1:30 pm: friend dropped me off at the Rose Bowl stadium
1:45 pm: got to the front gate, searched for Illinois fans with extra tickets
1:50 pm: found a ticket! $50 dollars. face value was $150. 10 rows from the field in the corner!
2:00 pm: jet fighters flown by.
2:10 pm: game kicks off!
Dec 31, 20073
2007
Thought I’d take a few moment to reflect back on the year 2007.
There has been ups and downs like my grandma passing away and staying in a really crappy apartment for 8 months but I’ve accomplished two things. One was getting the job transfer from DC to CA to work as a webmaster for Google. Definitely one of my proud moments in life. Second one was paying all the debts I have including the car, credit cards, and student loan. I’m 100% debt-free. From now on, I’m not gonna put myself in a debt. I’m going to pay any new/used car in full and plan to buy a used road bike from Craigslist and use it to commute to work. Except for the possible mortgage loan in the future, of course.
Last year, I mentioned that my goal is to blog everyday . While it didn’t quite happen like that, I’ve made a lot of progress with my blog and been finding topics that serve both myself and you. I’m definitely going to blog even more this next year and bring useful, interesting information to us.
In 2008, I’m gonna try to focus more on getting things done. It’s been a big weakness of mine and I want to work out more often and consistently and be in a better shape. Maybe I’ll compete in a triathlon later on. I want to do a lot of snowboarding this season. Another goal is to go out more, meet new different people and build my resources.
With that said, 2008 is going to be a great year!
Dec 30, 20072
Everyone in Jodee Mundy’s family is deaf – except for her
Known as a child of deaf family (CODA), Jodee shared her experience as the only hearing in her family.
from Guardian Unlimited interview:
Jodee Mundy is the only person in her immediate family who can hear. Her mother and father are both deaf. Her two elder brothers, Shane and Gavin, are deaf. So too are her two sisters-in-law (one of who comes from a family with three generations of deafness) and her her two nieces and nephew (one other nephew, Oskar, can hear). Cast the net wider and Jodee’s family includes a deaf aunt, uncle, two great-great-aunts and a succession of deaf cats.
“The fact that most people think talking is the only way to communicate is so narrow-minded because hearing people are the ones who can’t communicate when they are on a bus and there is someone outside waving goodbye. They are the ones who can’t communicate under water if they are scuba diving. They are the ones that can’t communicate across the street or in a loud nightclub. It’s deaf people who can. I wish people would see the richness and the wealth of the deaf world.”
Dec 30, 20070
Students find sign language skills useful
Cool. :-)
MONTVILLE, Conn.—American Sign Language is, by some estimations, the third-most spoken language in the United States. And students in Montville High School’s ASL classes have found multiple opportunities to use their skills.
The Board of Education formally approved the ASL program at Montville High in 2004. Now about 70 students take three levels of ASL there, including six students who either are deaf or hard of hearing.
The ASL 4 students also have conducted a mock trial in sign language, learned holiday-related signs and studied the signs of other countries. Last year, Bell said, students created an “ideal room” for someone who is deaf.
The cultural aspects of the deaf community extend beyond theater or art. People who are deaf or hard of hearing, for example, have more in-depth conversations about each other when meeting for the first time, Perkins said.
“You could walk away from the person knowing their history without knowing their first name,” Perkins said.
But the deaf culture has no food specific to it. So when the world language department had its ethnic food night, Bell said, the ASL students found themselves in a bind for a cultural dish.
But they found a way to take part in the event.
“We made finger foods,” Bell said.
Dec 25, 20070
Merry Christmas!
and happy holidays to those who doesn’t celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Dec 24, 20070
Broadcast networks, newspapers, music labels struggle while Internet rises
Read this article and you’ll see why Google is gonna be #1 media company, with YouTube, news aggregator, reader, and ofc the best search engine underneath. With this, if you have an online business and you want your product/service to be on the top of the search engines, consult with professionals like WebDesign499 to ensure the growth of your business.
Facing increased competition from cable and new forms of entertainment on the Internet, the broadcast networks have seen their hold on the American psyche slipping. This trend continued in 2007, when after a fairly promising upfront early in the year, the networks failed to produce the hits they needed to re-establish themselves. As of December, the networks’ prime-time ratings in the key 18- to 49-year-old age category were all down: at NBC by 11%, at CBS by 10% and at ABC by 5%.
Newspapers also struggled mightily in 2007, in ways that hinted at underlying problems in the business. The New York Times canceled its Times Select online tool because not enough viewers were willing to pay for content.
Dec 24, 20071
Happy Festivus
Festivus is a holiday celebrated on the 23rd of December each year. It was instituted by a Queens, New York man named Frank Costanza as an alternative to the overly commercialized traditional holidays of December.
No wonders everyone was saying Happy Festivus. I was like WTF? since when it’s become a buzzword?
Dec 23, 20070
