Zurich Shout-Out!

Zurich Shout Out to Kristin Shiplett and Ihab Loubieh! Man don't you feel special now that you've accepted my friend invite? ^_^ SEE YOU AT WORK DUDES!

Fiscal Package

So obviously if you're not brain dead you should know that the economy is in a recession and threatening to go into a depression if things are going the way it is. A 700B Fiscal Package is under review to give out LOANS to companies in need of capital to sustain their company. This plan is under great scrutiny for reasons that are beyond me. I WILL ADMIT the following points:

1. Financial Companies were irresponsible in lending. They are primarily to blame for this mess.
2. Financial Company CEOs and board members should be charged with punitive damages and like the govt plan is...should not make more than the top Federal employee.

What I do NOT understand is why people are so opposed to this fiscal package. Here are some arguments I've heard.

1. Why are MY DOLLARS being used to bail out financial companies who were so irresponsible with loans?
My Response: Well let's see here. The economy is in ruins. If banks don't lend money to companies then everything about the economy stops. Like...want to cure cancer? OH WAIT, you can't cause there's no FUNDING. Want to start a new company? OH WAIT, you can't cause the banks are loaning to you cause they have no money. Financial companies are massive these days and they affect all parts of the economy. If the financial sector goes down they will be taking EVERYONE with it.
My Response 2: Not only were financial companies irresponsible, but people who took out loans on the assumption that their property would appreciate in value are to blame too. You basically took out a loan without being able to pay it off. You were ASSUMING that you would have enough because your property value would rise. Tsk tsk, you lost and now you expect the government to bail you out and yet you oppose the financial policy to lend to the financial sector? Hypocrite.

2. Paulson is just going to make his friends rich.
My Response: Yes, trying to make the US a better place economically is horrible. ABSOLOUTELY UNTHINKABLE. He wants to make the US not bleed money and end up back in the 1930's.

More to come...i need to eat.

French can suck it

WOW! Watching the Olympics for the first time is pretty awesome. Well not the first time but the first time i've really paid attention to a lot of events. Pretty much what i want to say now...is that the French can suck it. Their proclamation that they would "destroy" the US (hinting at the 400m relay) was destroyed when the US beat the French by .08 of a second! Good job US Relay Time! Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak and Phelps, i dunno how Lezak pulled off catching up to French's anchor but he did it and out-touched him at the end. Swimming is intense!

My Comments:

US Men's Gymnastics - I'll be happy with Bronze, Silver would be a surprise to me. They got a lot of work especially with sticking landings cause that's really hurting them. I feel the US Men's Team is kind of unreliable and I'm on the edge of my seat the entire time thinking that someone is going to fall.

US Women's Gymnastics - Shawn Johnson is amazing...flawless events. The other girls seem very young and a few of them committed some pretty major mistakes but I hope they'll ramp it up in the finals. I wouldn't be surprised if they went out with the silver...the Chinese women have made their share of mistakes...i think it's anyone's game.

US Swimming - Well, it's cliche but i look forward to watching Michael Phelps, but i want to see diving too and see what other Americans are going to do when Phelps stops going to the Olympics. Something I didn't realize is that I'm watching history in the making as Phelps is quickly becoming the BEST Olympian in the history of the games. The MOST gold medals out of anyone and maybe the most of anyone in one round of Olympic games.

This will be interesting!

Return of the Car!

So on Saturday 6/7/08 I was notified on the location of my car! I was playing pool with Hien at the HUB at UW and then I received a call from a local. The caller was wondering if I wanted to roll down the windows of my car since it was going to rain and has been drizzling a bit beforehand. I told the caller that my car has been stolen for 2 weeks and then I ran to the location of my car. It was about a mile away from where my car was stolen.
So I got to my car and then I assessed the damage. The car is okay and actually what's weird is that everything is still in the car. My stereo is still there and my CDs are all accounted for as well. The only thing my car needed was a jump start and some drive time to recharge the battery.
The only damage was in the seats and cloth since the car has definitely gotten some rain into it. So I cleaned it all up with some bathroom cleaners for mildew and mold and then some carpet cleaners. It does smell so I sprayed some Febreeze in it so hopefully that'll change the smell. We'll have to see. Now I need to prepare for the arrival of my family for the graduation ceremony and get prepared to saying good-bye to a few more friends. It's going to be a doozy this week!

Car Stolen

Well, two weeks ago my car got jacked from a friend's apartment's parking lot. This occured in the U-District near Greek Row. These two weeks have sucked not having a car. There's a lot of things I want or wanted to do that requires a car and i hate taking public transit everywhere. I prefer have the freedom to do whatever I want whenever. Going through drive-throughs when I don't feel like cooking is a definite plus too. It's no good being without a car. I hope the police find it soon so i can pick it up and assess the damage. The recovery rate is 86-90% so I hope I fall into the percentages but I don't know how long it might take for the car to be found. If the car is illegally parked then I should get a call soon once it has accumulated enough tickets but if it's legally parked then I could be screwed for awhile since it won't be reported by locals and the police won't go and check it out.


So if you guys in Seattle ever see a Green Honda Accord with License Plate 503-UFE call the police! Cause that's MY CAR!

Fun Picture

I can't believe I'm awake at 8:30AM lol. But I woke up and decided to start my free-day somehow by surfing the net. I need a hobby. Anyway, if anyone knows anything about the Wii well there's a new Wii Wheel that came out with Mario Kart. It's basically an a model wheel where you put your Wii remote (Wiimote) in. So here's a pretty cute picture

Reminiscing of Taiwan

Wow it has been a LONG time since my last post. But I need a time-sink again. It's June 5th 2008 and i'm about to finally graduate from the University of Washington. One of the things I did first to think of a post was to look at flickr. All I found were pictures of Loveboat which is a program that shows ABCs (American Born Chinese) around the island to learn about the areas. So here's some images and some summaries of my trip. More will come just you all wait!



Meeting new people is always fun. Here I am with two very outgoing twins haha getting my mack on! This was taken at the Taiwan National Zoo I believe but i'm not entirely sure. It was obviously raining which was a relief because it was so hot in Taiwan over the summer!



This was fun and posed picture was at a re-creation of what a city would look like in the past but this just looks like a fun picture lol. Plus it's one of the few I guess that I'm in and not looking too bad!



Two friends, Angela and Steven. Two of Four friends that I made on this trip who live in the country up north called Canada! They were my source of entertainment and of support whenever things got bad. This was picture was taken on the coast in the Southern tip of Taiwan. Very hot day it was sweltering!



This resident badass is George and he's standing in our room which crammed 7 guys into one room. Dude those were good times. We and some of our friends would sit around the small TV and eat instant noodles (which were delicious more so than in the ones in the US). It was simple and fun and it was great to be lazy haha. I really miss those days because it was always so fun to go somewhere new without having to plan ahead. You just do that the summer program tells you to do. I wish I could go back! But anyway George doesn't have a REAL gun it's just a bee bee gun. We also fired pellets at the Ricky Martin pictures behind him.



This is a great example of how guys can be mischievous when bored. This was an on-going joke during the program where we'd pester each other while we slept or while we were taking a nap. My roommates were really open about their sexuality. It was always worth a laugh and it was nice to always be surrounded by caring friends. George makes a re-appearance (he's the guy with the glasses), Chris is on top and Andy is on the bottom. Great guys, great friends. I should contact them!



All great times have to end! Sadly this was taken on the last day of the program. This was at the end of the last ceremony and we all dressed up for the occasion. The girl crying is our awesome translator and counselor for the program. It was a very emotional period as we all had to say goodbye to each other and go our own ways.

I haven't seen anyone from Loveboat for a long time but I've been in contact with a few. Not as many as I'd like but hopefully I'll get in contact with them and start visiting them again. I really want to start traveling to various places in the US and Canada. I want to see how people's attitudes have changed over the years and see what happens. I remember the pain of having to say goodbye to a lot of people and I've already begun the process of leaving some friends. It's not going to be easy but I hope in the future we'll always have some connection and be able to catch up and talk. Hope everyone likes this post and i'll come up with more so entertain you all!

Lovely Winter Snowland

Well something very rare has occured in my life...it has snowed in Seattle and the stuff is stickign to the ground. In fact, it stuck so well...the melted snow is becoming ice! This means messy roads and weird bus paths. My dad called me cause he was watching Seattle vs. Green Bay (where the officiating sucked) and it was snowing. But my dad thought it was Green Bay cause of the low temperatures and well..snow! But no, it is in fact Seattle. Here are some pics for yall to feast your eyes on:



The only things probably thicker and harder than my head ^_^




Stairway to a Slipper's Death



Outside of my apartment...after it snowed!



Picture of the Quad...

More to come when i don't feel that lazy ^_^