MAR

12

2010

riding into davis square i saw a man on elm street selling used bicycles from the sidewalk. i was hoping to run into him when i came back but he was gone.

i was just thinking: the US is running a huge deficit, but there's something in this country that we have a surplus on: fat! if only somehow we can capitalize on it. like maybe use all that surplus fat for fuel - the ultimate biofuel! or find a way to export it to other countries (i'm looking at you, china).

despite being lactose intolerant, i've found myself drinking a lot of milk recently. i'm secretly hoping by these repeated exposures that i will gradually rebuild my tolerance for diary products. any success? still too early to tell. excuse me while i go use the bathroom again.

MAR

11

2010

i called the deferred immigration office beforehand just to be sure somebody would be there when we arrived (didn't want a repeat of what happened tuesday night). a man took my uncle's passport and supporting documents and spent the next 15 minutes looking through the files, checking the records on the computer, and making phone calls.

after the agent was done, he stamped the passport and took my uncle's fingerprint (just the index finger, for the green card). the agent told me what probably happened in chicago was the immigration was a separate office, and my uncle was maybe told to go there but didn't (it's not everyday you immigrate to a new country, so he wasn't familiar with all the steps involved).

the ride to and from the airport was quicker this time though, but the whole trip still took us 2 and a half hours. it was close to 1:30 when i returned to the cafe. my mother gave me some frozen chinese dumplings and i rode back home.

after some cereal for lunch, i went to rite aid to collect easter chocolates then market basket for some groceries. when i left it started to drizzle a little bit.

my rear bike light from dealextreme finally arrived today, delivered by my old mailman whom i haven't seen for weeks (i was afraid something bad happened to him). i got the 9-LED bike safety strobe light ($3.67). it's about the size of an egg. 9 red LED's with magnifying dots per light on the clear plastic cover (to make the lights appear even brighter). it's definitely bright, with 7 different strobing patterns (random, butterfly, cascade, etc.). i think it may be water-resistant but not waterproof. there's a gasket ring but seems to be made of hard plastic instead of a more insulative rubber. the light clips into the accompanying bike bracket pretty solidly, but the bracket itself seems a bit flimsy. i can't wait to test it this weekend with some night riding.

i had some of those chinese dumplings for dinner, while watching community then later the prestige.

MAR

10

2010

the census bureau finally called me today with my test score. "your score was 825," the guy told me over the phone. "825?" i repeated, a bit confused as to the actual numbers. "no, a 25," he clarified, meaning 25 out of 28. i only needed a 10 to pass. "you scored pretty high, so there's a good chance we'll call you if a position is available," he added. i don't mean to be smug, but i actually thought i scored a perfect 28. i probably got the 2 supervisory skill related questions wrong, and also one of the word problems dealing with a census form (parsing the difference between "visited but not completed" and "visited but no one home").

the other big news this morning: nomar re-signing with boston for a single day contract so he can retire as a red sox. in my wildest baseball fantasy dreams nomar would be back on the team and today it happened. unlike players like johnny damon (who left boston for other teams willing to offer him more money), nomar was traded, he had no say in his departure. he was the face of the red sox and losing him was a psychic blow, only alleviated by the fact that we actually won the world series that year. i watched a bit of his 10:30 press conference. now people can dig out their old number 5 nomar t-shirts again and wear them with pride.

john continued working in the kitchen before leaving for his presentation in watertown at 2:00. i figured he'd be back in an hour but his meeting lasted more than 4 hours and he didn't get back until after 7:00.

after packing up his stuff, he left around 8:00, to drive the 4 hour trip back down to brooklyn.

MAR

09

2010

i made plans with bruce to take a stroll around fresh pond at 2:00. i rode my bike to the cafe to borrow the car. we parked on huron avenue and walked to the reservoir. at the busy intersection of huron avenue and fresh pond parkway, we saw a little jack russell terrier running up the sidewalk. suddenly it veered out into oncoming traffic as we watched with horror from the sideline. to put how dangerous this intersection is into perspective, a few years back a little girl on a bicycle was killed here. a dog the size of a rabbit sprinting through several lanes of traffic would be no match for a speeding car. fortunately some drivers saw what was happening and decided to stop, causing a momentary traffic jam as the terrier ran down fresh pond parkway. two drivers got out of their cars to try and catch the dog, but it ran into the reservoir. "is that your dog?" they asked us, since we were chasing after it as well.

we found the runaway terrier on the trail, surrounded by a group of concerned citizens, many with dogs of their own. the dog was wearing tags, and people tried to catch the dog hoping to maybe read a phone number, but the dog was having none of it, acting very aggressively, barking, and then running away. a reservoir worker riding a utility golf cart came by. folks were stopping him to let him know about the lost dog. "this isn't a reservoir, it's a dog park," the guy muttered to bruce and me before calling animal services. we watched as the terrier reversed directions and seemed to be heading back out onto the parkway, before disappearing entirely. we never did see its owner, so chances are it probably escaped from a nearby house.

bruce was still recovering from his mysterious fatigue that'd plagued him since the end of last summer. at one point he took a call from his pittsburgh acupuncturist with recommendations to a few practitioners in the local area (to get his weekly treatment). with winter barely over, these was hardly anything to see at fresh pond, not even birds (besides the usual mallards, seagulls, robins). we did notice a proliferation of dog walkers though. the only seasonal natural thing that seemed interesting was the crush of ice against the shores of the reservoir forming strange patterns and formations. at one point a young man dressed as a greaser (with pompadour and leather jacket) rode by us in red cruiser bicycle. neither of us said anything at the moment, but wished we had a time machine so we could go back in time and say something more appropriate, like, "hey fonzie!" while flashing matching thumbs up gestures.

driving bruce back home, he suggested i could just drop him off close to mass ave since he needed to visit the liquor store anyway. afterwards i returned the car to the cafe.

i was ready to ride back home when my parents asked if i could help my uncle with his immigration paper work. he's been here for more than a month and still hasn't been able to get his social security number (so he can start working, open up a bank account, get health insurance) because the US immigration office in chicago (where he entered the country) didn't process his documents correctly and never bothered stamping his visa. bad news: apparently the only place to get this done is at the logan airport, in terminal E, where there's a US customs and immigration office. good news: the office is opened 24 hours a day (at least that's what the woman at the info desk told me when i called the airport). since neither my parents had the time, my father asked if i could take them sometime this week (they wanted me to go anyway because i have a better command of english). i thought about it, and since both my 2nd aunt and uncle were free, and this place was opened 24 hours, i asked them if they wanted to do it today, just to get it over with so my uncle can finally get his SSN.

so off we went, first by bus to harvard square, then the red line into south station to transfer to the airport via the silver line. on the red line a man was pressing his crotch dangerously close to my face. initially i thought it was an innocent mistake, until he did it again, almost falling on top of me. i pushed him off and asked angrily, "hey man, are you okay?" he seemed to be drunk and was slow with his words. "actually, i'm not," he said. i told him to take the empty seat beside me. his knees seemed to be buckling and i thought he might be stroking out, but once he sat down, he was calm again. i got off without ever finding out what was his problem. we were traveling during rush hour, but since we were going against the flow of traffic, it wasn't too bad, until we go to the airport. the silver line stops at every single terminal, so the bus began to fill up to capacity, picking up not only passengers but their luggage as well. when we finally arrived at terminal E (where's terminal D?), we basically had to climb over suitcases just to get off the bus.

arriving at terminal E, we had to find this elusive customs and immigration office. the only one i knew is when you enter the country; i didn't realize there might be an office you can visit anytime for all your customs and immigration needs. after some searching, i finally found it: in a corner of the terminal, next to the bathroom, a hallway that also functioned as the entrance. i talked to the officer behind the security glass and explained the situation. she almost didn't believe that somebody could enter the country without first passing through the gauntlet of procedures and stamps and forms, but my uncle was living proof. she had to consult with somebody else, and that person had to consult with a third person, who took our documents while we waited.

during the wait, 2 scientists from the woods hole oceanographic institute were talking to customs about import tariffs placed on their scientific equipment. they looked young enough to be graduate students, and were now facing a $1000 fee on research tools that would literally be "thrown in the ocean." they also mentioned being in greenland. i was tempted to ask them what they were working on.

after a while one of the customs/immigration agent came out and gave us the verdict: yes, they can do the required validation, but only if my uncle cleared immigration in boston. because he did it in chicago (or supposed to, anyway), we had to get this done at the deferred office (right next door), which unfortunately is only opened weekdays from 8-4. so our hour and a half trip was in vain. but at least we were one step closer to resolving the problem. the immigration officer gave me the telephone number of the deferred office and told me to call them before i came just to be sure there'd be somebody there.

the trip home was faster, we caught the silver line bus just as it arrived, and likewise the red line train that'd take us to harvard square. from there we caught a bus to the cafe.

i had some thick noodles for dinner before finally biking back home. my parents told me my sister already got a callback from the census, telling her she'd passed. she told them her score was 800-something, which didn't make any sense. i never got my own callback and when i contacted the special 1-800 number, it was actually just an automated line to get more info and not to find out about my test score.

john was coming up from new york to stay overnight for some business. i received an e-mail saying he was leaving brooklyn at 6:00 but he didn't arrive until well past midnight. that gave me plenty of time to spruce up the place, washing the stack of dishes in the kitchen sink, and a final round of vacuuming.

MAR

08

2010

there was a US census job fair at the somerville holiday inn. i figured i could make some money doing some easy federal work while waiting for my next project. the flyer didn't say anything about skill requirements, but i printed out a few resumes anyway (it was a job fair after all; i spent the morning updating my work history and formatting everything so it'd fit on one page). i got dressed in some presentable clothes and was ready to bicycle down to the hotel. that's when i ran into my retired neighbor renee. i told her where i was going and she said she wanted to check it out as well. she ended up giving me a ride in her car.

we followed signs posted on hallways until we got to a series of conference rooms. renee bumped into a friend about to leave. she told us there was a test involved and some of the questions were hard. we signed in and went to another table to pick up various census 2010 tchotchkes: pins, fridge magnets, canvas tote bags, pens, and plastic drink bottles. i felt a little weird taking all this swag until i realized i probably paid for some of it through my tax dollars.

the people there were mixed and i couldn't really see any patterns. it's like the kind of crowd you'd see at the registry, except a few more well-dressed people (folks who thought like me and thought this was going to be a formal job fair). i think i was the only asian person i saw there. when were signing in i looked on the sign-up sheet and there were people coming in from all areas of greater boston, so it wasn't just exclusive to somerville-cambridge. in fact, we were told on more than one occasion that they don't seem to have enough census workers in cambridge.

we were handed our test time (2:00, written on index cards with color-coded stickers) and led into a room to fill out some personal information forms. besides the usual contact info questions and "when can you work?," there were also questions like, "have you been fired by a federal agency within the past 5 years?" and "do you have a criminal record?" answering yes to any of those questions required further explanation in a fill-in box. the hiring manager giving us instructions noticed that i written down chinese speaking skills. turns out her husband is chinese and she had a graduate degree in the language. we were running a bit late so our test time was changed to 2:30. somebody came by to check our identification document (both renee and i had our passports) and to look over our forms to make sure we filled everything out correctly.

after handing our forms to a group of people by the exit for a final round of verification, we went into an adjoining room to take the test (called "a basic skills assessment" in governmentspeak). i spoke to a census employee who told me the place was so crowded this morning that they didn't have enough seats in the testing rooms and there was a line of people all the way down the hall. now in the afternoon however, things seemed to have calmed down and i even overheard several census workers leaving for their lunch break.

the testing room was already pretty full so renee and i sat all the way in the front row. she was complaining she didn't bring the right glasses. the test was multiple choice, the classic fill-in-the-oval-style with a pencil. there were several different versions of the test so people sitting next to each other wouldn't be able to cheat. there was a 30 minute time limit to answer 28 questions.

when the test began i felt this nostalgic rush. the last time i took a test like this was probably in high school, taking some prerequisite exam for college. i don't want to brag, but i didn't get to my station in life without being a pretty good test taker. and multiple choice too, how much easier can it get? my confidence was soon grounded when i actually started. some questions were short, but others were long, with diagrams and charts to figure out. there were math questions (adding and multiplying decimal numbers), sorting questions (alphabetize a list of names), matching questions (differentiating from a list of similar looking names), direction questions (to points on a map, what's the shortest and most direct root), vocabulary questions ("controversial", "imminent"), supervisory questions (theoretical management scenarios and picking the best solution), and finally some census related questions (reading a census questionnaire form, ordering the members of a household, deciding which house is vacant).

i finished with a few minutes to spare so i went back to check my work. i actually changed some of my answers, mostly in the math section (i mean, don't they have calculators for this sort of work?).

normally if the groups were small they'd let you know the score immediately, but with so many people, we couldn't find out our scores until tomorrow (by calling a 1-800 number). a passing score is 10 and above. you're allowed to retake the test as many times as you want, and the census will only take your highest score. a passing score makes you eligible for census employment, but people with the highest scores get first pick. actual door-to-door census taking begins next month, and those that are selected to become agents will undergo paid training in woburn for 4 days before they're ready to deploy. as for the pay, it around $22/hour and you can only work a maximum of 40 hours a week (although scheduling is pretty flexible).

i left feeling pretty good. the test seemed pretty easy despite some math stumbles. renee didn't finish but i think she still probably scored a passing grade. i looked for my sister, whom i told over the weekend about this job fair, but i didn't see her (i later found out she was here earlier in the day, but with her checkered past, she doesn't think she has a very good chance to land a part-time government job).

i went to belmont in the late afternoon for a home-cooked meal. it was warm enough that i just biked in my clean white shirt and dress slacks. i like the image of the business casual cyclist. i didn't stay too long after dinner and left before 8:00 so i could get back home and watch life unexpected.

MAR

07

2010

made another bacon egg english muffin sandwich for breakfast. i've getting better at flipping my eggs, but i still do it over the sink because i'm afraid of making a mess on the stovetop (i'm afraid of setting the eggs on fire).

i went to belmont so i could go with my mother to the sears at burlington mall. she practically lives there now, with each successive weekend another sale on winter clothes. i discovered the second floor, where all the appliances and electronics and kitchenware were located. while my mother was downstairs busy trying out clothes, i was upstairs browsing all the gadgets. maybe i could use a sewing machine! what about a deep fryer? or some new pillows? i realized i'm pretty good at browsing, which makes me the worst kind of customer, the one who hangs out at the store for hours with no intentions of buying anything.

my sister took hailey out to the forest. with the warmer weather (today was another close-to-60's day), the ticks have started to come out again. my sister found 2 on the dog and gave her a bath afterwards.

my mother made dinner but used too much salt, so two of the dishes had to be remade (even then it was still salty). i left soon afterwards, rushing home to catch the academy awards. i was panting the whole way, afraid of scaring pedestrians on the sidewalks who hear the approach of somebody breathing heavily behind them.

my bike lock broke about a week ago. the crossbar that connects to the steel u-ring split apart. i usually leave the lock in my rear milk crate while i ride, and all that rattling must've damaged it. the lock still works though, although i have to jiggle the crossbar pieces together so i can properly insert the u-ring. i couldn't get it to work though when i got home, and decided to just bring my bike inside the house instead. i finally managed to fix the lock.

some live-blog notes:

red carpet: best dressed: kathryn bigelow - woman does not look 58. she kind of resembles an american elizabeth hurley.

first award: best supporting actor: prediction (obvious) christoph waltz - no surprise - what a weird incoherent speech though - i think it would've been better if he'd just read dialogue from inglorious basterds. i'll cut him some slack though, english probably isn't his first language.

premiere of the ipad commercial - which really just looks like a giant iphone. pass. unlike giant iphones are your thing (why not just get a laptop instead?).

best animated feature film: prediction: up - winner up - no surprise.

best song: huh? meh. i haven't heard any of these songs before. they should call this category: "the song that plays the during the credits while i'm rushing out the theatre to go use the bathroom because i drank too much soda during the movie."

best original screenplay: another award i have no clue about: winner hurt locker - could this be the first of many hurt locker awards tonight?

molly ringwald presenting an award? oh, it's a john hughes tribute. that's okay then. followed by some more hughes' kids coming out from behind the curtains. their should be way more actors. where's james spader? or robert downy junior? eric stoltz? rob lowe? haters!

best animated short: ???

best documentary short: ???

best live action short: ???

anyone in an academy award pool basically just close their eyes and pick winners at random for these categories, since i haven't heard of any of these shorts. some of the documentaries look interesting though.

best makeup: i go with star trek! since that's the only movie i saw that was nominated for this award. and the award goes to star trek! how come there was only 3 nominees? was there no makeup in any other movies this year?

best adapted screenplay: precious won. was reitman supposed to get this for up in the air? looks like up in the air may leave this year's oscars with zero awards. this was the movie that was the early lead to rack up multiple awards. the oscars can be unpredictable after all it seems.

best supporting actress: is it going to be mo'nique like everyone predicts? sure is! this may be a horrible thing to say, but when i see mo'nique, i actually think her character in precious is her real self, and the mo'nique we see on the stage is the act. i feel like at any moment she'll just burst into an abusive tirade and throw objects at us.

best art direction: ??? avatar's first award

best costume design: ??? young victoria - i think victorian era films always win in this category. am i right on this? the woman who won seems so jaded, already having won 2 in previous years. is she the michael jordan of costume design? a threepeat! t-shirts ought to be made immediately to celebrate this accomplishment.

tribute to horror movies. i love horror movies, but i was underwhelmed by the tribute. besides, it was only the horror movies that've been nominated in the past. there's a whole range of horror films they didn't bother showing.

best sound editing: hurt locker vs. avatar! and the winner is...the hurt locker! 2nd award for the hurt locker.

best sound mixing: what's the difference? hurt locker vs. avatar again! oh no! on yes! hurt locker again! really? i figured at least one of the sound awards would go to avatar. guys wins his second oscar award in less than 30 seconds. that must be a record, right?

scitech awards: snore.

i love that john travolta introduces inglorious basterds. it would've been more awesome if it was travolta and uma thurman. she must've been busy tonight.

best cinematography: another avatar hurt locker battle. oh, avatar wins this one though. so if you're keeping score: hurt locker 3, avatar 2.

entertainers who died this year: patrick swayze. brittany "lou anne" murphy. natasha richardson. michael jackson. what the heck? they rolled the loop too soon, patrick swayze didn't get any applause. nice going academy!

interpretative dancing? i could do without this performance. shave some time off of the usually long-running show.

best original score: avatar vs. hurt locker. the award goes to up.

best visual effects: avatar is a shoe-in, right? so goes the award. hurt locker 3, avatar 3. nice abrupt cutoff! you're right, what these people have to say aren't really that important.

best documentary feature: i want to see everyone of these films, but where do you find them in the theatres? maybe at kendall square. the dolphin movie won!

best film editing: hurt locker 4, avatar 3!

keanu reeves presents hurt locker (kathryn bigelow point break connection!) too bad patrick swayze can't be with us. johnny utah and bodhi reunited!

best foreign language film: i'm rooting for the french film a prophet. and the argentinean film wins! a movie that i will probably never see.

i love the all-star best actor presentation. it's like hearing 5 awesome toasts. jeff bridges gets it, right? no surprise. the dude abides!

best actress award: what is the forrest whittaker and sandra bullock connection? oh, he directed her in a movie. forrest has lost a lot of weight! he looks good thin! stanley tucci's tribute to meryl streep was awesome. and the winner is...sandra bullock! i've seen the blind side and it's really not that good a movie. i think this is more of a "we owe you" oscar than for the best performance. bullock is a very gracious winner though, thanking all the other nominees. funny and very touching, i love me some sandy!

they're not doing the 5 nominee toast for the directors? but bringing out barbara streisand instead? what's her connection? maybe it's because they're running too long.

best director award: this is it! this what we've been waiting for it! fingers crossed for kathryn bigelow! it's 11:55! history is made: KATHRYN BIGELOW! man that woman is tall!

best film award: out of 10 nominees! fingers crossed again for the hurt locker. HURT LOCKER! bigelow is still backstage! okay, she's coming out! did she just beat that sound guy who won 2 oscars within the span of 30 seconds? but that's awesome. makes me want to go see hurt locker again. bigelow looks like she's at the gym with her two oscar dumbbells! notice how many people (men) touch her when she's on the stage? kind of weird! 12:02, it's over - finally! (final score: hurt locker 6, avatar 3)

MAR

06

2010

with nothing better to do and itching to get some riding in on this beautiful day, i went to belmont in the early afternoon. nobody was home but the dog. in the backyard, the old crocuses continue to bloom, while the new ones i planted back in the fall had just one pale yellow flower thus far. i was surprised to see a few visiting honeybees. the daytime warmth is misleading since it'll drop down to freezing at night. how will these bees survive? unless they're kept warm by a human beekeeper.

a plastic kiddy pool was left out in the backyard all winter. a massive ice puck had formed over the months and only now was i able to finally remove it and pour out the remaining water. how ice freezes outdoors looks different from freezer ice. this wild ice seems to have more minute air bubbles in interesting patterns. it's unfortunate that i'm only now discovering the cool world of ice, otherwise i would've been conducting backyard experiments all winter long (too late now, with the warming weather).

my parents and sister came home in the late afternoon from chinese grocery shopping. my sister made a green curry for dinner.

MAR

05

2010

not much going on today. after i got sick of reading up on actionscripting, i played okami the rest of the day. i've logged 24 hours so far, and i'm not even halfway done yet.

MAR

04

2010

my agent was a chinese-american named james. he might've been young from the acne on his face, but wearing a suit anyone can look older. when he left briefly to pick up some printouts, i gleamed some info from the few photos on his desk. he'd been to japan recently, with a framed photo of a kyoto castle and another one of him and his wife/girlfriend posing in front of the LOVE statue in shinjuku, tokyo.

first order of business: closing out the line credit on my bank of america account. i thought when i cancelled my checking account last month it'd be the end of my abusive relationship with bank of america. so i was surprised when they continued sending me monthly statements, like an ex who can't let go. apparently it takes more than one cancel order to entirely sever oneself from bank of america. they're funny like that. one of the ways they make money is charging fees on old account people didn't know they had. which brought me to my second order of business: when my friend alex moved to japan 7 years ago, he left behind an account with bank of america. even though the account hasn't been touched since he left the country, over the years the bank has continued to take out incremental monthly fees until now the account is empty and alex owes the bank money on overdue fees. it doesn't make any sense and it's definitely an example of predatory banking, so i asked about how he could cancel the account from overseas. apparently it takes just a phone call (he still has several hundred dollars left, but in a checking account; it'd be nice to salvage that money before the bank takes that away as well). 

after i was done with the bank business, i went to nini's corner to look for a sudoku magazine for my mother. there were 2 police officers inside the store, taking shelter from the light snow outside. "do you guys have any sudoku magazines?" i asked one of the clerks. he showed me to a shelf with about a dozen different periodicals catering to 'doku devotees. i bought an issue of dell's totally sudoku (no relations to the computer company) which had the most puzzles (315). when i went to pay, the clerk asked, "got a pen?" which left me confused. he meant if i had a pen to do the puzzles. "oh no, i'm buying this for my mother," i told him. the two clerks looked at each other and laughed. "it's okay if it's for you! you don't have to be ashamed! we have a lot of magazines here you should be ashamed of, but this ain't one of them!" i finally did admit that i occasionally dabble in the sudoku. the 2 police officers nearby remained emotionless during our little exchange. 

it's been weeks since i last vacuumed. how dust and debris seem to accumulate despite the low traffic is one of the great mysteries of life. maybe i'm just an exceptional shedder. the house instantly felt cleaner afterwards. while i was on a roll, i also washed the bathtub.

in the late afternoon my father dropped off some fresh meat buns (i had some with a spicy bean paste). he also left a few souvenirs my godmother's son jack brought back for me from his recent trip to taiwan, including a cigarette lighter in the shape of a miniature fire extinguisher (it also features a bright LED on the nozzle) and a collection of miniature (that seems to be the common theme) pikes (the pole weapon, not the fish) from ancient china.

is anybody else watching community? one of the funniest shows on television right now.

MAR

03

2010

with the overcast sky and the wind and the light rain, it was a good day to stay indoors. i was preoccupied with 3 activities: reading ("the light of other days"), scripting (learning about actionscript motions), and gaming (okami). also, testing the limits of my lactose intolerance. i really need to get some lactaid.