If at age 20 you are not a Communist then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are not a Capitalist then you have no brains.

--George Bernard Shaw

I turned 30 on December 11. What can one say about this event? It certainly makes you think. It makes you think about everything you've done, everything you haven't done, everything you remember and have forgotten, how you have changed, and how long you have left.

At age 30, you're likely to live to be twice your age, but you'll be pushing it to reach three times your age. You start to notice the beginnings of physical changes that will eventually mark you as an old fogie.

Fortunately, I don't think my brain is going to change anymore, so I should end up being one eccentric old man. At least, that is my goal. ;)

And so, you have to start planning things. I think I will plan on dying by throwing myself off Iguasu falls. Or by flying into some war and going kamikaze or something. You know, old people would be a great supply of suicidal warriors.

My wife gave birth to the cutest baby boy I've ever seen in mid-January. As you can imagine, we've been extremely busy, but after a couple of months, things are starting to get a bit less extreme. I certainly had to learn a lot about babies.

Here are a few pictures. :)

So, I had 2 weeks off school over Christmas. Here's how it went.

My laptop and everything else in my backpack was stolen when someone broke into my car in D.C., so I had to get a new one. At first, I was told my car insurance wouldn't cover it, but in the end, it probably will, minus a $1000 deductible.

Had a great Christmas and went out to San Francisco to visit my sister for a week. We saw the city and Muir woods, and had a great time...

Came back, and did a bunch of random errands for a week, getting ready for school, etc. The first week of school was interesting but tough, since I had neglected to read a book we were supposed to read over the break. I finished it (400 pages) by Thursday though. That was last week.

Then Friday, Yuki got in a car accident because the roads were all iced up on her way to work. Deductible on that is $1000 too. This is very stressful.

But, in between, I received 3 out of 5 of my grades from last semester, and they were far better than I had hoped. :) I am so happy about it that it's really helping me to keep all the other losses in perspective.

Time for class...

We went up to NYC this weekend for a great wedding of my friends Matt and Nelly. It was an awesome event, very fun and interesting.

It also provided me a forced opportunity to stop working for just about the first weekend in 3 months. It was incredible. But now I have to buckle down again and get caught up. I spent all last week working on a paper I was freaked out about, and put off my reading, so I have a couple hundred pages to read tonight. I guess I'll stay up all night again... I actually got plenty of sleep this weekend, so I should be good for a while now. hehe.

I still have no idea how I'll do on exams, but I have to be optimistic or it just won't work. ;) I'm sure things will be fine in the end, but it's crazy how you only have one exam at the end and no other feedback. And just when I think I should be starting to work the hardest, all sorts of other opportunities for networking, looking for jobs, seminars and workshops, etc., are coming up.

Paul, a very good friend from college and after, is coming back from INSEAD in a couple of months, and will probably be in Pittsburgh for a while, which is cool. It was awesome to see all my friends from college again up in NYC, and argue about politics, economics, law, philosophy, and everything else again. Hopefully we'll have more chances to hang out after I finish exams in December.

I absolutely need to get the remote for my iPod, but I have to wait until my birthday or something, since it's one of the only things anyone can give me that I can use for a gift. I am going crazy over that remote.

Finally, I got out for lunch today with some friends and had some yummy Korean food. I ate a ton and still feel good. It was great. :)

Went to study at Starbucks for a change of scenery. That was good. I've been using my awesome new Sony TR1AP for the last few days and it rocks my world. Wide screen, DVD, etc, etc. I love it. The battery lasts forever too. The screen is incredibly bright and clear. (drool) Don't get it if you don't like reading small type though. It does have a zoom button on the screen, seemingly made especially for reading Japanese on the web. ;)

I want to video conference with someone through messenger to try out the built-in webcam, but I haven't been able to yet.

In other news, my Property reading is killing me. The man is a machine. He never falls behind, while all my other classes are way behind where they thought they'd be by now. My head is swimming with terms like trover, replevin, remainder, life estate, ratione soli, consideration, promissory estoppel, in pari delicto, ... I feel like the dude in that Gibson story who crammed his brain with too much data and started to go insane.

I am, somehow, managing though. :)

On another note, we moved a bunch of our stuff to our new apartment today with the help of some good friends. :) I can't believe I actually had the energy to do it. Tomorrow, we're supposed to finish getting the couches over there, but I still have to go over all my notes from last week's assignments, which were mostly insufficient, and do as much of next week's reading as I can.

I am going to be going non-stop from 7:00am to 1:00am again tomorrow. I did get a super humongous slurpee and 2 ice cream sandwiches from 7-11 today though. That was nice. :)

The night I wrote that last post, I slept 2 hours. The only reason I slept at all was because I made a judgment that I needed the lucidity that even 2 hours of sleep would give me for class. I made a trade-off between being well-prepared and being able to think fast in class. I still wasn't finished with my reading though.

But, as I said, whew. ;) I got through the first week of law school. I finally actually have a slight inkling of the direction I need to go in and the things I need to learn and focus on. This small sense I have finally gained was not easily forthcoming. Of course, the first case we had to read was from 1891, one I'm sure the lawyers out there are very familiar with: Vosburg v. Putney.

Let me just say that, it is evil and sadistic to make this the first case a law student reads. It works, it achieves their objective, but it's heinous. Why? I'll tell you why.

Basically, I had no conception of what judges do, what common law is, what a tort is, what role precedent plays, how often judges err, how they come to decisions, etc. I get this case, and it plays havoc with my mind on all of the above points. At the end of it all, I found myself wondering whether the case had any value at all other than to confuse law students.

The biggest question in my mind was whether this case set any important precedent, because the judge's reasoning was incorrect. Now, I think I realize that it did set an important precedent, because the judge's reasoning was not incorrect — it was just his application of that reasoning to the facts of the situation that was incorrect, thereby leading to an incorrect decision (I think).

But no one is telling me whether it's still open to interpretation or not. No one is telling me whether this case is considered a good decision or not... We're just supposed to think about it and make up our own minds, which is maddening because I know I'm probably going to be wrong.

At least now I know what they're trying to get us to do, which is to think about all these issues in depth. The trouble is, there is so much to read, I don't think I'll have sufficient time to just sit and ponder everything. It's like a crash course in Go or something. Very interesting, but insane.

I would like to post something organized about my courses and what we're doing, but it's too much to get all that together. This blog will have to be a mishmash of impressions rather than a beautifully-put together set of articles. But that's okay. Any assumpsit on my part regarding the content of my blog is not a legally enforceable contract due to the lack of signifcant consideration by readers. :)

Welp, another day, another huge list of things to do. ;)

I finally got together all of my syllabi and assignments from various sites, and now I have to read them all and go through all the reading assignments. Unfortunately, 2 classes use Westlaw, 1 uses Lexis, 1 uses a professor's personal site, and 1 uses GMU's site to serve course information. It took me quite a while to find everything.

Of course, all the professors' contact info is buried in their syllabi, so I had to consolidate all that stuff for my own purposes.

Somehow, I have to try to do some moving today, and get all my reading done before Monday afternoon as well. Should be a challenge, but for good or for ill, I'm not too worried about it yet. ;)

Well, orientation has come and gone. I was pretty excited about it all, and it was fun -- I met some new people, learned a bit more about what I'm getting into, and realized I have a ton of stuff to read tomorrow.

Unfortunately, we've had a lot of other bad things happen today, such as speeding tickets, injuries, bad directions, and hurt feelings, so I'm not particularly happy or optimistic anymore. I hope things are better tomorrow.

Well, we finally finished moving all our stuff. It was not fun. It took an entire week of moving boxes from 7:00-11:00pm, and two whole weekends. I am glad it's done, to say the least. Of course, the ceiling of the bathroom we're using in my parents' house had to cave in this morning. The fun never ends.

This is also my last week of working full-time, since orientation for law school is this Saturday. Maybe on Sunday I'll be able to sleep in a bit, although I'll probably still wake up at 8:30 or something. I have this week now to try to get through some more of the summer reading. I finally ordered a new laptop, but I probably won't be getting it in time for school, so I'll have to use my old one until it comes.

The pace of this life is speeding up so tremendously, I'm starting to feel like a spectator in my own body.

This weekend we began moving out all of our things again in earnest. We're moving to a new apartment nearby to escape our landlord and a crummy apartment, and move into a much nicer place for a better deal. I'm exhausted.

We have to move everything to our parents' garage first, then into the apartment later, since our lease was up before we could move into the new place. So we're trying to move as much as we can ourselves, then get friends to help with the furniture next weekend.

After working on it most of the day Sunday, I took a swim in my parents' pool and relaxed a bit before going to meet Jeff and Sahala, who happened to be here for a wedding. It was cool to see them again. I think they'll be moving away from Austin in another year or so. Jeff convinced me I should spend my remaining time before law school finishing Final Fantasy X, which I had stopped playing... I agreed. I don't think I will do it though. Too many other 'important' things to do. I'll have to just get the latest cool stuff and play it all in 3 years when I finish school...

The weather has been oppressive here. Hot and humid. I can't wait for fall weather now: jackets and cool wind. :)

I went up to Pittsburgh this weekend to see my friend Paul, back on leave from INSEAD in France, as well as Carl, Al, Matt, Nelly, and others. :)

We had fun watching Strong Bad. Check it out. The dragon one is hilarious.

Anyway, I drove up Saturday night, and came back Sunday night. Four hours each way, so I was pretty beat. I should have expected that when I rolled in at 12:30am on Saturday, they'd be blasting music and playing video games until 4:15am. ;) It was fun. :)

And Paul also kicked my butt in Go. As usual. ;)

We're having a cookout/pool party Saturday, and are rushing to get everything ready. It should be fun, but we've never done this before so it's pretty crazy...

At first, we thought there would only be about 15 people, but now it's up to 41. We went to CostCo last night and got a ton of food, but we still are worried it won't be quite enough. I think it's ok though, cause if it's obviously not enough we'll just run out and get some more at the grocery.

We used evite.com for to organize it and, let me say, it really rocks. It makes it so easy for people to rsvp that they actually do. And you can see the current status of everyone at any time. Pretty nice. :)

It will be really interesting because the people who are coming don't know each other for the most part, although they're all interesting and fun people. Some friends from High School, some from the Japanese Embassy, some from the Chinese discussion group, some from the blogging community, etc. ;)

Joichi's party on the 7th was a fun time. It took place at Casablanca in Old Town, a middle-eastern restaurant...

For me, it was yet another strange experiment in meeting people I've talked to and gotten to know over the net. The only people I recognized were Mena Trott of Movabletype, and Joichi, so I was forced to practice my shiny new contact-making überskillz and just walk up to strangers and introduce myself. Crazy.

The funny thing about all that is that I had fun. I always hated parties when I was a kid, thinking that all the wining and dining my parents did was superficial and forced. I thought that no one was being genuine, that no one at their parties was interesting, et cetera.

Welp, I've found that for the most part, I was probably wrong. It merely seemed to be that way because the protocols employed to converse in such venues were so utterly different than those I ascribed to at the time. Clothing, manners, speech, and topic selection were so alien to me that I just didn't understand what was going on. I was a rational mind, and they were social minds. I didn't grok the protocol.

But now I've learned that by observing the basic protocol of interaction, I can have meaningful and fulfilling interactions with non-rational people in these situations. I can even talk about interesting things, but I just have to make sure that (as per the protocol) I introduce the subject with an appropriate segue, I don't go into too much detail, and I allow the conversation to move off that topic freely.

I know some of you will be reading this and rolling on the floor laughing, but this is actually the way it is for me. I'm pretty amazed I've actually been able to learn these protocols well enough to reach this level of comfortability. Although, when you think about it, it's almost like learning a language, which I've learned how to do pretty well too...

Fun time Joichi -- have to do it again sometime. ;)

Yesterday, I played 9 holes of .... Ggg... G.. Golf... <whew>

I never thought I would do it. It was always something I thought only old people did. Or yuppie frat boys. Which is true. But I don't blame them anymore, because it's actually kinda fun... ;)

Anyway, I went to play with my Dad for Father's Day, and it was fun, and I actually did pretty well. My BaGua helped quite a bit. I've done a lot of different sports (swimming, kayaking, climbing, Aikido, BaGua) though, so I have a good sense of how to learn new forms of movement...

I guess I'll be trying to go more so I can get the hang of it... I hope my wife will still love me now............ I think she's a bit afraid of what I'm becoming. But, when you think about it, it's just another form of open-mindedness.

Hmmm.

Agh. After the last session, my neck totally seized up and I couldn't turn it without pain for about 3 days. Just one big cramp. That sucked, but it was better by the time I got there for session 9... They didn't really know why it happened, and they were really surprised. One said it might have been the weather. Right.

So this time, I got more chest work, and shoulder work, ... nothing really very significant except a little more work on my inner thighs, where I have another injury. I think that might have helped a bit, but I'm not sure. This stuff is really hard to figure out -- you're never sure until a few days later what really changed.

I still feel like the most significant changes are in my shoulder, which feels better now and is more symmetrical, my chest which can open up a lot more when I breathe, and my upper legs, which have more mobility to go behind me when I walk, making my stride easier... I think the arch work he did on my feet before is almost entirely gone now (reverted?), but the knees are still straighter, so that's something...

Well, I was a bit frustrated going into this session because I didn't experience anything after the last one, and I had been hoping to get more work on my shoulder, which had only been worked on once, for only a few minutes.

Well, I got my wish, and he worked on my shoulder extensively this time. Most of it was me holding my arm up, while he dug his elbow and forearm in and moved it slowly up and down my side and my shoulder muscles. I think it really helped a LOT.

Each time he's also been doing some neck work and a little back work, running his elbows down my back to loosen the fascia there... Today he worked quite a bit on my neck too, which has felt quite stiff most of the time.

Ok, this was probably the weirdest thing that's happened to me in a long time. I was not expecting it at all...

I guess usually the rolfers go over these things with their clients at the beginning of the course, but my guy neglected to describe all the things that would be done to me. This session, he told me that they were going to work in my mouth and nose, and it really surprised me. I couldn't imagine what they could do in there, but ... I guess that's what they do. ;)

So he stuck his little fingers up my nose, and left them there for a while to try to let the tissue relax and expand... (they use rubber gloves for this stuff, by the way...) Then, he squeezed my tongue, masaging it from the back forward, and also worked the gums from the front all the way to the back where they connect to your jaw. It was pretty painful, but I guess I was pretty tight in some parts.

He said that for some people this stuff helps with neck tension, since the neck fascia is connected all through the jaw and mouth. Also, it works toward making your face more symmetrical. Unfortunately, I didn't notice any real effects from this session, other than being weirded out a bit. ;)

Just hanging with some friends on the way back from Denver, in Galena IL...

They just had a son about 4 months ago, and he's really cute...

Makes me feel kind of weird though. I didn't think I was this old yet... hehe.

...

This was a very different day altogether.

As I said before, I'm going through this in the classroom with a student rolfer, so I should have assumed that he wouldn't always hit the right spots easily... I was getting such interesting results though, that I had almost forgotten the major things I had wanted fixed from the beginning, which still hadn't been addressed much until this session.

Each session, an instructor has looked at us at the beginning of the class and directed the student rolfing us as to what should be done and how... This time, a different instructor looked at me, and after explaining my problems (inner thigh overstretched, shoulder injury, tight right side abdomen), she knew exactly what should be done to fix them, and came by numerous times during the session to direct my rolfer to the right places and techniques.

I am extremely happy after this session. She got him to work on the inside of my left thigh, which had been overstretched in '98 doing kung-fu in China. She found the problems immediately and it was pretty tough to take the work in that spot, but later I realized that the injury I'd had for years was about 60%-80% improved! She also found after asking me about my shoulder and feeling around it that my arm's not sitting in the socket correctly. Spot on, as the brits would say... ;)

They both also examined the rotation and relative positions of each of the lumbar vertebrae today, and it was hard for my rolfer to figure out what was going on initially, but she slowly went through it with him until he got what was going on... They had me arch back, forward, and to the side, while feeling the right and left edges of each vertebra. Apparently, this allows them to feel whether the vertebra is turned to the left or right, or off kilter, so they know how to adjust the surrounding structures... It was very technical, and I'm sure they'll have a lot of intricate work to do to fix each vertebra in succesion...

We ran out of time at this point, but I felt very happy to know that these things will be addressed well before I get to the end. I don't expect everything to be perfect, but if these things can be improved substantially I'll be ecstatic.

I have another session tomorrow. I hope they can get my shoulder back in the right spot... That would make me feel like a million bucks. :)

This time was really focused on my pelvic area, thighs, and legs, to try to open up my gait and stance some more. These areas are tight on my front side, causing me to stretch to stand erect, and making it difficult to swing my leg behind me as I walk...

The pelvic area was difficult because it was really tight on me, and very light pressure send feelings of 'wrongness' darting through my whole pelvic area... I'm sure you know what I mean. The stuff in there just wasn't used to being stretched, or even messed with at all. It actually loosened up quite quickly though, and after the session I took a walk and felt amazing -- like my body was just a bag of water, flowing with each step... Very fluid and free feeling... It's really neat. ;)

He also worked again on opening my chest more. Apparently, the cavity under my sternum has a deeper than usual cavity, indicating that the fascia is stretched tightly there... After this work, the cavity looked much shallower and my chest was even more free and open, making deep chest breaths even easier than before... Very nice.

This time he opened up my chest more, which made it a lot easier to breathe deeply into my upper chest... I can breathe very deeply into my abdomen, but my upper chest was somewhat constricted, and this helped quite a bit...

But most of the session was spent working on my pelvic area, thighs, and legs again. It helped my foot arch, which had settled down a bit since before, and I also learned that I shouldn't just relax my feet totally while walking -- I guess to remedy flat-footedness one needs to consciously "engage" the feet initially, until good habits are formed. The correct structure can be found by standing and lifting the toes -- this raises the arch and lets you know where your weight should sit on the foot...

I noticed in the pictures that a significant lopsidedness in my posture had been corrected already too, which was cool.

Unfortunately, I went and did some more rigorous bagua training a couple of days later, and my shoulder popped into a bad position at one point, completely unexpectedly... When my arm got hit with a shock at one point, my shoulder moved the wrong way and stiffened all my muscles up again. I think it's back to normal now, but I'll just take it a bit easier next time. ;)

This time he worked my shoulders, sides, back, and pelvis... The most intense parts were my pelvis around the leg joints, and all around my shoulders...

This time was really tough, because he was getting into parts that had been injured, like my left shoulder, or parts that seldom experience motion or stretching, like deep in my pelvis...

The most noticeable thing was that my injured shoulder was lowered and relaxed a lot, and felt much more flexible and stronger. Also, he said that the twisting motion in my back increased when I walked, whereas it had been too stiff before. This was hard for me to feel, but after he mentioned it, I noticed it too... That was something I had never thought about before...

The stiffness in my neck was reduced a lot as well, since the shoulders relaxed down more, reducing the pressure there... I feel better in a lot of subtle ways -- but this time was definitely difficult in terms of the 'pain'... You have to know that it's a challenge, but you can feel things restructuring, and feel so much better afterwards, that it's worth it...

Wow. The second session was yesterday, and I'm still trying to learn how to walk again... This time, he worked on my feet, ankles, shins, calves, and thighs...

My feet were naturally pointing out about 45 degrees, since I'm naturally flat-footed and somewhat bowlegged. This time, he worked on trying to correct all that as much as possible... It was pretty intense. He used his elbows and knuckles to get deep into my legs and rearrange the fascia. There were actually a couple of points where he had to ease up a bit because it was a little too painful... All of the rolfers seem very considerate about that though -- I can take a lot, so I usually just say it's fine when he asks if it's too much, but your mileage may vary. :)

So first he did one leg, and asked me to stand up and walk. It was the weirdest feeling... One of my feet was now almost naturally pointing straight ahead, while the other pointed out still. After he did both sides, and did some stuff in my shoulders and lower back, it was amazing... I felt taller, and it felt like all my weigt was on the outside of my feet, because he had put them in the correct position and created somewhat of an arch where there had been none before...

I'm still getting used to this one. What a huge change this was... it's a very weird feeling. I'm walking in a very different way than before... mmm. I wonder what the heck is going to happen to me next time now... ;)

These are just some pictures that I've taken around Denver...

Yuki in the Tattered Cover	Tattered Cover bookstore	Denver capitol building
Brown Palace Hotel	16th Street Mall	Larimer Square
Nice old building	Larimer Street	At "The Market" cafe...

Well, my first session was certainly interesting. I got to be photographed in my underwear from 4 directions, both before and after the session. I guess they'll do this for each session, to chart our progress and grade the students. ;)

I think I'm pretty much aware of the major issues with my body, but some more subtle ones came out as they were examining me in my skivvies. Apparently one side of my back is tight, which should be pulled down, and many other little things. The major things were my shoulder injury from skiing in January, my bowlegged and flatfooted stance, and my shoulders being too tight and pulled in towards my chest.

He worked a little all over, but mostly on freeing up my chest and back a bit this time, and although it's subtle, I think that my shoulders are freer and it's easier for me to take deep breaths in my chest. I still haven't had a chance to feel the changes for very long, but I think that something is better.

They use a combination of their elbows, hands, and knuckles to pull and stretch the fascia into place. My rolfer also asked me to open and close my hands while he worked on my forearms, and to move my leg in and out while he worked on my thigh a bit.

The only part that was painful was in my thighs, but it was a really good pain... like I knew that it was working out crap that shouldn't be there. He was very concerned about my comfort, but I can take quite a bit, so I just told him to go to it... :)

I think next time he's going to work on my legs or feet, so maybe I'll notice something more tangible then...

I do feel that my shoulders are lower and more relaxed though, and that it's easier to breathe... :) Good stuff. Nine whole sessions to go though... :)

Tonight I went to the initial orientation for the people taking part in the student training rolfing program.

The Rolf Institute is at the western edge of downtown Boulder, just at the foot of the mountains. I was surprised how small the place is, considering how well known they are worldwide now. I think they graduate 65 new rolfers this year -- a pretty small number.

I was (mildly) surprised to learn that it will be more like a classroom environment than I had thought. There will be 8 clients in the room all being worked on at the same time, all in their underwear. ;) I'm not squeamish about it, but you have to respect the overweight over-fifty people who are willing to put it all out there for this.

Everyone is to be photographed at the beginning and end of the process, and maybe in between as well, to be able to recognize the changes that occur.

Some interesting things that were mentioned: Some people apparently experience emotional effects due to stimulation of long-supressed feelings or memories when injured or sensitive areas are opened up. I don't expect to feel this, but who knows...

My rolfer mentioned that one time he worked on a guy with one shoulder cranked way up above the other one, but the shoulders became perfectly level after he worked out the instep of the guy's feet... Is it me, or is this starting to sound like some new-age religion? hehe... Well, what can you say? This stuff is pretty weird...

This weekend my Grandmother, Dorris Shields, passed away at 86. She went into surgery with a smile, and said she'd see everyone tomorrow...

She was an incredible person, thankful and grateful for everything she had... Loving and kind and hilarious... She had a huge laugh that no one could resist. Everyone who knew her will miss her tremendously.

This has been very hard on everyone in my family, since we were so close, and we all loved her so much. I'll be going back to D.C. this weekend for the services...

For those of you who don't know, rolfing is a form of body work wherein the connective tissue is rearranged to improve posture, releive chronic pain (old injuries), and improve flexibility... Part of it is also about releasing the fascia from knots in the connective tissue, allowing it to move more freely...

Just to let you know, all I know about this stuff I've learned through martial arts, specifically baguazhang (八卦掌), so it's not from a medical background really, and I could be off on some of it. All I know is how important it is to doing Chinese internal martial arts (内家), the main three being xingyi, baguazhang, and taijiquan (形意，八卦掌，太極拳)...

Usually rolfing is a 10 session series, in which they work on different body regions over about a month. Each session is about 90 minutes, and costs over $100, so the whole thing is over $1000.

Luckily, I found out that the Rolf Institute in Boulder is their world headquarters, and you can get a major discount if you go through the series with their senior students as a guinea pig -- it's only $25 per session! So I'm going to start next week and see how it turns out.

I'm hoping for a lot of improvement in the things that are important in bagua training, especially the mobility of my fascia. You can find interesting accounts of other people's experiences being rolfed on the web, including accounts of feet growing an inch, or height increasing by inches, etc. Interesting stuff. I hope I have a similarly weird experience. ;)

Here are some of the pictures we took last month in Jackson Hole... It was a great time. One of the coolest things out there is always seeing the buffalo... We had fun with the Segway too though. ;)

Jackson is an interesting area. It's different than the other ski areas in the U.S. because it's so close to Yellowstone. It's surrounded by national park land, so development is very limited. There are a couple of new condo buildings and hotels going up now, but it's still very closely regulated.

This is where Vice President Cheney has his second home, too. He's from Wyoming, from what I hear, and he's always flying in to spend time there...

Inside our condo by the fire...	Yuki and my dad with the Segway	I go tooling down the hall...
On the slope	Yuki on the lift	Waterfall in Yellowstone Park
Buffalo...	...	...

I sat outside during lunch time today on the 16th street mall, right at this corner actually, having a coffee and a biscotti while reading the New York Times... It's a beautiful day today -- 60's and sunny blue sky here, while the whole D.C. area is shut down under a ton of snow... This is typical Denver weather. Denver has the most sunny days per year of any U.S. city, on average.

There were some French-speaking people sitting near me. I think they might have been Canadian due to the twang in their accent, but I'm not that good at placing French accents, since I don't speak it... ;) I only know a bit about the difference because of my friend Albert Drouart, who I went to Nishimachi and Carnegie Mellon with, and who grew up speaking both French and English...

In these situations, I always wonder what European tourists think about the U.S. I wonder if they were mentally ridiculing me as a hypocrite for sipping a cappuccino while Bush is getting his war on... Or whether they were just enjoying the weather...

So here I am in Denver again... ;)

It took me two and a half days to get here, but I didn't drive that much each day -- only about 10 hours the first two days... It takes about 27 hours from Washington, D.C. to Denver.

It was an interesting trip though, because I was listening to these audio books all about the history of the U.S. I listened to a great biography of John Adams, and one of a recent book called Greenback, a history of the U.S. Dollar... The biography of Adams especially was truly amazing.

All of this got me thinking about how incredible the achievements of the U.S. really are. At the time when the founding fathers, including Adams, created the constitution, most other civilized nations were still essentially monarchies. The idea of a republic, grounded upon the rule of law, with checks and balances between different aspects of government, was revolutionary -- pure innovation.

I pondered all these things as I drove past the mines of Pennsylvania, the arch of St. Louis, and the huge expansive plains of Kansas...

Finally, when I was still 100 miles from Denver, I spotted the Rocky Mountains. The day was so clear and beautiful -- a stark change from the freezing sleet I had left in D.C. Seeing those mountains rise up above the plains is a truly awe-inspiring experience. Everyone should try to take a road trip across this country some time... I still have so many places in the U.S. I haven't seen yet, especially in the South-West... someday I really want to take the time to see all of them.

It's insane how you go for months sometimes waiting for things to happen, and then they all happen at once. I would have blogged more of this before, but for my crappy dial-up connection...

So the first cool thing happened while I was out skiing in Jackson Hole for a week with my family recently. We were there from the 4th through the 11th, and it was a great time... My parents have a timeshare there in a place called the Teton Club, right on the slope, so it's really nice...

Well, one of the other owners at the Teton Club happens to have bought a Segue and keeps it there during the year... So Yuki and I got to ride it all around the building! That thing was really cool. If you ever get a chance to ride one, definitely check it out -- it's a thrilling experience. :)

Then, we came back, and I've gotten some really good news from law schools... I'm still not sure how things will turn out, but now I finally know that I'll be able to go somewhere, possibly somewhere really great. :)

And, I'm going back out to Denver for 3 months to do some work for my old company Quark... :) It will be tough being away from Yuki so long, for both of us, but it's a good opportunity and it'll be nice to see my friends out there again...

I'll be driving out so I can have my car while I'm there... I'm bringing a lot of audio books. ;)

On a personal note again, I'm going up to Pittsburgh for a couple of days to see my friends Carl and Al... Paul will also be there, so we'll all go to have breakfast at one of the two amazing and incredible "Pamela's" restaurants there.

In case you've never been to Pittsburgh, I'll fill you in. I went to Carnegie Mellon University there, for Computer Science. As most geeks know, this is a great place for Computer Science, tied for #1 with MIT when I was there... This is where CERT does their job, Lycos began its life, and many other interesting tidbits...

But the important thing is Pamela's. ;) There's one in Shadyside, and one in Squirrel Hill, 2 areas of Pittsburgh near CMU. They have the most incredible pancakes you've ever had, so don't miss them if you're ever in the 'burgh. ;)

Another choice spot is "Mad Mex", near UPitt and CMU. It's a Tex-Mex restaurant/bar, and is always 1/2 price after 11pm or so. :) They have the best massive nacho pile this side of the Mississippi... ;)

My favorite cafe, where I spent countless hours studying and chillin' during college, was Kiva Han, at Forbes and Craig Streets near CMU. I've heard it's gone way downhill since we were there, but I'm sure it's still a pretty nice place to hang out anyway...

If anyone is in the area and wants to hang out, drop me a line and we'll let you know what we're up to... ;)

So last night and today, we've been walking all around Boston and hanging out at cafes. It's nice to be back in a town where you can get anywhere easily just by hopping on a train ;) At Harvard Square, I picked up the Nikkei Shimbun, Hangug Ilbo, and SingTao Daily — they have almost every language for sale at the news stands... :)

Today we hung out at a bookstore cafe with free wireless internet access, but no one was using a laptop except my friend Rich... Starbucks will be charging for theirs, but maybe some other independent cafes will have it for free. I can't describe how sweet it is to be able to access the entire internet from wherever you are. I feel so connected and liberated on wireless internet... My only problem now is deciding whether my next laptop will be a super-ultra-portable or a tablet or something more traditional... Then I do everything from the comfort of a nice cafe... :)

Dunkin Dunuts is ubiquitous here. I'll have to be careful to stay away from them when I get home or it may become a habit... ;) Mmmm...

So I'm up in Boston now! We're staying with Rich at his place on the west side of town — apparently there are a lot of cool restaurants and stuff around here. Last night we just walked around the corner to a Turkish doner kebab place where they also have millions of flavors of frozen yogurt... ;)

Rich is coding as usual for work today, so Paul and I will probably just go hang out somewhere and play Go. We played 2 games last night and 2 the night before so my brain is hurting quite a bit. ;) Extremely fun though. hehe... ;)

We ended up boring Rich last night with a long explication of "hangul", the amazing korean writing system. We tried to get him to play Go, but he insisted that he's not a game person... ;) I guess not everyone can get excited by a bunch of black and white stones...

I think I'll have to chug a few bottles of gatorade to counteract the coffee I'll be drinking on this trip. :)

I'm also thinking about going to check out the new Library built at the Christian Science Mother Church, containing many previously unpublished works of Mary Baker Eddy... They have a cool fountain there that they built in cooperation with some grad students at MIT or something — it projects jumbled letters in light onto the water, so that it looks like they flow out of the fountain onto the floor, then compose themselves into famous quotes while they travel up the walls of the room... :)

I also have yet to encounter anyone here with a Boston accent. ;) Most so far have been Middle Eastern... :-P

Went back to chinatown again on Wednesday, and had some awesome dim-sum... ;) I ordered way too much though. Yuki and I got 5 dishes for the two of us, roast duck, crab, and 3 different types of dumplings... Ahhh. Man that was good. :)

I also exchanged a bum game that I got with my modded PS2. They gave me a Japanese snowboarding game, but it didn't work with the modchip they used in my system, even though most games apparently work... They said that that game was from a small lesser-known company, so maybe they had some weird code or something... I guess the modchip makers don't test every game anyway. But they exchanged it for Z.O.E (Zone of the Enders), which is a pretty kick-ass Mega-Robot fighting game. I'm quite happy with the outcome. :)

We decided to take the U.N. tour while we were there, and it was pretty interesting. I think I took it something like 10 years ago, but I can't remember anything from then. This time I found it all quite interesting, but felt that somehow all the U.N.'s emphasis on humanitarian aid is naive... They don't seem to realize that the aid prevents countries in many cases from becoming self-sufficient. I've seen more and more programs that actually work to stimulate 3rd world economies such as micro-loans — I hope the U.N. will re-evaluate their programs in the light of such successes as well.

I also attempted to take some interesting pictures there, but it's actually kinda tough with a little digital camera... I'll have to practice more. ;)

Welp, I'm trudging through my law school applications as we speak. I've rewritten my personal statement once, and now I have to do it again. I'm lining up recommendations all over, and meeting with intimidatingly successful people to try to get advice and help wherever I can.

The funniest thing is that I recently talked to another Carnegie Mellon alumnus who is now a professor of Intellectual Property law, and he thought that law school was a piece of cake if you could get through Computer Science at CMU... It was actually pretty funny to hear him talk about it... According to him, since most of the people in law school studied history or English or something, they have no clue what it's like to stay up all night coding in Prolog or solving differential equations... ;) He may have a point. I hope it's true, at least... ;)

Well, I just knew it would have to happen — I had to sleep all night to be lucid for an important meeting today... Don't think this means I'm giving up! I still have hopes that I'll get this thing down, but I may have to wait a while... Argh.

This reminds me of when I started learning the dvorak keyboard layout, which is what I've used for years now. I was in college, so I had to constantly go back to typing in qwerty for papers and programs I was working on... Finally, I got to a point where I could get real work done in dvorak, albeit very slowly... So I made the jump at that point.

Unfortunately, when it comes to interviews and such, I doubt I can make the impression I want without a full night of sleep... I'll try to start again tonight, and see how far I get... :)

Crazy jingus, dude. Expect me to become more and more delirious as I progress in this absurd experiment. Last night I failed to sleep at 6pm and 10pm, although I garnered some much needed rest... I felt great until 2, and had high hopes. The following events are kind of blurry though, so I can only relate what I think happened... ;)

I overslept and was awoken by my wife around 4am, I think... I got up and was ok but kinda groggy... I tried to read a bit, but had a hard time, so I watched some anime until 6, when I went back to sleep again, attempting to stay on schedule. This time, I again overslept, and was woken by my wife... actually, maybe the first time I just woke up on my own... I'm not sure anymore... Anyway, I finally ended up getting in bed and sleeping for probably 3 hours or so..... argh.

I'm pretty dead today. I skipped my 10am spot, and I'll try to sleep again at 2pm... This is extremely difficult.

Well, last night, after finishing the essay for my law school applications, I decided to finally try the Uberman sleep schedule. The plan is to sleep anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes every four hours, which comes to 1.5 to 3 hours of sleep per day. :)

Of course, my first night was an utter failure. I decided to try to sleep 30 minutes at 2, 6, and 10 o' clock each day. So last night at 2am, I tried to nap on the couch, and didn't sleep at all. I then made the mistake of getting into bed, thinking that I'd be able to just sleep half an hour and get up again with an alarm... hehe. Yeah, right. I finally woke up around 9:30. Oh well, I'll just have to try again tonight. :) If this works, it will be worth all the effort... ;)

Tonight Yuki and I went to a "Welcome to D.C." event for the alumnae of the Carnegie Mellon school of Computer Science... I'm certainly not one who usually would go to these things, but we're trying to meet people in the area, and there were actually some cool people there. :) We're going to try to do more of this sort of thing, just to meet people, but Yuki's not too keen on going to the "Blogger Meetup"... haha... I'm still having an internal debate over whether I'll go alone... ;)

I was talking to Peter Lee, who is now the Assistant Dean, about a lot of interesting trends within and without the school, and one thing he mentioned really struck me. I had never realized how few CS graduates there are from Carnegie Mellon... He mentioned that they were starting to organize these events because only now is there a sufficient critical mass of students to make it worthwhile. In my class, I think about 107 people graduated in CS. It's really very small when you think about it... It's grown a lot, but I think he said this year there were still only 150 or so.

Another thing that I found pretty cool was that they're having Stephen Wolfram come and speak about his new book on campus. I've been looking through it and, although I'm sure it's not quite as Earth-shattering as he probably thinks it is, it's nonetheless a great explication of the discoveries & implications thereof that he's made in the field of finite automata. So I'll probably drive up for that and get my tome signed by the master. (This book is huge — about 1500 pages!) It's only 5 hours or so by car. :) I miss Pittsburgh anyway... :'|

This weekend we went to West Virginia to do some whitewater rafting with a bunch of friends on the New River, about 5 hours away from D.C. We used a company called ACE — they were pretty great, but unfortunately the water is really low this year, and the rapids weren't quite as impressive as usual.

Still, I almost got chucked out of the raft once, and was luckily pulled back in. :) We surfed a couple of the holes, and it was pretty fun altogether... Last night we got home at 5pm and crashed, woke up at 8 for some pizza, and crashed again pretty hard. :)

I want to do the lower Gauley next though. :) It's supposed to be a lot bigger and better. I'd also like to do the upper Gauley, but I think it's much more difficult, and you need to have some experience first... ;)

Sunday we went to chinatown in New York again, and hung out with Yuki's sister Christine... She had never been there despite living an hour outside the city her whole life. What is it about people that prevents them from exploring the area around where they grow up...?

Anyway, I love chinatown. Especially the pork buns and bubble tea... ;) If you're not familiar with it, they have tea shops all around chinatown that sell different flavors of these drinks with big tapioca balls in them... The balls are about 1cm in diameter, so you need a huge fat straw to suck them up... ;) They're really good though. I wonder if they have this stuff in Japan now...? I've heard it's really popular in Taipei and Hong Kong...

We hung out in one teahouse for a while... I love that place. You can order really good gyoza, spring rolls, shumai, and all sorts of funky drinks. ;) They had an awesome deal for lunch — $6 for a bubble drink, 2 appetizers, and a lunch entree... Ahhh. :)

So I spoke some Chinese, got a couple of magazines, and bought a used pre-modded PS2!! :P I've been wanting to play Final Fantasy X for about a year, but kept putting off getting a PS2 because I wanted to play the Japanese version... Well, at a store in chinatown, they sell used boxes with a pre-installed modchip, so you can play US and Japanese games. ^_^

I got it at a place called J&L Game Trading, at 28 Elizabeth St, right in the heart of Chinatown... They sell used and modded PS2s, which play original imports as well as US games. They also have a good selection of Japanese games for sale... :) Their phone number is (212) 233-3399, and you can email them here...

I'll upload some pics I took when I get a chance.

Friday, we had a pretty interesting night. Started out great, had a big challenge, and ended up 'ok' but not stupendous... We went to the Freer Gallery to see a film called "Twelve Nights", part of their annual Hong-Kong film festival. It was pretty cool... A funny story about a typically neurotic couple in a big Asian city... ;) You should definitely see it if you get a chance.

Afterwards, we went over to Adams Morgan on the subway to hang out. On the subway there were 4 or 5 black kids (13 or 14 years old) screwing around, and acting incredibly obnoxious. They were screaming, laughing, yelling, and one girl was running up and down the car swinging on the bars... It was not an empty car, this being a Friday night, and all the other passengers were pretty angry. So finally, I said to one kid "Why don't you guys just try to chill out a bit, ok?" And guess what? Of course, he starts threatening me. The girl started into some rant about me attempting to "talk black" (apparently because I used the word 'chill'), and they began to make racist comments about me and my wife Yuki (Korean descent).

Unfortunately, Yuki got angry at them too, and said some things that probably made them even more antagonistic, but when we were about to leave the subway, and one kid rudely pushed past my wife to get out, while threatening to smack her, I got pretty angry myself. I got up in his face and repeatedly asked him who he thought he was going to smack.

He was about a head taller than me (I'm 5'10"), and I'm sure he didn't realize I have been practicing various martial arts for 8 years, on and off, but he saw that I was serious and they backed off, resorting to immature insults from a distance.

Regardless of your confidence level, this sort of thing will always give you a shot of adrenaline, and it can be hard to deal with... Yuki was fine after a while, but it was a crummy experience. We agreed that it's sad these kids don't have any discipline. Their minds are so closed that they fail to realize the effect their behavior has on the other passengers. This is Washington, D.C. -- the capital of the U.S. Tourists see this sort of behavior and think that D.C. is dangerous, uncivilized, etc, and these people have no clue that it's because of them. Argh. Not only that, but it gives more than a bit of fuel to racism. A lot of people here would see that and decide that they should just never venture into D.C. The problem isn't that they're black, though -- the problem is that they are poor, uneducated, and undisciplined, and that they often live in an insular culture where these attributes are tolerated if not accepted...

Luckily, we got to Adams Morgan, and after relaxing at an Ethiopian restaurant for a while, began to feel better. We got some drinks at Tryst, and headed home having eaten a bit too much, but it was a good time altogether... :)

Well, we're beginning to make some friends in the Washington area again. :) Yuki and I met a bunch of cool people at a party for the summer associates at Finnegan Henderson, my Dad's firm. One was actually a guy that I was on a swim team with for years when we were little kids... hehe... We also got together with my friend Andy (singer in a band called Virginia Coalition) and his girlfriend Lacey... I've known Andy since preschool, but we still get along swimmingly... hehe. Pretty crazy to see all these people from so long ago, and renew our friendships... It's very nice :)

I'm also getting to know the area. There is a really cool movie theater near Dupont Circle called Visions... There's also a cool theater in Bethesda, etc...

Now, I just have to do all my applications for law school, and help Yuki find an apartment for us... :)

Interesting to note this article about Denver, where I lived for the past 4 years... Growing quickly, it will be a pretty cool place someday, but for now, it's still a little small. ;)