Highs/Lows

I went up to DC to visit my family for the 4th of July. There were some definite highs and also some lows.

Highs
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- I hadn't seen my parents or sister since we met up in Minnesota at the end of March. I also hadn't seen most of my other family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) since Thanksgiving.
- My parents and uncle said I'm looking 'healthier,' even though I haven't gained any weight recently or noticed any difference myself.
- We went to DC for fireworks and the concert on the Mall. My dad had talked about how great the DC fireworks were and it was pretty cool to see them in person.
- All 4 of us went to Shenandoah National Park for some sightseeing. Although we had already seen most of that kind of stuff before, it was still fun to go on a road trip since we used to go on them a lot when I was younger.

Lows
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- My sister is suffering from some mysterious ailment that causes her to be dizzy and/or tired for long periods of time. The blood tests came out negative and the MRI didn't show anything significant and we're still waiting for results from her EEG.
- I mentioned my uncle's cancer earlier, but to see him in person was unreal. His memory and vision have been affected to the point where he can't remember certain words, can't see anything on his right side, and needs a few seconds to focus on objects. My mom said that he couldn't remember how to use the phone after he came back from surgery. All the family in the area is doing everything they possibly can to help him, but the situation is pretty bad.

Greatest Marketing Ever?

Last Friday, Evan Almighty opened in theaters nationwide. It's a humorous look at how an average guy is picked by God to build an ark to prepare for the flood. I haven't seen the movie yet, but there are parts where the sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Everyone thinks he's crazy for preparing for a flood.

This morning, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I thought the meteorologists were crazy for predicting rain for the next two days. On the way home, there was a torrential downpour and I must have driven through at least 5 lakes.

If this isn't the greatest marketing gimmick ever, I don't know what is. Not only is it free, but it affects EVERYONE.

Lame

I've decided that all of my guy friends are lame.

Tonight at happy hour, we had a golden opportunity when 2 girls came to our table (since the place was packed and there were no empty tables) and asked if they could share our table.

We said yes, and one guy actually got up and offered his seat.

After one of the girls sat down, we had no idea what to do. No one said a word and we probably seemed either really creepy or really lame. About a minute passed, and the girl decided it'd be better to sit on the steps than to share the table with us.

Ouch.

New blog!

All the random quotes I hear will now be posted at:

http://overheardinthesumeetzone.blogspot.com

Movies, etc.

"No one's been in here all night. We have everything."
"Then why did we come here?"
"I don't know. Why did you?"

"Don't worry. I haven't had time to spit in your food."
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Wow, I've seen a lot of movies the last couple of weeks. This week I saw Spider-Man 3 and Ocean's 13. Last week it was Pirates 3. Somehow all the studios timed it perfectly so that this summer is all about the sequels. And not just the second in the series. It's always the 3rd (Spider-Man, Shrek, Pirates, Ocean's, Rush Hour). Except, of course, for Harry Potter, which I believe is on movie #5.

I also rented The Godfather and Goodfellas since I'd heard a lot about them and they're supposedly two of the best movies ever made. I dunno if I agree with that assessment, but they were pretty good.

I also watched Labyrinth (a fantasy movie about this girl trying to find her brother in a labyrinth) after my friend recommended it. I didn't get what was so great about it. Well, except for Jennifer Connelly, and she was like 15 in the movie.
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Oh, I guess I should explain the quote. We went to eat after Ocean's 13 yesterday and got to the restaurant at like 10 or so. Obviously, the staff was not very happy since they had probably been working all night and just wanted to go home.

So our waitress didn't try and hide that fact at all. It probably had a lot to do with our group, but she couldn't even take our orders with a straight face.

I can see how a lot of people might be irritated by someone like that, but I thought her attitude was great. She had spunk, she had moxie. It was kinda hot.
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On a more somber note, my uncle's cancer has returned and he had surgery again yesterday. Thankfully, everything went well and his condition exceeded even the doctor's expectations.

Race for the Cure update

In a company meeting where the boss basically chewed everybody out for not working fast enough:
Boss: Sumeet, you're doing a great job. Thanks.
Me: Haha.. thanks.
------------
I participated in the Race for the Cure this morning - a 5k walk/run to raise money for breast cancer research. I'm terrible at estimating crowds, but I'd say there were at least 5,000 people there (if not more).

I thought everyone in our group was going to walk the whole thing, but they decided it would be better to run most of it.

Yikes. Yeah, I'm really out of shape. That's the most I've run in a very, very long time. I'm sore right now and probably will be for a couple of days.

It was still a great event and I'm glad I went. They handed out all sorts of swag at the end too (wristbands, bananas, Popsicles, bagels, frisbees/fans) so that was pretty fun.

And what better way to end a charity event than a trip to get margaritas? We went to Cozymel's afterwards for lunch. I felt like quite the alcoholic as we waited outside for the restaurant to open just to get a margarita.. Oh, but our race t-shirts came in handy as the restaurant comped our desserts ;)

Nerd Post (RIP Veronica Mars)

Now that Veronica Mars has officially ended its oh-so-brief run, I'm going to have to find some other equally superficial topic to rant/rave about. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but here's a fun nerd post for now (well, it's not really that nerdy -- I won't name names, but I've read some REALLY nerdy posts, and this doesn't come close).
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My new job requires me to use Windows XP. For the 3+ years before that, I had been using Linux for my work environment. It hasn't been a huge deal to switch (more point-and-clicking, less typing), but the main thing that I had gotten used to was the "virtual" desktops in Linux. Basically, you could have several different backgrounds and taskbars which made it easy to separate programs that had nothing to do with each other (email/chat on desktop #1, documents on desktop #2, source code on desktop #3).

Well, after searching for a bit online, I found out that Microsoft has developed what they call "PowerToys," and one of them is a "virtual desktop manager." It's not quite the same as the built-in Linux feature (the process to move a program to a different desktop is a little more complicated), but it's a lot better than just having one desktop. Now I have 4 "desktops" and 2 monitors at work.

Check it out: Microsoft's PowerToys
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They removed the mouseover in Gmail that revealed the sender's email address (or even displayed their picture if they set one) without opening the message. The feature appeared one day without notice and now it's disappeared just as quickly. Normally, Google makes a big announcement or at least describes the new feature somewhere, but I never saw anything about this one. I've also never seen them remove a feature from any of their products (especially without warning).

I hope they bring it back.

Good news, bad news, lunch

Me: You could be a trophy wife for some people.
Female friend #1: For some people?!? Could I be a trophy wife for you?
Me: Well... I dunno about that.
-----------
First the good news:

Paris' sentence cut in half!

"the Sheriff has agreed to reduce the amount of time she'll have to serve to 23 days. The Sheriff has also agreed to put her in a celebrity cell, away from the general population."

Now the bad news:

Veronica Mars canceled!

I can't believe it. It was the only good show left on television. Now what am I going to watch?

As for lunch, we had this terrible waitress who couldn't get our orders right, forgot our drinks, and was overall very absent-minded. She was pretty hot though, and I felt sorry for her since she had to manage 10 tables on her own, so I gave her a big tip.

Female bathroom attendants?

You know how they have bathroom attendants in some bars/clubs?

Well, I think it'd be awesome if they had female bathroom attendants in the men's restroom.

You might think that'd be kinda creepy, but I honestly think they'd get more tips than the guys currently do. Especially if they're attractive and follow the same dress code as the waitresses/bartenders.
---
Happy hour tonight was pretty eh (as usual). We won another VIP party at the same place as my birthday (which meant cheaper drinks and free appetizers). It was nice weather tonight, so they put us on the porch and instead of having to fight for table space, we got a huge area for the entire night. We ended up needing it though since we had about 13-14 people total.

Overall, there were fewer people than my birthday party, but it was still a good turnout and great to see everyone again.

Race for the Cure

On a more serious note, I am participating in the Race for the Cure this year to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit my page at:

http://race.komennorthtexas.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1010&px=1089226

Gwen concert

I went to my second Gwen Stefani concert last night. The first one was back in 2005 (I'm sure there's a post about it somewhere). You're probably thinking it's unusual for a guy to like Gwen and to actually pay the money to go to a concert, and you're right!

The ratio was about 4-1 girls-to-guys. Of the guys who were there, they were either dragged there by their significant other or were gay. And then there was me.

There's certain advantages to having fewer guys; one being the bathroom line is ridiculously short, and another being that there's plenty of eye candy.

Back when tickets first came on sale, I thought it'd be a great idea to go. As the day neared, I started to wonder why I wanted to go in the first place.

It was an awesome concert though, so no regrets. Openers were this short British rapper named Lady Sovereign and R&B star Akon.

The girl next to me (who kept dropping all the papers from her wallet!) said Lady Sovereign was pretty good, but probably won't make it in the US since she has a really strong accent and people can't understand her. Yeah, it was definitely hard to understand her, but most of her songs had a good beat.

Akon rambled on about how he didn't care about money and started tossing out dollar bills. I looked it up this morning, and apparently he was dropped from Verizon for a risque onstage dance in the Carribean.

Funny that he can do freaky actions like that, but won't curse onstage (even though both Lady Sovereign and Gwen did). Oh, and one of his songs was about living in the ghetto, so he asked the crowd how many people actually lived in the ghetto. He obviously didn't see any of his audience since they were all upper-class white girls. Plus, I don't think anyone from the ghetto could afford the ticket prices. Ironic, don't ya think?

Then Gwen came out and did her thing. I hadn't heard most of the songs from her new album, but she played a lot of songs from the first album too so I wasn't completely lost. She also came out into the audience at one point. Oh, and she said that they're going to make a No Doubt album soon.

I still prefer the first Gwen concert since the Black Eyed Peas were the openers and it was just a better deal overall. But last night was still a great concert. There's nothing quite like the energy produced by 20,000 people.

VM quotes

Veronica: How is it that you have so many friends? You don't even like people.
Logan: And yet they adore me.

Veronica: Why settle for something not good just because it's something?
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I don't know why I keep posting quotes. I think it's because I read the overheard* websites too much and like to pretend that my quotes are somewhat comparable ;)

Memorable Quotes

My friend has been working at Verizon for a month (after getting laid off from her previous company) and she decided to have a party to celebrate. I had a coupon for a free pint of ice cream if you buy a cake and thought this would be a good time to use it.
Cake guy [after writing "Congrats" on the cake]: What's the congratulations for?
Me: Oh, our friend has been working somewhere for a month.
Cake guy (confused): Is that a record?
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Female friend: What time did yall leave the titty bar?
Me: Oh, do you still have my lunch box?
Male friend: Is that a euphemism?
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Me: Yeah, I haven't bought any of my game consoles. They were all either gifts or just bought by someone else.
Friend: Do you buy ANYTHING?
(To be fair, he's kinda right. Looking around my apartment, the only things I've bought on my own are the sofa, chair, and digital camera. Everything else is pretty much furniture from Austin. I'm spoiled, what can I say?)

Best Week Ever

My sister: Are you still at work?
Me: Yeah, but I'm about to leave in a bit to go to my party.
My sister: You're throwing your own birthday party?
Me: Yeah, but there's other people coming too.
My sister: Well obviously! You're not going to be sitting at home by yourself with a cake.
Me: And a birthday hat.
My sister: I love how the hat is crucial to the party.
---

Wow, this week has been ridiculously busy. I started my new job on Monday, and so far, it seems like it'll be a fun place to work with interesting projects. We're also looking to grow and move to another office so that be a fun change in the near future.

On Wednesday, I went with a few friends to the opening night of the musical Wicked (the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and why she became "evil"). I wasn't a fan of the book since nothing in it overlapped with the original Wizard of Oz. I read the book a long time ago, and don't remember a whole lot of it, but most of the second half of the musical seemed to be completely different than the book. It was for the better though, because they tied in Dorothy's story to a much greater degree. It was very well-done, too. I wish I had brought binoculars or gotten the headsets though. I couldn't hear a lot of the songs, and could never make out the faces of the singers (we were pretty far back). We were talking about it on the way home, and realized that they turned the entire story into a huge love story even though the original Wizard of Oz was just about Dorothy trying to get home.

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. Yeah, I'm getting old. But I'm still younger than a lot of my friends, so there's always that. The first part of the day was mostly uneventful, but then we went out to a bar where my friend won a "VIP" party, which basically was free appetizers and slightly cheaper drinks. We had an awesome turnout and the crowd was pretty different from last year so it was good times and definitely one of my better birthdays. It was also nice to see everyone again, since I hadn't seen most of them in about 2 weeks (or even longer for some of them).

Poker Fun

Normally I don't post about poker since it's pretty much the same thing every time: same people and you either go up or down by a little.

Last night was interesting though, since we had several new people come.

We had enough players last night that we split into two tables.

There was the big table with a lot of new players and the smaller table with all the regular players.  I was at the big table.  I like to think I have a fair amount of patience, but my god, some of the people were ridiculously slow.  We had one guy who seriously seemed like he was on something.  We talked about him after he left (as we tend to do), and others thought the same thing. Then there was the guy who's a semi-regular and is just incredibly slow and a little dumb. After you've played 4 or 5 times, you're not allowed to say that people need to "help you out."  Especially if you keep winning big pots.

It was definitely better to play on a Saturday than our weird Sunday night games, since you can play til whenever.  I think I left at like 2 am (we started around 7:30), and people were still playing.
~~~~
New guy (looking at a friend's Illinois t-shirt): You and I have a connection.
Friend: Uhhh, whatever signals you thought you were getting were being misinterpreted. We don't have a connection.
New guy: No no.. [Illinois basketball player] Carter went to the same middle school as me!

New guy #2: Hey Sumeet, am I big?
Me (looking away): Um, yeah, you're big blind.

Me: I didn't like that guy ______.
Friend: You don't like anyone.
Me: True.

Reality TV

I thought I was over reality television, but I was wrong.

Last night, both The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll and American Idol were on.

Before last night's episode, I favored Melissa S because she did a really good job last week. Well, the episode changed my mind and I think I like Chelsea (the short girl who sings really well but can't dance). If she can work on her dancing, I think she may have a shot at winning the whole thing. Oh, and then there's Melissa R, the exotic girl who won immunity because she was the best backup dancer to the real Pussycat Dolls. I still find the whole premise of the show hilarious. It feels almost like a Chappelle's Show skit the way all the girls keep talking about how it's their dream to be a Pussycat Doll.

On American Idol, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I like the (only) hot girl left, Haley. As Simon put it, "I like your tactic. Wear as little clothing as possible. You know you can't win on your vocals, since everyone here is a better singer than you." Maybe. But if I just wanted to hear people sing, I would turn on the radio. This is television, where you have to look good too. The best finals possible would be Sanjaya vs. Haley. Neither of them are great singers, and the reason they've made it this far is because of their looks. You read it here first.

Shreveport

We went to Shreveport this past weekend to celebrate the April birthdays in the group (over Easter weekend, too - isn't it ironic?).

If you've even heard of Shreveport, you know it's a gambling town with a bunch of riverboat casinos. It was hilarious because one of the guys asked if there would be gambling involved. The rest of us were just stunned. I don't know why you would sign up for a 2-day trip and not realize what it was all about. We made fun of him for that comment the entire trip.

Since there's not a whole lot to do in Shreveport, this post could only be incredibly interesting if either a) I lost all of my life savings or b) I won a massive jackpot.

Well, sorry to disappoint you, but neither of those things happened. I ended up down a lot (maybe even the most in the group), but I still had a lot of fun. I went to Shreveport a couple years ago, but this trip was way more fun (we also had fewer people last time). It's true what they say; as long as you have the right group of people, any event can be a lot of fun.

Since it was seven guys and no girls, it reminded me a lot of my friend's bachelor party in Vegas back in October.
~~~
At the poker table:

Older woman: What do you do for a living?
Me: Um, I'm a computer programmer. What about you?
Older woman: I'm a teacher. I was asking because you have the fingers of a surgeon or a pianist.

Maybe I picked the wrong career...

Money

Well, that didn't end quite as I thought it would.

Instead of letting me finish out my two weeks, the company decided to unceremoniously terminate my employment yesterday.  They came to my cubicle as soon as I walked in and asked me to sign some papers, saying basically you're done.

So, now I have two weeks of unpaid vacation before I start my new job.

I think this is the first time since the fall semester of my senior year in college that I won't have an income, and may not have an income for all of April.

Obviously, I have a lot of savings and it won't be a big deal financially, but it kinda sucks since I'm used to having an incoming cash flow.

Oh, and since my birthday is this month, some nice gifts would be money for rent, clothes, food, etc.  Oh, and if you have a lot of money and are feeling incredibly generous, an island would be awesome.

As one door closes..

I officiailly put in my two weeks notice today.

I've worked here since I graduated from college back in 2004, so I think it's time to move on and see what other opportunities are out there.

The thing I'll miss the most about working here is definitely the fun people I've worked with.  Hopefully, everyone will still want to hang out and didn't see each other just because we all worked together.

Someone was saying the other day that it feels like the end of college, because everyone goes their own seperate ways and you don't really know what's going to happen.  In some ways, the company felt a lot like college, since everyone's young and, being a research company, we had a lot of different projects that we got to work on.

Also, like college, I don't feel that I learned a whole lot. The last few years could probably have been better spent working somewhere else.

I don't regret it, though, because I did get to meet some really good people and it was a good way to delay working for real.  But the fun is over, and it's time to join a company where results do matter and every minute wasted is a dollar gone.

It's time to enter the real world.

Hockey Game, etc.

I just got back from a Dallas Stars game.

The atmosphere was very different (i.e. much more subdued) from a basketball game. I guess I figured that all sports fans were the same and had the same amount of energy no matter the sport, but I was wrong.

All I knew about hockey going into the game came from watching The Mighty Ducks (yes, the classic Disney movie starring Emilio Estevez).

I know a lot more now:
1) Fights make the game a lot more interesting (esp. since there were only 6 goals scored, and that was considered a "high-scoring" night)
2) The Ice Girls alone are worth the price of admission.
3) There are no timeouts in hockey. (Go figure ).
4) Players just run on and off the rink whenever they want. They don't have to wait for a stoppage of play.
4) It's a much quieter atmosphere in general. In basketball, it seems they're always playing music. In hockey, they only play it after goals.

Oh, as for the 'etc.' in the title of this awesome blog entry, this past weekend there were two parties and I took defensive driving.

Defensive driving wasn't too bad. One of the girls (who was incredibly hot btw) took the same class with the same instructor three weeks previously and had known that she would be taking it again. You'd think there'd be some sort of rule against that.

I actually learned a few rules that I didn't know going into the class, so maybe it was worth spending a Saturday holed up in a Mexican restaurant. Rules like you can't pass or change lanes in a school zone and the suggested distance between you and the car in front is now 2 seconds instead of "one car length for every 10 mph." Oh, and the instructor told us all this stuff about alcohol which turned out to be mostly LIES - stuff like tolerance is a myth and everyone absorbs alcohol at the same rate no matter their weight or height.

The parties were fun, but not incredibly eventful (I only found about 30 pics on my camera, which I still need to upload). The one on Friday was literally in the middle of nowhere, and the one on Saturday was a hop, skip and jump away from my place. In both cases, I think I was the soberest one there (except for the people who weren't drinking). The scare tactics at defensive driving worked to some extent since I didn't drink nearly what I could have on Saturday.

St. Patty's Day

Just like last year, we started the day bright and early at 10am. 

We took the train down to the parade site, paid our money and started drinking right away ($10 for unlimited beer -- well, until the kegs ran out).

For awhile, it was only the three of us, but as the parade time approached, more people joined us.

I remember the parade being longer last year, but maybe that's just cause I was more drunk last year.

All in all, a great parade again (but less strip club floats, which was disappointing). We got fewer beads this year though, mainly because we had a group of fairly attractive young blonde women standing next to use who managed to get everything thrown at them (including silk panties).

After the parade, and an excruciating attempt to try to use any public restroom available (note to organizers: you're going to need more than 2 Port-A-Pottys for 200 people), we made what felt like a 10-mile trek through the desert (but was probably only like a mile or two down Greenville) to get to the next party.

None of us really knew what the "block party" was all about, and when we finally arrived, we found out that you had to pay a $5 cover to get in.  But that was IF you could even get in.  We were all pretty hungry by this point, so we decided to go eat instead of the block party. 

After walking all the way down to Lower Greenville, we turned around and walked almost all the way back to where we started!  Ugh.

Met up with some more people at the restaurant and reunited with people who had abandoned us earlier.  After we ate, most of us were exhausted -- it was 3pm, we had been up since 9am and had walked at least a couple miles -- but instead of calling it quits, we decided to go to the West End.

Lesson learned here: have a real destination instead of a vague general area.  We have no idea where to go once we get to the West End.  We wander around for a bit, and finally listen to this random homeless guy who tells us how to get to "the best place to drink" in the West End.  Um, it might be the best place, but it's also probably the most expensive.  We all spend a fortune there ($3 for a third-full glass of Red Bull???) and decide not to spend any more money on alcohol for the rest of the day.

Skip forward a few hours, and we're at this random Indian guy's party on Lower Greenville (gotta end the day on the same street as it started).  Pretty awkward because we don't know anyone. We try to make small talk with people but they duck out as quickly as possible.  It's a great view of the scene on Greenville and it's free alcohol so we stay anyway.

End up getting home around 2am-ish.  Fun day, but tiring.  Just like the Irish celebrate, I'm sure.

Best Waitress Ever?

Happy hour last night was very eh, but we did manage to get the best waitress ever to serve us.

First we had a guy as our waiter, and he was okay. But then she took over his shift, and damn. She memorized our orders, and made sure we had everything we needed the entire night. We never had to ask for anything. Splitting checks can be a nightmare, but she remembered what everyone had and only needed to ask us how to split appetizers and pitchers.

Since our group was pretty large, gratuity was already included on our checks, but I believe good service should be rewarded, so I added a little more.
~~~
I've been called a lot of names in my life, but I was called a 'jerk' recently. That name hurts a lot more than any of the others, mostly because I don't think it was deserved nor is it an accurate description of me.

Not just me?

I thought I was the only one who did this, but apparently not.

Stop reading right now and take a look at your desktop. How many things are you doing right now in addition to reading this column? Me, I've got a terminal session open to a chat room, I'm listening to music, I've got Safari open with three tabs open where I'm watching Blogshares, tinkering with a web site, and looking at weekend movie returns. Not done yet. I've got iChat open, ESPN.COM is downloading sports new trailers in the background, and I've got two notepads open where I'm capturing random thoughts for later integration into various to do lists. Oh yeah, I'm writing this column, as well.

Folks, this isn't multi-tasking. This is advanced case of Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder. I am unable to function at my desktop unless I've got, at least, five things going on at the same time. If your count came close, you're probably afflicted, as well. Most excellent.

My list is a little different: definitely listening to music, have AIM open, as well as Gmail (where I'm writing this), and about 7 tabs open in Firefox. 

But the same general idea applies.

Friday Funnies

If you've never heard the song, here are the lyrics it's referring to:

This is why I'm hot (by MIMS)
I'm hot cuz I'm fly
You ain't cuz you not
This is why
This is why
This is why I'm hot

Party like it's 2007

I hosted my first party at the apartment last night, and a few lessons were learned:

1) Never invite more people than you can reasonably handle/fit in your apartment.
2) Power hour is an evil, terrible game and should only be played when you haven't had anything to drink and have a full stomach.
3) McCormack's is disgusting and shouldn't be used for number 2.
4) Don't pass out when your guests are still there.
5) You can measure the success of a party by the number of people who crash there. Last night: 3.
6) I way overestimated the amount of alcohol and snacks needed.
7) Never host another party.

Oh, and the whole 'party like it's 2007', that's a bad idea.  I hope other 2007 parties don't end the same way for me.

Speeding

I've had a driver's license since I was 16 or 17, and had never even been pulled over until this morning.

You'd think that the first time you get pulled over the cop would be nice enough to just let you off with a warning.

But no. He had to give me a fucking ticket.

What a great way to start the day.

Whatever happened to....

.. Paris' pet kinkajou?

That question has been bothering me for quite awhile. (I'm not even kidding; these are the things I think about.) There used to be reports about it all the time, and then one day, they stopped talking about it. I figured that the government probably took it away seeing as how it's not your typical pet (and from what I remember, she didn't exactly acquire it legally).

But then today I saw this:

Paris kicks out kinkajou

Paris Hilton has apparently gotten rid of her pet kinkajou, Baby Luv, because it kept scratching and biting her.

I wonder where you go to get rid of your kinkajou. Does the local humane society accept such animals? Or did she just give it to a friend? As with most things Paris, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Oh, in other mysteries, the last episode of this round of Veronica Mars is tonight and we'll finally get to see who murdered the Dean.

Layoffs

6 people were laid off from the company that is currently paying our salaries (ironically, none of us were laid off, even though we haven't contributed anything or raised any sort of funding yet).

In a big company, that might not be a big deal, but there's only about 15 or 16 people left.

I feel really bad for those that I hung out with outside of work, since they were very bright and worked hard. In a perfect world, they would be recognized and appreciated for their contributions instead of being laid off. In all honesty, though, most of them were looking for a way out anyway and weren't exactly happy working there. But it would still be nice to leave on your own terms instead of someone else's.

I can think of people that should have been let go instead of those that were, but I suppose that politics sometimes plays a bigger role than merit.

We should have determined the layoffs Survivor-style, where everyone votes for who they want out. That way, we'd build morale within the company (since everyone is united against the deadweights), and we'd also get rid of those who are the most disliked (and probably least productive). Two birds, one stone.

Laughter

You know that commercial for candy where the girl's sitting in class, laughing at the professor even though he's incredibly boring and there's nothing funny going on (but she's in her own world because of the candy)?

Yeah, that was me back in school, and continues today in meetings at work. Even though I don't have the candy, somehow I always find the speaker to be far more amusing than everyone else around me (sometimes the speaker is trying to be funny, but most of the time they're not).

I've also been told that my laugh is very loud and distinctive, and that people can hear it from down the hall and since I've moved floors, downstairs as well.

UPDATE (2/17): At the party last night, two more girls said they loved my laugh. One of them even said that her office would be complete if someone had my laugh there. Then again, they were both drunk by this point in the night.
Oh, and apparently everyone thinks I hype events too much. I don't think that's true. I just like to keep it real, and the majority of the events have been really fun, and they would be even more fun if certain people came. People are relieved that they didn't come if it was lame, but really, if they had come, it would have been a lot of fun.

I disagree

As you may have heard, Anna Nicole Smith died yesterday after being found unconscious in her hotel room.

Our waiter at lunch today said that he liked her because "not everyone lives their life the way they want to, but she did."

There was an article on cnn about her life, and for some reason, they dragged Paris Hilton into it.

This quote caught my attention:

"With Anna Nicole, she was pathetic but at the same time you thought, 'Gosh, if I could just scoop you up and fix things, it would be OK,"' said Jerry Herron, a professor of American culture at Wayne State University. "You wouldn't want to scoop up Paris Hilton."

Sorry, Jerry, but I can think of many people who would want to scoop up Paris Hilton. Apparently, American culture means something completely different at Wayne State University (where the hell is that, anyways?). I'm glad I didn't go there.

Video Games

Until recently, I haven't been a big fan of video games.  Most of them seem very similar and they tend to lose their novelty after the first couple times I play them.  The last games I played regularly about were the GTA series on PS2 (hey, we all need a way to vent and soliciting prostitutes/stealing cars/beating up innocent people/killing cops is a great way to do it! - although driving right after playing is ill-advised).

But, now, there's a new crop of video games that are ridiculously interactive and more fun than anything that's come out in the past 20 years.  With games that have specialized controllers like Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution to consoles like the Wii, the idea of video games has a whole new meaning.  

I played Wii Sports this weekend at a friend's place, and it definitely matched the hype.  Instead of giving the advantage to players who can memorize a bunch of button sequences, the advantage now clearly goes to the person who is the most into the game.  I suppose we'll still have to wait for a truly interactive video game system, but the Wii is the closest we've gotten.

I don't know why they didn't introduce this idea on home consoles earlier.  Companies were too focused on improving the graphics with each of their consoles (and essentially relying heavily on their established customer base) that they didn't realize they could revolutionize the way video games are played and designed just by modifying the user interface.  Arcades rely on this sort of "trick" for most of their games, since there is no central controller design for all of the games to share.

In retrospect, it seems obvious. But it's a whole different story to suggest giving up the graphics fight in favor of a complete redesign of the game system (especially at the risk of losing one's job).

I'm sure there's a great business lesson here about underestimating markets and thinking outside the box.

The Return of VM

I'm not sure why I didn't post about this last week, since that was the return of the greatest show to hit the small screen since... well since television was invented.

I know you've been anxiously awaiting my opinion on the new episodes of Veronica Mars!

Last week's episode was alright. Not quite up to par, but it still had its moments. My favorite part was when Veronica and Keith were discussing what 'manila' meant (as in manila folder) and my first thought was, you should look up it on Wikipedia. And, seconds later, that's exactly what she does! Good stuff. Oh, and the episode involved a monkey. And who doesn't love monkeys?

Tonight's episode was way better. More hurdles in the Veronica-Logan relationship plus hookers! Oh, and a "GFE" reference. Strangely enough, the term came up at work just last week and a co-worker was kind enough to explain what it meant to everyone. It stands for "girlfriend experience." When you solicit an escort, you can specify the type of experience you want. Another level (according to the episode) is "PSE" - porn star experience. You learn something new every day.

One of the hookers was pretty hot. I've watched the show for two and a half years now, and this was the first episode where a female actually may have been hotter than Kristen Bell.
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In other TV news, the show where they pick the new star for the Broadway revival of Grease is actually pretty good. It's funny to me that they could find so many talented people for this show, but P Diddy needed 2 seasons to find a halfway decent girl group. I was really hoping that the hot blonde Ashley would be able to pull it together and prove the judges wrong, but she might actually be tone-deaf. It's unfortunate because she's definitely the hottest girl in the group, and looks the most like the original Sandy.

Campaign 2008

Why are candidates like Hillary and Obama announcing their intentions to run for president more than a year in advance?

It's like an year-long interview process for a job that only guarantees them four years in office.  Plus, it opens them up to even more scrutiny and potential for scandal. 

The last presidential campaign was already too long.

Ridiculous.

Disturbingly accurate birth chart

A friend found a website that calculates the planetary positions at your time and place of birth. I've always believed I don't really match my zodiac sign of Aries, but after reading my "full" description, I'd say most of it is pretty accurate.

You tend to be very shy and not very self-assertive. You are supercritical about how you appear to others. Even though you may think you are uninteresting and dull, you are actually quite soft- spoken... and very likable. ...at times you can be quite tactless in pointing out the faults of others. You have a crisp, no-nonsense approach to dealing with others.

You are the one who will rush in where angels fear to tread....you must be first in everything you do, and you enjoy taking risks. Often you are quick to anger, but you usually recover just as fast, regretting later things you said when you were upset. One of your best traits is that you are simple and direct, blunt and honest. You have strong feelings and are extremely sensitive... you tend to react emotionally to every situation you come across.

OK, I think I've shared enough (or maybe even too much). Click here to get your own birth chart.

Information Age!

I live in Texas, and there's about half an inch of snow/sleet/ice on the ground, so naturally the entire city (and a good part of the state) shuts down.

This includes my company, which follows whatever the University of Texas at Dallas does.

How does this information get conveyed to me personally? Well, I've gotten into the bad habit of checking my personal email before getting ready to go to work. And one of my emails alerted me that a co-worker had updated his MySpace blog, which noted that UTD was closed today. So I check the UTD website just to double-check, and sure enough, it's closed.

About 5 minutes later, I get a text message from another co-worker saying that the voicemail message at work says it's closed.

About 10 minutes after that, I get a Google Talk message from the secretary saying the same thing. And about 5 minutes after the brief chat, I get an "official" email from her.

I just talked to my mom and told her how work was closed today. She asked if I had called in to make sure. I didn't even have time to do that, because everyone told me it was closed within 15 minutes of me waking up.

Word definitely travels fast in this information age.

Books

For Christmas, my sister's boyfriend got me Next by Michael Crichton. Seeing as how the weather was pretty shitty all weekend, I stayed in and finished the book.

It delves into various issues regarding genetic engineering and the moral/legal issues that come with it. I'm normally not a big fan of sci-fi, but the parallel stories were interesting and fast-paced enough that it kept me reading. It'll be fascinating to see how many of his predictions materialize in the coming years. It was pretty hard to tell at some points whether what he described were his own creative musings or had some basis in science and could actually happen in the near future.

I think this is the first novel I've finished since the last Harry Potter came out. I tried reading Atlas Shrugged, but that book is massive, and the plot failed to hold my attention for very long. I'll probably try again some day, since it's supposed to be this great novel...

But for now, my reading list is: The Book of Lost Things and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

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Oh, and a shout out goes to Nusrat for linking to me!

Tip Calculator

I tend to tip more for waitresses than for waiters, and more for attractive waitresses versus unattractive waitresses.

If I had a waiter who had really great service versus a waitress that was attractive but her service was a tad subpar, I'd probably tip the waitress more. Same goes for an unattractive waitress who has great service versus an attractive waitress. The latter would get a higher tip from me (regardless of her service).

I went to dinner with some friends and I ended up giving about a 30% tip. Her service wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but she was friendly and pretty attractive. That's all it takes.

Does that make me a sexist pig? Perhaps, but the restaurant really shouldn't be hiring waiters or ugly waitresses.

2007, what?

The last week or so has been a total blur. I recapped the Christmas festivities already, but after I got back on Wednesday, I went to a pre-wedding event in the evening. Then on Friday, it was off to Houston for the actual ceremony on Saturday.

I won't go into all the wedding details, but let's just say that it involved a helicopter, four horses, an elephant, and the bride getting arrested at the airport. Oh, and an ice sculpture with photos of the bride and groom frozen inside. It was awesome. The families spared no expense for their guests (including booking an entire hotel for the groom's side and a chartered bus from Dallas to Houston and back). As one person put it at the reception, "you treated your guests like royalty."

After getting back into town, I napped until my co-worker's NYE bash. The party was fucking awesome as well. Great party snacks, jello shots, beer, hard liquor, decorations everywhere. Hard to top the extravagant wedding, but it was definitely a fun party. A bunch of people arrived about ten minutes before the new year. Champagne shots all around at midnight. Good times.

Here's to 2007!

shameless plug

My cousin, with his company daylife, has been working on a news "relevancy engine" for a couple of years now, and there's now a product demo available:


You can enter any search terms in the text box to see how they compare in terms of "news mentions." You can also click on any of the bars to read more articles about the given topic.

Right now, the product is linked directly to the Huffington Post (and clicking on any of the bars will take you to that site), but I'm guessing it will become more general once the product becomes more widely available.

Read more here.

Christmas in NYC!

Let's kick it day-by-day style, k?

Friday: Arrived in NYC in the evening. The flight appeared to be on time, until on the runway, the pilot announced that we had to be delayed an hour. Instead of circling in the air, he decided it'd be better to just sit on the runway for an hour. That was fun. Finally made it to my sister's boyfriend's apartment around 9ish. His place is NICE. I don't have many points of reference since all I've really seen are my sister's two apartments, but it was a great place. Seemed like a place you can call home. They decorated everything for Christmas (real tree, real wreath on the front door, Christmas lights everywhere). It was beautiful.
My sister had invited over a friend and her brother for dinner. Everyone was enjoying wine and cheese and watching 40-year-old Virgin when I came in. Went to dinner at a nice cozy Italian restaurant.

Saturday (aka Christmas Eve Eve): Met up with my cousin for lunch at this all-vegetarian Asian place in Union Square. Did some last-minute Christmas shopping. Went to Avenue Q (a satire of Sesame Street involving a guy who moves to New York City) in the evening. After the show, met one of my sister's boyfriend's frat brothers at this cool bar where you can play board games. I kicked ass at Connect Four (but not so much at Boggle).

Sunday (aka Christmas Eve): Hung out at the apartment watching Christmas movies (in HD!). Helped the sis' bf assemble an entertainment center for his new TV. In the evening, they had invited a British friend over and we had a nice formal home-cooked lasagna for dinner.

Monday (aka Christmas Day): Opened presents. I've been thinking of having a party at my place at some point, and now I have the perfect dishes! Got some really nice martini glasses, scotch glasses, and shot glasses, a book, as well as a gift certificate for a Wii! My sister received a camera, an ipod, and some books. Her boyfriend got a laptop bag and some books. Everyone seemed pretty content with their gifts. I'm definitely a fan of the stocking stuffer idea. It's a nice little appetizer before you open the other gifts. ;)

Tuesday (aka yesterday): Left NY to go to DC to visit my parents who had just returned from India on Monday. I was dreading it since the Thanksgiving trip was horrible. But they were in a much better mood and I actually had a pretty good time. They showed me pics and all the stuff they got in India and Switzerland. I think more of my trips to see them should be less than 24 hours ;)

Wednesday (aka today): Just got home. Had a fun little trip to the airport in DC where my parents warned me about the dangers of alcohol (apparently if you get a couple of nice glasses for Christmas, that means you're an alcoholic): "Never get to the point where you NEED to have a drink; it's a very difficult habit to break.." Uh, I'll keep that in mind, but I think the 2-3 drinks I have once a week is nowhere near that point. Maybe showing them my Christmas gifts wasn't such a great idea...

All in all, it was an awesome Christmas. Very memorable and enjoyable.

Really?

I thought it'd be pretty hard to top the last happy hour (in terms of number of people), but we had about 20 people show up last night to the Flying Saucer. Most of them didn't come to the last one either, so it was a nice mix of people.


Earlier in the day, we had a cube-decorating contest at work. Our row won Best Row, and one of the cubes in our row won best individual cube too. No one was really in the mood to be productive after the announcement of the winners, so we ended up leaving for happy hour ridiculously early.

There were only like 4 or 5 of us at the beginning, but just like the last happy hour, people kept on coming! And again, I didn't know a lot of them. I hope someone did.

I still prefer the Velvet Hookah though. It was cheaper and had a better atmosphere. This place was packed and loud. My voice was completely hoarse by the end of the night.

Another waste of money...

Here goes yet another study proving what was already known (at least to me):

"A study of thousands of men and women revealed that those who stick to a vegetarian diet have IQs that are around five points higher than those who regularly eat meat."

Yup, all I have to do is look at my meat-eating friends and realize that this is most definitely true ;)

Rurple

"Next summer Jay will unveil an entirely new way of marketing himself: a color called Jay-Z Blue."  -Rolling Stone, Dec 2005

If I had a color, I think it would be a mix of red and purple, and I'd call it Sumeet Rurple.  Hard to say? Maybe, but at least you'd remember it, and I wouldn't steal the name of a primary color like Jay-Z.  If you're going to trademark a color, it might as well be a brand new color with a brand new name.

As for phrase, I don't know what my trademark would be.  I liked "that's hot," but Paris Hilton's already taken that one.

Greatest hour of TV this year?

No, no, not Veronica Mars (it was a repeat last night).

I'm talking, of course, about the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

I've never been a fan of Justin Timberlake, but I have to say he got himself a nice gig last night starting the show by singing his horrid song Sexyback while the models strutted their stuff down the runway.  I suppose the song fit the event, but it still sucks. 

Later in the show, he sang his halfway decent song My Love, but managed to ruin it with some awkward dance moves and backup dancers.  Also, why is there a performance in the middle of a fashion show? Why did he get more screen time than the models?   This isn't the Justin Timberlake hour.  We see enough of him on every other award show.

Besides the JT overload,  the show rocked.  Very stylishly done, great music (besides the obvious), and nice eye candy.  They should really do these more often.  I'd definitely watch.

I wonder if it's in her contract or something, but it seemed like Gisele always started off the procession of models.  She's not even the hottest model.  I can see why people might think she is, but she isn't.

Some people might call the show softcore pornography; I call it a great hour of television.

One more (added to the last post)

Another phrase from Friday night (I promised myself that I'd never edit a post that already has a comment, so it's a new post):
"This is your fault. If you hadn't called, I'd be at home reading."

Just for reference, the first phrase was said at lunch, the second was at the hookah bar, the one above was after the bars closed at Greenville, and the last phrase was walking back to the car on Greenville.

11-hour Happy Hour (Dec 2006 edition)

Yeah, amazingly enough, we had another "11-hour" one back in April.

I'm surprised so many people came out (I counted about 23 total), considering the time and day had changed twice within a week (the time because I didn't realize it opened so late, and the day because of the crazy Dallas weather).

We started out the night with a pre-Happy Hour at the Fox & Hound across the street from work. Our ultimate destination was the Velvet Hookah, but it doesn't open until 7, so we had to kill some time. Pretty good crowd, had some people actually request to come, and had some other people come who almost never do.

Then, it was off to the Velvet Hookah. I told some people who were already there to get a table for 10-12, and somehow we got an entire room to ourselves. We turned out needing it though, as more and more people kept coming!

This is, by far, my favorite Happy Hour venue so far. You sit on the floor while smoking the hookah, and there's some great Middle Eastern music playing in the background. It's got an awesome ambience. Somehow, we ended up having more girls than guys. I believe that's the first time that's ever happened. Who knew girls loved the hookah? I sure didn't.

Oh, and I mentioned in a previous post that I always end up with way more pictures than I remember taking. Same thing happened last night. I figured I had maybe 50 on my camera, but it was more like 140. Good pics though.

As the happy hour died down, we went down to Greenville for a couple of hours and then finished off the night with some Taco Cabana.

The best part of the night was at TC when a friend thought he could jump through the open car window back into the car, missed completely and landed flat on his back outside. I think the rest of us in the car were just stunned that he would even attempt such a feat. Gotta love alcohol and the crazy stuff it'll make you do (and think you can do).

Definitely the most fun I've had in awhile.

My favorite phrases from the day:
"You're an asshole, Sumeet." (Agreed.)
"I love you." (Weird to hear the previous comment and this on the same day..)
"Sumeet hasn't said a word. He's being very un-Sumeet." (There was some drama on Greenville, and I didn't want to get involved. I still like to think I'm quiet in general though.)

Um, yeah

"...men chat less than females and struggle to express their emotions to the same extent...the area responsible for sexual thoughts is twice as big in male brains."

Why is this news? I can't believe people have jobs telling other people what they already know, and that money is spent researching topics and facts that are pretty much universally accepted.

You'd think that money could be better spent on finding out new facts and discoveries rather than continuing to prove and re-prove stuff that no one argues.

Best Song Ever?

As you probably know by now, Britney has finally dumped her trailer-trash husband and is seeking a return to her rightful place atop the pop scene.

And what better person to turn to than the current pop star turning heads with her fabulous skills as a musician and artist? I'm talking, of course, about Paris Hilton.

Yes, it's true! Paris and Britney have become fast friends and have been spotted everywhere together since the divorce announcement. Can you just imagine the incredible songs that these two could record together? I'm not sure if the world is ready for it. I, for one, eagerly await the duet.

In other pop news, Veronica Mars (the best show on television) has been extended to a full season (although for some reason, "full" this year means 20 episodes instead of 22). If you haven't seen it yet, you're really missing out. Tuesdays on the CW at 8pm.

Creepy

My sister said her relationship with her boyfriend is very similar to my parents' relationship.

She also said her boyfriend is very similar to our dad (in terms of personality, interests, etc).

If I ever get into a serious relationship (and that's a pretty big if), I really hope it's not with someone like my mom.
But as Eminem so eloquently put it: "They say that every man grows up to marry his own mother/Which would explain why you're such a motherfucking bitch." Well, I wouldn't go that far in describing my own mother, but I definitely don't need another one of her in my life. One is more than enough.

The rest of the Thanksgiving break was pretty much as I expected: mostly uneventful and demoralizing with the exception of a carpet-ripping afternoon at my uncle's townhouse (half of his basement flooded due to a leaky toilet).

Karaoke and Moving (on the same day!)

Helped a friend move into a new apartment yesterday. I realized how much of a snotty, pretentious person I've become when we pulled up to the place and the first thing I thought was, I can't believe he'll be associating with these types of people.

Seriously, though, he'll be living in the middle of the ghetto. If someone were to say, "Hey, meet me in the ghetto," people would go to his apartment complex first. The important thing is that he seemed to be happy with it, and it met the conditions he was looking for (cheap rent, close to everything he needs, free yoga and meditation classes).

Moving took far longer than anyone anticipated. We started around noon and didn't finish until like 5pm. Crazy. Part of it was because we had to make multiple trips, since we only had an SUV and not a full-size UHaul.

In the evening (2 hours after we finished the move), we had karaoke at another friend's place. If there was ever any doubt of how bad a singer I am, there's now a video game (Karaoke Revolution on the PS2) which quantifies it. Yes, you're lousy. But not just kinda lousy. 75% lousy, 22% poor, and 3% ok.

It was still a really fun night. I think if I practiced a little more, I could be alright at the game. It was great to see some people who haven't come to hang out in awhile too (yeah, they're co-workers who I see everyday, but it's different seeing them outside of work).

Unmemorable

I'm always surprised when strangers remember me. I try to keep a low profile when I first meet people.
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"Hey, do you remember <some name> from that dinner several months ago? Cause she remembers you."
Really? She remembers me? It was only a couple of hours and I hardly said a word.
--
"One of them remembered you. She asked me, 'weren't you with that really drunk Indian guy who was belting Britney Spears?'"
Well, that's embarrassing. I'll probably never see that person again, and that's the only memory she'll have of me. That was a fun night though. Karaoke in NYC to ring in 2006.
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Women seem to remember everyone they meet, no matter how brief the conversation is or how long it's been since they've seen the person. Men have a much more selective memory. Personally, I tend to remember the hot girls (by "hot", I mean personality-wise since I'm not shallow) or people that I have conversations with.

The World's Greatest Dessert

Any happy hour that ends with gelato is a success in my book.

The group was a little smaller this time, but as I like to say, it's quality, not quantity that matters. (I also like to say the more the merrier, depending on the occasion.)

The six degrees principle was proven yet again, as new people already knew some of the regulars.

Good times.

woohoo for alcohol!

I'm living in Prohibition-era America, aka Richardson, TX where selling alcohol is the work of the devil and is thus illegal.

I got this flyer in the mail today urging me to vote NO on the sale of "the legal sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption only." I was contemplating whether or not I should vote because I didn't think there were any major issues/offices on the ballot. Now I'm definitely going to vote YES!

It's about time this city emerged from the Stone Age and joined the rest of America. Maybe next the city will decide that it's ok to use fire, or better yet, the wheel! Just think of the craziness!

So long, R & R

After seven years of (mostly rocky) marriage, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe have decided to part ways.

It's about time Reese got rid of that loser.  She could do a lot better.  Like me, for example.

Think about it.  We're both ridiculously talented, unimaginably attractive, and wise beyond our years.

I also don't mind being whipped (since it comes with the perks of living in a mansion and going to the hottest Hollywood parties).  And, if in seven years, she decides it's just not working out, that's cool.  I'll just take a Bentley or two on my way out.

The Year in Review

Yeah, I know there's a good two months left before 2007, but I've been reflecting lately on how the year's been going so far.

And the verdict is... it sucks.  This might have been the worst year ever for me.  Sure, the year has had its moments, but, overall, not so great.  Not that anything exceptionally bad happened, but nothing great or remarkable happened either.  And that makes it worse.  Each year should see some amount of change or growth or development of some sort, and I didn't grow or develop or learn anything this year.  I'm in the same place I was a year ago, and have essentially the same group of people surrounding me.

What makes the year even worse is seeing everyone around me growing and changing. Some of them have gotten new cars, others new jobs, others still new relationships (or further strengthened existing relationships).  The ones who are still at their same jobs (from a year ago) are getting massive raises/promotions, while I'm still making basically the same amount of money and have the same responsibilities.

It's your own fault, Sumeet, you're thinking.  You need to get out there and change things yourself, and stop waiting for the world to accommodate you and for everything to fall into your lap.  Well, that's really easy to say but much harder to do.  And I have tried.  The first half of the year looked promising, and I honestly believed I'd be somewhere else right now: if not physically, at least emotionally.

But you know what they say.  There's nothing more American than false hope.

oops

My boss (well, actually my boss' boss) asked me to stop yelling at her today.

I know, right? Shy little Sumeet, raising his voice? Yeah, that'll never happen. I always do exactly what I'm told, without questioning authority. She was probably just being sarcastic.

Death

Just some passing thoughts on the oh-so-popular blog topic of death:

* I'm surprised I'm still around. I never imagined that I'd be alive at 24. Not that I've had a crazy lifestyle of drugs and alcohol or anything (quite the contrary). It's just that as I went through school, they never prepared me for life after college, so I never knew what to expect. And since I couldn't imagine it, I just assumed my life would somehow be over.

* There won't be more than 10-15 people at my funeral. A few co-workers, a couple of friends, and some family. Most of the people I know only pretend to like me, and since I'll be dead, they won't feel any obligation to continue faking it. Oh, and whenever I do die, it'll probably take about a week before anyone notices. And then when people are notified, it'll take a day or two for co-workers/friends to get over it and about a month for my family. After that, I'll be completely forgotten. Sumeet who?

Musing

As you may have gleaned from previous posts, I know/care more about pop culture than I do about computers.

I'm fairly confident that if we had a pop culture-off at work, I would demolish everyone (which I realize isn't saying a whole lot, considering I work at a software company).

If you asked me how much RAM my computer at home had, I'd have to look at the sticker on the front, but if you asked me Britney's birthday (Dec 2, 1981) or the theme of the next installment of the Simple Life (Paris and Nicole are camp counselors), well I'd know that off the top of my head.

VM recap - Season 3, Episode 2

Last night's episode was pretty good. Much better than the season premiere. I was worried that the show may have lost its edge, but last night proved me wrong.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much character development in this episode though, one of the reasons I like the show so much. It was one of the few episodes in the entire series that could "stand-alone." Someone could watch this episode without ever seeing any VM beforehand and understand everything. Good for newcomers, but not so good for longtime fans who like the interactions between characters.

I guess it makes sense though, since they're starting college, and trying to break out of their old relationships to some extent.

My favorite part of the episode was the prisoner-guard experiment that Logan and Wallace take part in (based on the Stanford Prison Experiment). Interesting tactics on both sides, and I like how the show integrates real-world sociological experiments into the plots. The college setting works perfectly for this.

Veronica goes undercover to figure out if a sorority house is behind the season's first mystery. Hearst must be an ugly school or something (or maybe it's just the ugly sorority), because Kristen Bell is by far the hottest girl in the entire house. They'd be fools not to accept her.

Supposedly, the first mystery is supposed to be solved in the next episode, which is a little strange since there have been very few clues to work with through the first two episodes.

2 nights and 2 effigies

Friday - Went down to the West End to check out the pre-game day revelry and team spirit of Texas and Oklahoma. I never came up to Dallas while at UT, so it was pretty fun to see everyone getting pumped up for their teams. Who knew that OU had such hot girls? I sure didn't. UT still has the hottest girls (as evidenced by the latest Playboy list), but damn. I felt like I was at college again, with all the frat boys and sorority girls running around.

On the way back to the car, I saw a disturbing sight: they were burning Bevo! That's going a bit too far. I realize that OU sucks, and doesn't have its own (recognizable) mascot, but come on. There's a line that you just don't cross. Come up with your own mascot. And while you're at it, come up with your own hand signal (seriously, the horns but just flipping your wrist downward? real creative OU).

Saturday - Watched the UT game with some former co-workers (in HD, no less; makes you feel like you're there in the action). The team is obviously not as good without Vince Young, and we ended up winning due to some mistakes on OU's part, but we still won 28-10 and it's about time we won two in a row (especially since OU took 5 straight before that).

Then, it was off to Texas Stadium. No, no, not for another football game. For the Diwali Mela, of course! The what, you ask? Oh, for those of you not in the know, Diwali is the Indian new year, and mela is the Hindi word for fair.

So basically, there were a bunch of booths set up all around the perimeter of the stadium selling all sorts of goods (like clothes, jewelry, food, etc.). And then, inside the stadium, on the 50-yard line, they had a stage set up and performances all night from "renowned" Indian singers (apparantly the contestants from Indian Idol).

I haven't been in touch with Indian pop culture in a long time, so I didn't recognize any of the performers, and honestly got kinda bored. I'm also not a fan of Indians in large groups, because they're never organized -- the printed program was way off time-wise, and at one point an announcement was made that the Irving Police Department was shutting the place down at 11:15 even though it was supposed to go until midnight -- and don't follow basic social etiquette.

There's never really a line to any of the food booths; it's more of a push-and-shove-your-way-to-the-front idea. This may work if there's fewer people, but when there's 20,000 people in attendance, it's just chaotic.

The only redeeming point of the night was the effigy-burning. It's cool though, since it was the Devil and DESERVED to be burn (unlike Bevo). Much more interesting than I thought it'd be, since they had fireworks in addition to just fire, so there were loud explosions every once in a while. Good stuff.

Well, that's my weekend in a nutshell. Oh yeah, and OU sucks.

?

So I went to this murder mystery dinner last night for a friend's birthday party.

Apparently, these come in two variations: you can either get a mystery-in-a-box and act it out with a group of friends or go to a restaurant and have them essentially put on a show for the guests. Well, this one was of the latter variety.

Most of the people in our group were Indian, so we ended up arriving a little late to the dinner (as a general rule, Indians will arrive about half an hour to an hour later than the scheduled time).

It was cool though. We got to the restaurant just in time for the first murder. It caught me completely off-guard. I was standing there, enjoying my carrots and ranch dressing and all of a sudden a girl bursts out of the door with blood streaming down her mouth.

They tried to set it up so that the actors were intermingled with the guests, but it became pretty obvious like 10 minutes into the dinner who the main actors were, since they were far more polished and suspicious than everyone else.

Overall, it was definitely a different experience, but I think it would have been more fun to do the mystery-in-a-box since everyone could get more involved in the plot. I was lost for most of the night, and my "theory" was based on what everyone else at the table thought. It felt like school again.

And you know what they say. After the party, it's the after-party. And so it was. We went back to the birthday girl's house and chilled at her place, drinking, smoking (the hookah), and (salsa) dancing.

Yeah, so there's two more things that I've decided should go on my list of things-to-do (before I die): learn how to shoot a gun, and learn how to salsa dance. The latter looks easy to learn, and seems pretty free-form.

Yup, that pretty much says it all

Here's an excerpt from an article about the best show ever:

This show stars Kristen Bell as a sort-of modern-day Nancy Drew. Sounds corny, but it's not. "Mars" is whip-smart, funny and cynical enough to make me believe its writers actually went to high school. It found a small but loyal audience during its first two seasons on UPN (yup, that UPN. Who knew?).

But it's on the bubble unless "Gilmore" fans stay tuned. I happen to be one of those fiercely devoted fans who discovered the fabulously addictive charms of "Mars" during its first season.

So here's where I get shameless: I am begging you to watch this show. Begging. On my knees. I will even give you a dollar if you e-mail me with your favorite line to prove you watched. (Well, actually not, but I will give you a blow-by-blow account of what I love about the show if you're not convinced.)

It's engaging, believable, entertaining and has some of the best one-liner delivery on television.

And it's not just me. "Mars" got renewed because the network president and critics across the country are as in love as I am.

Season 3 starts Tuesday, Oct 3rd at 8pm on the CW. Be there.

Death Tool

You know how when you go to recruiting fairs, companies hand out all sorts of goodies like pens, frisbees, yo-yos with their name on it?

So our company decided it'd be a good idea to hand out blades to candidates.  That's right, a blade sharp enough to draw blood if you happen to brisk your finger across it (or so I've heard).

Well, ok, it's not "just" a blade.  It's one of those all-in-one gadgets that includes a fork (why would you need this??), a ruler, a bottle opener and a cap opener.

But, seriously, sharp enough to draw blood? You can't even take this thing on the plane.  Real useful if the plane were to go down and you really need that fork to eat the delicious appetizer awaiting you on the deserted island.

Paris' New Video!

So apparantly, Screwed isn't the next single on Ms. Hilton's CD.

Instead, it's Nothing in this World. I didn't really like it that much the first time, but after a few listens, it's grown on me. It's bubblegum pop at its finest. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that the video rocks (it's basically the plot of The Girl Next Door and features a cameo by Elisha Cuthbert).

Richest Americans

Forbes released their list of the 400 richest Americans today. I know what you're thinking, but I'm sorry to let you know that I didn't make the list this year (and have yet to make it). I was off by about $1 billion this time. Oh well, there's always next year (or like 20 years from now).

#1: Bill Gates from Microsoft ($53 billion) - college dropout
#2: Warren Buffett from Berkshire Hathaway ($46 billion) - MS in Economics from Columbia
#3: Sheldon Adelson from Las Vegas Sands [owns casinos in Macau and the Venetian in Las Vegas]($20.5 billion) - college dropout
Forbes estimates Adelson earned about $1 million an hour over the past two years.

So here's some interesting trivia. Of the top ten richest people, you have the spoiled Walton heirs and the rest are all college dropouts (with the exception of Warren Buffett).

The full list.

VM

Woohoo.. found another Veronica Mars fan this weekend! Not sure if she started watching it because I mentioned it, or if she discovered it on her own (I didn't ask because I was surprised that someone else was bringing up the show -- normally it's me going on and on about how it's the best show on television). Either way, I'm glad someone else is watching too. I hope the ratings this year are good enough to get the show a full season (the network only ordered 13 episodes).

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

"I believe, at the end of the day, personally, my life is not about a banana."
~ Maria Sharapova, after suggestions that her father may have "coached" her by pointing to a banana during the US Open Women's Final

Is it just me or is she the hottest woman to ever win the US Open -- nay, ever play professional tennis (and, yes, that includes Anna K)?

Online Quizzes

One of the questions I hate on online quizzes starts out "My friends would describe me as..."

Um, I have no idea. Shouldn't they be taking this test for me?

That's one of the main problems with online quizzes. They're self-assessed, and people rarely see themselves the way that others do, nor would they act in the way they claim in certain situations ("Yeah, I would definitely stop whatever it is that I was doing in order to save that dying bird on the sidewalk! And I always stop and give all of my money to the homeless guy on the street! ")

In the pre-blog/pre-myspace era, people couldn't easily report the results to all their friends so it was more of an introspective personality assessment. But now that it's so easy to post them on a blog or social networking site, it seems that people could easily answer in a way that would cast them in the most positive light possible.

I, of course, would never lie on a test.

Here are some of my completely accuate and honest results: Perfect Human ("easy-going, friendly and know when to stand up for yourself"), Aegir ("you throw good parties, and are generally well-liked"), Robot ("more rational than intuitive"), Oracle ("typically easy-going and non-confrontational until someone violates one of the very few principles that you deem sacred, at which point you can fly into a rage"; "despite being outwardly humble, you probably think of yourself as being smarter than most other people"), Plato ("you believe in the virtue of humanity, the purity of music, the essence of morality").

Oh, and my nerdiness score means "you could be a nerd, but you're probably just a geek" and my celebrity date should be Paris Hilton. Go figure.

No drama!

You don't want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
~ My Humps, Black Eyed Peas

You're right, Fergie! I don't want no drama.

Unfortunately, you can't always get what you want in life, now can you?

Tonight, the company hosted a party to celebrate the long hours and hard work that we've done over the past month. Kinda ironic that the people who worked the longest and hardest hours over that time period weren't able to make it, but I've gotten used to -- nay, come to expect - such situations.

Anyways, most of the company parties in the past have been pretty drama-free. Not much gossip, mostly because everyone in the company is there and since my co-workers didn't talk about such things so much. Ah, but tis a different year, and a different crowd. People have started talking, and the gossip mill is running at full-speed!

As is the nature with gossip, the two things I learned tonight were not things I expected to learn, nor are they things that will be discussed here ;) Suffice it to say, they were some interesting, albeit disappointing, news items. I thought I had heard enough crazy gossip on Friday night, but, wow, that was child's play compared to tonight.

The party itself was surprisingly enjoyable (despite the notable lack of alcohol). We went to Speedzone, which is an all-in-one racetrack/mini-golf/arcade. The racetrack was pretty awesome; it was called Slick Track, which meant that you had to navigate the curves just right in order to avoid the walls. I'm pretty sure I made a complete fool of myself because I really didn't get the hang of it until the 3rd or 4th lap, and ended up running into the walls on pretty much every curve. At one point, I ran head-first into the wall, and they had to stop all the drivers behind me so they could straigten out my car. Ah, good times.

Mini-golf was pretty interesting too. We had about 8 or 9 people in our group though, so it was kinda slow. Also, I've realized it's a bad idea to have a 6-year-old play with you, because the tendency to curse out loud when you hit a bad shot is incredibly high (especially when you've been drinking). Her father might have some explaining to do about what some of those words mean...

Free food! You in?

Last night, I went to the local pub with some co-workers and friends. A co-worker received an email from the bar offering a party (including 2 hours of free pool, and free appetizers like pizza, chips and wings) for 20 people. Well, you'd be damn foolish to pass up a deal like that!

Let me tell ya: nothing brings people out like the promise of free food. In terms of number of people, this was one of the better social events in awhile (close to 20). Everyone seemed to have a pretty good time, eating and drinking away.

Ironically, the co-worker who set the whole thing up decided not to come. Apparently, she hasn't been getting enough sleep lately, so she decided to rest instead. We felt guilty at first, but after a couple of drinks and a few slices of pizza, that feeling quickly dissipated.

Surprisingly, we had a pretty good guy-to-girl ratio. Most of the time, we end up having too many guys, but tonight a lot of the gals came out too. It makes for an interesting dynamic when guys and gals converse; especially when the guys know the gals are in relationships, and it's just chatting (without the unnecessary sexual tension).

There were some awkward moments, some anger, some crying, much office gossip, and many things were said that shouldn't have been said under any circumstances. In other words, it was a great night.

Self-promotion

"I, like, cry, when I listen to it, it's so good."
- Paris Hilton, on her new CD

I feel the same way about my blog. Sometimes, I'll be reading past posts, and all of a sudden, tears will come streaming down my face. And I'll be like, this is really great writing - perhaps even the best I've ever read. Who wrote such eloquent, beautiful passages? Who is this literary genius? Then I'll remember it's me! Thank you, Paris, for putting it so succinctly.

"I, like, cry, when I read it, it's so good."
- Yours truly, on my blog

Who do you look like?

A friend showed me this really cool site.

Ignoring the pictures where it couldn't even recognize my face (yes, I'm just that invisible), apparently I look like Jason Biggs (of American Pie fame) or Chris Tucker (from Rush Hour).

Unfortunately, it seems to place a bigger emphasis on the angle of the face than on the features. So if I had turned a little more to the right or left, it would say that I resemble a completely different celebrity (if it recognized my face at all).

In somewhat related news, Google acquired a company which specializes in automatic feature extraction from photos (including face recognition), so there's no longer a need to tag the photos yourself.

It's interesting that Google is now taking the Microsoft approach of buying out companies that have the technology instead of investing time and resources into creating it themselves.

Pick-me-up #2

The only (ok, maybe not the ONLY) thing better than waking up to Madonna has to be waking up to Paris Hilton's "The Stars are Blind" video on VH1 .

That video is hot. I daresay the girl has a future in the music biz. I also thoroughly enjoyed her single, "Screwed," and expect the video to be just as hot (if not hotter).

I've tried downloading "The Stars are Blind", but apparently it's so popular that it's become a target for "fake" songs. All the versions I've heard have been pure static for like 10 minutes! Quite annoying.

Movies

For no real reason, I went on this crazy shopping spree at Fry's and spent $100 on DVDs today.

I bought Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Made, Memento, V for Vendetta and Sin City.

I've wanted to get these movies for awhile, and finally decided to get them today. (The cashier lady was retarded; it seemed like she was learning how to use the barcode scanner for the first time ever - um, what have you been using ALL DAY to check out customers?)

I also saw the new Will Ferrell movie, Talladega Nights, last night. I had pretty low expectations (since Anchorman sucked so much), but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a theater in a long time. I didn't stop laughing during the entire movie.  Will Ferrell movies seem to be hit-or-miss.  They can either be really funny (Elf or Talladega), or miss the mark completely (Kicking and Screaming or Anchorman).

In other DVD news, the second season of Veronica Mars comes out on August 22.  I'll have to get the other DVDs they didn't have when I buy VM (Mulholland Drive and the second season of Entourage).

Just me?

It's weird: the more I get to know someone, the less I like them.

At first, I try to find all the good qualities about someone, and put them on a pedestal. After getting to know them better, I notice their "bad" qualities as well. Really, they have flaws just like everyone else, but it's a little disappointing that they aren't who I imagined them to be in the first place.

The people that I like the most tend to be those that I know the least, because I can fill in the question marks about their personality with my own ideals.

Oh, and this is just a generalization and doesn't apply to you. I like everything about you ;)

Ack..

http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~jenf/writing/rant04.html

Road Trip Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/teemus/RoadTrip

"You can't see it all in a week"

Just returned from an insanely fast-paced road trip from Las Vegas, NV to Albuquerque, NM (5 states in 6+ days!!)

Most of the trip is a blur, but here's what I remember:

Oh, so there were three of us: myself, my high school friend Fran, and his friend Ben (from the UK) that he met while teaching English in Japan. The cool thing about Ben was that he could modify his accent at will. Most of the trip, he spoke with an American accent, but used his British accent when it seemed to come in handy.

Day 1: arrived in Vegas in the evening; after waiting at the airport for an hour for my friends to pick me up (they apparently were running 4 hours late, but managed to cut it down to 1 thanks to 90mph driving), we cruised down the Strip and then crashed at my friends' college friend's apartment. Ben had arrived from Japan earlier that day and had endured a flight over the Pacific, as well as a drive from Los Angeles, so he was quite delirious.

Day 2: spent most of the day on the Strip, checking out the hotels - made about $30 in roulette at the MGM Grand; my favorite quote was when we visited an oxygen bar, and the lady was espousing the benefits of oxygen: "it's great for hangovers, jet lag, and fatigue." oh yeah? thanks, but i'm getting it for free right now. i think i'll pass.

Day 3: had brunch in downtown Vegas, which is actually a better place to gamble than the Strip - it's cheaper, less crowded, and the people are friendlier. thought i was awesome at roulette and tried to win some more money - ended up losing $20. total winnings from Vegas: $10. after a quick stop at Zion National Park (beautiful scenery), it was off to Bryce Canyon National Park. on the way, Ben got pulled over for speeding (doing 70 in a 45). so what does he do? turns on the British accent and avoids a ticket.

Day 4: saw Bryce in the morning, and then left to hit up the Grand Canyon - almost a full day of driving; it's completely dark, and we're running out of gas; we end up driving through the entire park before finally finding a hotel and a gas station - the first hotel in the past 100 miles! another 40 miles or so and we'd be out of gas.

Day 5: woke up at the crack of dawn to see the sunrise (who knew that it'd be so cold when the sun isn't up?) well worth it though; got some great pictures, probably my first sunrise in over 10 years; next stop: Monument Valley - an iconic symbol of the American Southwest, or so they say (i'm not a fan of the name; what exactly is it a monument to?); as we leave, we decide to make an unscheduled stop at the Navajo National Monument. we miss the turn, so Ben pulls over on the side of the road, parks the car, and applies the hand brake. a stranded motorist runs a mile to our car, taps on the windshield to ask for help, and what does Ben do? immediately pulls away! he claimed that he didn't see the guy, even though both Fran and I were telling him everything. so we turn around to get to the Monument, and he pulls over again - this time right across from the motorist! we think that Ben is going to help him, but again he pulls away! nothing like English hospitality. finally get to Mesa Verde at sunset -- yeah, i think that's the first time i've see the sun rise and set in the same day.

Day 6: visited a pueblo in Taos, where a couple was talking to an Indian shopkeeper. he said his name was Tony, and after they inquired about his Indian name, they proceeded to say "I'm glad you changed your name to Tony." yeah, the whole world should just cater to you, because why should you make any effort to try and understand other cultures? unbelievable, especially since they were in this man's home. in another store within the pueblo, a lady remarked that "You can't see it [New Mexico] all in a week" - ha! we saw the entire Southwest in 6 days!

Day 7: checked out a few galleries and arts shops in Santa Fe; then it was off to Albuquerque to catch our flights.

Wow, that was a long post. Definitely nice to get out of town for a bit, even if it was at a frenzied pace. Got some great pictures, saw some awesome scenery, and was exposed to some cool new music.

Your Turn

I give up.  Happy hours haven't been fun (for me) in about a month.

Someone else can organize them.  I'm done.

Pick-me-up

"You're a superstar, yes, that's what you are, you know it"

Nothing like a little Madonna to get you going in the morning...

Moving (again)!

Moved to yet another office today.

In the two years since I've worked here, I've been in three offices, all of them in the same building.

Not sure exactly why we moved to a new office.  We had plenty of space in the old office, and now we have even more unused space!

Not complaining though: we've got an awesome kitchen (with a stove, oven, and dishwasher), a huge conference room, and a great view (I claimed one of the window cubicles).

It's going to take some getting used to though, just like after the first move.  The location of my cubicle is pretty nice: right next to the kitchen, and close to an entrance through the conference room.  As for everything else, I'll have to hike through the office to get there. 

At first, I had two huge cubicles to myself.  But then reality set in, and, someone else decided to move in and cramp my style.  Still, I've got arguably the best cube in the whole office.

Things that Suck

1) Not getting into Mensa (especially when my friend, who I took the test with, got in)

2) Watching the worst fireworks display EVER in Addison (apparantly, they canceled the show in the middle due to rain; but seriously, a fireworks show without a finale?!? It's unheard of); on the flip side, I did see some awesome fireworks while driving on the highway yesterday

There's definitely more "things that suck" but since this is for your personal enjoyment, I'll leave it at that for now.

Hot

"You and I are on the same wavelength.  I think we're the only ones though."

CP

They had a Wheaties box signed by Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson at the Greek restaurant I went to for lunch today.

I'm jealous.  I went to her homecoming parade in Allen when she returned from Athens, and tried unsuccessfully to get her autograph later at a McDonald's.

Wow, I sound like a teenage girl.

Accomplishments

Today is my two-year work anniversary.

My greatest accomplishment to date is that I've turned a good number of the employees into regular drinkers (if they weren't already).

When I leave, the conversation will probably go something like:

Employee #1: I heard Sumeet's leaving.
Employee #2: Who?
Employee #3: You know, he converted all of the projects to use the new architecture and threw together the demo for Project Y when Mr. Z was sick.
Employee #2: Hmm.. doesn't ring a bell.
Employee #1: He's the alcoholic who plans the happy hours, and is the reason you had a hangover last week.
Employee #2: Oh! Sumeet! Man, I'm gonna miss him.

MTB 3

Who else is pumped for the season premiere of Making the Band 3?

I'm surprised they didn't think of this idea earlier: put a bunch of semi-talented hot girls together in a group and see what happens.  Somehow, Diddy managed to stretch the idea over 3 seasons.  After the first season, he complained that there wasn't enough talent and he would have to go out looking again for more girls. 

Even if they fail miserably and don't sell a single album, they're still easy on the eyes (if not the ears).  Plus, since they're girls, you know there'll be drama.

Can't wait. (Thursday @ 8pm on MTV if you're interested)

Wait... what?

Hmm.. what's happened since the last post? Let's see, two happy hours, two birthday parties (one as a happy hour, one as a pool party), one party at my place, and two dinners. The past two weeks have been busy busy.

More people have started coming out to the happy hours, so it's been interesting to meet the people that my coworkers associate with.

Last weekend, I ended up having an impromptu party at my place. The original plan was to just pre-party at my apartment and then go to a bar/club/lounge, but since we had a large group, and it was already getting pretty late, we decided to hit up the grocery store, get whatever liquid was needed to make mixed drinks, and chilled at my place. I definitely should've drank more, because it was just that kind of party. A friend of a friend was visiting from Lubbock, and she had been drinking since noon, so she was already good and wasted by the time the "party" started. She was definitely a character and pretty wild, but then again that could've been the alcohol.

Oh, so about the title of the post. I've found myself saying that a lot lately, mostly because some of the stuff people say just catches me completely off-guard.

For example:
Female: I would so beat anyone at a dance-off!
Male: You know what? Sumeet knows how to break it down.
Female: I'm so horny right now.
Me: Wait.. what?

:(

Little disappointed that the Apocalypse didn't happen today.

Almost as disappointed as I was when nothing happened on New Year's Day 2000, when the world was supposed to end.


:(