| Tom Leung 的个人资料Inside Tom Leung's Brain照片日志列表 |  工具  帮助 |
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7月24日 stream of consciousness from tomnice to see omar's concern for my carpal - also great to hear he recuperated i had my three year wedding anniversary today. i love wendy. tried a new restaurant called nell's in green lake, one of the best meals i've ever had. the peach crisp dessert with blueberry ice cream was fricking ectsasy. war in middle east is bumming me out. i am ambivalent about israel. on the one hand, their response over 2 kidnappings seems to be out of control. on the other hand, i'm quietly hoping hezbollah will be gone when they're done. zillow raises another $25M. add this to the list of start ups i'm not sure i get. the new hotmail has a new today page, it's actually quite useful since they show recently updated spaces. if you knew how many meetings were had over this page, you wouldn't believe me. 7月12日 carpal tunneli think i have it. my fingers and forearm are all tingly and almost numb. should i use a left handed mouse, stop using my computer for a few days, or see a doctor? i'm tempted to ignore it but don't want to incur any permanent damage. 7月2日 feeling sorry for tomMy condo has been wrapped in white plastic since June of 2005 and last week, the average temperature inside the condo even in the evening was over 90 degrees. I wake up to construction people hammering on the walls at 7am and I had to take all our blinds down so I live in a fishbowl with no sunlight or air but lots of construction workers. My colleague, Mike, calls my home "the hotbox." Construction is expected to be completed in October at which point I will be able to open my window once again. 6月18日 Whidbey ruled and my portfolio is suckingWhidbey island vacation was WONDERFUL. The cottage on a bluff with no other humans in site was just what the doctor ordered. Fireplace, grill, giant soaker bath tub, and 180 degree water views were heavenly.
I just took a look at my stock portfolio and I'm down 8% from where I was about 6 weeks ago. No one pick is sucking -- just all 20 of them... My latest buy was EQIX for 49.11 which is a bet on Web 2.0 and the idea that it won't be a world of just MSFT, Google, and Yahoo. It's what I call my Ralph Nadar bet :)
4月23日 Insults from my wifeSo I had a good chat with a friend of mine from grad school this weekend and after I got off the phone, my wife said to me, "Do you ever think if you were a woman, most of your friends would want to date you?" She went on to say that if I were a good looking woman, wasn't as obnoxious, and didn't have as odd body language, most of my male friends would find me to be the perfect mate.
Ummm, thanks. I think. 4月3日 Bad Asian DriversA colleague of mine asked me last week my thoughts on the stereotype about Asians being bad drivers. I of course, have many thoughts on this issue.
Off the top of my head, here are some things to keep in mind when considering this stereotype:
1. People remember people of different races more easily than people of the same race - esp if they have a preconceived idea about a particular race. In this case, if you think that Asians are bad drivers and an Asian driver cuts you off, you're more likely to remember this incident than if a white person cut you off -- even if you encountered disproportionately more bad white drivers than Asian drivers.
2. There are disproportinately more Asian immigrants than white immigrants in America. Since many Asian immigrants come from countries where driving a personal car is less common, many of these immigrants are first time drivers and thus have comparatively less experience than the typical white American.
As an example, I have been driving since I was 16 since I was born in the USA but my mother didn't have her own car till she immigrated to the US when she was close to 40. Thus, when she was 41 and cut someone off, not only did the person she cut off remember her more (as per point #1) but she only had the driving experience of a 17 year old. Combine that with her slower repsonse times as an older person and less familiarity with the roads, signs, etc and you can see how the stereotype could be accurate for older, first generation Asian American immigrants.
3月19日 don't hate me cuz i love starbucksmuch like how i used to hate on cell phone users in the late 1990s (who did they think they were, donald trump), i also used to hate long winded starbucks orders (why don't u just be a man and order a cup of black drip coffee, you idiot).
after hundreds of lattes (prob thousands), i have determined i like mine with an extra shot of espresso, not too much milk, not too cold, no whip cream, and with some nice cinmon flavor.
what results is i have to make a fairly long sounding order which i know sounds obnoxious (the look of the guy from Spokane at the airport Starbucks said it all).
i do not and will not change my ways and proudly drink
double tall, no whip, extra hot, cinamon dolce latte.
be gone you fools who chug drip coffee or order the lowly tall lattes. 1月17日 Like chum in the waterHmmm. Take 900 HBS students and make grades public for recruiters...yeah, that should help with the teamwork thing. HBS people are so naturally laid back as it is...
1月15日 Microsoft Word - Times RomanWhy is the default font on Word Times Roman? Are there still people who use Times Roman? 12月25日 Fighting Mimes in MiamiSo we are now in Miami and as we were walking down Lincoln Avenue, there was a large crowd watching a mime. The mime saw us from afar and ran over to me and Wendy and bowed in the Japanese style of saying hello. He then followed us a few more feet and did it again shuffling his feet in tiny steps and biting his lower lip in an effort to make it look like he had the stereotypical Japanese buck teeth.
As a Chinese American, I found this to be insulting and part of the caricature westerners have of people of Asian descent. By the second time our not so sensistive mime bowed to me, I gave him the finger. I felt this would be the appropriate response since he was a mime and I didn't want to talk to him.
Immediately, the crowded started out by saying "Oooooh" as in "wow, mime got into trouble" and then went into more of a "booh" as in "Asian dude can't take a joke on Christmas." One guy even muttered "Why don't you go back to where you came from!" It was ironic because he had a strong Spanish accent.
Anyway, perhaps I shouldn't have given him the bird but something tells me he wouldn't play on racist caricatures to white, black, or hispanic people. 11月19日 New Yorker blogging about Eastern Europeans on Seattle space only to be called out by Romanian college girlYou can't make this shite up
the two worlds overlapSo this week I saw some old friends I hadn't seen in a while which was really surreal and bitter sweet. surreal since i felt like a man who came back from the dead since everything felt so real but bittersweet since I now have a seperate life which isn't perhaps as settled in.
i'm hoping i can still spend quality time with my old homies and new homies...that would be cool.
10月16日 Why I get along with my wifeYou're gonna think that I made this stuff up but completely independent of me, Wendy has two excellent blog entries about some of my favorite topics:
(1) The American media and entertainment industry's indifference to (and occasional active efforts to weaken) a strong Asian cultural identity and
(2) the media establishment's unspoken campaign to make the war in Iraq look as bad as possible.
Both topics are near and dear to me. On the first, my hope is that my children will not have to go through the crap I did as an adolescent (e.g., the movie 16 Candles is funny unless the only person that looks anything like you is a punch line).
On the second, the Iraqi's had successful and historic democratic vote this weekend. A vote to decide on their own constitution and a vote that was secured largely by Iraqi forces. Had there been more bombings or a low turnout, all the major news outlets would have jumped to declare failure but since it was success, the media has decided to mention it in passing. Why doesn't this surprise me. 10月12日 Thoughts on new vehicle so farlove the audi.
favorite features so far: -butt warmers -gps navigation -quattro in the rain -gorgeous paint job -memory seats
features i'm not too happy with: -back seat leg room -intermittent wipers (they seem to try and be smart by adjusting based on vehicle speed but just keep me guessing) -91+ octane gas requirement (filled up the tank today for $36...ouch)
wild card feature: -rear facing fog light which has a warning that it hurts people's eyes (tempted to use this for tail gaters and when i need to merge on to I5 from 520W)
10月10日 Lessons from a recent car seller/buyerSo I very recently sold my old car and leased a new one. Learned a lot of lessons, here are some for you:
1. Try to sell your used car directly before even contemplating a trade. I was offered $3,500 and $2,900 by the dealers and then posted it on Craigslist for $5,750 and had 6 people ask to take a look within 4 hours and sold it to the first person who test drove it for full price the next day.
2. Get quotes on the new car from at least two dealers. One Audi dealer quoted us $600 a month and another quoted us $500 a month for the same car and same lease.
3. Don't equate list price with purchase price. The Acura we looked at had a list price of $30k but the payments were $7k down and $400 a month versus the Audi which was $0 down and $500 a month even though the list price of the Audi was $40k.
4. Test drive the A4. It's a blast to drive and is much nicer than my '99 Mazda Protege. 9月29日 Dude, there are ants in the soil...So here's an interesting situation. I'm visiting my mom and she asked me to help her pot a plant that she's planning on giving as a housewarming gift to my cousin. Of course, I said absolutely.
As we put the plant in a nicer, larger pot, I don't think she thought through how the drainage would work but instead of debating over the finer points of plant irrigation, I defered to her pov (she was very anxious to get it done her way). Then, I asked for potting soil as the new pot was bigger than the old one and she said no problem and that she had some outside. She came back with an old pot that had soil in it and as she poured it into the new pot, I saw hundreds of tiny ants crawling all over it. When I raised this as an issue, she said don't worry and kept proceeding to pour this anty dirt over the nice new plant.
Of course, this presented me with an interesting dimemna. Do I push back and insist we get nice new potting soil and get rid of the old, anty soil and risk really upsetting my mom (who wants their son to tell them what to do) or do I grin and bear it and be an accomplice to a house plant gift to my cousin that is full of ants... 9月27日 Who needs innovation?So I'm visiting my mom in NJ with Wendy this week and on our way there Wendy bought the latest issue of Cosmo.
Having read many of these alongside her on our plane rides, I have come to the very clear conclusion that Cosmo (and prob lots of their competitors) are foisting the same content on their customers with only the slightest effort to make each issue appear different.
Here are the past, current, and future articles that are and will be in every copy of Cosmo which people continue to buy (for what reason I have no idea):
1. How to have amazing sex / 10 ways to satisfy your man / secrets from the bedroom
2. Is he the one? / How to tell if your man is a keeper / 5 signs of a failing relationship
3. 10 tips to get ready for swimsuit season / tight abs in 14 days
4. lots of racy ads, tons of perfume, and a bunch of letters from readers about cheating or being cheated on
9月25日 Big week for meSo last week was a pretty big week for me. After brooding over it for months, I decided to resign from my current job and take on a new role at a start up. It was a very taxing process for me since I wasn't necessarily unhappy at my former job.
In fact, my mom and brother were really nervous since the last time I made a decision like this (leaving Harvard for a start up in Singapore in 1999), everything hit the fan. While I wish my last start up were a commercial success, I did learn a ton (lesson #1: being a COO at age 24 is a very tall order not to be attempted by x-consultants). One of these days, I'll blog about all the mistakes I made if people are curious, it's a long list.
Ok, back to my latest decision. Even though the benefits, job security, sheer gloabl impact, and amazing colleages were huge reasons not to leave, I ultimately decided it was time to move on to a different kind of challenge. After many midnight cigars on the balcony and long walks with the dog, I came to the conclusion I could potentially go farther faster and with more upside at a 20 person company. Of course, I could crash and burn as well but since I have no kids right now, this seemed to be the right time to take on that kind of risk.
Now, as I sit at my wife's computer (I handed over my beloved Tablet PC on my last day), I have to say a big part of me was really moved by all the nice things people said the day I left. My boss got our team together for some beer and chips and then we went to Korean BBQ - I felt like I was leaving a family. I also got lots of really nice IM's, emails, and even our VP took the time to post a comment on my space - clearly, I was leaving a very special group of people. I'll miss them.
Anyway, we'll see what happens at my new place. I will definitely miss my old crew but something tells me it won't be the last I've seen of them.
9月18日 Ichiro Worship = not really worship?I recently was given a pair of tickets to a Mariner's game by my colleague Cynthia and took Wendy to her first MLB game with super good seats just behind home plate. It was my 3rd game ever and Wendy's first and I have to say the seat quality makes a huge difference. Since the M's killed the A's, that made the game much more entertaining as well. The cost for hot dogs and ice cream on the other hand was a bit pricey but I'm guessing the rent isn't cheap.
Anyway, when I IM'd Cynthia the next day to thank her, I mentioned how it was so cool to see all the caucasian people rooting for Ichiro. I told her I'd be very surprised to see that happening back in Boston (where I used to live). While I met many super accepting Bostonians, the perceptions of Asians by some folks in Boston is not as progressive as it can be in the west coast.
Interestingly enough, Cynthia mentioned that she hoped people were genuinely rooting for him as opposed to looking at him as a bit of a caricature. She mentioned there was a chance there might be some sort of Al Jolson thing going on. Oddly enough, as a paranoid Asian American, I was suprised I didn't raise this as a question but I have to say seeing so many little kids with Ichiro shirts - even if they are rooting for him with an odd sense of entertainment - its still progress. 9月4日 Signs my dog is more human than wolfCheck out this picture. Clearly, the dog has learned to expect certain creature comforts in life such as a pillow for her head. Also, she rarely will go all the way into the car on her own but will only put her front two feet on the seat and wait for you to lift her up. Lastly, she made me carry her up 7 flights of stairs during a fire alarm in our building a few months ago due to an alleged fear of stairs which I'm beginning to question as well.
My point is has this lab and all her ancestors been in captivity for so long that she'd be mocked by her wolf peers in the wild or could she snap out of it if she had to and become the wild canine she'd need to be? |
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