Puzzle Hunt Weekend!

This is one of the best weekend I had in a long time. I joined a team for our semiannual company Puzzle Hunt weekend. It is a great traditional here where people divide into groups of no more than 12 and do a 48 hour puzzle hunt marathon. The puzzles are devised by the previous' year's winners over couple months and they are extremely complex and entertaining (and totally geeky!). This year's theme is Atlantean Culture and all the puzzles are devised to solve 5 meta puzzles that will lead us to the Atlantean WMD that is going to destroy the world at 6 pm on Sunday. There were 72 teams involved. That is close to 1000 people all together. We completely took over buildings on main campus and it was a hard fight to schedule a conference room as our headquarters. But we managed to secure a building right across from the Puzzle Hunt headquarters for easy retrieval of puzzles ( they are released throughout the day to teams based on their progress). I haven't done puzzles in a long time so it was very hard to get into that frame of mind at first but soon I was pretty engrossed in it. The puzzles are extremely complicated in that they require 15 steps to arrive at the final answer which is then used to solve the bigger meta puzzle. This is often frustrating as I was only able to go through the first 3 steps before i am stuck and have to move on to something else. The first meta puzzle came in the form of 6 foam squares with intricate holes cut into them, we had to figure out 10 smaller puzzles and use their answer to assembly the squares and then at the end, pour seed down the top of them so that they go through the right holes and form a phone number at the buttom which we can call to get the next clue. I wish I had a picture.


There is nothing more fun than being in the same room as 10 other nerds for 14 hours straight solving puzzles! I don't even think I ate food on Saturday because we are concentrating so hard we don't notice the time pass by. Our team was by no means the best as we came in 55/72 in the final rankings and we were only able to solve maybe 1/3 of the puzzles but it was still a great time. I think I will definitely do it again in the fall!

ETA: I just remembered something else, besides word and math puzzles, there were also spacial puzzles like assembling a celtic knot. The field puzzles including diving down the gym pool to retrive a clue and figure out buildings from sketches and go there to look at the windows for clues. So we did get some exercise haha.

crazy cars

I am normally not a car enthusiast at all. My understanding of cars stays at "Japanese cars are small, American cars are big!!" level. But this video of a Bugatti Veyron doing 250 miles an hour impressed even me. That is going the length of a football field every second!!. Of course it is totally unpractical even without a speed limit, since the tires would burn out in 15 minutes and gas in 12. Now if they can only make wear resistant tires.

Pan's Labyrinth

Ok so I finally saw the movie tonight. I am totally depressed now. *shake fists at all eloquent movie reviewers*. I guess they did warn you by showing you the girl at the beginning but I still managed to tear up at the end. The movie deserves all its accolades and praises. It is superbly done and very well acted. The Captain was incredibly convincing. Ofelia was lovely, especially the part where she tells the story to her brother. I think one thing that struck me the most about this movie is that despite its fantasy elements, it is still full of realism at heart. This is not some sanitized Hollywood violence but cold and harsh realities of the cruelty of men. I keep cringing at the various parts but I appreciate their efforts to keep it real so to speak. I mean if I was tied up in that barn with the Captain behind me, I would be full of despair too knowing that there won't be some miraculous rescue to save me from fate worse than death. It is amazing what human beings will do to one another. I also had a hard time trying to understand all the symbolisms from the fantasy side. Do they have counterparts in reality or not. One of my favorite things is the soundtrack. It was hauntingly beautiful and I think without it, the movie would not have been so sad and poignant. So I have to agree with everyone and rate it 100!. I love the fact that it was subbed and not dubbed, because bad dubbing could have totally ruined it since there are so much dialog. I spent a little bit of time trying to see how much I can understand the dialog without looking at the sub, but give up soon hehe.

That is another one off my list, oh one more thing, I got CARDED when I was buying the movie ticket because it was rated R. *headdesk*

Pseudo science for sale

Came across this article yesterday while I was reading about the new climate report on Global Warming that IPCC is coming out with today: Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study.

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.
Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). ...etc.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this lunacy of politics trying to dictate science. I think the administration does not understand that wishful thinking and reality are two different things. You can't make reality come out your way just by throwing money at it (well I guess really you can temporarily but catastrophy is not far behind). The art of pseudoscience has reached its zenith here in the U.S. with the hugely successful process of establishing a organization with a neutral and vague name such as the American Enterprise Insitute, hide your funding source and then start to put out "scientific papers" with enough jargon to impress even the most skeptical media (those are hard to come by as it is). With any luck, you will start being quoted as an authority on this subject and your agenda will be on its way to the top.

So here is what I propose as our new money making scheme, we should totally register a nonprofit think tank, lets say named "Climate Research and Prediction" institute. Then we can spend couple hours making up some papers about how the glaciers are not melting off and a warmer Earth will really be better for the tourism industry. Voila, 10 grand in the pocket! It is that easy!

I am pretty sick of the pseudoscience agenda being advanced by the people like the "CO2 is our friend" American Enterprise Institute, the "All we need is more troops in Iraq" Heritage Foundation, and especially the "Evolution is just a theory" Discovery Institute. It is bad enough that they have faked their way to the top of the stack, it is even worse when they get quoted wholesale by Media. Stop this madness!!

Idol update

I saw the classiest audition on Idol yet last night. 60 years old Sherman Pore went to audition for his "lady" who passed away from cancer just two days before. It was such a sweet moment, very rare in a show that has gotten increasingly vulgar.

In other news, "someone" was asking for an update on my favoritest singer in the world Clay Aiken yesterday so I thought I would copy over his blog post on clayonline.com from today. He isn't doing much these days but he is definitely keeping himself amused. :) and he will be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Feb 14th. When those two get together, you know there will be some mayhem.

02/01/07 : Lend a Helping Hand

It seems over the past few weeks, the tabloids and gossip mongers have had their hands full coming up with new and exciting "scandals" for me to be a part of. Yet, for all of their efforts to be on the "cutting edge" and the forefront of bull$#@& journalism, it seems that some of them may be running out of ideas and resorting to recycling and re-hashing some of their older tall tales. How sad!?
With this in mind, we thought maybe we would try to give them a finger.... er.. a hand.
For all of the contests that we hold here on the OFC, this one promises to be one of my favorites.
Build-Your-Own-Scandal!
That's right! Let's show off the creative abilities of the greatest group of fans on Earth.
The contest is simple, but will require some thinking and planning...

Come up with the most outlandish story you can that places me (either alone or with others close to me) in a really juicy/tawdry/scandalous/shameful story.
Then, use any photos, videos, audio clips of me that you can find along with your favorite multimedia enhancing/"doctoring" program (like a PhotoShop or a sound/video editor) to create your "evidence"!
Maybe you have "pictures" of me being "abducted by oversized turnips"... or ... "video" of me "dancing with a three legged gorilla". Be creative!

You'll submit your "story" and "evidence" to an address that you'll find online here at the OFC very soon.

I'll personally pick the "story" that not only is most creative, but has the most CONVINCING and REALISTIC looking "evidence"!
(It obviously can't be that hard to come up with!)

The winner(s) will be featured here... PLUS... there will be a great prize to go along with the honor of being the creator of "Scandal 2007"

This one is gonna be fun!!

Feel free to get started thinking...but, keep your eye out for details on rules/requirements for entry and deadlines and prizes. they be announced here soon.

Happy Fabricating!!

c

Current Mood: Excited

inspired

I was doing my boring old routine of tv watching yesterday when I came across Chris Sligh auditioning for American Idol. I was truly impressed by his sense of humor and his good vocals. It is a breath of fresh air after hours of boring old "I know I am a star" wannabes. This is the first guy this season that I am actually kind of interested in. I think he will bring some liveliness to the show if he ever makes it to the voting rounds. Not that I would actually vote mind you ;)

I was also impressed by the almost technically perfect long program skated by Evan Lysacek at the U.S. Nationals last week. He was totally not the favorite. But he deserved his gold metal after that completely inspired performance. I got goosebumps watching him. It was probably the best skate he has ever done!

So here is a toast to inspirational performances and future potential stars! They may never win that elusive gold but they sure made an impression.

random movie post

This weekend I was able to catch The Queen and Dreamgirls in the theatre. They are almost exact opposite in terms of story and style. The Queen is very much British, quiet and dignified, almost done in a documentary style. Helen Mirren was absolutely brilliant as the Queen of England. The story is about what happened in the royal family the week after Princess Diana died. It is a struggle between old Monarchy traditions of noncompromise and the new way of people power as the Queen refuse to honor Princess Diana who is no longer a part of the royal family but the people of Britain willed it to be so. It is very interesting story and as I was watching, I keep wondering how the filmmakers know that this is indeed what happened since all people involved are still living. I mean how do they know the Queen didn't want the flag to be at half mast until Tony Blair basically scared her about the abolishment of the Monarchy. Do they have actual sources for these things?

Dreamgirls was all glamour and glitz, full of sassy attitude. A typical rise of the band group, fall of the band group story with lots of good music. Although I suppose there were actually a little too much singing and not enough story telling. There wasn't any depth to any of the characters, only a brief sketch. Of course the breakout star is Jennifer Hudson, the 3rd place of American Idol 3. She really was very good in there, not bad for her first movie (won Golden Globe and SAG).

So I am 2 down on my Oscar movie list. I have decided I should catch up on all the good movies before award night. Of course I already missed some but I still hope to see these:

Children of Men - I heard the cinematography was very good
Pan's Labyrinth - comes with Tochi's high recommendation
The Last King of Scotland - a pretty rare subject
Babel - This one was nominated for best film, although I have a feeling it is going to have a bad ending.

While I am on this subject, I suppose I should list some of the movies I am looking forward to this year if nothing else, it will force me to remember watching them. From the list it looks like it will be a summer of sequels and superheroes again. how unoriginal...

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix - Must finish the series!
Spider-Man 3- The only superhero movie I am going to see, I am already tired of all of them (Batman vs Superman, kill me now).
Transformers - I recently saw the trailer for this, you guys have to check it out, it look awesome!
The Simpsons Movie - gotta see
Pirates of The Caribbean 3 - must ..see..Orli...

Now that I see my list, it all seems to be big budget commercial blockbusters. I hope at least to see one or two good independent movie as well.

The fantastic David Copperfield.

I happen to come upon last minute tickets to David Copperfield tour last night so M and I went today to check it out. M is such a fan of him since she has been watching him since years ago. The show was actually in a tiny beautiful theatre (the same place they usually have small pop concerts). It was completely packed and the show was pretty awesome although a little short, only one and half hours without intermission. This show's scale was pretty small as it is but Copperfield was able to do some pretty amazing things like materialize on a motorcycle in a matter of 2 seconds, make a Lincoln convertible appear in midair and walk through a concrete slab of steel. Now, I have never been to real serious magic show before but I have seen it enough on TV to not be completely awe struck. But I still got goosebumps when I watched him complete these amazing illusions in real time. In my mind I know it is of course all trickery but you really can't tell at all. M was quite impressed as well although she wished the show scale was even bigger. One funny thing is that they played alot of montages at the beginning and during the show, I guess to pass the time as they get ready. It is all clips of people praising how cool David Copperfield is in various magazines, tv shows, etc. Copperfield said the montage is called "David Copperfield is fantastic!!!" lol, that was cute. Also, when they picked audience members, they always pick young and beautiful ladies and He flirts with them everytime. lol.

My day in court

Well ok, it was more like a small room with chairs. I went today to my mitigation hearing to see if I can defer my "inattention to driving" traffic ticket. I have never been to municipal court before so it was quite an interesting experience. I had to be there by 8:45 which of course is an ungodly hour to get up but can't be late for court I guess. When I got there, I had to sit with about 20 other people that also has mitigation hearings today. They piled us into a small court room with one judge and one clerk. Then we each get called up to plead our case to the judge who then decide whether to reduce our penalty. They called alphabetically so I am pretty late in the list so I got to hear everybody else beg for forgiveness first. The judge was actually quite lenient, she almost always reduced your fine even if your excuse is as lame as "I didn't see the speed sign". Most people were there for speeding tickets. There was one girl that was there for a carpool violation. She pleaded her case that she doesn't have any money to pay for the fine. The judge asked why she was in the carpool lane when she wasn't suppose to be. She mumbled something about forgetting she didn't have kids in the car that day. Her circumstances was quite desperate in that she has no income and 2 kids to support. But then the judge asked her why she has a previous carpool violation. She couldn't say anything. By then I can hear the entire room thinking "if you have no money, then stop getting traffic tickets by driving in the carpool lane!!". The judge was nice though and she got away with 10 hours of community service. Two people got their ticket dismissed because the police didn't file on time ( lucky!!). There was one russian guy there who needed a translator to tell him he couldn't get deferral because he has a commercial license. A seatbelt violator who got penalty reduced. When it was my turn, I went up there and asked for deferral, which is basically I pay 100 dollars, and then if I don't do anything stupid for a year, they will dismiss my ticket. The judge was super nice in that she then saw my ticket was for 500 dollars and she promptly reduced it to 101 dollars like everyone else. I didn't even have to ask for that. So all in all, it turned out to be a nice day. So going to court was not as scary as I thought and a million people imed me to ask how come I am at work so early (so bad for my image). :)

coolness!

Ok. Velius totally need to get THIS for our next party. What is more fun than hearing Simon trash talk after each round! :)

going Medieval?

I saw this little thing on Yahoo news today.

Marni: Leggings Are the New Must-Have
Milan - Now I know there are many out there who will think I have lost it when I write that a key, new must-have for men this coming fall will be a pair of leggings to be worn outside, not just in, the house, but that was the big message at the debut Marni men's runway show this morning in Milan....etc etc.

I realize fashion world is always a few steps ahead of the normal people but this is perhaps going too much over. I can't imagine when it will be considered fashionable for guys to wear tights again, although I am sure it is quite warm.

Car: meet Hill

This is pretty awesome: Cars meeting snowy hill

I am filled with more smugness than I am allowed since this is Portland and not us :)

Nodame Cantabile

So I was checking out my regular download website today when I noticed they updated their anime section with a new series, Episode 1 of Nodame Cantabile. Some of you anime guys may know of it. It is the story of a brilliant music student who is afraid of flying and another quirky music student who apparently lives in garbage all day because she is incredibly messy (hmm sounds like someone I know *cough*). The manga came first, and then they made the live action series and this is the anime version. I downloaded it to see what it is like and it is quite cute. They play lovely classical music as background and it has some very cute and funny scenes. Although I don't really get Japaneses' European envy. The main guy wants to give up music because he can't fly to Europe to continue his education. It can't be that bad? So far I like the first episode. I am thinking the anime would be cuter to watch than the live action series because how can they play the garbage girl in real life and still make her cute and desirable? In anime you can do such things. Anyway, nobody spoil me the storyline but I hope it is a good ending :)

Just something interesting

Pachebel's Rant (A comedian rants about how much it sucks to play Pachelbel's Canon in D on a cello. Recorded live at Penn State, this piece by comedian/musician Rob Paravonian has been a favorite on the Dr. Demento Show)



This is more of a rant on the similarities of most pop music chords than Pachebel's Canon. I suddenly remembered Kaz's post about pop music earlier that talks about album sales being way down and "How To Save A Life" is #1 digital download of the year. I totally agree with him about the songs. I am sure there are several reasons why music sales sucks, one being they make you buy the package deal where most song sucks. One other being how music companies are such giant conglomerate now they just worry about their bottom line so they don't bother actually promoting good music. But the one thing that annoys me is how every song sounds alike. The defining characters tics of our generation's popular music is not how it is hip hop or boy bands or pop princesses, it is how it is all so damn repetitive. Every single song has the format "A A B B C C A B" repeat ad nauseum. I am sure they have some formula going in the backroom that says this song is going to be a hit because we will be playing it 50 times an hour and it will be so catchy it can't help being a hit. But of course it will be a hit for 2 weeks and nobody will ever think of it again except in the numerous end-of-the-year lists they put out.

Do not walk in Snow Storm with Khaki's On

Well, Storm #2 ripped through fast and furious this afternoon. In fact it came so fast I didn't realize it was snowing until M called and I looked out the window. Rice sized hail covered my car as I drove it out, it is actually kind of fascinating since they are completely dry and have the consistency of foam. Not really something you associate with Hail. After 3 hours in the snow driving home, I learned a couple of things:

1: My car cannot climb hills in the snow
2: I can't parallel park without help
3: Do not walk in snow storm with khaki pants on.

After leaving my car badly parked underneath hill #1 going towards my house. I decided it was a good idea to walk the rest of the way which includes hill #1, hill #2 and hill #3. I estimated about an hour and half of walking since I walked hill #3 before. I had my down jacket on so I know I will be warm. What I didn't think of is that I am wearing thin khaki pants, which got cold, and then wet and then it froze. About half an hour later on hill #2, I realized I can't feel my legs anymore. All kind of nightmarish thoughts crossed my mind about frozen tissue and amputation. So when a pair of nice ladies drove by and decided to give this poor person a ride, I jumped at the chance. Bless them! So I arrived home safe and sound. My legs were completely red as if sun burnt when I got inside and I had to run hot water over them. But hey, at least I still have them :)

oh and I guess this means no work tomorrow =P

Death of Mr. Noodle

Mr Noodle (NY Times):

"But no. Momofuku Ando, who died in Ikeda, near Osaka, at 96, was looking for cheap, decent food for the working class when he invented ramen noodles all by himself in 1958. His product — fried, dried and sold in little plastic-wrapped bricks or foam cups — turned the company he founded, Nissin Foods, into a global giant. According to the company’s Web site, instant ramen satisfies more than 100 million people a day. Aggregate servings of the company’s signature brand, Cup Noodles, reached 25 billion worldwide in 2006."

A moment of silence to the greatest man ever lived, who kept me from starving in College.

old memories

I was watching sci-fi during dinner and I found out they are rerunning the Enterprise series again. 4 episodes today alone. The intro to that was so beautiful and well done. They completely veered away from the symphonic intro with shots of the ship and instead went with an actual song and a history montage. it still gives me a little goosebump when I see it. Too bad the series never lived up to its potential. I remember when it first came out, I was so excited because they had so much history, so much story to tell and it could potentially connect to the rest of the series and make one continuous story arc. I still remember the first time they used a tractor beam on something. It is like the start of that long road that ultimately ended in the Delta Quadrant with Voyager. But the writers were so unimaginative I was soon disappointed. However, the intro still rocked. I especially liked how they incorporated the sail ships, the space shuttle and the launch of the first warp drive (in ST verse). Nicely done!

The ingenuity of Men

So I casually went to Amazon.com today to check some stuff out when I noticed that I have a "plog" with one post in it flashing on the top right corner. I am assuming plog = product blog? So I clicked on it as I am quite curious except when it involves pinatas and shovels. The post is some random product recommendation that Amazon apparently thought I really needed. Among them is this littel gem. I can already imagine hours of amusement with this piece of hardware.

identity theft

This morning I woke up and missed a call on my cell. The number said 928 *******. I thought, hmm I don't know anyone with that number. I called back and a lady answered to the *** Police Department. Now I am really confused since this is a number in Arizona. I couldn't tell them who called me so I had to hang up. After I talked Velius to ensure that Ender didn't die some horrible grisly death(sorry Ender) in the middle of the night and they need me for a witness. I decided to forget about it and go to work.

I just got called again and apparently it is the BullHead City Police Department, who tried but were unable to catch this person using an ID with my name and my bank account # trying to cash a check at BofA. In short, I am a victim of that often heard but scarcely seen crime, Identity Theft. Apparently my old company lost a whole bunch of employee information earlier this year and several people have gotten hurt. I just checked my bank and it seems to still have the measly amount I have left in it after I bought my car. I still gotta call the credit company and put a 'fraud alert' on my credit rating. How lovely....

THe funny thing is, the bank smelled something suspicious when they saw the ID because the name said my name and the holder was an African American woman, which you must admit, is pretty much impossible even in China. So apparently this master criminal ring is smart and yet kinda stupid. THe evil woman got away though, and I curse you the death of a thousand suns.

Applaud Real Life Heroes

New York lauds 'hero from Harlem':

"...Mr. Hollopeter, a student at the New York Film Academy, was at the subway station at 137th Street/City College on Tuesday when he suffered a seizure and fell onto the tracks just as a train was approaching. Mr. Autrey was standing on the platform with his daughters and scores of other subway riders when he saw Mr. Hollopeter convulsing on the tracks. As he watched, he thought: “I'm the only one to do it.” He eyed the trough between the rails before jumping on top of the teenager, Mr. Autrey said, and relied on his experience as a construction worker used to “confined spaces” to calculate — in split seconds — that “maybe we have enough clearance.” Before jumping, he said he made sure his daughters were okay and asked two women to hold their hands. The southbound train grazed the top of his hat. He said he and Mr. Hollopeter remained there for 20 minutes while MTA workers shut off the third rail. ..."

Gotta give respect to some real life heroes! I can't imagine the guts it took to do that in front of a speeding train.