My COSTCO experience today...
...can be summed up in one sentence.

Ill-behaved children suck!

Friendster.com is this online 3-degrees of separation kind of web site that shows how everyone can be connected and such. It's a pretty neat thing but an even NEATER thing is their import feature. You can let it go search your msn messenger, outlook, outlook express, and yahoo e-mail address book to add more people to your list.

wicked cool.

So I tried it.

And for the 140 people that got an e-mail from me about it. :) Just go ahead and accept it and we'll see how many people everyone knows.

:)

Have fun!


c.

Some of you may know that I've only read one book since I've graduated from college. I find it difficult to justify reading some books and I really don't understand how people can keep reading the DaVinci Code and other story books. It's so childish! It's like reading the Lord of the Rings books or playing video games for unimaginable times at a sitting. What a waste!

I tend to get my information regarding the world from a few main sources.

- news.google.com
- my monthly subscription to business2.0 and its online form.
- my monthly subscription to inc and it's online form.
- the occasional purchase of fast company and fortune.

The thing about my sources of information are that they're fairly current and what I noticed from the golf magazines that I read in high school is that if the article is about business management then they all circulate around a core sense of values and guidelines and human nature. If the articles are about new products/services/markets that are emerging then the information is always fresh and new and the subject matter is usually about how society uses technology or interacts with new services/markets.

In essence, I'm 26 years old and I'm so torn in life. I've been tossed a ton of marketing garbage from MTV and any company that produces something that runs on batteries that costs over 200 bucks and the image conscious people on clublexus.com who race out their luxury cars and for some reason it makes me want to race out mine at times. I hate it when I buy into that fluff because I feel like a whore to society's marketing masters. I become a consumer. Dead weight. Part of the problem and not part of the solution in being someone that generates ideas, products, services. I hate it.

All of these feelings I've been experiencing lately are centralized around my internal desire to learn. I am ALWAYS soaking up information. I enjoy learning and I would love to learn programming, db management, sql, php... but the most successful person in a company or in their own company is the person who can bring ideas together, hire those that can help make those ideas come to fruition, and be dedicated to ensuring the workplace and the entire experience of working with them has a high satisfaction rating by the employees/outsourced services vendors.

Long story even longer... I've dedicated myself to reading two books.

1) Corporate Religion: Building a Strong Company Through Personality and Corporate.
2) Maslow on Management.

I'm just waiting for Amazon to send them to my house and I'll be staying in more often to read my books.

In other news, I thought of a new business model that I believe can make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and be manageable enough that I could help start it.

Wish me luck in my due diligence to create a 'service road map'.

Had to get some powertools for the house. The batteries to my old set are fried and they lasted 3 years. Not bad!



Drill: Die cast 24-position torque adjustment ring controls torque output. 1/2'' heavy duty keyless chuck for quick and easy bit changes. 2-speed transmission for high torque applications. 2-position level with removable top mount for convenience and accuracy. Circular Saw: 5-1/2'' carbide tipped blade for longer blade life. Left side blade provides better cut line visibility. Forward located spindle lock for quick and easy blade changes. Flashlight: Adjustable head for directing light where needed. Screw off lens for quick and easy bulb changes. Includes drill with 2 double-ended screwdriver bits, trim saw with carbide tipped blade and edge guide, flashlight, 2 rechargeable battery packs, 1-hour diagnostic charger, and carrying case.


Internet/Catalog # 166917
Store SKU# 339208

Do you even realize what I could do with these tools???

- change all the light switches in the house.
- cut up wood boards for fire.
- make a subwoofer box for my two stock lexus subs in the garage (just need a reciprocating saw or a spiral saw).
- host my own 'while you were out' show for Brian.
- make a table.

Ever remember something entirely random from your childhood? I was watching tv the other day and I remembered something from 4th grade.

At my grade school, once everyone at the table was done eating we had to wait for teachers to come over and dismiss the students from the table. Once we were dismissed from the table, we had to take our trash to the trash and turn in our trays before we could go play on the playground. Well I noticed something one day. I noticed that my table always consisted of the same friends each day and that we were all duplicating our efforts to take our crap to the trash and turn in our trays. So I assigned 4 of my buddies to take ALL of our trays and trash on different days of the week. This would effectively let the rest of us 4 go out to the playground a lot sooner.

I was a streamlining lil kid in the 4th grade!!

Driving in traffic to a reception.
So I was driving to the reception for my cousin's wedding and I was stuck in traffic. I was pretty frustrated beacause I had JUST driven to the wedding in traffic and I actually MISSED the wedding because of it.

So here I was again and I was cussing at the car in front of me because it was going so slow.

I finally got there and one of my relatives came up to me and asked what kind of car I drove because they passed someone who was cussing in the car.

Note to self: Stop cussing at the traffic or roll up the window.

Update from the treo
Had a bad dream last night. I dreamt I broke my wide angle lens on my camera. :(

Maybe a prediction that my view of the world will change?

So I went to the Jeep dealership and they were all out of the compasses. But - that's ok because they were giving away BBQ tool kits or whatever you call them. I got my kit and took off before the sales guys could talk me into a test drive.

I'm so sneaky like that. I know their tactics.

So then I went to Crate&Barrel to pick up something for my cousin's wedding. I've been to 5 weddings so far this year and I really really believe that everyone likes to register at C&B. It must be a default thing. I wonder where my future wife and I will want to register. The first place that comes to mind: COSTCO!! You could get EVERYTHING!! And it wouldn't set your guests back a chunk of cash...

I'm a pretty simple guy when it comes to housewares. All I have are 8 plates, 8 bowls, 4 sets of silverware (my dining table only has room for 3) and a ton of glassware from C&B. Come to think of it, I actually don't need anything!

So anyway- I picked up 3 vases and a bread basket from C&B. Totally froofroo stuff if you ask me. But - meh- not my call and not my house.

Ok- it's late. I gotta shower and then head to bed.

So tonight I thought it was going to be super chill. Just hang out at home- do nothing - wash clothes, watch MTV's True Life tonight because they're doing a special on rallying to LA. But sadly no... my night consists of shopping for my cousin's wedding tomorrow.

Meh.

And... picking up a compass from the Jeep dealership in Scottsdale. It's a free gift. sweeeeeeeeeeet.

Later!

Sitting here at the Biltmore...
So Zach and I are sitting at the Coffee Plantation and we see this huge dog. An Irish Wolfhound that was literally bigger than pledges in the fraternity.

So this guy sitting here says:

"you know what they say about guys with big dogs?"

And I quickly reply:

"lotsa peanutbutter?"

And we all just bust out laughing.

Hahahahahahahaha!!!

Funny post on Craigslist.

Hahahahaha!!

pizane24 (1:34:18 AM): therefore, it would be the teapot calling the kettle black
pizane24 (1:34:29 AM): you = teapot me = kettle
cliffibearhug (1:34:56 AM): so are you calling me a little teapot?
cliffibearhug (1:35:01 AM): a black teapot?
pizane24 (1:35:06 AM): yes, clifford, i'm calling you a teapot
pizane24 (1:35:12 AM): and no i'm not calling you a black teapot

The conversations had at 1am...

So I had a couple of macadamia nuts today at work and had a deathly allergic reaction. I had puffy eyes, puffy face, itchy hands, my throat swelled up, and then the security team at work called 911 and the firetruck and amulance came and we all went to the emergency room.

Luckily one of the guys had some anti-histamine pills that I took within 10 minutes and after that I was feeling ok.

Note to self: Don't eat macadamia nuts and get allergy check to see what else I'm allergic to... so far it's shrimp and macadamia nuts. Two wonderful foods!! Crap!

Anyway, thank you Mom and Dad for coming to see me at the hospital. Loves ya lots.

The past few days have been a blur. I remmeber ending the work week last week and going home to do laundry and stuff.

Friday I woke up to clean the pool, the house, the garage, the car, the yard, went to work for a little bit, and then went to my parent's house to celebrate my Dad's 56th birthday.

Saturday I woke up early and packed a few things for my camping trip with the fraternity. I was accompanied by two pledges, Doug and Scott, and Joanna, an active. We watched the Recruit on the way up but the three of them fell asleep as we sped farther and farther north, passing Payson and then passing a small town called Strawberry. We got to the camping grounds and after settling in, I did a few interviews with some pledges, chopped up firewood for the group, and then we cooked and had dinner. Saturday night's festivities were great and although I've been to many retreats in the past, they're always something that put a smile on my face. 291 digital photos and 4 digital videos later, my cameras were dead tired.

Sunday morning I woke up and looked around. We burned all of our firewood, and we packed up our things and headed home. Everyone on the trip home were sleepy. I went to work from noon to 9pm and then headed home a very sleepy man. As I got home, I really realized how dirty my car was from retreat so I vacuumed the car, wiped the entire interior, and then I got a call from someone from the fraternity. It was an important call that called for an impromptu meeting at 10pm. I went, met, talked, brainstormed, and got home at 12:30am. I was tired but I had to compose some e-mails to the fraternity so I wrote out my thoughts, did some laundry, watched a movie, and then sent off my e-mails at 4am. Fell asleep at 4:01am and woke up at 11:40am to go to work again.

Monday is today. Well, was today. It's technically Tuesday now but I am now just starting to process all the photos from the camping trip. What I find amazing is that I have found a way to compress a 93MB .MOV file from my digital camera to a 4MB flash file that can be seen on just about any browser in the world. The flash file looks good, has sound, and is so much more compact than the original file. Technology is faaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic.

All right. I'm super sleepy and my brain is mush. Time for sleep.

I'd seriously question if this is true but some fans of Martha Stewart's are willing to serve time on behalf of Martha.

Here's a quick quote: "If Martha's lawyers can arrange it in time and the judge would allow it, I would like to offer to serve her time for her. I don't see how anyone will benefit by putting her behind bars as it will affect a lot of people. Five months wouldn't be a long time for me and I would be glad to help her. I think she got a bum rap since she isn't convicted of insider trading but of vocalizing her innocence. I thought that was her right as an American." "I wish that there was a way, for each of us who are willing, to do a day or a partial day of her time until the five months are over. That way Martha could stay working and living her life her way continuing to do what she and all of us love..."

And she would learn what from her prison time?

What moron would say all this?

Source

So I haven't updated in a while... I've been pretty busy putting together a more professional site for myself and it's although it's pretty bland, it's vanilla enough so that anyone looking up my information wouldn't think I'm a wild man. You can check it out here: cliffordwong.com

Update on the mosquito bites from last week... yeah- they're still there.

Another thing... today I was looking at my eyes in the mirror and I noticed that there were little tears (not like crying...) in the irises of eyes.

Check it out!




Crazy huh?

Some of you know I've been going out and doing amatuer photography and some of you lucky ones have seen my photos.

They're located on SXC.HU here: My Photos

And here are the stats from the site:

You have 35 photos online. Your photos have been downloaded 0 times before 12 February 2004 and 764 times since then (764 altogether).

Not bad considering I've only been taking photos for a month!

2 Things:

1) Went to the drive in movie last night feeling good. Came back home with a dozen mosquito bites.

Some good information about the West Nile Virus. It just kind of drew my attention seeing that I had mosquito bites. I read the symptoms. It should list 'Frequent scratching and cursing of mosquitos' as one of the possible symptoms.

2) Found a very cool site today. Sun Bloggers! This is a page where many Sun Microsystems employees post their blogs about their lives. What an excellent way for Sun to show that they value their employees by giving them an avenue to exercise their creativity and thoughts!

It's a page like this that shows how a company invests in their employees by making available resources that employees value. Empowering their employees to announce their thoughts and ideas to the world plays on the very basic innate need to be heard. To matter. To leave a mark. I wish more companies offered something like this to their employees.

I like the disclaimer at the bottom... The individuals who post here work at Sun Microsystems. The opinions expressed here are their own, are not necessarily reviewed in advance by anyone but the individual authors, and neither Sun nor any other party necessarily agrees with them.

I especially like the last part: and neither Sun nor any other party necessarily agrees with them.

"...necessarily..."!! :) What a choice word. I don't know why I find it so funny.