#2)

Sunday, May 04, 2003
Posted 8:43 PM by Tommy

It’s time to pass out some senior banquet awards…

Most likely to receive undershirts for his birthday
Billy Ku

Most likely to use a full-length mirror after using the restroom
Christina Ha

Most likely to use the word “verse” without referring to the Bible
David Slum Kim

Most likely to have spent Friday night rolling up dollar bills into lemon cores
Roy Chung

Most likely to appear in the next Wangta Production
David Wee

Most likely to have lost a bet before senior banquet
Andy Chon

Most likely to enjoy senior reception
Kevin Cho

Seriously, senior banquet was so awesome. Thanks to everyone for such a memorable night and for putting in so much hard work. The place, the playing cards, the skits, the slideshow, the outrageous costumes, I could go on and on, but everything was amazing. It was definitely a great look back at the past 4 years, and a great way to cap off college. Thanks again!

#3)

Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Posted 5:34 PM by Tommy

A quick comparison of calculus course numbers at UCI, UCLA, and UC Berkeley:

The sequence is as follows:
Pre-calculus
Single-variable calculus (for non-technical majors)
Single-variable calculus (for technical majors)
Multivariable calculus

UCI:
Math 1A-1B
Math 2A-2B
Math 2A-2B (it's the same course for technical and non-technical majors)
Math 2D-2E

At UCI, Math 2C is a course about infinite series and 3D geometry.

UCLA:
Math 1
Math 3A-3B
Math 31A-31B
Math 32A-32B

At UCLA, Math 2 is a course about matrices and probability.

UC Berkeley:
Math 32
Math 16A-16B
Math 1A-1B
Math 53

I'm sure you could come up with plenty of other examples of how counter-intuitive Berkeley's course numbers are. Does anyone know why?

Here are the solutions to the games posts from Monday and last Thursday (#6 and 9 in the top 10). I heard that these games were too difficult, but there were a few people who solved them when they were originally posted.

#6) The key to the "Before and After" game is getting the first part of the clue. Otherwise, it's really hard to get the second part.

America Online Monopoly- "instant messenger provider hosts FiCB's favorite game in May"
Piedmont Palace Buffet- "popular FiCB apartment complex dines at this meat-lovers' favorite"
Lance Bass Fishing- "Basile Kuo's alter-ego probably doesn't do this as a recreation"
Ida Sproul Fountain- "Unit 3 dorm meets up here before a lunch date"
4 Speed Scrabble (or any number, like 10 Speed Scrabble)- "typical set of gears on a bike plays a short crossword game"

#9) Some of these "Common Bonds" are pretty much impossible unless you're in my class...

Tech- welcoming, service, transpo, outreach, publicity,...
These are all FiCB committees.
Summer Praise And Worship Night (SPAWN)- Summer JAM, STOMP, Summer FiCB,...
Summer FiCB has been called all of these things. STOMP stood for Summer Time Of Mad Praise.
JongMin Choi- Pastor Eugene, Charles Sy, Pastor Ryan, Dr. Park,...
All of these people were featured speakers at FiCB in 2002-2003.
Clark Kerr- Willard, Kleeberger, Strawberry, Oregon,...
These are locations of softball fields in the Berkeley area.
Christina- Sylvia, Isabel, Tommy, G1, Haejin, Eugene, Jae, Mike,...
This group of people lived in the Unit 4 dorms (Foothill, Stern, & Bowles) in 1999-2000.

Another break from the top 10...

Yesterday's thunderstorms were crazy... I went to go pick up Mejeld from the Oakland airport last night, and I saw about 10 lightning flashes while I was waiting. Of course, I was waiting for an hour because the airport had a blackout and his flight (along with 12 others) couldn't land on time.

He called and told me that his flight actually ended up going to Sacramento because of the blackout.

So I was thinking I'd have to pick him up in Sacramento, but fortunately his plane re-fueled and went back to Oakland. I would've had to wait another hour at the airport, so I went home and Allen volunteered to pick him up at 12:30 in the morning.

#4)

Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Posted 4:41 PM by Tommy

Notable quotables from LA Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal:

On whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece:
"I can't really remember the names of all the clubs that we went to."

"I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok."

Before he won 3 championships with the Lakers:
"I've won at every level, except college and pro."

"I'm like the Pythagorean Theorem. Not too many people know the answer to my game."

And believe it or not, it was NOT Shaq who said the following:
"Yeah, I can go to my right and my left. That's because I'm amphibious."
It was some guy named Chris Washburn.

#5)

Sunday, March 09, 2003
Posted 4:09 PM by Tommy

I have a comment on Janet Kwak's blog that is worthy of being posted here:

My theory on when you know you're a Cal Student: if you've memorized the announcement the library people make at 9 and 9:30 PM...

In particular, you'll notice a difference in the two announcements: at 9, they say, "patrons wishing to check out library materials are encouraged to come to the Moffitt circulation desk soon."

At 9:30, they replace that last word soon, with immediately.

Yes, I'm truly a nerd for knowing that.

#6)

Friday, June 20, 2003
Posted 1:27 AM by Tommy

It's time to play "FiCB Before and After," where the end of the first half of the clue is the same as the beginning of the second half of the clue, and the clues relate to FiCB culture.

For example, the answer to "KCPC summer missions goes to the capital of our neighboring country" is New Mexico City

Can you solve the following?
"instant messenger provider hosts FiCB's favorite game in May"
"popular FiCB apartment complex dines at this meat-lovers' favorite"
"Basile Kuo's alter-ego probably doesn't do this as a recreation"
"Unit 3 dorm meets up here before a lunch date"
"typical set of gears on a bike plays a short crossword game"

A one day hiatus in my top 10...

I didn't know this, but apparently Korea is the worldwide leader in high-speed internet.

Koreans pay $27/month for the same 3 megabit-per-second connection that costs Americans $45/month. Some Koreans pay $52 for a 20 mbps connection, which is unavailable in the US.

73% of Koreans have broadband, while only 18% of Americans do. And because of this, Korea is also the online leader in the digital content market, which includes gaming, music, and video.

#7)

Sunday, April 27, 2003
Posted 12:19 PM by Tommy

Next year, I’ll be exploring data as part of my job. In preparation for that, I’ve decided to practice my skills using the Spring 2003 FiCB directory.

Here’s what I’ve found:
-There are 257 names in the directory.
-59% are females.
-69% have their cell phone number listed in the directory. Of course, more people have a cell phone, but some chose not to include their number in the directory.
-38% are freshmen. But the number of freshmen in the directory is always extremely high because freshmen are still deciding on churches.

Most common first initials:
J: 50 (19%)
S: 30 (12%)
E: 27 (11%)

Most common permanent home area codes:
714: 28 (17% of the 166 people who listed their permanent home phone number.)
818: 27 (16%)
562: 24 (14%)

Birth months:
January: 24
February: 26
March: 25
April: 16
May: 21
June: 16
July: 13 (the minimum; 5%)
August: 15
September: 19
October: 14
November: 29 (the maximum; 12% of the 246 people who listed their birthday.)
December: 28

But we already knew that there are more girls than guys, that almost everyone has a cell phone, that there are a lot of freshmen, that Korean parents like to name their kids James, Jennifer, or John, and that almost everyone’s from soCal.

What’s interesting is that there are more birthdays in winter and fewer in the summer and late fall.

#8)

Monday, March 24, 2003
Posted 2:42 PM by Tommy

Fearless forecasts for the 2003 baseball season:

-At the All-Star game, the teams are tied at the end of 14 innings. With no pitchers remaining on either team, commissioner Bud Selig decides to determine the winner by a coin flip.

-Oakland GM Billy Beane pulls off a three-way trade with the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals, acquiring both CF Carlos Beltran and P Mark Buehrle while only giving up some marginal prospects and magic beans. But the A’s lose in the first round in 5 games anyway.

-Barry Bonds hits his 661st career homerun on September 27th, passing Willie Mays for 3rd on the all-time list. The ball bounces to FiCB concession stand worker Fred Lee, who picks it up and dares himself to eat it. Told that the ball is worth $100,000, Fred looks into the TV cameras surrounding him and tries to swallow the ball whole, grossing out the American public in the process.

-Alex Rodriguez of the last-place Texas Rangers hits .350 with 65 HR and 160 RBI but fails to win his first MVP award. The AL MVP goes to Torii Hunter, who hits .300 with 35 HR and 110 RBI but is on the first place Minnesota Twins and is deemed to be "a positive clubhouse influence and an all-around scrappy player."

-The Los Angeles Dodgers squeak into the playoffs on the strength of NL MVP Shawn Green and NL Cy Young winner Eric Gagne. Manager Jim Tracy fields a starting lineup where Green is the only player to hit over .290, have over 20 HR, or have more than 85 RBI.

In Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, Green, suffering from a hamstring injury, limps up to the plate and smashes a dramatic walk-off homerun to send the Dodgers to the World Series. He does this on October 15th, the 15th anniversary of Kirk Gibson’s dramatic homerun.

-In Game 7 of the World Series, the Anaheim Angels employ the Rally Monkey in order to come back from a 7-0 fifth inning deficit and win their second consecutive championship. No Angels starter pitches for more than 5 innings in any of the seven games, but the Angels earn 6 playoff wins from rookie pitcher Bobby Jenks.

#9)

Sunday, June 22, 2003
Posted 12:41 AM by Tommy

More games... now it’s "FiCB Common Bonds," where there’s something missing from the group.

For example, for the group, "Andy, Billy, Roy, Paul,..." the answer is Eugene, the remaining member of the Burbank Boys.

Here’s some more...
-welcoming, service, transpo, outreach, publicity,...
-Summer JAM, STOMP, Summer FiCB,...
-Pastor Eugene, Charles Sy, Pastor Ryan, Dr. Park,...
-Willard, Kleeberger, Strawberry, Oregon,...
-Sylvia, Isabel, Tommy, G1, Haejin, Eugene, Jae, Mike,...

Today marks the one year anniversary of my first post. To commemorate this festive occassion, I'll be re-publishing the top 10 posts of my first year of blogging.

Yes, I'm full of myself, but at least this allows me to take a break from being original...

#10)

Monday, March 17, 2003
Posted 6:39 PM by Tommy

If I were playing Jeopardy! and I could choose the categories, these are what they would be:

1) Baseball analysis theory
2) The rules of Monopoly
3) E-mail etiquette
4) Romans 8
5) Professional sports teams in Anaheim
6) Techniques to beat Minesweeper (the Windows game)
7) FiCB blog culture

In honor of William Hung, here are the lyrics to Ricky Martin's "She Bangs":

Talk to me
Tell me your name
You blow me off like it's all the same
You lit a fuse and now I'm ticking away
Like a bomb
Yeah, Baby

Talk to me
Tell me your sign
You're switching sides like a Gemini
You're playing games and now you're hittin' my heart
Like a drum
Yeah, Baby

Well if Lady Luck gets on my side
We're gonna rock this town alive
I'll let her rough me up
Till she knocks me out
She walks like she talks,
And she talks like she walks

And she bangs, she bangs
Oh baby
When she moves, she moves
I go crazy
'Cause she looks like a flower but she stings like a bee
Like every girl in history
She bangs, she bangs

Top 5 nerdiest concepts in baseball statistics:

5) Replacement level theory.
The concept that baseball talent has a normal distribution-- in the entire population of the world. The major leagues represents the very tail end of that distribution.

4) Marginal cost/win.
A team's payroll efficiency determined by the formula
(Payroll - 25*Major League Minimum)/(Wins-54)
25*Major League Minimum is the least that a team could conceivably spend on payroll, and 54 is the number of wins for a team of replacement players.

3) Defense Independent Pitching Statistics (DIPS).
Has to do with the theory that a pitcher can only control outcomes that are independent of defense-- homeruns, walks, and strikeouts.

2) Pitcher Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm (PECOTA).
Projection system based on comparisons with similar players in baseball history. Based on past production, usage, and phenotypic attributes.

1) The Pythagorean Thereom of baseball.
A team's expected record can be calculated by the formula
(Runs scored)^2/[(Runs scored)^2+(Runs allowed)^2]

The longest paper I've ever written in my life was only 10 pages long. I had to find newspaper articles, quote sources, use footnotes, create a bibliography, and use MLA formatting. But I actually enjoyed writing this research paper because my topic was the 1980 US Olympic hockey team.

Of course I mention this because I watched Miracle, the movie about the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, on its opening night last Friday. This despite remarks by someone who said, "It's gonna be like Mighty Ducks 2..."

It's a bit scary how much I remember from writing that paper... throughout the movie I was checking to see if all the details were correct... And in the end, I was very impressed by how accurate the movie was. They embellished the hits, of course, and the movie was very nationalistic, but that's to be expected.

I appreciated the movie because it was a great tribute to the man who was the driving force behind the greatest sports upset of all time. (I'm not exaggerating... I can't think of a greater upset... the only one that comes to mind is David beating Goliath, but that's not sports.)

I went out to dinner on Saturday with 17 other people for Basile's birthday. The portions at Claim Jumper are ridiculous... even the sides. I'd never seen a biscuit as big as the one I ate, and my baked potato looked like it was grown on a nuclear power plant.

At the end of the night I ended up paying the bill with my credit card... leaving me with the following number of each denomination of currency:

$100: 1
$20: 10
$10: 6
$5: 7
$1: 21

That's a grand total of 42 bills worth $416. I'm just glad my wallet didn't break apart.

OK, so apparently some people can't see the picture from my post on Thursday, so I'll just give you a link to my picture site.

It shouldn't be hard to find the picture since I have a grand total of 1 picture on my site right now.

Wednesday night was one of the few times in life that I appreciated the existence of a large apparel corporation.

My pants length is 28, and I was having a really hard time finding jeans of that length at the San Rafael mall. Most stores only carry lengths of 30 and above, and I was getting annoyed until I walked into Gap. They have a huge selection of jeans, and they even had a size suitable for a 5'6" guy.

I also got a $120 jacket for $20, and then got a $10 discount for giving Gap an old e-mail address...

Yes, I realize that I sound like a girl in this post. But no one's ever accused me of being metro, so I'm not too worried about that.

Yesterday at work our department decided that we would all dress like my manager. It was pretty funny seeing 15 people wearing a polo shirt over a white long-sleeved shirt. I don't think this style is going to catch on, but it was pretty funny seeing middle-aged women in this outfit.

My manager was somewhat flattered when he walked down the hallway and noticed that everyone was mimicking him. He found it funny that we noticed how he dressed and made the effort to coordinate a day where we would all dress like him.

Here's a picture (my manager is seated in the first row, in the middle):



PS Does anyone know why my picture disappears if you hit the refresh button?

I am out of shape.

Exhibit A: I played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of YAG people on Saturday, and I was huffing and puffing after 5 minutes. After awhile I just stayed back and played defense so that I wouldn't have to run as much. Still, I haven't done this much sprinting and stopping since my summer missions trip.