As I launched my career, I aimed for stability.  It is the stability I recognize the need for if I am to provide for a family.  It is the stability in which I slowly increase my wealth.  It comes with opportunity costs and constraints that I am still struggling to accept.  Sometimes, I can’t help but to feel admiration for the more adventurous folk.  Take, for example, my friend and former coworker Joe.  He decided that the corporate life isn’t for him, so he recently off-boarded from the company and has set off on a road trip.

Joe, if you come across this, I wrote this to say that what you are doing is an act of courage.  I wish you nothing but the best: A reliable car, good health, good weather, and kind people along the way.  I am optimistic that this will be one heckuva story by the time this is over, and I will be following this story wishing that I could do what you do.

You can follow Joe’s journey at www.joesroadtrip.com

I rode with my team yesterday to train for the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure.  My maximum distance had been 30 miles or so, but I wanted to see if I could do better.  I did, but with great difficulty as the group encountered headwinds and the constant uphill.  Nevertheless, I give you my 52.48-mile ride:

In one go, I broke my distance and speed record.  And for anybody interested, there is a kml file you can load into Google Earth for analysis!  This will be my first ride in benefit of a charity, and it feels good to know that my efforts will be in support of research to cure and improve the quality of life for those with diabetes.  If you could, join me by either riding in your locality or making a donation.

For the past two weeks, my Saturday “alarm clock” involves people throwing lots of stuff in the trash.  That is the premium I pay for the convenience of being close to the trash compactor.  With a disposition to investigate loud noises, I trudged to my desk, grabbed my glasses, and saw that my weekly routine of sorting out my non-recyclables from papers, metal, and glass was for naught.  Are there pictures?  Yes!

Recycling goes here, right?

Right…

WRONG!

As someone who tries to do right by the environment, I found that infuriating.  Well, looks like I’ll have to make that occasional drive to Smyrna to take care of my recycling.  To whoever pulls this crap: Don’t offer “recycling” in which the things to be recycled get lumped into the trash.  It is a waste of your time, it is a waste of my time, and it is outright deceptive.

I went to Fry’s Electronics yesterday to pick up a $1.99 part needed for an experiment at work.  Over 90% of the time, I pay in cash if the transaction totals $10 or less.  The cashier asks me whether I would like to put this on a Fry’s credit card.  In my mind, I cringe, thinking about how much it would cost them to maintain this account I will rarely ever use and to mail the statement to say that I owe them $2.13 (after sales tax).  My wild guess is that they would have lost 50% on this sale had I said “yes” with no guarantee that I will frequent the store for my other needs and with no revenue generated from interest as I pay my bill off on time every month.  Furthermore, I find ridiculous the notion of a credit card that I can only use in one store.

I declined, for the one credit card and one debit card presently in my wallet are all I need.

I was driving today, and I saw the car in front of me throw trash out onto the sidewalk not once, but TWICE.  Upon such a sight, my body started heating up and my hands started trembling (I kept control of my car).  It has been a while since I’ve felt this livid, and that true outrage is seeing something like this with your own two eyes as opposed to just reading about it.  Seriously, is it that big of an inconvenience to hold the trash for a bit, seek out a trash can, and place it there?  Anyways, we stopped side to side with them in the left-turn lane.  I stared coldly towards the front, with hands still trembling, waiting for the light to turn green.  When it did, the driver proceeded to demonstrate his/her inability to drive by going STRAIGHT INTO the opposing side’s left-turn lane (which had no cars, thank God) and merged back in with the room I courteously left them.

Speaking of inability to drive, I drove to get dinner and saw someone else blatantly run a red light and almost get hit.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I have to say that the thing I am most thankful for now is the wonderful start of my independent life.  I have a job, and it looks like I am getting noticed for the effort I am putting into the project.  There are plenty of ropes to learn, and I am slowly receiving the training I need.

After paying off my student loans, I got myself a Dell UltraSharp U2410 and an Ergotron LX Dual swing arm.  Installing it turned into a weekend project as I made my desk just so.  Well, here’s “just so.”  You’ll see in the below pics that most of my wiring is hidden on the sides.

Remember this addition to the Texas Constitution that got approved over 3:1 back in 2005 (Proposition 2, adds Section 32 in the Texas Constitution)?

The constitutional amendment providing that marriage in this state consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting this state or a political subdivision of this state from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

During one of my rounds through the Internet before heading off to work, I came across this article: http://www.star-telegram.com/local_news/story/1770445.html It became a conversational bit I carried to work with me one day, and I got some very good discussion out of it.  Some think it’s a politician’s ploy to get support from the LGBT community.  One person believes that if this were to come up in court, the intent of the law will settle things and precedent would follow.  There was a consensus, however, that it could’ve been worded better and more well-thought-out.  Before banning gay marriage, perhaps divorce and infidelity should be made illegal first.

I’ve been told to lighten up.  Whoever tells me that needs to give me a flashlight.

Today is my one-month milestone of employment, and things have been almost everything I wanted (Yo Sunny, I’m happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Monster.com has some of the best jobs of all time!  Some of the best jobs of all time!)* in terms of the support I have been getting, the work I have been doing, and my work-life balance.  When I first interviewed at the company, I thought that the corporate culture was uptight and there was not a laugh to be had.  I have to say that is simply not true and I can wear a smile to work everyday.  From the first day, they had me doing some real work on some of the most reliable military aircraft (Yo Sunny, I’m happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but BAE Systems has some of the best aircraft of all time!  Some of the best aircraft of all time!)*.  The technology may seem a bit old, but if it makes the aircraft a customer’s choice, that’s great.

Now that I have more free time, I have been spending time taking better care of myself by going on longer bike rides and am intending on riding the entire Silver Comet Trail.  It’s no Texas 4000, but the planning and execution of this trip will be something I take great pride in.  My bike ride this weekend was cut short by some FOD (Foreign Object Damage) puncturing my rear tire, forcing me to walk my bike home.  Nevertheless, I made good on my promise to some coworkers to see “the big chicken“:

Finally, as part of diversity week at work, we got to wear a pro sports shirt to work.  I showed up in my solar car polo to show off the sport that very few people can say have participated in, and it is something I take great pride in (Yo Sunny, I’m happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but UT athletics has some of the best sports of all time!  Some of the best sports of all time!)*

I will try to ride my bike again this weekend.  Hopefully, it will be FOD-free, and I hope to break my 14-mile mark.

* In case you didn’t get the joke, the “interruptions” were to parody Kanye West’s spectacle that so many got teed off about (reference).  The statements contained in said interruptions do not constitute my opinion.

It has been about a month since I signed my lease and about three weeks since I started working.  How’s life?

Work: My coworkers have been treating me very well, and are happy that I have been picking up steam fast and plugging away at their backlog of work already.  They have many stories, insights, and jokes to share.  I would often stay longer than I initially intended to, although I would do work at the same time for efficiency’s sake.

Social: This is one of the challenges I have been facing.  Most of my coworkers are twice my age, so I had some trouble meeting people people my age for the possibility of hanging out with them.  Once I get up to speed, I will have time to do some community service.

Financial: This is the biggest source of grief right now.  I am currently living paycheck-to-paycheck as I plug away at my student loans and spikes in spending while paying the bills, saving up for my new car and retirement all at the same time.  Per my calculations, I would generally have less than $ 150 per week after I deduct (in order of priority):

1. Income taxes (federal and state)
2. Contributions to 401k
3. Paying back my parents
4. Paying back my student loan
5. Medical insurance, vision insurance, and dental insurance
6. Recurring expenses (rent, utilities, and insurance)
7. Transfers to savings (simulated payments for a car and cell phone bill)

With the help of GNUCash (open-source, also available in Windows) and OpenOffice.org Calc, I am now tracking my expenses accurate to the penny!  For those of you still in college, enjoy it while you still can — once you get out in the real world, you will have a lot more to worry about.

I have been doing a lot of traveling lately, starting July 31:

• July 31: 15-hour flight from Hong Kong (HKG) to Newark (EWR).  A 6-hour layover turned into an 8-hour layover.  Afterwards, 4-hour flight from EWR to Houston (IAH).
• August 2: Drove to Austin, TX for NIWeek.
• August 6: Drove back to Houston, TX to prepare my move to Marietta, GA.
• August 9: Began drive to Marietta, GA.  Stopped at Meridian, Mississippi.
• August 10: Finished drive to Marietta, GA.

That easily adds up to over 10,000 miles of traveling over the course of not more than two weeks!  It was great to see the solar car again.  It was even nicer to have it get front and center in the exhibition floor!

I arrived in Marietta, GA tired, but still had enough strength left to sign the leasing papers and unload my stuff from my car.  It was only after I stepped into my apartment for the first time that I realized how big 892 sq. ft. is.  My new apartment is easily twice as big as my apartment in Austin, and it costs me only $ 599/mo.  As if I did not do enough for the day, I got some great Internet service from Clear.  I was originally getting Comcast, but I had to wait a couple days because the previous tenants did not disconnect their service (which is bad for them because they probably paid for service they didn’t get).

Clear is a WiMax service available only in a few select areas.  I received information about them in my welcome packet from my landlord.  The sales agent answered most of my questions to my satisfaction, and I had her come to my place to give me a demo.  I started with a speed benchmark on a demo unit rated for 3 Mbps down / 500 Kbps up.  Astonishingly, it provided the as advertised speeds.  SOLD — I got the 6 Mbps down / 500 Kbps up plan for $ 40/mo.  To save myself grief in case I need to move and need to disconnect my service, I chose a month-to-month plan and swallowed all the up-front costs.  As soon as she left, I was able to plug in and immediately start surfing.

What did I do in my two days here?  I spent most of my time putting stuff up, buying essentials, and exploring the city in general.  I start work next Monday.  Please wish me luck.

By the time my tour of South Korea was over, I had 916 photos on my camera.  I managed to cull that down to a slightly more sane 390.  Below is a little teaser of the photos I took.  I shot 99% of these using my AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens.  When people took pics of my family, people were in disbelief when we told them that the camera does not have a zoom.

My parents are in Taiwan now, so I will be babysitting my little brothers for the next week.  It will be very interesting.  We will be going around Hong Kong with family and friends to see various sights and go to Ocean Park.