.: What’s Bruin :.

Canon EOS 20D

I bought a new digital SLR camera. It’s a Canon EOS 20D. Got it from Costco.com.

Unfortunately, I don’t think it will arrive in time for our vacation. We leave Christmas day and it has not shipped yet as of this writing.

Here are the reviews from:

• Digital Photography Review.
• CNET.

Update: As of 2:50 PM today, the camera is shipping. It’s on its way. But I don’t know if it will arrive before we leave for vacation.

Update 12/22: OMG, the 2GB memory card will arrive TODAY and the sweetness camera will arrive TOMORROW!

Update 12/22 12:29 pm: Both items are here! I have to wait until I get off from work to pick them up.

Tags: geek_stuff, Photography

I opened a Flickr account. Mark helped me configure a plugin for WP. Check it out here.

Tags: Blogging, Flickr, Photography, site_announcements, web_design

Some idiot(s) caused a huge traffic accident yesterday, so it took me almost 3 hours to drive home. The traffic was backed up for almost 30 miles! I decided to take surface streets since that was moving faster than the freeway. If you’re not going to drive safely, then just stay home and set up an Internet business so you can work from home and not drive anywhere.

Tags: Rants

Happy Birthday, Son. 20 years ago today you were born. I wasn’t there that day when the doctor turned you around and presented you to the world. Did you cry? Maybe, but surely you were happy minutes later, probably “talking” up a storm already with baby noises. I missed out on all those days, the days of waking up in the middle of the night, diaper changes, first words, first steps, first experiences, and even the first day of school. I can only hear from Mom and experience vicariously when I hear her retell the stories of how you . . .

And yet, there is a bond between us. When I get asked if I plan on having children of “my own.” It seems strange to think that we are not related genetically. Yet, I know our bond is stronger than genetics. Somehow the “step” prefix just doesn’t describe that bond. It’s too artifical and weak. And while people may ask as I hold other babies, “Do you remember when your son was this small?”, I have to answer, “No.” But I remember other things.

(more…)

Tags: family, Pourpa, Reflection

Waking up early this morning and getting ready to leave for work, I thought of all the work you put in to decorating our home, wrapping the gifts, and cooking special meals. I wonder what you are planning for today. Is it something special? I know you have lots of errands to take care of today, mundane, maybe tedious, but yet errands of love. As you’re laying down resting early this morning, stirring slightly at my exit noises when I get my socks out of the dresser, put on my watch, and slide my wedding band on my finger, think of the love you give us and hopefully, you feel how much I love you. Your head moves imperceptibly as I bend down to kiss your soft lips and cheek.

Tags: Josephine_Bruin, Life, love, Reflection

I didn’t really grow up with any Christmas traditions as a young boy. So I really enjoyed reading about Chris Missick’s family Christmas traditions. Quite honestly, I’ve always kind of been a moody person and have not really enjoyed the holiday season ever since my teen years. I just didn’t enjoy being with my family growing up and always longed to be elsewhere.

As a grown man, I’ve come to appreciate my own family now, especially my parents. I chalk it up to misunderstandings and just having matured and grown up. But it has taken me a few years to realize the importance of “creating memories” for children. I think I understand that for the first time this Christmas. Up until now (the 5th Christmas as a married man with children and the three Christmases prior to getting married), I never could figure out why Josephine would put so much effort into decorating the entire house with the smallest detail. But now it completely makes sense. We have the ornaments around the house making even the most mundane furniture look festive. There’s the elf on our thermostat. Though he’s friendly-looking, I also like to think of mr. elf as a jovial reminder to leave the thermostat alone and just bundle up during the winter to save $$ on the electricity bill. There’s even Christmas-themed paper towels, bathroom soap, hand towels, candles, and placemats. I think what also brings this home to me is having Pourpa come home for the break after the Fall Quarter at UCLA. All in all, Christmas IS a time for memories and it’s time I stopped wasting time remembering regret and started creating memories to remember.

Missick concludes:

Living in tents provides a sharp realization that this year there will be no home for the holidays. I won’t say I prefer it this way, but I can say that next year I will appreciate the people in my life more than I ever have. You gain a profound sense of just how important your family is when they are so far away. This year, the only thing I hope for is that all of you enjoy and appreciate your time with friends and family to the utmost. Remember, there are 150,000 people here in OIF alone that would love to be in your position, and although we would rather be home, each of us in our own way is offering a gift to you by sacrificing our holidays and traditions in the name of freedom.

Chris Missick - A Line in the Sand

You all are not forgotten, Chris.

Tags: Christmas, Reflection

With only one loss on the new season so far, might there be shades of destiny for UCLA Basketball once again? The hibernating, once formidable hoops superpower may finally be coming to life. Saturday’s game against Michigan may indicate the future of great things to come. But returning to glory will be a tough challenge. Pac-10 basketball is on the rise once again. You’ve got the usual suspects of Arizona, Stanford, but you can also throw the University of Washington into the mix.

Thankfully, U$¢ is experiencing the Los Angeles turmoil that seemed reserved only for the Bruins.

Michigan game: started out watching on tv, but we had to leave for my cousin’s wedding, to which we were arriving late anyways due to my semester final exams. Listened on AM 690 for almost the entire game and arrived during the last four minutes when Michigan had a 6 point lead over UCLA, even after UCLA had dominated for the first half and led for almost the entire game. Feeling disgusted, we got out of the car and had to delay learning of the game’s results until later that evening.

Damn! What a gutsy comeback at the end.

Dijon Thompson scored a career-high 29 points and hit a 3-pointer that gave UCLA the lead for good with 44 seconds remaining as the Bruins defeated Michigan 81-79 Saturday.

The Bruins (6-1) rallied from a six-point deficit in the final 3:46 after leading most of the way. Freshman Jordan Farmar scored six points in that stretch - all on free throws - including two when the Bruins clung to a one-point lead.

UCLA Bruins.com

Tags: basketball, Sports, UCLA

Yesterday was the last day of the semester. Only one more to go and this master’s degree will be finished.

Two presentations:
1 - OPS class: Not important. Teacher is an idiot, doesn’t really grade anything, says “he lost our midterms” and somehow I have a B on the midterm and a B+ in the class. All I know is that I better get at least a B or I’m suing his ass.
2 - ECON Class: The first econ class I ever liked. My presentation was AWESOME. Sadly, I think I will fall short of getting an A in the class by about 8 points, roughly equivalent to 4 multiple choice questions that I probably should have gotten correct.

Update: It’s worse… I missed an A by 1 point.

Second Update:

• OPS Class = A
• Human Resources Class = A-
• Managerial Economics Class = B+

Tags: CSUSM, education_and_training, MBA

Tags: Rants

Okay, so I finally fully joined the bandwagon and made Firefox my default browser. If you’re reading this Mark J, I adjusted the padding-left on the sidebar, which I had said were the only complaints holding me back from making Firefox my default. The other complaint I had will be resolved soon when I fully integrate my new Flickr photo album with WP.

Tags: Computers, Firefox, Flickr, geek_stuff, WordPress

CMS @ Fallbrook H.S.

A couple of years ago, I had a student (named CMS) in Algebra class who was a freshman at the time. He ws a quiet kid, but really smart. Unfortunately, he was stuck in a dumbass class full of idiots. But this kid made the best of it and loved to learn. I integrated technology into the class and he had the chance to express his creativity. But I was always impressed with his love of learning, his good manners, and easy-going demeanor. His parents have done a good job. During that year, he won a community award usually given only to upperclassman, but I convinced the committee that he was deserving of this award as a freshman.

Since I’ve left that school, we’ve kept in touch the last couple of years. This year, I’ve helped him with math questions in Advanced Algerba via phone and IM. Last year CMS went with me and Pourpa to UCLA for a little tour and to catch a basketball game. Recently, I had offered to teach CMS how to use Dreamweaver/Macromedia because he’s had a copy of it for two years and does not know how to use it:

December 9, 2004

Hey CMS,

If you’re still interested in getting a lesson on Dreamweaver, I have one vacation day before I leave for the holidays. That would be Thursday, January 23rd.

If that doesn’t work, then it would have to be in January before the new semester starts. If you’re interested, let me know. . .

You should come so my wife can meet you and your parents. She has heard a lot about you. Plus, you can put that software and your creativity to good use instead of having it just sit there.

Joe

Email

I got a reply tonight. And while I did not really like teaching for the last part of my career, I have been blessed with a memorable student each and every year that I taught. CMS is by far the best and my favorite one I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and teaching (excluding Pourpa of course, but that’s a given).

Thanks for the offer mr. d its just that over all vacation im going places, visiting family snowboarding and alot more. But i really want to get out there some time and visit you guys and learn the softwear. So hopfully and can do that soon + hopfully! i will get my license so i could actually drive out there.
Merry Chistmas/Happy New Year!
ps my last math test which i took today(dec 27) i think i did really good (A) thanks for always thinking about me
later
CMS

Email: CMS

Thanks for the nice email, CMS. You are totally cool. Looking forward to working some Dreamweaver!

A Fallbrook Community Student of the Month as a Freshman

Tags: Career, Reflection, teaching

In the past, a day like today would be the last day of work before Christmas vacation (and yes, I said Christmas and not “Winter Break”), but I am not a teacher anymore (thank God). So next week, the week before Christmas, I will actually be working. Wow.

Yesterday, I took a vacation leave day to finish up two final projects for the semester at CSUSM. It feels good to be prepared for the projects instead of staying up late and cramming and working. One project in particular turned out awesome: “College Sports” for my ECON 610 class, Global Managerial Economics. So while I stayed home to work on my school work, I did “lose” a vacation day that I was supposed to use on December 23rd. Oh well. It certainly was more “interesting.”

Pourpa comes home today from UCLA, last final exam ends at 11:00 am. I can’t wait to see him. Josephine leaves early from her work today to pick him up. His birthday is on Monday, look for a special article.

Soon, we’ll be leaving for vacation to San Jose to visit Josephine’s twin sister and also to Colorado Springs to visit her other sister. I hope to see the Air Force Academy, The Navigators HQ and Glen Eyrie, as well as Garden of the Gods. But in any case, both NorCal and Colorado will be “butt cold” compared to the warmth wave we’ve been having here. For the last several days, I’ve been able to sleep in boxers only instead wrapping myself into a cocoon.

Tags: Career, Christmas, education_and_training, general_stuff, Life, Travels

FQ1: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

I haven’t eaten too many strange things. But definitely the “strangest” is a Filipino dish called “dinuguan” (dee-noo-goo-ahn), which is pig’s blood and intestines.

FQ2: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever read?

I’m sure there have been stranger, but the first thing that comes to my mind is a recent article I read via a Drudge article link about a girl born without a face. It was also sad.

Another strange article I just read while writing this is about an 8-month pregnant woman found killed with the fetus extracted from her body.

Update: Éste artículo con título, “Gay Mexican Cannibals” es muy extraño. Ahora, no tengo hambre.

FQ3: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen?

I was once saw in a diet/healthy eating book a long piece of metal that someone supposedly had come out of their rectum! Needless to say, I found the book to have no credibility. Also, one of my former students told me about a site called ratemypoo.com (I think). Anyways, the site obviously had pictures of poo. It was disgusting.

FQ You: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done?

(This one will stay in my memory only.) I was in high school . . .

–Meme from FridayQ

Tags: Participation

Power went out at work at about 8:00 AM this morning in both of our buildings and several locations nearby on our street. With nothing to do, I studied for my “final exam” in Human Resources tonight for about an hour. Then I ran some errands at Starbucks and Costco. Unfortunately, power came back on just as I was starting to get into my newest book I’m reading, American Soldier. But the good thing is that it is almost lunch time!

Tags: Books, Career, CSUSM, education_and_training, MBA, work

I’m really proud of the newsletter layout that I helped create for the Cal State San Marcos MBA Student Association fall newsletter. I found the template on microsoft.com and then used linked text boxes to make the articles flow together. It looks really nice and professional. It’s been several years since my last newsletter. But this one is one of the best I’ve ever done.

Update: Wow! Our newsletter has been downloaded 76 times as of 7:15 am on Dec 17th.

Feedback:

The newsletter is great! All your efforts are very visible. I really
like the look and feel very creative yet simple and professional.

Penny Handscomb, Human Resources Professor, CSUSM, email

Tags: CSUSM, education_and_training, MBA