Tuesday, August 26, 2003
My Summer in 20 minutes
Warning: This entry is extremely incoherent (and possibly very boring). I’m not responsible of any symptoms or brain damage caused by the unpredictability and lack of vocabulary of this entry. Read at your own risk.
Los Angeles
Met up with Norm and Dave at E3 (electronic entertainment expo). Anna, Charlie, and Shaheen were also there, even though I didn’t get to meet them. After the CMU people left for graduation, I hung out a bit with Andy and his cousin. Despite their futile attempts to convince me to join au telephone company, I still had a good time with them eating Taiwanese style night snacks and taking Andy’s baby Corolla to service + shopping for cars.
Other leisure activities included eating In-N-Out burgers, Third Street, stuff myself with sushi and “Taiwanese small eats” as well as meeting up with some LA gangs.
Best: My brother took me to this totally AWESOME noodle shop…best in Los Angeles IMO.
Worst: Getting my ass whupped by my uncle, as usual.
Las Vegas
Went to Vegas for a couple of days with Bryan + his gf Charlene (yup, I’m the third wheel. Andy was supposed to come with us but he had to “prepare for summer school.”) Roulette: After seeing this guy putting chips on almost every number on the table and won BIG, I tried his technique on $1 bets and won like a lucky ass. I must have told you my sad story – to no avail, I lost $60 in ten minutes. BlackJack: Always have been my favorite, however, same sad story, small wins, big losses. Craps: I was just watching my buddy Bryan’s unlucky day. Strip clubs: almost went if we weren’t so tired of saying goodbye to our cash.
Best: Being 21.
Worst: Wished I had a gf too, or at least SOMEONE to talk to me when they were ……ing.
Portland
I arrived at the airport and met up with my roommate James, this kid I knew back at school from 347 and optics class. If you know him, he probably already told you he roomed with this super nice Chinese kid from CMU for the whole summer, together checking out chicks at Barnes&Noble and being bored at home. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s a gangster-like Korean living in New York City, always causing trouble but somehow gets away with them. He was a good roommate though, always keeping me entertained with his crazy stories from Intel and how geeky those kids are.
Our home was located 15 minute walk away from James’s Intel campus, but 40 minute drive on the freeway (without traffic) away from where I work. I can’t blame him, he found the place and of course, he’s always watching out for himself. Because I live so far away, my boss pitied me and let me arrive work later so I can avoid the “rush hour” of Portland. The fact is, highway 26 is ALWAYS in rush hour, so it doesn’t really matter that much what time I leave for work. Everyday I got to work at 10am (sometimes, actually a lot of times, later) and left at 6:00 sharp. Sometimes I played ball during lunch time with my boss’s boss and getting my ass whupped by a bunch of older guys. Honestly, I don’t know how they keep themselves in such good shape; I could NOT catch up with those crazy people.
If I were to use one adjective to describe the work environment of Mentor Graphics, or rather, my department, that work would be friendly. People were so nice! Everyone was looking after each other. My boss even smiled warmly at me when he gave me tasks that nobody in the group wanted to do, like they were free snacks for me or something. But the best part was, they DID have free snacks/meals from time to time. There was one week that I didn’t spend a single dollar buying lunch. On my last day of work, my boss took the group out for a farewell lunch. And in the afternoon, there was a farewell party for the whole department because “Willy is leaving.” Well, most of the people in my department were like “Who’s Willy?” but they showed up anyhow for the free sushi. Somehow I’m fascinated how they can always find excuses for free food =)
Portland wasn’t bad at all, at least relative to Pittsburgh. Yeah, everything’s relative. Seattle, of course, was a better place then Portland. Vancouver, however, was really a heavenly place of good food, good looking people and cars, and fun fun. I remember while getting a haircut there, the barber asked me where I was from. I said Seattle just for the hell of it (well, actually I was afraid he didn’t know where Portland was), and then he added “Seattle is such a boring place right?” Damn right, compared to Vancouver, of course it’s a boring place. Yup, everything’s relative.
Naturally, I made some new friends during my stay at Portland. Most of them were colleagues from work, my boss, my boss’s boss, my boss’s boss’s boss, etc. Because I live 40 min away, again, WITHOUT TRAFFIC, I rarely drove down to where I work during weekends. All the other interns lived at home or near work, so I couldn’t really hang with them. My officemate was great though. His name is Chris, and we did some stuff together and kept each other company when the work got boring. Only during the last week did I meet other people out of work. Yeah you heard the story and let me tell you again, I discovered places in Portland that will just blow a Pittsburgher’s mind away! I don’t mind working there considering the laid back work environment…but sometimes the pace is just a little too slow for a city person like me.
Best: Every Friday – pay day!!
Worst: Every other days…well they were not that bad, especially after knowing Jenny and her crew.
Taipei
I could not begin describing what a great time I had there. Besides spending quality time with my family, my grandmother + sister from Hong Kong, I also met up with tons and tons of people, knew lots of new people as well as some buddies from way back – all in short 12 days.
You might have already known that I got to know a flight attendant from EVA air. We met up in Taipei one day and chatted, only to find out that her roommate is serving on my flight back to Los Angeles. A little diversion here: on the way back to Los Angeles, I was hanging out in the kitchen of Business/First class for most of the time. You know what that means? Free, first-class food. I had lots of fruits, quality cup noodles, soy milk (only served in first class), even a free bottle of red wine, all companied by three nice and pretty flight attendants. Flight back was too good.
Anyway, back to Taipei. I got to meet some people from my elementary school, namely Sara and Richard. I haven’t seen Richard for at least 8-9 years and he has not changed a bit. It felt good talking about elementary school…and knowing where some of those people are and what they were doing.
High school friends: friends from TAS as well as Taft. TAS friends were my usual hang outs when I’m in Taipei (you know who you are), however, Taft friends were a bit different. I don’t think I made any real good friends at Taft that I still keep in touch with, except for the Taiwanese people. The only people around when I was there were Kelly and Foster. Foster has not changed a bit; still short and talkative. Kelly, on the other hand, has transformed into a gorgeous, mature woman (well, I only remembered her when she was 15). The only person that I have gotten significantly closer this summer was her, considering that I barely knew her back then in high school.
Local friends. I’m actually surprised how many local people I knew, considering I have never gone to a local school there. Even more surprising, I’m pretty good friends with a lot of them, considering I only see them twice a year. You guys are great! Come visit me lah!
Eh…what else did I do? Don’t remember and too much to write…sorry no detailed description of my daily encounters.
Best: Everything.
Worst: Nothing except the record high temperature in 80 year history.
Warning: This entry is extremely incoherent (and possibly very boring). I’m not responsible of any symptoms or brain damage caused by the unpredictability and lack of vocabulary of this entry. Read at your own risk.
Los Angeles
Met up with Norm and Dave at E3 (electronic entertainment expo). Anna, Charlie, and Shaheen were also there, even though I didn’t get to meet them. After the CMU people left for graduation, I hung out a bit with Andy and his cousin. Despite their futile attempts to convince me to join au telephone company, I still had a good time with them eating Taiwanese style night snacks and taking Andy’s baby Corolla to service + shopping for cars.
Other leisure activities included eating In-N-Out burgers, Third Street, stuff myself with sushi and “Taiwanese small eats” as well as meeting up with some LA gangs.
Best: My brother took me to this totally AWESOME noodle shop…best in Los Angeles IMO.
Worst: Getting my ass whupped by my uncle, as usual.
Las Vegas
Went to Vegas for a couple of days with Bryan + his gf Charlene (yup, I’m the third wheel. Andy was supposed to come with us but he had to “prepare for summer school.”) Roulette: After seeing this guy putting chips on almost every number on the table and won BIG, I tried his technique on $1 bets and won like a lucky ass. I must have told you my sad story – to no avail, I lost $60 in ten minutes. BlackJack: Always have been my favorite, however, same sad story, small wins, big losses. Craps: I was just watching my buddy Bryan’s unlucky day. Strip clubs: almost went if we weren’t so tired of saying goodbye to our cash.
Best: Being 21.
Worst: Wished I had a gf too, or at least SOMEONE to talk to me when they were ……ing.
Portland
I arrived at the airport and met up with my roommate James, this kid I knew back at school from 347 and optics class. If you know him, he probably already told you he roomed with this super nice Chinese kid from CMU for the whole summer, together checking out chicks at Barnes&Noble and being bored at home. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s a gangster-like Korean living in New York City, always causing trouble but somehow gets away with them. He was a good roommate though, always keeping me entertained with his crazy stories from Intel and how geeky those kids are.
Our home was located 15 minute walk away from James’s Intel campus, but 40 minute drive on the freeway (without traffic) away from where I work. I can’t blame him, he found the place and of course, he’s always watching out for himself. Because I live so far away, my boss pitied me and let me arrive work later so I can avoid the “rush hour” of Portland. The fact is, highway 26 is ALWAYS in rush hour, so it doesn’t really matter that much what time I leave for work. Everyday I got to work at 10am (sometimes, actually a lot of times, later) and left at 6:00 sharp. Sometimes I played ball during lunch time with my boss’s boss and getting my ass whupped by a bunch of older guys. Honestly, I don’t know how they keep themselves in such good shape; I could NOT catch up with those crazy people.
If I were to use one adjective to describe the work environment of Mentor Graphics, or rather, my department, that work would be friendly. People were so nice! Everyone was looking after each other. My boss even smiled warmly at me when he gave me tasks that nobody in the group wanted to do, like they were free snacks for me or something. But the best part was, they DID have free snacks/meals from time to time. There was one week that I didn’t spend a single dollar buying lunch. On my last day of work, my boss took the group out for a farewell lunch. And in the afternoon, there was a farewell party for the whole department because “Willy is leaving.” Well, most of the people in my department were like “Who’s Willy?” but they showed up anyhow for the free sushi. Somehow I’m fascinated how they can always find excuses for free food =)
Portland wasn’t bad at all, at least relative to Pittsburgh. Yeah, everything’s relative. Seattle, of course, was a better place then Portland. Vancouver, however, was really a heavenly place of good food, good looking people and cars, and fun fun. I remember while getting a haircut there, the barber asked me where I was from. I said Seattle just for the hell of it (well, actually I was afraid he didn’t know where Portland was), and then he added “Seattle is such a boring place right?” Damn right, compared to Vancouver, of course it’s a boring place. Yup, everything’s relative.
Naturally, I made some new friends during my stay at Portland. Most of them were colleagues from work, my boss, my boss’s boss, my boss’s boss’s boss, etc. Because I live 40 min away, again, WITHOUT TRAFFIC, I rarely drove down to where I work during weekends. All the other interns lived at home or near work, so I couldn’t really hang with them. My officemate was great though. His name is Chris, and we did some stuff together and kept each other company when the work got boring. Only during the last week did I meet other people out of work. Yeah you heard the story and let me tell you again, I discovered places in Portland that will just blow a Pittsburgher’s mind away! I don’t mind working there considering the laid back work environment…but sometimes the pace is just a little too slow for a city person like me.
Best: Every Friday – pay day!!
Worst: Every other days…well they were not that bad, especially after knowing Jenny and her crew.
Taipei
I could not begin describing what a great time I had there. Besides spending quality time with my family, my grandmother + sister from Hong Kong, I also met up with tons and tons of people, knew lots of new people as well as some buddies from way back – all in short 12 days.
You might have already known that I got to know a flight attendant from EVA air. We met up in Taipei one day and chatted, only to find out that her roommate is serving on my flight back to Los Angeles. A little diversion here: on the way back to Los Angeles, I was hanging out in the kitchen of Business/First class for most of the time. You know what that means? Free, first-class food. I had lots of fruits, quality cup noodles, soy milk (only served in first class), even a free bottle of red wine, all companied by three nice and pretty flight attendants. Flight back was too good.
Anyway, back to Taipei. I got to meet some people from my elementary school, namely Sara and Richard. I haven’t seen Richard for at least 8-9 years and he has not changed a bit. It felt good talking about elementary school…and knowing where some of those people are and what they were doing.
High school friends: friends from TAS as well as Taft. TAS friends were my usual hang outs when I’m in Taipei (you know who you are), however, Taft friends were a bit different. I don’t think I made any real good friends at Taft that I still keep in touch with, except for the Taiwanese people. The only people around when I was there were Kelly and Foster. Foster has not changed a bit; still short and talkative. Kelly, on the other hand, has transformed into a gorgeous, mature woman (well, I only remembered her when she was 15). The only person that I have gotten significantly closer this summer was her, considering that I barely knew her back then in high school.
Local friends. I’m actually surprised how many local people I knew, considering I have never gone to a local school there. Even more surprising, I’m pretty good friends with a lot of them, considering I only see them twice a year. You guys are great! Come visit me lah!
Eh…what else did I do? Don’t remember and too much to write…sorry no detailed description of my daily encounters.
Best: Everything.
Worst: Nothing except the record high temperature in 80 year history.
