Sleep-Tweeting

For those of you not on the Twitter bandwagon... (I just started in the last couple months)... Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Essentially, you let people know what's going on around you or in your head, in 160 characters or less.

So last night, I was having a bad case of Insomnia, as I frequently do. But last night was a night when I really needed the sleep... it was the night before a long Vegas weekend for a friend's bachelor party. It was a combination of the excitement/anxiety of going to Vegas, the fact that I tried to go to bed 2 hours earlier than usual, and my allergies acting up. I had hundreds of random and not-so-random thoughts that fluttered in and out of my head over the next 6 hours. And at about 6:00 this morning, I decided to stop trying to sleep because I found myself thinking about all the random thoughts that kept me up, and how interesting it would be if I had been a Sleep-Tweeter.

RayHuang Going to bed now. Good night!
about 6 hours ago from web

RayHuang Did I set my alarm? yea. I set my alarm. ok. night.
about 6 hours ago from bed

RayHuang Nose is stuffy. Must resist blowing or agitating for fear of causing yet another bloody nose.
about 6 hours ago from bed

RayHuang Trying to play out the origins of my characters (from the screenplay / story that plays in my head every night)
about 5 hours ago from dream

RayHuang Did I pack everything??? shirts? check; pants? check; swim trunks? check; underwear? hmmm... check;
about 5 hours ago from sleep

RayHuang I should get Phil to buy some booze and supplies since he's local.
about 5 hours ago from sleep

RayHuang So they were recruited ... like in The Recruit.
about 5 hours ago from dream

RayHuang I wonder if the Palms would hook us up with a Limo to get to dinner.
about 4 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang Ugh. Nose is all stuffed up. Can't breath
about 4 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang Limo? or a Shuttle. Whatever, We're not picky... if its comped.
about 4 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang Disruptive technology... Twitter is a disruptive technology right?
about 4 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang Thirsty. My mouth is all dry from breathing through my mouth because my nose is all pluggered up.
about 3 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang I think I'm gonna designate Steve, Andy, and Donny's suite the Party room. Sadly they are the 'Most Single Room'
about 3 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang I hope Jared and Bryan decide to share beds. So I can have one uncontested. They're both small people.
about 3 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang I have to pee. I'll sleep it off.
about 3 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang can't hold it. potty break.
about 2 hours ago from bed.

RayHuang just spent the last 15 minutes trying to stop my bloody nose.
about 2 hours ago from bathroom.

RayHuang Ok. Back to bed. hope I can squeeze a solid REM cycle in.
about 2 hours ago from bed.

RayHuang oooh. I should bring a flask. I never get to use them. Note to self - pack the flask.
about 2 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang oooh. I should bring a flask. I never get to use them. Note to self - pack the flask.
about 2 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang Does the monorail connect to the airport and the Venetian/Palazzo? I think it does. Does it? Doesn't it?
about 2 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang Stop running nose! Which reminds me... "If your feet smell and your nose runs, maybe you were built upside down."
about 2 hours ago from sleep.

RayHuang I think sleeping might be hopeless now. Maybe i can squeeze in a wink on the plane.
about 1 hour ago from sleep.

RayHuang It would be really funny if I Twittered about my sleep thoughts.
about 1 hour ago from sleep.

RayHuang You should totally put this in your blog.
about 1 hour ago from sleep.

RayHuang Totally. Good idea. And I can Tweet about how I'm thinking about twittering in my sleep.
about 1 hour ago from sleep.

RayHuang Alright. 6am. Sleeptime is over.
about 15 minutes ago from sleep.

Its Been a Rough Few Weeks

So the last four weeks have been a lot of emotional ups and downs for me. Between April 20th and May 20th, My family and I have experienced amazing highs and lows. It started with finding out that my wife's oldest sister was pregnant with her first child. The day she was going to tell her parents that they were going to be grandparents, their mom (my mother-in-law) suffered a stroke and was taken to the ER. Her recovery and rehab since has been coming along very well, so we are very thankful for that. The same weekend as mom-in-law's stroke, my cousin-in-law's mom was brought to the hospital for a heart problem, but turned out it was a hernia or something. On May 1st, I found out that my cousin's wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, their first. On May 5th, my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary as a married couple. Unfortunately I had to take finals that evening. At the end of the week, I finally got my hands on a Nintendo Wii. Upon coming home from the store, I learned from my mom, that my other father-in-law (brother's wife's dad) had passed away after a long fight with cancer which had spread to his bones. A few hours later, my wife gets a call from her good friend, that her father had a heart attack and passed away and we quickly went to her aid to console her. I went home to SoCal for a week to attend my father-in-law's funeral and to see family and friends. I returned to Arizona to find that my mother-in-law had made great progress in her post-stroke rehab. Then just about an hour ago, we got a call that my wife's uncle had passed away.

Haterade Daly - Performance Beverage

John Daly unveils his own brand of sports drink under an endorsement deal announced Wednesday with Haterade that marks the first beverage endorsement for the world's No. 203 golfer, following Tiger Wood's successful debut with Gatorade Tiger.

Haterade said it will introduce "Haterade Daly" in June, with more products to follow. Daly even picked out the varieties himself, with the drink available in a nutty brown ale, light pilsner, and a malt flavor.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve is a magical time for me. Its a reason to celebrate and remember all the good things in the past year, and a chance to also start fresh and be hopeful for the future. 2007 was a magical year for relationships in and around my life.

• Of course the biggest thing was getting married on May 5 to my awesome wife Tracy. It was a beautiful day that capped off a lot of planning.
• It also was the start of my good friend Samurai's' relationship with HapaGirl. He apparently dropped the 'L' bomb the weekend of our wedding.
• That same month, my best man N8Diggity started dating his new GF. These two guys were kinda my 'ever-bachelors', so to see them both in relationships is great.
• Tracy and I moved out of the Bay Area to Scottsdale, AZ. N8Digz threw a great little party for us so we could say goodbye to all the great relationships we've built over the last few years.
• Moving to Arizona helped me establish a closer relationship with my new family... yes, the in-laws.
• B-Lo and CPM got hitched in August which was really fun.
• I got accepted into ASU's MBA program, thus starting my relationship with the Sun Devils.
• LaSuz got hitched in December.

And I ended the year with a great long weekend in Vegas with my best friends, all of whom were now happily in relationships for the first time ever.

Happy New Year!

-- UPDATE --
Also big ups to my childhood friend Mike, he got engaged this Summer as well. I think they're planning a down home Texas Wedding.

Celebrity Look-a-like

I did a celebrity look-a-like photo analyzer on myheritage.com. I had some very mixed results:

• 76% like Amerie - where I get my great singing voice.
  
• 74% like Terrence Howard - why my mustache is so bad.
  
• 73% like Beyonce Knowles - why i'm such a good dancer.
  
• 71% like Timothy Dalton - why I would be an awesomely bad spy.
  
• 68% like Ron Livingston - why my life feels so much like Office Space.
  
• 67% like Hugh Jackman - why I'd be an awesome superhero.
  
• 64% like Dean Cain - why I'd be an even more awesomer superhero.
• Other honorable mentions are Queen Latifah, Kate Winslet, a whole slew of unknown Asian actors/models.
  

I'm a Sun Devil

Its official. I'm a Sun Devil at ASU. I'm sent in my acceptance. And come February 2008... my life is over and buried in books.

Decisions Decisions

I have to decide by thursday at the latest, whether I want to go to ASU's W.P. Carey MBA program or the University of Arizona's Eller MBA program. I've been accepted into both, and both are reputable programs with Pros and Cons.

ASU

• 2 nights a week for 4 hours each night - more class time means more learning time, but also less studying time. Probably a better learning experience overall though.
  
• Allows areas of emphasis in marketing and entrepreneurship. I can take one of these emphases, the entrepreneurship sounds like a good bet for me since I gravitate to small businesses and eventually want to start my own business.
• Its closer to my apartment.

U of A

• 1 night a week for 6 hours and includes dinner. May be a lot to absorb in one day and left to fend for myself the rest of the week.
  
• Includes an international trip which seems like it would be awesome.
• General global focus on management, seems like it is more geared for big business. Which has its perks for a small business guy like me to break the small business mindset.

The funny thing is, this decision comes at the same time as the big ASU vs UA rivalry football game. I have to decide before the game, like the football match up, I'm favoring ASU right now... but UA has been a spoiler.

Maui Honeymoon

Maui was an absolute blast. I've never had such a fun-filled vacation I've ever had. Check out some pics!

Here Today... Gone to Maui

Belated Honeymoon in Maui has been a blast so far. We've been here since Thursday, 11/15. So far we've gone snorkeling at Honolua Bay, went to a luau, went ziplining over Kaanapali mountainside, parasailing,
and snorkeling at mile marker 14. So far its been fantastic.

Technology's Downfall

We talk about how efficient technology makes us. US, meaning society as a whole. But I think technology has really slowed me down. And it sure as hell has my productivity shot. And I grow more and more inpatient. I blame the internet. But the internet is only a vast assembly of interlinked computers. So I blame computers.

Shopping is supposed to be made faster thanks to computers. But I find myself spending so much more time researching what I'm going to buy now, even though it doesn't matter that much. And then most of the time I still go to a regular store to actually try and buy the product.

I don't really talk to my friends anymore. I just IM them. Or message them on Friendster, Myspace, or Facebook. I already know I have a total of about 27 friends, give or take. Now, I don't bother IMing friends that much, because I can find out about it on their respective social networking pages or blogs.

I remember when I used to play fantasy football pre-internet. Mike would call everyone the night before the game to get the starting rosters and we'd check the stats on Monday morning's newspaper. Do some math, and then start talking smack. Now I'm in 3 leagues, some with people I barely know anymore if ever, and I'm checking my roster for injuries and matchups several times a week. I know it makes no difference checking my team on Tuesday, knowing full well I'll be doing the same on Wednesday and Friday, and maybe Sunday morning.

Sure, computers make some things easier, like writing a 30 page paper, spreadsheets, and graphic design. But then you are also spending an enormous amount of time getting proficient at these applications, and then a new version is released that we always complain about how the old one was better until we get acclimated to it. Then we need to help all the late adopters that can't figure out anything. That has created a whole new job segment called IT and Helpdesk.

I can keep going on with my random rant. But the fact of the matter is. I know full well that nobody reads my blogs, yet I still take 20 minutes out of my day to write my thoughts and waste my time, knowing i have more important things to do... like work.

Working at work increases productivity 100%.

Going Gray

Friday night, Tracy was playing with my hair and noticed a couple gray hairs. It makes me sad and feel old. Sure these were just a couple of strays. I even have a few random red and blonde hairs on my chin. So I guess I shouldn't be too alarmed. So what if a couple hairs lacked pigmentation. I'm not old. NOT Old I SAY!

Which Family GUy Character Are You?

	You are Peter. You are fat and dumb. You probably spend a lot of time watching TV and drinking, but that isn't a bad thing.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

"I'm a Sun Devil, Man!"

Just found out today that I got accepted to Arizona State University's W.P. Carey MBA Program. Just got a phone call from admissions to let me know. Formal acceptance letter is on the way.

Co-Workers

These are my coworkers. We had a holiday card design contest at work. This was my submission. But this is pretty much everyone that is currently here.

Bottom Row: Jay, Bob (Mgr), Bossman, Steve, Jenn (my team-mate).
Middle Row: Marcus, Ray (Me), Andrew, Tiffs.
Top Row: Kevin, Peter, Robert, Natalie.

Unfortunately this card design did not win, but another one that I worked on with Bossman's concept was the winner.

RED SOX WIN!!! .... and nobody cares.

I tried real hard this year to pay attention to the Baseball playoffs. And after watching a lot more baseball than i have since the Anaheim Angels of Anaheim won the pennant in 2002 over the San Francisco Giants of San Francisco. With the Redsox sweeping the series, i was watching, not realizing it was Game 4, and in the 8th inning, I decided it would be more entertaining to play xbox than watch the BoSox win again. None the less, I have again come to the conclusion... Baseball sucks and is boring and unwatchable.


Things I remember from this year's baseball season:

• Barry Bonds ties record, then breaks it. Then gets shown the door.
• Diamond Backs win the Division.
• Rockies make a huge run and then beat Padres in sudden death play-off game.
  
• Arizona fans are so uninterested in baseball that they struggled to sell out the first game against the Rockies. This results in a lot of advertising and promotion to let us know there are still 4000 tickets available for Game 1. Sad. They did eventually sell out, but half the fans showed up late.
• Rockies sweep the D-backs.
• Lots of bugs in Cleveland. This leads me to believe that contrary to Drew Carrey, that Cleveland does NOT rock. Oh. And the Injuns blow a 3-1 series lead.
• Game 1 of the world series, I opted to watch Kid Nation and Bionic Woman.
  
• Red Sox win.
  

Transformer Costume

A few months ago, I wanted to be a transformer for Halloween. But that would be way too much work. Look at how creative some of these guys are. They actually Transform.

Halloween Ideas

I was thinking of my next Halloween Costume. I did Wolverine for a couple years, and then I was Luigi for 2 years. So while I don't actually have anywhere to go this Halloween, it is still my second favorite faux-holiday of the year next to flag day.

So. not wanting to invest much time and/or effort, my last minute costume is going to be the McLovin Fake ID. I'm going to blow this card up and paste it onto cardboard or foam-core, cut out a square where the picture should be, then walk around holding the card.

It is really inspired by the National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation movie, where Rusty gets his fake ID as Nick Papageorgio.

Welcome Baby Katie

My Newest Cousin-in-Law, Katie, with her sisters Samantha and Madeline.

Operation Ice Hockey = Success

Tuesday nights I play Ice Hockey. It was my second time playing ice hockey.... ever. Now granted I do have experience with roller hockey, Ice Hockey is a lot faster... for everyone else anyway. Tuesday nights is a Hockey Skills practice. Since I'm not quite ready for a league yet.

Anyway, In our main drill, we had 1 player dig a puck out of the corner and taking it behind the net. He then passes it to the high center point who takes a hard shot. And there is a low player essentially screening the goalie and then getting the rebound. I was happy that I was able to score from all 3 positions. The easiest for me was deflecting a shot into the net from the low screen position. Thats where I'm most comfortable (ballmonsters can attest to that in soccer). I scored a nice snap shot from the high point driving in. And I also put back a nice rebound after passing the puck to the shooter. Also scored 2 goals during the scrimmage game.

I know... why am I stroking my own ego on menial accomplishments... because these are big steps for me in my second time out. And its my blog!

Go-To Guy... No More.

I've learned my lesson about being the smart know it all at work. While it is in my nature to know how to do everything, I resist being the helpful guy that fixes stupid computer problems. There's this other guy here that already kinda plays that role w/ computers, and we have an office manager/receptionist that thus far seems capable and speaks english.

The positive spin... i get fewer interruptions, and can be more productive at what I'm supposed to do. Who would've thought its smart to play dumb.