"You didn't you say Michigan sucks?"

Go Irish! Beat Michigan!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Since the Deaf Olympics is in town there are a lot of Eastern European teams (they seem to have come with the largest number of athletes). Thing is that means there are a lot more (attractive) blondes in town. In fact, as I came back from watching the steeplechase tonight I could not help but laugh and think about the ratio here.

In 15-16 months here I have seen a handful of attractive blondes. So that means within a week the number of attractive blondes in Taipei increased exponentially.

How to Cheer When They Can't Hear?

Taipei is hosting the Deaf Olympics right now (there are all sorts of events for deaf athletes from all over the world).

So I went to see the track meet yesterday and I got there to see the women's 10,000m race. But there was a problem, how do you cheer for someone who cannot hear you when they are in one of the most grueling races in track and the stadium is pretty empty?
Well the Swedish section behind me decided to do a slow clap (all clap in rhythm starting slowing then picking up pace as the athlete comes closer). Problem is that the effect of this depends on everyone doing it in sync. When you cannot hear (or 50% of the section cannot hear) this is a bit of a problem. So the claps would start off with a semblance of rhythm only to quickly descend into each person clapping with their own completely different rhythm.

In comparison, the Australians had it down pat. Then again all the Aussies have their "battle cry" (anywhere you go and find 1 or more Aussies at a sporting event they all know to shout "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi! Aussie! Oi! Aussie! Oi!" in unison). The Deaf Olympics was no exception.

One of the funniest things was a Taiwanese guy who was trying to lead cheers. But he couldn't speak English or use sign language. So his cheers consisted of him encouraging everyone to yell with him in Chinese then getting really annoyed when he realized he was the only one cheering...then trying again a few minutes later only to have the same result.

Are You Ready for Some (ND) Football?

It’s ND football season again! For me it is a little tough to catch games when they are at 3am on Sunday morning. But I am going to try and catch the opener against Nevada on the internet (via some web feeds) or just hope to God the top sports bar in town has a live feed and will let me stay there until 6 or 7am.

In many ways, this year feels the same as so many before. Each season the team is young with some experience back and the schedule doesn’t look too bad. There is hope in the air in South Bend. Then the season starts and at some point my hopes and dreams are crushed.

So how do we not crush my hopes and dreams this year? Well winning is a good way to start. But how does this notoriously underperforming team accomplish what has been a herculean task the last few years?

It is same on offense and defense: the line. The ND o-line has been beyond horrendous the last few years. Now they have a new position coach. We will see what happens, because to make any plays the quarterback has to be upright and not planted into the ground by an opposing d-lineman. The ND d-line is young and thin on numbers. If you are an opposing defense you run it down their throat since you do not wanted to face the secondary (the strength of the team). Teams will run at ND until the d-line shows it can stop the run.

Any analysis beyond that is extraneous.

Recent Books I've Read

I used to really like reading. Then I went to college and had to read for class. Now I am rediscovering my love of the written word.

The books I have read recently with a short blurb of my thoughts:

Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid

This was one of the most difficult books I have ever read. It was extremely well written—but I still literally had to put it down and stop reading it countless times. The book was by the authority on Central Asia and it lays bare the head-up-one’s ass manner in which the invasion and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan was conducted. One particularly hard part was the discussion of other Central Asian nations that got a free pass under Bush so long as they “supported” US policy objectives (even if places like Uzbekistan tortured political opponents/perceived threats to death by boiling them alive—yes, you read that correctly).

The book did, however, make me remember how much I love not having Bush as president and how important things like closing Guantanamo and stopping the use of torture really for US foreign policy. If you can read this and honestly tell me Bush protected us from terror you either only read the dedication or your are just plain dumb.

This book should be required reading along with my two Bibles (The World is Flat and Hot, Flat and Crowded).

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I had never read this classic and I felt guilty about it. So I bought it here in Taipei and tore through it. By the end I was talking like the protagonist. That said, I thought the book was overrated. Yes, it was interesting study in alienation from society. But I was tired of the prose and the protagonist was getting on my nerves by the end. Thank God it was short.

House to House by David Bellavia

This book is a non-fictional account by a US Army sergeant of the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq. The prose is decently refined (thank you ghost-writer) and the accounts of the fighting are incredibly gripping stuff. The culmination of the book was hand to hand fighting that resulted when the author entered a house alone to face off against 6 insurgents who had prepared a death trap and were jacked up on epinephrine (pure adrenaline shot directly into the heart).

All in all, it is a pretty raw look at combat and the sacrifices made by those in uniform. Definitely worth it to read.

Even Buffet Isn’t Perfect by Vahan Janjigian

The only book I could find about Warren Buffet that was not puckering up for a big kiss. Yet, after reading the book will admit that I would bow to the “Oracle of Ohama.” The first few chapters presented a good analysis of Buffet’s investment approaches, changes over time to this approach, and what was applicable to the average investor. The book was written by one of the editors of Forbes and the forward was by Steve Forbes himself so it should not be a surprise that at the end the author decided to discuss of Buffet’s positions on taxes.

Honestly, people who read books about Buffet aren’t looking for discussions on his estate tax positions. If you are that desperate to fill up space just put in some more graphs. Other than the last two chapters, the book was pretty good.

Next on the docket is about business managment in China.

K-pop

I saw these posted on my friend Jaymin’s facebook page. They have me hooked on K-pop (Korean pop).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZD26G38dc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Hihsm405E

Ok so I lie—just those two songs. When I watch the third one he posted I want to punch everyone in the same room as me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRW_elc-rY

Weekend Update

So I came back from Thailand and as soon as I got to my house I had to order $600 worth of parts on MY credit card for my office. They will reimburse me—but damn, that is a decent chunk of change.

Immediately after that, I had to run to the hospital to get a light outer-ear infection taken care of. About an hour later, I came back with some drugs I had never heard of from a clinic full of people who could not speak English. Right after that I took my first shower of the day and hauled it out to meet two friends for dinner.

The next day was pretty epic. I woke up very late and headed straight to the Danshui subway stop north of Taipei to meet some people for a huge weekend concert on the beach. More accurately, I should say music festival (one hip-hop stage that sucked and sounded like any club, one trance stage, and one house stage—not sure of the difference between the last two).

The group I was there with got in about 6pm. The concert was held right on the beach. I had a great time—until it was over.
The music ended about 4:30-5am. Now we were really far from Taipei so catching a cab back to the city would have been prohibitively expensive. So I was cool to hang out with the group I was with—except for the one big, drunk, and very obnoxious dude. Problem was that everyone was gathered around him and ended up falling asleep in the sand.

Lightweights. I was still going strong (relatively speaking) and I was not ready to go to sleep at 5:30am in the sand while there was a light rain falling. So instead I just caught an expensive taxi to the nearest subway stop and took the subway home (note—by home I mean I fell asleep and missed my stop and had to get off at the end of the line and catch a cab with one of the least-friendly drivers I have ever met to get back home). I got back at 8:30am.

The next day I talked with one of the girls in the group. The first thing she asked was, “Were you angry last night? You just left in the morning without telling anyone.” My bad on that one. I was not angry by any means, but I was not in the mood to sleep in the sand and rain and wait until 7am for bus to take me on a 45 minute ride to the subway. Then there was also the fact that the people I was with were grad students without jobs so a cab was too expensive for them—oh the joys of my job.