Sunday, March 07, 2010
HE HAS ARRIVED
Weighing in at 10 pounds, 3 ounces, and 22 inches, from Washington, DC (by way of Seoul, Korea and Seattle, WA) . . . BABY JONAH! Our first baby, and he's a doozie. Cute as a button, too. Couldn't be happier! Well, ok, if he slept through the night and could spout Shakespeare at birth, maybe I'd be a tad happier. But within the realm of the realistic, E and I are overjoyed!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Baby Names III
Here it is, my semiannual blog post. OK, maybe I post slightly more often than that. Emphasis on the "slightly." Oh well.
It's also not like I had nothing to report, because I did. E and I are about to have our very first kid. So basically I've known this for over 8 months and didn't ever mention it here. Pro bloggers everywhere are disgusted.
Before we got pregnant we were already throwing around baby names, as I've posted about before. But with only a week or two to go (in theory), I think we've narrowed it down. Should Baby Lee turn out to be a boy, he will be named Jonah. If Baby Lee is a little girl, she will be named Clara.
I'm sure you were clever enough to figure out that that means we chose NOT to find out the sex of our baby before birth. Definitely in the minority; apparently just about everyone decides these days to find out. But we're enjoying the suspense. And I'm sure we'll be happy no matter what (well, so long as it's one or the other; both or neither might freak us out). And since the baby will be born in the next few weeks, I'm sure I'll be posting about it by Labor Day. Or Thanksgiving. Well, definitely by 2011.
It's also not like I had nothing to report, because I did. E and I are about to have our very first kid. So basically I've known this for over 8 months and didn't ever mention it here. Pro bloggers everywhere are disgusted.
Before we got pregnant we were already throwing around baby names, as I've posted about before. But with only a week or two to go (in theory), I think we've narrowed it down. Should Baby Lee turn out to be a boy, he will be named Jonah. If Baby Lee is a little girl, she will be named Clara.
I'm sure you were clever enough to figure out that that means we chose NOT to find out the sex of our baby before birth. Definitely in the minority; apparently just about everyone decides these days to find out. But we're enjoying the suspense. And I'm sure we'll be happy no matter what (well, so long as it's one or the other; both or neither might freak us out). And since the baby will be born in the next few weeks, I'm sure I'll be posting about it by Labor Day. Or Thanksgiving. Well, definitely by 2011.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Health Care
I'm going to refrain from actually blogging about my own thoughts on the health care "reform" debate currently gripping the country because (a) that would take a long time, (b) no one wants to read a 57-page blog post, and (c) talking about the subject usually gets me so pissed that I can't get any work done, and right now I really really need to get work done.
However, I read a fascinating article in the Atlantic about the subject, which I found to be very well-written, well-explained, well-reasoned, and it just plain makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, the author's suggestions have about as much chance of actually happening as my winning the lottery tomorrow (actually, probably less chance), but it was refreshing to read an intelligent piece about health care since almost everything else I've read -- from both sides of the political divide -- has been anywhere between completely uninformed trash to completely ridiculous propaganda.
However, I read a fascinating article in the Atlantic about the subject, which I found to be very well-written, well-explained, well-reasoned, and it just plain makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, the author's suggestions have about as much chance of actually happening as my winning the lottery tomorrow (actually, probably less chance), but it was refreshing to read an intelligent piece about health care since almost everything else I've read -- from both sides of the political divide -- has been anywhere between completely uninformed trash to completely ridiculous propaganda.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
The Paradox
Today was the first day of the 2009/10 season in the English Premier League. For those of you who are uninitiated, that is the professional football (read: soccer) league in England. So like MLS in the United States, except it's more analogous to the NFL and NBA put together in terms of stature, following, success, etc. Explaining to my American friends reading this how professional football works in England and Europe is way too ambitious a topic for this post, but maybe I'll get to it some other time. In any event, if you like football/soccer, you'd love watching the Premier League; it's the most exciting in the world in my humble opinion.
For now, I just wanted to discuss a curious phenomenon familiar to millions worldwide: the Fantasy Sports vs. Real Life Fandom Paradox (hereinafter, "The Paradox"). So imagine you are a NY Yankees fan, and you also play fantasy baseball. In your fantasy league, you acquire San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, one of the best pitchers in the league (and best haircut in the league, but that's a separate issue). You are understandably excited. Right up until the Yankees and Giants begin a three-game series against each other in interleague play. Lincecum will be pitching against your team. You want him to win the game, strike out lots of batters, and allow as few runs as possible, all so he can score lots of points for your fantasy league. But you also want the Yankees to win the game and score lots of runs (against Lincecum). To make it worse, your biggest fantasy league rival owns the Yankees' pitcher for that game, C.C. Sabathia, who you similarly want to do well but also poorly. You've been hit by The Paradox.
Fantasy sports aficionados know what comes next. You start hoping for insanely bizarre things to happen. For example, you hope that Lincecum strikes out every batter for the first five innings (15 strikeouts) but then gets a really painful cramp that takes him out of the game (and only this game). You hope that in the meantime, Sabathia strikes out no one and gives up 10 earned runs, leaving the game. You then hope that the Yankees score 11 runs in the last four innings while allowing zero runs to win the game. Of course that won't happen. But that's what you hope anyway because of The Paradox.
So I got hit by The Paradox today. My favorite Premier League team, Arsenal (from London), was playing Everton (from Liverpool). I have an Everton defender in my fantasy team, where defenders are penalized points if the other side score goals. It was a fantastic match to watch (unless you're an Everton fan). Arsenal absolutely dominated. So I see Arsenal score one goal. Fantastic, they might win. And my defender only gave up one goal so the penalty isn't bad. Then Arsenal scores another. Okay, still fine -- Arsenal have a two-goal cushion so they have a really high probability of winning this game, and my defender has a manageable penalty for allowing two goals. Then Arsenal score a third. Hmm, getting troubling. No need to pad the score fellas, you're going to win anyway. A fourth goal. Uh oh. A fifth. Crap. A sixth. Holy bajeezus.
The match ended in a 6-1 victory for Arsenal. Which I'm happy about, don't get me wrong. Everton are an excellent team, especially on defense (usually), so beating them is a very good thing, especially at their home stadium. And this was one heck of a win. It's as if the Indianapolis Colts (contender with a good offense, like Arsenal) beat the Baltimore Ravens (contender with a great defense, like Everton) by a score of 42-3. Problem is, my defender got hit with a HUGE penalty. So do I feel elated or depressed? Well, both.
That's The Paradox.
For now, I just wanted to discuss a curious phenomenon familiar to millions worldwide: the Fantasy Sports vs. Real Life Fandom Paradox (hereinafter, "The Paradox"). So imagine you are a NY Yankees fan, and you also play fantasy baseball. In your fantasy league, you acquire San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, one of the best pitchers in the league (and best haircut in the league, but that's a separate issue). You are understandably excited. Right up until the Yankees and Giants begin a three-game series against each other in interleague play. Lincecum will be pitching against your team. You want him to win the game, strike out lots of batters, and allow as few runs as possible, all so he can score lots of points for your fantasy league. But you also want the Yankees to win the game and score lots of runs (against Lincecum). To make it worse, your biggest fantasy league rival owns the Yankees' pitcher for that game, C.C. Sabathia, who you similarly want to do well but also poorly. You've been hit by The Paradox.
Fantasy sports aficionados know what comes next. You start hoping for insanely bizarre things to happen. For example, you hope that Lincecum strikes out every batter for the first five innings (15 strikeouts) but then gets a really painful cramp that takes him out of the game (and only this game). You hope that in the meantime, Sabathia strikes out no one and gives up 10 earned runs, leaving the game. You then hope that the Yankees score 11 runs in the last four innings while allowing zero runs to win the game. Of course that won't happen. But that's what you hope anyway because of The Paradox.
So I got hit by The Paradox today. My favorite Premier League team, Arsenal (from London), was playing Everton (from Liverpool). I have an Everton defender in my fantasy team, where defenders are penalized points if the other side score goals. It was a fantastic match to watch (unless you're an Everton fan). Arsenal absolutely dominated. So I see Arsenal score one goal. Fantastic, they might win. And my defender only gave up one goal so the penalty isn't bad. Then Arsenal scores another. Okay, still fine -- Arsenal have a two-goal cushion so they have a really high probability of winning this game, and my defender has a manageable penalty for allowing two goals. Then Arsenal score a third. Hmm, getting troubling. No need to pad the score fellas, you're going to win anyway. A fourth goal. Uh oh. A fifth. Crap. A sixth. Holy bajeezus.
The match ended in a 6-1 victory for Arsenal. Which I'm happy about, don't get me wrong. Everton are an excellent team, especially on defense (usually), so beating them is a very good thing, especially at their home stadium. And this was one heck of a win. It's as if the Indianapolis Colts (contender with a good offense, like Arsenal) beat the Baltimore Ravens (contender with a great defense, like Everton) by a score of 42-3. Problem is, my defender got hit with a HUGE penalty. So do I feel elated or depressed? Well, both.
That's The Paradox.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A Year Gone By . . .
I am the world's worst blogger. It's been over a year since my last post. I'm sure no one noticed, but still.
What a year it has been though. I changed jobs -- my clerkship ended so I am now back at my old firm. We have a new president (more on this in upcoming posts). I now own a Wii and the greatest video game ever made, Rock Band. Michael Jackson died. Our cats were put on a diet because the male, Cairo, is overweight -- much to his sister Nairobi's chagrin. The U.S. economy is, shall we say, a tad depressed. Interesting times!
Speaking of the economy, E and I were actually in Australia when the financial markets crashed last fall. I had just left my clerkship so we finally went on our honeymoon, which conveniently doubled as our first anniversary. What a fabulous trip -- if we could find jobs in Australia and get the red tape dealt with, I'd move there in a second. Sydney was so much fun. Of course, we'd have to sell our house before we could leave and so, well, even with jobs we ain't goin' anytime soon.
Won't belabor this post with too many details of our trip, but one thing I learned in Australia was that koalas make perhaps the most unexpected noise you'd ever think they'd make. This isn't our video, but I can attest that it is accurate -- koalas sound like a weird cross between a pig, a donkey, and a Harley Davidson. Bizarre!
What a year it has been though. I changed jobs -- my clerkship ended so I am now back at my old firm. We have a new president (more on this in upcoming posts). I now own a Wii and the greatest video game ever made, Rock Band. Michael Jackson died. Our cats were put on a diet because the male, Cairo, is overweight -- much to his sister Nairobi's chagrin. The U.S. economy is, shall we say, a tad depressed. Interesting times!
Speaking of the economy, E and I were actually in Australia when the financial markets crashed last fall. I had just left my clerkship so we finally went on our honeymoon, which conveniently doubled as our first anniversary. What a fabulous trip -- if we could find jobs in Australia and get the red tape dealt with, I'd move there in a second. Sydney was so much fun. Of course, we'd have to sell our house before we could leave and so, well, even with jobs we ain't goin' anytime soon.
Won't belabor this post with too many details of our trip, but one thing I learned in Australia was that koalas make perhaps the most unexpected noise you'd ever think they'd make. This isn't our video, but I can attest that it is accurate -- koalas sound like a weird cross between a pig, a donkey, and a Harley Davidson. Bizarre!
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