Television everywhere!

This is just about the coolest thing in the world.

They're using our product on the Fox "24" TV show in about 2 weeks! Something I worked on is going to be on TV!

If you view the video at the link, you'll see a few screens with network activity charts and attack paths, which are lifted from networks where our appliance was installed. You might notice a big spike on the "Network Traffic Spike" graph, corresponding to the plot scenario earlier in the season where the Internet was flooded with traffic of people watching the broadcast of the trial of the Secretary of Defense. Also, if you freeze it on the screen where a window pops up saying "Security Intrusion Prevented", in the bottom left of the screen you can see "Cisco CS MARS." That's the name of our product! So cool!

This might be enough to get me to buy Season 4 on DVD even though I haven't missed an episode yet.

In other news, the last month or so of "Alias" has been much better than the generally lackluster first half of the season. Writers are finally making things more interesting with continuing plotlines and character development. While Garner and her sis have been merely mediocre acting- and character-wise, both Sloane and Jack have turned in some outstanding performances as of late.

Found this quiz:


You are Marcus Dixon


Which Member of the Alias SpyGang are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Along these lines, here are the characters I most identify with in my favorite TV shows:

Alias: Dixon. Support character, loyal, efficient at what he does, but will occasionally surprise you. 'Twas interesting to hear that he used to be in Marine Recon (from last night's ep).

24: Tony. Keeps focus on the big picture, and manages egos/tempers in stressful situations pretty well.

Friends: cross between Chandler and Ross. I wisecrack like Bing, but am still pretty darn dorky.

Simpsons: Dr. Hibbert. Chuckling at the most inappropriate situations...

Whose Line: Greg Proops.

The beauty of simplicity and the challenge of stewardship

In one of my favorite books, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, the chapter on simplicity exhorts the believer to simplify his life for the purpose of cutting away the clutter that can obscure the work of God in our lives. A way that this can be illustrated is for you to take a few minutes to simply sit still with eyes closed and attempt to quiet your mind and heart - what do you see in your mind's eye? I know that for myself, I often have to fight off images from commercials, video games, TV shows, books I'm reading, or sound bytes from the CD I'm listening to, or whatever. Other people may see their enjoyment of a hobby, or acquiring more things, etc. When your brain cycles are occupied by all of these things clamoring for attention, how are you going to be able to hear the still small voice of God calling out?

I like to think of myself as a relatively simple person. I don't think I have too many unnecessary wants. I have no need to constantly upgrade to the latest and greatest thing if the current one I'm using is still functional. As Foster writes, why not buy things for their utility and then use them until they wear out? I can look around my room and see lots of evidence of this... much of my clothing, I've been wearing since my college days (which, stunningly, are already more than 5 years away from me now). My glasses are way old. My cell phone (the classic Nokia 8620, I think the model is) has a screw loose that rattles whenever I lift the phone to my ear. There are plenty of other things that could probably use some updating to a newer, more efficient model, but I often don't see the need. I like attempting to be simple.

However, I'm beginning to see that one important challenge for me in my personal growth coming up is to learn how to be a good steward while still being disciplined in my attitude towards things. For me, a primary danger is that I can often trick myself into thinking that I'm investing in the value of simplicity when in point of fact, I'm actually just being lazy. I have much to learn about financial matters, managing my money and investments. I have much to learn about investing in people beyond the surface level: beyond the impersonal rhetoric I might say from the microphone on Sunday to a congregation, beyond the daily chats around the water cooler, to actually getting into people's lives. Sometimes it seems like there's too much to do, and not enough time to do it, so I'm consistently tempted to throw my hands up and walk away, content with my own little bubble of self-satisfaction.

The thing is, it takes work to learn how to be a good steward. You have to make some mistakes in investing, nurse your burns and let the wounds scab over. You need to learn where and how to do the research to determine what is the best management of money, time, and effort. I think that sometimes, my completely laissez-faire attitude towards things has in some ways negatively affected my ability to learn how to be a good steward. Simplicity is good, but laziness is a slow-acting poison. Is there really no connection between my disinclination to learn how to research and make the call on getting a new cell phone and calling plan, and my growing list of people that at one time or another, I've wanted to invest in but never got around to?

This is a tension that I think I'll be gradually learning this entire year. For now, I need to get back to being a steward of all the aspects of the life that's been given me.

Haven't written anything of substance in quite a while... still have the final WCC recap to write up as well as a personal update, but for now here's some thoughts from the past few days:

Cheers to the happy couple
- Congrats to Amy and Mike on their wedding. Both of them have the unique quality of looking exactly the same as they did in high school, and they've been together for a long time, so watching the slideshow, it was nearly impossible to tell at what stage of the relationship the picture was taken.
- Amy is now Amy Lee. Yup, like the lead singer from Evanescence. Would have been cool if she and Mike went into a spontaneous rendition of "Bring Me To Life".
- I'm sure the couple was quite pleased that my table at the banquet started 98% of the dinging. Hey, it's not our fault, bridesmaids Alice and Jean were the real instigators.
- Kinda amusing that Daniel (Amy's bro) was able to pick up on some Jars and Caedmon's influences in my guitar playing style. Either it's more apparent than I thought, or he has a sharp ear. Perhaps both.
- There's nothing quite as embarrassing as tripping and falling face-first into a wall, like I did at the rehearsal dinner. Well, maybe there are a few things more embarrassing, but in my case, I got my glasses bent all out of shape. I got them fixed, but now I'm thinking I should spring for those new glasses sooner rather than later (I've had these since early college). I tried on some frames while I was waiting for my glasses to get fixed, I've pretty much jettisoned the rimless idea and now I'm looking at frames that come with a magnetic clip-on shaded lens attachment. Unfortunately, these tend to be rather pricey, but if I'm wearing my glasses 75% of the time, it might be worth it.

The NBA playoffs are here
- This is probably the most fun time of the year for me as a sports fan. The Spurs lost the first game to the Nuggets, and they look kinda rusty... it'll be quite the challenge to try to get back into rhythm while playing the hottest team in the league.
- T-Mac is cold-blooded... so much basketball talent on both sides of the ball, now if he only had the motor running all the time...
- With such a wide-open field this year, I'll be rooting for the Spurs, but I'm honestly looking forward more to great competition with no clear-cut favorite. There aren't any insta-villains like in years past (Lakers).

On tonight's episode of "24"
- Audrey has very quickly become an unsympathetic character... the stereotypical "wet blanket" if you will... leave Jack alone! Chew him out tomorrow!
- Palmer's back. Now all we need is a one-handed Chase to complete the old CTU gang. Oh, but I don't mind if Kim gets eaten by a cougar... j/k.
- I laughed out loud when Edgar was essentially hitting on Chloe ("They didn't let me go because they said you're the best analyst we have... they're right"), being all sweet and sympathetic and she responds with a rather sardonic, "I know (I'm the best)". Great stuff. She also looked like she knew how to handle that rifle. Having shot a rifle before, I can testify that they're actually really easy to shoot accurately.
- The actor playing Buchanan (James Morrison) was a favorite of mine on an old sci-fi show called "Space: Above & Beyond" from the creators of the X-Files. He played a hard-nosed Marine colonel with a sensitive side, here he plays a hard-nosed CTU director with a sensitive side. That's range.
- The other CTU agents that go out on missions might as well be wearing red shirts. At least in today's episode they got names. If you were going to have 5 minutes of screen time in a non- or minimal-speaking role in a movie or TV show, what would you want to do? I'd have wanted to be one of the pilots in the original Star Wars movie attacking the Death Star. That would have been rad.

- Currently listening to: "The Waking Hour" from Vienna Teng, a local singer-songwriter who came from Saratoga (former classmate of Karen and other folks), then majored in CS at Stanford and worked at Cisco before turning to music full-time. Very melodic, lot of minor-key piano music... great stuff.
- Currently re-reading: Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future by one of the best military sci-fi authors around, Timothy Zahn. His "Heir to the Empire" books back in the early '90s hit the top of the NY Times bestseller lists and can effectively be credited with rekindling the public's interest in all things Star Wars. Too bad Lucas didn't hire him to write the script for the prequels.

Got this in an email from George a while ago. I've italicized the particularly entertaining or "true" ones for me...

You Know You're From Silicon Valley When...

1) Your combined household income is $140,000 and you can't afford shoes for the kids

2) You think anything slower than DSL is barbaric, but can't get it in your neighborhood

3) You know what DSL stands for

4) You and your spouse almost come to blows deciding to hit Peet's or Starbucks

5) You think that American food includes sushi, naan, pho, pesto and pad thai

6) You met your neighbors once

7) When asked about your commute you answer in time, not distance

8) Even though you work 80 hours per week on a computer, for relaxation you read your email and peruse eBay

9) You have worked at the same job for a year and people call you an 'old-timer'

10) The T-shirts you value most were for products that never made it to market

11) You can name four different programming languages and you are not a programmer

12) You remember the names of the three closest cheap sushi joints, the location of all the Fry's in the area and which companies your friends work for that are going public in the next year, but don't know the name of the mayor

13) Standing in line at Starbucks you wonder why the employees don't call a head hunter

14) You work 6 miles from your home and spend two hours a day commuting and $40 a week on gas

15) Winter is when your lawn grows too fast and summer is when it dies

16) The median price of a house is $500,000...for 1200 sq. ft. with no yard because it's a town house

17) You live on some of the richest farm land in the world but most of what you eat comes from South America on a boat

18) Your best friend lives across town but you hardly ever see each other because after your commute you're too pooped to spend another hour driving to their home

19) You have a master's degree in engineering but half the people in your department either didn't go to college or have history degrees, except if you have a master's from Stanford, in which case everyone in your department has a master's degree from Stanford

20) You cringe when you see people in suits at your office, wondering if someone in management will make you stop wearing bunny slippers

21) You plan your vacation so that you don't have to drive back from the airport in commute hours

22) You don't go to sporting events unless you are given tickets by your employer

23) You could sell your home and live like a king in 99% of the rest of the world, but don't because it would be difficult to move back

24) You have at least three computers at home

25) You own at least one domain on the Internet, probably several

26) You think it's normal to see chip-design software or relational databases advertised on freeway billboards.

27) You know that California isn't just one big beach

28) You know that not everyone in California surfs

29) You know there's lots of skiing in California

30) You know your rotating outage block number at home and at work, and listen for them whenever there are rolling blackouts.

31) If someone refers to "SunnytogaDeAnzavale Road", you laugh and know what they're talking about

32) You take your out-of-town friends to see the techie gadgets at Fry's. But you don't let them buy anything

33) You know how to recognize re-sealed returned electronics at Fry's.

34) You don't ask the staff any questions at Fry's. You know they hire idiots and pass the savings on to you.

35) You watch dot-com boomers go back to the states they came from, and the traffic gets better by the month. But you are home so you're not moving

36) You own a Sport Utility Vehicle and have never taken it off-road. You wouldn't know what to do if you tried. Same with all your friends

37) You don't know how to drive in snow. You're a road hazard when you visit the mountains

38) You think the horn and middle finger are essential driving tools

39) You think bicycles don't belong on the road

40) You think any car ahead of you doesn't belong on the road

41) Your out-of-state friends are impressed at how much money you make... until you tell them how much you pay for housing

42) You know that a "fixer-upper" home could cost a half-million dollars

43) You do a "California stop" at stop signs. And you think it's only Californians who call them that

44) You aren't bothered much by earthquakes because you're ready for them. But the thought of tornadoes and hurricanes terrifies you

45) You clearly remember where you were when the Loma Prieta quake hit

46) You know several funny stories about swimming pools in the quake

47) You can't recognize a thunderstorm without seeing lightning first

48) You cringe when a Southern Californian refers to highways like "the 101". It's just "101". No "the"

49) You call low clouds "fog" even if they're hundreds of feet off the ground

50) At least once you have gone to San Francisco for the day wearing shorts and a t-shirt because it was a warm clear day in San Jose. And you froze your little *@#!% off in the fog, drizzle and wind

51) You say you're from Silicon Valley because no one knows where San Jose is

PWN3D!

Quick mention of weekend happenings... NAEN small group training, mild hike at Villa Montalvo, Champions of Norrath gaming with Byron/Mike L/Andy Y (finally starting to get challenging), good sermon from PDan about caring for our neighbors (from the Good Samaritan story) highlighting the innovative "no greeters/ushers" setup at church, hoops with a Vlade Divac clone (dropping dimes from the high post and wing post to cutters), then hanging out at Mike P's place playing poker for no money. Andrea is a card shark. Beware.

Amusing story... yesterday during the after-service refreshments time, I was chatting with one of the junior high girls in my youth group. She was talking rather animatedly about a high school guy that she knows, then mentioned in an offhanded and somewhat scornful way, "Oh, and he's also never had a girlfriend."

I said, "Well, I've never had a girlfriend either."

If you know any junior high girls, you probably know that the most difficult thing in the world is to stop them in mid-sentence. Well, after I dropped that apparent bombshell, she cut off in mid-word and stared at me slack-jawed for a few seconds. Then she giggled and said, "That's pretty sad."

Now I'm getting clowned by 13-year olds. Heh...

"OH. YOU. LOOK. SO. BEAUTIFUL. TONIGHT"

As one of my favorite music reviewers likes to say, "There's something about the grandiose nature of The Edge's jangly, chiming guitar as an atmospheric song gradually changes into a full-gallop rocker that just makes you feel happy to be alive." I think that's the best way to describe seeing U2 live. Last Saturday (I know, I know, late recap... what can I say? It's been busy) was my first opportunity to see these gentlemen rock the HP Pavilion. It's hard to believe that they've been making music together as a band about as long as I've been alive. Cal managed to hook us up with tickets, so I went with him, Gina, and Mike P. Since this guy from the Mercury does a pretty good job summarizing the setlist and technical aspects of the show, I'll just comment a little on things that were memorable for me (unfortunately no pics, cameras weren't allowed :-()...

- Over the course of their quarter-century long career, there's been a fair amount of controversy over the spirituality of U2, and particularly the faith journey of Bono, the frontman, the very definition of a "rock star" if there is one. Having roots in the Catholic Church in Ireland, they have songs taken almost verbatim from Scripture ("40"), songs during an apparent doubting period (the "Pop" album in particular), and many in between affirming the nature of God and man's role in standing up for justice and love because we are all "created equal under the eyes of God." Whatever the personal state of the individual members' spirituality, at this show it was evident that their passion for social justice and peace was not contrived - the quartet of "Love and Peace or Else", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Bullet the Blue Sky", and "Running to Stand Still" made a powerful statement against war, and "Pride", "Where the Streets Have No Name", and "One" brought attention to the band's humanitarian work in Africa. I couldn't help but admire the band's responsibility in utilizing the platform they've built and been given, to champion important causes that they are passionate about.

- Loved the stage setup - there was a curtain of lights hanging from the ceiling used to display pictures, light patterns, and even digitized images of the band. The stage had a circular walkway that allowed the band to walk out into the middle of the crowd, and in one song ("Mysterious Ways"), Bono even pulled a young woman out of the crowd to dance around the walkway. Apparently, this same girl was also picked out of the crowd at the U2 concert in 2001.

- Musically, as the review says, these guys make excellence seem the norm. Although the sound mix on the Edge's guitar wasn't nearly clear enough for my liking, he's still probably the best effects guitarist around. Bono sounds great for a 44 year old... he was hitting a lot of falsetto notes flawlessly. For that matter, I'm amazed that these guys still have the energy level that they do, at an age when most men are beginning to wind down physically. The song selection was great - didn't get to hear a few classics, but there was a good mix of new and old, and more rockers than not. Highlights for me were: City of Blinding Lights, New Year's Day, Love and Peace or Else -> Sunday Bloody Sunday (loved the drums!), and the aforementioned trio of Pride -> Where the Streets -> One.

- The folks sitting in front of us "enhanced" their concert experience with something smoked through a glass pipe. Mike and Cal thought it was weed, but I didn't think so - the smell wasn't sweet enough. Why do I know this? Well, Berkeley and a summer in some of the less savory parts of NYC educate you on some things...

- Click here for the Sports Guy's take on the show in LA... has some amusing stuff in there.

All in all, great experience, even worth the hefty price of the ticket. I'm a relatively new fan (albums owned: The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, Pop (newly purchased used copy), All That You Can't Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and The Best of 1980-1990), but I'm starting to understand why these guys have been so influential in popular music over the last few decades, to the point of being considered by many to be the second greatest band of all time after the Beatles. If you get the chance to see them in Oakland this November, you should go!

Blast from the past

Also last weekend, I had the chance to catch up with a bunch of folks from Cal AACF class 2000, hosted by Pam and Andy. The idea of the reunion was planted since someone made the observation that the only time we see each other now is at weddings, so we decided to change things up a bit. Got to get back up to speed with plenty of folks, including Cal, Mike and Ivana, Wilma, Phuoc, my old roomie, Marian, Ken, Cynthia, and Josh (who came with wife and baby in tow). As we swapped stories of work, school, house buying, ministry, and everything else, it was kind of neat to see how this community has grown and matured since the college days. In a lot of ways I owe this group big time, since as a new Christian my freshman year at Cal, they helped to provide me with an environment where I could seek and serve God and others in the midst of community. 'Twas great fun, particularly with Pam affecting shock at the ways Cal and I had changed ("Cal, you're cooking? Bob, you don't drive a Volvo now? I don't know you guys anymore!").

Tivo is cool. At the reunion, Andy finally let me see the slam dunk contest from All-star weekend a few months ago. Love that header dunk. The behind-the-back left-to-right pass to himself by JR Smith was also pretty sweet.

After seeking optometrist Andy's advice, apparently I should get glasses frames that are wider-set across my face, but narrow, and perhaps go for a more squared-off shape to the lenses.

Will post a recap of the weekend, including some thoughts on the very cool U2 concert in San Jose and the AACF class 2000 reunion on Sunday, in a little while. For the time being, this is hilarious, even if some of it is probably made up.

Darwin Award Winners
Awarded to those people trying their darndest to prove Darwin right!

1. When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a holdup in Long Beach, California, would be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.....

And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space, so he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer...$15. (If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?)

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER!
10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

Not so different after all

My father's best friend in high school, and his son, came to have dinner with us tonight. They were visiting from Taiwan since the son, Eric, will be beginning PhD studies at Stanfurd in the fall in the EE department. Mom went all out cooking dinner, with a great spread of pecan shrimp, beef with asparagus tips, chicken and tofu, and broiled salmon cheek. After stuffing ourselves, I took Eric to Farley where we met up with Byron to shoot around. It was actually a lot of fun trying to teach each other English and Chinese, and he's got some pretty good basketball skills too, so hopefully I'll get to catch up with him in the fall and invite him out to our regular hoops games.

When they had left, undoubtedly in a wave of nostalgia, my mom pulled out some old photo albums of my parents' engagement party and wedding to show me which one of the groomsmen was our guest this evening. I'm pretty sure I've remarked on this before in this space, but as I looked through the pictures, I was struck by how youthful the people in the pictures looked, and even the general feel of the photo album - there was one page with pictures of people cut into a flower shape! Pictures of people dancing, playing electric guitar, singing karaoke, and in general celebrating life and love. Even as I returned to watching the Warriors-Rockets game (122-117 baby! It's a Great Time Out again!), my mom continued flipping through the album with a little smile on her face, occasionally calling my dad over to show him a picture or ask about an old friend that they hadn't seen in a while.

It then hit me that I am now older than the people in those pictures were when the album was put together. My parents got married at 25-26.

It's kinda neat to think that my parents' generation, whom I've always grown up regarding as authority figures, was once young, energetic, and perhaps a bit naive as well. Hopefully, a generation down the line, I'll be able to pull out some dusty photo albums and show them to my kids to let them know that I was not always a stodgy old coot... since I'll undoubtedly turn into one ;-).

Quick hits

The Warriors are fun to watch again. Now we need to get a solid post presence, and contending for the playoffs and even going deep into the playoffs is not out of the question.

Nearly two years since my last big wrestling match with myself over a decision I needed to make, I'm struggling with another one. I'll try to post what I'm learning about God and myself after I figure things out. Must pray.

Something I'm stoked about for this weekend... thanks to Cal, this Saturday I'll get to experience:

"Uno... dos... tres... catorce!"

Should I finish the work I'm currently doing, or draw the wild card?