Surprise!

I promised on the last post that I'd post certain pictures and discuss certain topics. Well, they are coming, but there is a breaking news to cover, and I lost my flash drive that enables me to bring digital photos to work where I upload them. So, no promised photos or discussions for this post...sorry. Meanwhile, you can just laugh at silly pictures of me from my 23rd b-day shindig.





*Some censorship had to be done to protect the reputation of a group

So the breaking news that sort of affects me (and @GT because of its LC account) is that Wachovia, the bank that I currently hold a checking-account in, is going to be taken over by Citigroup as a result of the current US financial crisis. How would you feel if your bank goes out of business? Apparently as a direct consequence to this, some Wachovia customers are now cashing their deposits in fear of potential losing their money. According to AJC's article on the issue,

"A Citigroup spokesman said Wachovia customers shouldn’t notice any changes. Checking and savings accounts and ATMs will operate as normal, and CDs will continue to earn the same interest rates."

Does this mean I shouldn't worry about a thing???

I was actually asked a few days ago by one of my colleague if I were affected in any way by the financial crisis. I told him that the financial market is going through chaos and big companies are going down, but I personally am not influence by it. Well, I surely hope that I was right about that!

One more point for Singapore

Updates from the last few days:

- got a haircut (very important)
- received packages from my family

Pictures are coming for these updates...just wait for it.

Another interesting website was introduced on Nomadlife.org blog, called The Guide to Sleeping in Airports. Its title speaks for itself - it's a bible for us nomads. It gives you tips for sleeping in airports, but the most entertaining part of the website is the list of airport ratings. You can read reviews and stories from travelers around the world, and it simply makes want to travel (or not to, depending on where you go). Personally, on my way back home in December (which is quickly approaching unfortunately), I'm going to have to sleep in Bucharest airport (Otopeni) because my flight to Amsterdam departs at 6:00 A.M. According to their rating, Bucharest-Otopeni is rated 2 out of 3. Good enough, considering Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson is rated the same. Amsterdam airport was a runner up for the best airport to sleep in 2007. Too bad I'll only be there for little more than 2 hours, but I'll make sure to get some sleep Amsterdam.

I wanted to write a little about the future of automobiles and energy, but I think I shouldn't spare so much time from work to post on my blog esp. on Monday. So be waiting, all of you global-minded nerds, because you WILL want to correct me on this.

Let's get into the meat

If you regularly check the Nomadlife Homepage like I do, you probably would've read the post about in vitro meat already. Since I'm not a biochemist I can't explain any technical detail, but to summarize, in vitro meat is an idea to artificially grow muscle tissue of livestock (e.g. chicken, beef, etc.) so that meat for food can be obtained and manufactured without killing lives.

I'm not a vegetarian. Animal slaughtering has been done even before the creation of humankind for survival. But today eating meat is more convenient than ever, because you don't have to do the actual "processing," therefore we seem to ignore the value of life when we eat them. It is not my role to make you feel guilty for eating meat so I'll leave it to websites like Go Vegetarian and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). My point is, maybe there are enough reasons to at least cut our meat consumption.

So, back to the in-vitro meat idea. PETA is rewarding the first scientist $1 million if he/she succeeds to artificially create chicken meat that is not distinguishable from the real meat, manufacture it in large-enough quantity to be sold commercially, and sell it competitively in the market by June 30, 2012. I really do support this idea...there must be concerns regarding safety and so on, but if meat can be obtained without killing animals, and other problems that come with it, world would be a better place.


*This picture was shamelessly taken from nomadlife.org blog post*

Yesterday I went to a police station in Galati with Roxana's help, not because I did anything wrong, but to register myself for my stay, because my visa for staying in Romania expires tomorrow. My plan is to go there again before I leave here to obtain an exit permit so that I can leave the country without a problem. Let's hope that it'll all work out.

23

23 years ago in a country-side town called Columbus in the state of Georgia, USA, I was given birth as the second son and the third child of Kan family, two weeks before the projected date. I weighed 3,300 grams and was an ugly little baby.　　I've been told that I used to cry a lot for obscure reasons. Who actually guessed that I was only working on expanding my lung capacity?

And yesterday my life marked the 23rd year. Looking back, so much has happened. I can't believe that it was only 2 years ago when I celebrated my 21st birthday and finally reaching the legal age of drinking, and became incapable of doing anything productive for the entire following day. I can't believe that 5 years has passed since I celebrated my last birthday in high school years with a victory at a local cross country meet and a missing toenail on my right big toe. I can't believe it was actually 10 years ago when I celebrated my last birthday in Japan knowing that my family is moving to USA in little more than half a year. Indeed, so much has happened.

I celebrated my 23rd with a few friends and enough spirits to cause malfunction(s) in my brain. At one point I was (according to Roxana) smoking cigarettes while barely speaking in English. I had a great night, but I do deserve a slap on my face for smoking...

After 23 years, my life is still in need of a fixed direction. Or will I ever find one before I die? I must keep looking for it, and that's why this blog will keep going as well. Many thanks go to everyone who gave me a birthday wish!!!

Beggars Revisited

In order to achieve five consecutive days of posting, I'm going to make a post. Although I think there are more than enough reasons to do so today.

On my way back from work today, I was walking in front of a construction site. It is my normal route, and people working in the site must have seen me a good number of times already. But today, one of the young workers decided to shout, "China!" In English. I first didn't know what to do because I have no association with China, but he once again shouted "China!" so I replied, "No, not China...Japan!" The workers were just laughing but I think I made my point clear. But at times like this, I wonder what my true identity is.

By blood, I am three quarter Korean, and one quarter Japanese. Does that mean I'm Korean? No, I speak Japanese, and know and act according to Japanese culture. Does that make me Japanese? No, actually, I'm a natural-born American citizen, and my current permanent residence is in good o'le Georgia. Technically I hold two citizenships at the moment, Japanese and USA. Then what should I answer, when someone asks me "what is your background?"

Not quite an American. Not quite a Korean. But not really a Japanese. Not quite a student. Not quite a tourist...even I find it difficult to define myself at the moment. Or maybe I shouldn't be defined at all in the first place. I guess I'm none of them, I'm just Masato.

Today another a-man-and-two-kids came by my place to do their elevator speech. At first I was so determined to leave them with nothing this time and feel no guilt at all by doing it, because everyone I asked around after the incident a few days back told me that I shouldn't feel bad for giving them nothing. But at the end, I gave them all of my ready-to-eat food supply in my apartment (which was not much). I didn't know what was right or wrong to do. I didn't know whether or not giving them those food would truly helped them in the long term. At times like this, all I can do is to follow what my heart tells me to do, and just hope that my parents raised me right.

Then I was short on food, so I went for a quick grocery shopping. And somehow I felt more refreshed than I was before the strangers' visit. A few days ago I wrote on this blog that I don't want to give beggers something just to satisfy my hypocritical self. Maybe I was being a bit too elegant on that statement...I was only running away from the least thing I could do to help them.

At the store a lady offered me a sample for cheese...and I wanted to ask, why don't you give these to the hungry kids outside? But then I realized later that it wasn't a strategy to make me buy cheese, but mentos.

My days are still full of surprises. I met many new people today again. But out of those, I think I liked beggars the best, and I think they liked me.

Computer-Aided Design

I figured out how to use the heaters in my apartment. There was actually a knob on the water heater in the attic to activate heating. The heating effectiveness doesn't meet my expectation, but I'm sure it will help me to get through the winter in Galati.

Yesterday, I felt sleepy, so I decided to take a nap at 6:30 PM. I was planning to do some exercise, eat dinner, take care of wet clothes in the washing machine, do this and that on my computer, etc., when I wake up. Well, I did wake up, at 5:06 AM. So I did everything I planned to do then (dinner was replaced with breakfast). Note to myself: set up an alarm even when I don't have to wake up at a certain time.

These days, when I don't have an urgent tasks to complete, I use some of my working hours to educate myself in using CAD (computer-aided design). I was trying to teach myself how to use 3D drawing feature of AutoCAD today for it may become useful someday. However, I was surprised to find that it isn't similar to the softwares I have used in the past, like SolidEdge or Alibre. I don't want to go too much into the technical detail, but let me just say that I was struggling. So my colleague suggested to first experiment with Google Sketchup because it is similar to how AutoCAD works (in 3D environment at least), and Google provides video tutorials. This is what I got done in about two hours.


Now I can draw the same thing in matter of minutes, so it is a powerful tool once you get the hang of it. Since we are on the topic, here's what I drew to practice using "spline" command in AutoCAD.



In case you are wondering, I DO do my job as well.

Let us be successful

Yesterday my colleague, who has two mobile phones and has to answer a call every three minutes, asked me "In America, is it common for people in business to be like me, always talking on a phone?" I never actually worked in a serious business environment before in the US, so there is only one successful business man that I know really well: my father. He's one of the most successful man that I know, and let's see, was he so busy answering phone calls all the time? Negative. He retired two months ago from a company that he served for over 27 years, and upon his retirement, he bought himself a mobile phone for the first time. Until then, not even his secretary could reach him when he was out of his office. How did he do that in today's world of always-connected trend? I know not of how, but I just know that carrying a mobile phone is not a requirement to be successful.

This video was shown at CPS, and I found it quite inspiring. "Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes" delivered by Richard St. John. One thing I can conclude from his presentation is that there is no shortcut for a success.



Temperature in Galati has dropped significantly in the last two weeks. I even have trouble getting out of bed in the morning because of this, so I tried to use heaters in my room, one of those steel heat radiator that actually transmits heat in means of convective heat transfer rather than radiation. But I never succeeded to heat up my room yet. It just doesn't seem to heat up, even after an hour. And most of the time, when you turn on such a device, you need it immediately. It looks like I need to go buy a sleeping bag to get prepared for the winter to come.

Change?

Photos from CPS are here!



I should have taken more photos, but this time I simply was busy fulfilling my role as a faci. If you happen to have more photos from CPS, you are obligated to tell me where they are!

Yesterday, I used maxi taxi (a mini van that holds like 15+++ passengers) to go to LC meeting. A man got off right around where I was getting off from the passenger seat, so I followed his example and got off at the same time he did. Apparently it was a no-no for the driver, and he even called me back to open the door from the outside so that he can yell at me (in Romanian, of course). I think he was upset that I got off where it wasn't a designated stop without telling him anything. I first thought he was telling me that I left something in the vehicle, but when I realized from the tone of his voice that he is upset, I decided to shut the door and flee, without apologizing. I was then surprised of what I did, because in this kind of situation my Japanese blood would normally tell me to apologize immediately (and bow). What is happening to my behavior?

Maybe this is a result of the cultural stress that I just held sessions about at CPS. Or maybe it's due to the low quality and quantity of sleep or lack of running in the past few days. Whatever it is, I need to calm myself down and regain full control over my behavior...before something happens.

I know, I'm spending way too much effort on useless thoughts. But if something does happen, I'll just blame it on Large Hadron Collider.

After CPS Autumn 2008

I first intended to write about everything that happened during this four-day conference, but obviously that would be too long and boring. One thing I learned from my past experiences of both being a faci and a student is that people don't want too much text on a screen. When you have a lot to say, it's better to condense them. It's like making coffee...if you add too much water for the same amount of coffee beans, it just wouldn't taste so good. So from now on, I will try to treat my blog posts as cups of coffee. Maybe even espresso sometimes.

I forgot to bring photos to work, so I cannot post them now. But just wait for it, they are coming soon.

I stopped counting how many AIESEC conferences I have attended a while ago. But most of them I attended in the US (and one in Canada). Hence I noticed some differences in how we do things.

1. Targeted Training - In the US, we basically have only two kinds of conferences: RoKS (regional kickoff seminar) and two annual national conferences. Contents of these are not really specified, so we just cram all the AIESEC elements we can come up with into one conference. In Romania, and probably in many other countries, each conference has specific objectives and trainings targeting specific people. This CPS (Cultural Preparation Seminar) targeted EPs (exchange participants) to prepare them to go abroad. Moreover, attendence of this conference is a requirement for them to go abroad. There is not enough training in US for preparation to go abroad. All the "training" I received from @US was an one-hour online presentation, and after this conference I realized the danger of making the process to go abroad too simple. I'm in no position to judge which style is better, but I like the idea of content-specific conferences.

2. Absence of SH&A policy - In the US, a delegate must sign a form for Sexual Harassment and Alcohol Policy. We do this for good reasons, but still, maybe we are being a bit too sensitive? At this CPS, I saw beer and other alcoholic drinks in the same room we hold plenary in, for the first time. And did we have any problems with SH&A P? No (my silly behavior at parties aside). Of course in US, it is illegal to drink for many of the younger delegates. @US can be in big trouble if someone had an issue with SH during a conference and she/he sued the organization. But in my ideal world, there shouldn't be signings of SH&A policy...not that I want to binge drink or sexually harass anyone, but because we should know better, as AIESECers.

For the next few days I'll be posting bits and pieces of CPS memories. Again, be waiting for photos. And sorry if this post tasted like one of those diluted coffee at McDonald's. Give me feedbacks (and criticism) so that someday I can name myself Starbucks.

This morning

When I came back from running this morning, I noticed that the blinds on the windows are strangely orange. So I opened the window and found this magnificent scene. So I thought I'd share it with you. It pays off to wake up early, right?

From Scenary

I'm from the land of Rising Sun, so seeing sun rise gives me energy. In my opinion, it's much better than sunset.

Correction to the correction I made yesterday: I'm now facilitating three sessions at CPS, and one of them will be repeated twice. Hooray.

n.) one who solicits alms for a living

Correction on the announcement I made in my last post: I am going to facilitate two sessions at CPS this week, not just one as I first thought. There were some mistakes in communicating with OCs, but that isn't a huge problem. The name of the session is "Relocation Process, Acculturation Stress, and My Life Abroad." Not too sure what to talk about for 1.5 hour on this topic, but I'll try my best. My strategy for this session is to let delegates talk a lot to minimize my talk, because if I talk for 1.5 hour straight, no one would be awake by the end.

This weekend was probably one of the most unproductive weekend since I came to Romania (other than working on CPS materials), but I need times like this sometimes. Occasionally doing nothing at all feels good. But there were still some things happened that are worth mentioning.

I was running by Danube River on Saturday morning around 9:00, and I saw two boys - around the age of 4 or 5 - walking. As I passed them by, one of them said to me "Hello!" in English, and I was touched by his action. Unfortunately I was a bit out of breath to say anything and a bit too fast to make an eye contact, so I turned my head back, TRIED to smile, and waved. Times like this I realize that I'm here as an ambassador of my home country, and incident like this can be a very small step to filling the gap between our borders.

Yesterday morning, however, was a bit unpleasant. When I was cooking my lunch in my apartment, someone came to my apartment and rang the annoying buzzer by the door. I didn't recognize the man out the door, but I opened the door anyway judging that he isn't here to do any harm. I couldn't see them from the viewer on the door, but there were also two boys in front of the man. The man started to spill out an elevator speech in Romanian at me, which of course made no sense to me at all, but I could tell that they were here to beg for money on the most religious day of week. I may sound a like cold-blooded bastard, but I gave them nothing. I don't give them anything on the street or anywhere else, so why should I give them something when they come at my door to disturb my quiet, private Sunday morning?

Though, I always wonder if I'm doing the right thing, because it hurts me to leave them with nothing when I have enough money to drink beer with dinner at restaurants. But what if I give like 5 lei to every one of them who come to me? My empty wallet aside, they may have enough to feed themselves temporarily, but only temporarily. Giving them something just because they begged, solves no problem in the long run. As an @er I always have to think about sustainability, and I giving something just to satisfy my hypocritical mind is not sustainable. But what else can I do to help them? Hopefully I'll come up with a better answer soon other than "nothing."

What do you do with beggars?

Announcement & quote of the day

I got one announcement to make (what horrible way to...): I was accepted as a faci at CPS (Cultural Preparation Seminar) in Piteşti, Romania! I'm facilitating a 1.5 hour long session for Cross Cultural Simulation. Reminds me of Albatros simulation I saw at my very first LC meeting in 2006...I'm sure I had a big question mark written all over my face the entire time as I was watching people hissing at each other. I need to do something like Albatros, maybe something more exciting and memorable. Time to explore myaiesec.net for ideas, I guess.

For the past few days I've spent most of my working hours on drawing things using AutoCAD.


It isn't as complicated as it looks. In fact, it's actually quite enjoyable sometimes. But I'm not an expert on CAD drawing (the drawing above took me hours) and I needed to do something to boost my productivity. My colleague who shares an office with me kindly gave me a pdf file, called AutoCAD Professional Tips and Techniques, to help me out. I'm not a fast reader either so it's going to take ages to read the entire document (339 pages), but I'm on page 60 now and I have learned many tricks that I didn't know already.


Like the Windows key. If you have been using Windows for a while you've probably noticed (or already effectively using) a key with Windows logo on your keyboard. I've accidentally hit it multiple times in the past and it was annoying to see the Start Manu come up every time. But it isn't only for Start Menu. You were actually supposed to use it with other keys to use shortcuts like these:

# Windows Logo Key + B to Select the first icon in the Notification Area
# Windows Logo Key + D to Show Desktop
# Windows Logo Key + E to Open My Computer
# Windows Logo Key + F to Open Search
# Windows Logo Key + F + Control Key to Open Search For Computers program
# Windows Logo Key + F1 to Open Help
# Windows Logo Key + L to Switch Between Users, or Lock desktop while unattended
# Windows Logo Key + M to Minimize All Windows
# Windows Logo Key + M + Shift Key to restore after Minimizing All Windows
# Windows Logo Key + R to Open Run Dialog
# Windows Logo Key + U to open Utility Manager
# Windows Logo Key + Y to Open Yahoo Messenger (if loaded)
# Windows Logo Key + Pause Key To Open System Properties
# Windows Logo Key + Tab Key To Switch Between Active Programs
# Windows Logo Key + X to enter Windows Mobility Center (Windows Vista+ only)
# Windows Logo Key + P to switch Projection modes (clone, extend, single, multiple monitors, etc.)

I don't know how useful these shortcuts could be, but to me, one mystery solved.

As I was reading a section about keeping backup storage, I found an interesting line, so I put it here as a quote of the day.

"Never before in history has so much human effort been stored in so ephemeral a medium as magnetism on spinning metallic disks."

Did I mention that I'm a nerd?