Hate It Or Love It

Chairman Bao Says, "只有現金" (Cash Only!)

2011-08-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
Chairman Bao food truck, my lunch destination

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you're planning on paying with a credit card and realize the place is cash only?

It's lunch time so some coworkers and I decide to try out a food truck called Chairman Bao. I check my wallet and I'm out of cash, but whatever, I'm starving and decide to use the plastic. We get to the truck and right off the bat I can tell this place is going to be pretty good just by the length of the line (this post could also be about waiting in really long lines for food when you're hungry). After about twenty minutes I reach the front of the line and I'm more than ready to order my pork belly steamed bun with pickled daikon.

That's when I see it. A little note that has two words that can kill a hungry man with a credit card. "CASH ONLY!!!"

It feels like someone stabbed me through the heart. Or the stomach. At this point I can't really tell anymore because I'm so hungry. I kind of linger at the front of the line for another split second, hoping some supernatural being (or really nice person) will drop a $20 into my pocket. But it doesn't happen, so I get out of line and begin my scramble around San Francisco to find the nearest ATM. I find a Bank of America about a block away and I'm about to withdraw some cash when it shows me a notification that I will be charged a $3 withdrawal fee. I guess that's what I get for being a member of Star One Credit Union. So my search continues. Another block, another ATM, another $3 fee (this post could also be about ridiculous ATM fees). Finally, I find an ATM that has a $2.50 fee and that works for me because, according to Russell Peters, "Fifty cent a lot of money". I head back to Chairman Bao and 30 minutes and $10 later I get my food.

And boy, was all that trouble worth it. The steamed buns were awesome. Chairman Bao is one of the best food trucks I've eaten at so if you're ever in SF, look it up. Who would've guessed that 3 hate-it's would have such a happy ending?

Yasukawa's Theory of Relativity

2011-08-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is me trying to pass the time and stay awake at work.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when time slows to a crawl when you're really bored?

About a century ago, some guy named Einstein came up with a ground-shaking idea. He said that time is not absolute, but relative. I guess I can go with that. I mean, who am I to disagree? Bear with me: Einstein explained that time is relative to the warping of space-time around mass and energy. Time moves slower around large bodies of mass, like Earth, than in space.

That's where Einstein's wrong. The answer is much simpler. Yasukawa's Theory of Relativity states that time is relative to your boredom level. The more bored you are, the slower time moves.

I guess some of you science and math people may demand a proof. Well, I have plenty of proof from my experiences sitting in a lecture hall or in my cubicle while bored out of my mind. I'll look at the clock. It's 2:34. I decide I won't look at the clock for as long as I can because I know (as another law of physics) that the clock doesn't move if you stare at it. After listening to my friend point out that our professor looks eerily like the Sith Lord, staring hard at my professor and realizing it's true, trying to follow the Sith Lord's lecture on transistors and then dozing off for a while, I decide I to look back at the clock. At least 2:50, right? No. 2:39. Only five minutes!? There's your proof. It's got to be Yasukawa's Theory of Relativity.

Reading Comprehension

2010-10-25T01:33:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is a picture of my linear algebra textbook.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you get to the end of a page and then realize you haven't comprehended a thing?

After hours of reading my math textbook for my midterm tomorrow, I began to glaze over pages without realizing it. The end of a page would snap me back to reality and at that point the only thought I had was:

To be fair, it's linear algebra, and I probably would have that exact same thought even if I was concentrating.

Buffering...

2010-10-19T23:37:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, it's been a while. Four months to be exact. I was actually thinking about stopping Hate It Or Love It altogether, but I figured that it might be fun to do posts every once in a while when something during my day sparks my interest. Nothing regular, because regularity creates pressure to write about lukewarm material, but check back from time to time to see what's up.

What Is This?
This is me trying to watch an episode of Family Guy on my laptop

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you're trying to watch a video online and the video stops to buffer every 5 seconds?

Here's the rhetorical question of the day: How frustrating is it when you're trying to watch an interesting video or your favorite T.V. show online and it constantly needs to buffer? I mean, how are you supposed to enjoy what you're watching when you have to worry about those little bars on the bottom of your video (see Figure 3)? It's like a horse race between the "current position" bar and the "percent loaded" bar. And if the "current position" bar catches up, you lose. Stop. Wait. And repeat.

Fig. 3:

Also, shout out to UCLA_WEB_RES (our network) for its horrible bitrate.

Life Is A Highway

2010-06-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is a nighttime view of Interstate 280 from the driver's seat of my car.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love it when you're cruising down the highway on a clear summer night?

Driving in the summer can be a drag. If you've ever been on the road during an 85 degree rush hour you know what I mean. A long commute in bumper to bumper traffic on the same sticky stretch of concrete as a hundred other impatient drivers will stress you out like few other things can.

But as the traffic thins out and the hot afternoon turns into a cool night, the dynamics of highway driving change completely. I love everything about those nighttime summer cruises. The emptiness on the road. The perfect temperature. The white headlights on one side, the red taillights on the other. The good music blaring from your speakers. The dashed lane lines flying by on either side. There is something truly relaxing about that kind of open road freedom. You're going somewhere but the scenery around you remains the same. You experience a kind of detachment from reality; your instincts take over the driving and your mind is free to wander.

Ain't nothin' like them summer nights.

Get Your Own Food!

2010-06-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is a picture of Selena devouring my entire McDonald's meal.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when someone asks to share food with you and they end up eating almost the whole meal?

Me: "I'm gonna get a chicken strips meal. What do you want?"

Selena: "I'm not that hungry. I'll just have one chicken strip and a couple of fries from yours."

Me: "Are you sure? I know what that really means..."

Selena: "Yes I'm sure. I don't know what you're talking about."

After we get the food, I go back to get some honey mustard. When I get back I find two chicken strips. That's funny, I thought a combo came with three...
Then I look over at Selena who looks like she is trying to see how many french fries she can stuff in her mouth at once. She grins.

Me: "Okay, that's your one."

Selena: "Nope."

And before I can do anything else, she grabs another one and eats it. It's okay, though, because I think I've deciphered her code. "I'm only going to eat one chicken strip and a couple of fries" actually means "You're only going to get to eat one chicken strip and a couple of fries".

Repost: Free At Last

2010-06-09T00:13:00.000-07:00

It's a little old, but this has never felt more true than now:

Free At Last!

Hello, summer vacation!

My Competition

2010-06-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is a video from awhile back, but for those of you who haven't seen it...
(Beware, slight use of profanity)

I only wish that I could convey my Hate Its as well as this guy.

Just Blowing Hot Air

2010-05-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is a grainy picture (sorry for the poor quality but my LG Shine broke and I have to resort to using an old cell phone camera) of a hand dryer at the Burger King in Westwood.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when a hand dryer doesn't get your hands completely dry?

I'm all for the save-paper-save-the-environment concept. But sometimes it's annoying when the dryer lets out a lackluster stream of lukewarm air and your pants are your only substitute for paper towels.

Enter the Dyson Airblade (check out the nifty animation!). This beast shoots out sheets of wind at 400mph to simply dry off your hands. How awesome is that? Best part is, they've installed one of these $1200 monstrosities in the De Neve bathrooms.

Wait. Hold up. $1200? Let me get this straight: budget cuts are causing UCLA to admit less students, cram more kids into already crowded classrooms and even drop some majors entirely and we're spending money to dry off our hands adequately?

Well, at least it makes for some good entertainment.

A Miscellaneous Musing...

2010-05-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

If you always make sacrifices for the future, when will you ever take the time to be happy? Sometimes it's good to sacrifice for the present.

Thoughts?

The Love Train

2010-05-19T02:53:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since I last posted, so I'll give a quick rundown of what's new:
-Hate It Or Love It has been read over 10,000 times. You guys are awesome!
-This weekend, I made the journey down to UCSD for Sun God Festival. I had a great time and Bobby Ray was amazing. Some guy named Drake was there too.

Anyways, on to business.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love it when you strike up a great conversation with a random stranger?

I take the Amtrak for my adventures to San Diego. Riding the train is not by choice; I literally have no other means of transportation to get there. I know what you're thinking: what a drag. And I would've agreed with you after my first trip. But besides being more relaxing, the Amtrak rides have another benefit.

At school and back home in my community, I'm generally surrounded by people like me. Same socio-economic status. Same values. Same experiences. Hell, even same race. I've met a more diverse cast of characters sitting on that train than I have doing any other activity.

Once I get on the train, I always try to start a conversation with the person next to me. Each ride is like a two-hour-long peek into someone else's life.

On this trip there was Henry from New Zealand, who cooks for a living but is also a photographer, a skateboarder and an artist. There was also Lily, who moved to the O.C. from Virginia and dropped out of high school. On the way back, there was Vanessa, who was an aspiring doctor. And on my last trip, there was John, the Vietnam War veteran who also played semi-professional hockey back in his day.

One of Henry's drawings

Talking to all these people has certainly put things in perspective for me. Not everyone is born into a well-to-do family, grows up without any real adversity, gets a good college education and becomes an engineer or doctor or businessman. But everyone has a story to tell and I'm content to just listen.

Go Phoenix!

2010-05-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is basketball god Steve Nash shaking hands with the Spurs after beating them with one eye.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love it when your favorite team beats its hated archrival?

Sports are about pride. And I don't just mean playing sports. For fanatics like me, even watching sports is a nerve-wracking, heart-stopping and pride-crushing experience.

At least that's how it was after watching my beloved Phoenix Suns get brutally knocked out of the NBA playoffs year after year by the universally hated San Antonio Spurs. Imagine Voldemort defeating Harry Potter in each of the seven books.

It seemed like the Suns couldn't catch a break against these guys: there was Joe Johnson's eye injury one year, Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw's suspension another year and Tim Duncan's unlikely 3-pointer after that. In fact, the Spurs won 16 out of 22 playoff games against the Suns since '03. The Spurs and Suns were, once again, set to meet in the playoffs and I couldn't help but wonder if the result would be the same.

Not this year. The Suns swept the series 4-0 and thoroughly dominated the Spurs in almost every respect. No longer could my two friends/die-hard Spurs fans Andrew Shu and Ailin Zeng rub their victories in my face. It was my turn. As the weight of those past four playoff eliminations lifted of the Suns' shoulders, the weight of always cheering for the losing team lifted off mine. Victory was sweet.

And that steak dinner Andrew Shu owes me for a friendly wager on the series will be even sweeter.

"I'm So Hard"

2010-05-06T01:59:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
Here's the story behind the conversation (click on the image to see a clearer version):
I just figured out a really tough physics problem. I wanted to type: "I'm so good! I finished this really tough physics problem!" As I'm typing, I see Selena say, "I did the harder ones." Result: "I'm so hard."

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you're about to say something but read something right before you say it, and you accidentally combine the thing you read with the thing you say?

It can lead to a horrible, horrible miscommunication.

Can I Get Fries With That?

2010-05-03T00:38:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is a picture of me at Sonic Drive-In. Yeah, it was windy there. Hence the new hair style.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you go through a drive-thru (or toll booth or the entrance to a parking garage with the ticket-dispensing machine) and you end up really far from where you need to be?

Things like drive-thrus, toll booths and parking garage ticket-dispensing machines are built around one concept: convenience. You can get/receive items quickly without even leaving your car (what an American concept).

I have trouble enjoying this convenience because I often find myself more than an arms-length away from the target. At this point, I have two options: reverse and reposition my car or reach and hope I don't fall out of the window. So instead of being able to sit comfortably in the driver's seat, half of my body ends up hanging out of the car in an attempt to grab my cheeseburger, pay my toll or take my ticket.

Maybe I'm just a bad driver. And maybe I should adapt this post to be "Don't you have it when you have to deal with the consequences of being a bad driver?" But at least I'm not at my friend Tricia's level yet.

Pick A Side! (First Vlog)

2010-04-29T01:44:00.000-07:00

The Grilled Cheese Truck

2010-04-24T03:43:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
These are pictures of The Grilled Cheese Truck on the UCLA campus.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love it when you take a risk with where you eat and it pays off?

I walked out of Boelter Hall at 1PM today and my stomach felt like it was eating itself. That's what skipping out on breakfast will do to you. Anyways, I had two options for food at that point: go back to De Neve dining hall and eat the same food I've been eating for the past 8 months or try one of the food trucks parked in the South Campus courtyard.

A quick note about these food trucks: there are a lot of trucks that drive around L.A. and sell unique, fusion food. They're kind of hit (like the Kogi truck. Wow.) or miss. But either way, your tastebuds are in for an experience.

Inspired by Chanel's recents posts about food trucks and determined to take a look at the flipside of a coin that I had touched on earlier, I decided on the trucks. The Grilled Cheese Truck, in particular. Hey, if you're going to try something new, might as well try the most unique sounding one, right?

I stood in line for 45 minutes waiting for a damn grilled cheese sandwich and I didn't think my growling stomach would forgive me. Until I bit into the "Fully Loaded" (complete with macaroni and cheese, barbeque pork and carmelized onions). Who knew reliving a childhood favorite with a twist could be so rewarding?

Wasting Ink and Killing Trees

2010-04-19T01:47:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is the machine that deprives me from some much-needed sleep and gives me headaches instead.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when your printer cuts off what you're trying to print out and you end up with two pages: one with almost the full contents and one that only has 1/50th of the page filled up?

I could do ten different hate it's about printers alone. I've thought about chucking my printer out of my 6th floor window on more than a couple occasions. But I'll save my thoughts about those issues for a different day.

Earlier this week I needed to print out my Physics 4AL lab report at 3AM the night before it was due. And of course, there's the rule that if you leave something to the last minute, things will go wrong. Anyways, I tried fitting my Excel data tables onto one page but when I try to print, the printer cut off one column of my table (sometimes I fail to notice that there's a second page if I scroll down on my print preview). I'm left with two pages: one with almost all the columns and one with only one column. Printing multiple pages and being able to use zero is frustrating, especially at three in the morning.

With all these high-tech features on phones, cameras and computers, shouldn't printers at least have some function that checks if almost all of a second page is blank and automatically compresses the contents onto one page if it is? Or at least gives you the option to? Engineers at H.P., that means you.

A Random Act Of Kindness

2010-04-10T22:14:00.001-07:00

What Is This?
This is the inside of the train that I was on. It almost looked like a crowded city bus because people had to stand in the aisle due to lack of seats.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love the infectiousness of a random act of kindness?

So here's the story: I was on a completely full Amtrak and a good amount of passengers had to stand in the aisle. A middle-aged man commuting home from work noticed a woman with a lot of luggage standing in the aisle. While most people were still arguing over the remaining seats, he stood up, offered his seat and then helped her store her luggage.

Due to pressures in each of our lives, we tend to go through our days a little bit on edge. We don't focus on the good things because they're supposed to go right. We only focus on what's wrong. And trust me, if you're human (which most of us are), things will go wrong during your day.

Sometimes these little setbacks during our day will lead to a shortened temper. And this shortened temper can translate into outbursts that bring down other people and ruin their day as well. You're more likely to see an act of rudeness or frustration than an act of courtesy. Case in point: while on the bus ride to the train station, a driver clipped the side of a parked car and left the sideview mirror bent out of shape. The decent thing to do would be to stop and leave a note, at the very least. But no. This guy just sped away without looking back.

Just as a bad temper is infectious, even one kind act can be infectious as well. After watching the man on the train give up his seat, I was inspired to brighten someone else's day. I ended up helping an old lady fix her umbrella and lending my phone to someone who was lost so that he could call a friend. I'm not saying I normally wouldn't do these things. I'm just saying that maybe we should all be a little more aware of how we can brighten another person's day with a simple action.

It's evidence that you don't have to donate a billion dollars to starving children in Africa to make a big difference. It's as easy as giving up a seat on a train.

On a related note, take some time to watch the movie "Crash" if you haven't already. It's a great movie and the whole plot revolves around this general idea.

Face Paint

2010-04-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is me gearing up to go paintballing for the first time.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you see something bad that's about to happen but don't have enough time to react?

We're five minutes into one of our rounds and I'm taking cover behind a wall. All of a sudden, I hear a series of splatters on the wall to my side. I turn to my left and all I see is a stream of paintballs headed straight for my head and chest. This is no hero's story. You already know how it ends. Painfully.

Every day, there are moments when you see something bad that's about to happen. A drink is about to fall on the floor or your door is about to close behind you and you don't have the key. In that split second, you wish you could react but you're helpless. It's like a movie playing in slow motion. All you can do is watch.

Bonus Picture (that's NOT me, thankfully):

Bruise from a paintball

Hi, My Name Is...

2010-04-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is a dinner hosted by the club Epic. It was kind of an informational thing where you meet other new people interested in the club.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you meet someone and forget their name five minutes later?

"Hi, my name's Bryan"
"Hey Bryan, I'm Karina"
"Nice to meet you"
"Nice to meet you too"

If you replace "Karina" with another name, that conversation probably happened at least ten times during the dinner. Problem is, once you get introduced to a new person, you forget the name of the person you met three people ago. So when the time comes to ask Katherine (or was it Katrina?) to pass a napkin, I don't know what to say. In these situations, I usually just resort to "Hey...HEY...mind passing the napkins?" Yes, a little impersonal and somewhat rude, but its better than calling her by the wrong name. Yes, I've done that before. And yes, that's a whole lot more embarrassing (don't you REALLY hate it when?).

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

2010-03-31T00:15:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do another photoblog with pictures from a couple days ago. Over Spring Break, Selena and I took a day adventure into SF with a Nikon D90 pretending we were legitimate photographers. And yes, it was an adventure in every sense of the word: we got lost in Chinatown, almost got run over by cable cars and even snuck to the top of a hotel to get a great view of North Beach. What follows is San Francisco through the lens of an amateur's camera.

(If you liked any of those photos, it was probably mostly the camera. But chances are that Selena took it)

The best part of that day wasn't the actual photography, though. The best parts were those spontaneous moments that you don't plan out. As time passes, I know I'll forget most of the locations that we took pictures at but the candid memories will remain.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love when the best moments of a trip come unplanned? Plans give a trip direction, but it's the candid, spontaneous moments that actually make the trip.

"C" Is For Center

2010-03-28T23:51:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is San Jose about 1000 feet up. It's the view out of my window during my flight back to L.A. just after take-off.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love it when you're one of the last ones to board the plane but still get a good seat? Alternatively, don't you hate it when you're stuck with the center seat between two strangers?

Southwest Airlines runs their seating on a first-come first-serve basis. You can check in online 24 hours before your flight and you're assigned a letter based on how early you check in. People with A board first, B second and C last. If you get an A, you're pretty much guaranteed a good seat. If you're a B, you generally have it okay as well. But if you have a C...well, you know what C stands for. C stands for center seat. Yes, the awkward center seat where both arm rests are taken up by the people sitting next to you and if you fall asleep, then it's probably going to be on a stranger's shoulder.

Today, on my flight back to L.A. after Spring Break, I boarded with the early C's. Please don't let me sit in between two people weighing over 200 lbs, I prayed. But to my amazement, I found a window seat near the back of the plane. I snatched it up and sprawled out with my copious amount of space. Of course, on an airplane, space is a relative term, but I'll take as much as I can get. And I even ended up giving the guy in the center seat the arm rest on my side. I feel for you, man. I really do.

Life In The Slow Lane

2010-03-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is the car driving in front of me at 25 mph on Johnson Ave, which is a 35 mph zone.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you're on a one-lane road and the car in front of you drives below the speed limit?

You're driving along a one-lane road with a 35mph speed limit. A car turns and starts driving in front of you and starts going 25. Then a stop sign. The guy in front of you hits the brakes 100 yards in front of the stop sign and then stops for the full three seconds before driving again. Bikers begin to pass you. The guy behind you is getting impatient and honks at you. It's not me, it's the guy in front of me! The worst part is that neither you nor any of the five cars behind you can go any faster because it's a one-lane road. And unless you want to go into the opposite lane against oncoming traffic, you're stuck right where you are. Finally you get to an intersection and it's time to turn right. You pull up next to the guy and take a good look at him. If the guy is talking on his cell phone, he's definitely getting the death stare from me. But if it's an old grandma in a Buick that can barely see over the steering wheel, I can't help but smile. How cute is that?

Silence Is Golden

2010-03-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

What Is This?
This is me sitting in a hot tub gazing up at the stars.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love how relaxing a quiet, clear night is?

What do you think of when you hear "Los Angeles"? Definitely not quiet and definitely not clear. My short time in L.A. has been dominated by honking cars, flashing lights and overcroweded city buses. It's definitely an experience. But I think I've lost my appreciation for the slower lifestyle of Cupertino (and suburbia in general).

At home, the air is clearer, the streets are less crowded and trees actually exist. As I sat there in the hot tub, I heard something I hadn't heard in six months: true silence. It was the kind of silence that fills your ears with nothing (it's a weird sensation). The stars were almost equally as amazing. It was nice to see something other than a constant gray glow in the night sky for once.

Being back home is a mental breather. Hopefully I can catch my breath before I go back to the rat race next Monday.

March Madness: Hate It Or Love It, The Underdog's On Top

2010-03-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Non-sports fans may experience a level of confusion and/or boredom while reading this post. Read at your own risk.

What Is This?
Picture 1: Watching New Mexico vs. Washington at my friend's house
Picture 2: My bracket. Note all the red (wrong picks)

It's that time of year again. A time of excitement. A time of broken hearts and dreams come true. A time of Davids, Goliaths and sometimes even Cinderellas. Put on your Dancing shoes sports fans, it's time for March Madness.

By now, everyone's probably filled out their brackets with overanalyzed picks for their dorm/high school buddies/office pool. And that bracket probably just got busted up when both Kansas and Villanova lost today. Don't you hate when your Final Four teams get knocked out early and you totally lose interest in your bracket? It's really discouraging. So in that spirit, I've decided to do a March Madness Hate It Or Love It list.

Don't you love the excitement of filling out a bracket?
The prospect of year-long bragging rights among friends and co-workers is so exciting!

Don't you hate it when someone who knows nothing about basketball ends up with a better bracket than you?
Forget those bragging rights.

Don't you hate it even more when that person is your close friend?
It's going to be a long year of hearing trash talk.

Don't you love the way anyone can win?
Old Dominion over Notre Dame? Murray State over Vanderbilt? Northern Iowa over Kansas University? I don't even know where Old Dominion or Murray State are. And how did Northern Iowa field enough people for a basketball team?

Don't you love the way March Madness brings together the best of friends?
I always look forward to going to a sports bar or a friend's house with a group of my closest friends to watch the games

Don't you love the feeling you get when you predict an upset?
I saw that one coming and you didn't. Which means I'm better than you.

Don't you hate the feeling you get when you pick an upset in your bracket and you're wrong?
Now I have to listen to "Hahaha, why would you pick THAT team to win? You're so stupid! What were you thinking?!". Time to come crashing back down to earth.

Okay, that's it for now. Enjoy the Madness! (UCLA Bruins 2011 NCAA Tournament Champs, you heard it here first!)