so many little things to be thankful for.
-instead of a normal sunday morning service, we had a prayer & praise service. i played piano for the entire service straight - one hour & fifteen minutes. i'm thankful i was able to serve alongside copper coins today, to lead the congregation into worship.
-my work laptop power cord AND home desktop both conveniently decided to break during the one weekend i needed to work, quarter-end closing. i'm thankful that we were able to close the quarter yesterday, so i don't have to work today because otherwise, i would have had to go into the office instead of being able to log in from home. and now i can go to community group tonight.
-i was getting onto the onramp for 85 after church, following a big truck, when several huge planks of wood the size of twin-sized mattresses came flying out from the flatbed. i'm thankful that i was far enough behind that the planks didn't hit my car, and flew off to the side so that it wasn't in the way of my car or any other car trying to get on the onramp.
a lot of times, i forget to thank God for the little things. what are you thankful for?
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
it's friday!
every time the weather/seasons change, my allergies (non-stop sneezing and watery eyes. or i should say eye. for some odd reason, only my right eye gets super itchy and watery.) & eczema start to really act up (yes, even during fall and winter). my skin has been really irritated lately, and though i haven't broken out into rashes like last summer, i took some atarax last night to help prevent myself from scratching and making the problem worse.
i woke up this morning.
i remembered it was friday.
hooray for me.
unfortunately, friday doesn't mean much this week because i have to come into work tomorrow anyway.
p.s. check this if you don't understand what this post is about.
i woke up this morning.
i remembered it was friday.
hooray for me.
unfortunately, friday doesn't mean much this week because i have to come into work tomorrow anyway.
p.s. check this if you don't understand what this post is about.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
the ultimate picture post
taking a break from working to make... the ultimate picture post. i've been too busy to upload & post pictures, but since i'm going to be up late working tonight, i figured i might as well post pictures while i'm at it. so... here we go!
olivia's bachelorette party
just some snippets from the party...
taking her ice skating at sam mateo ice rink (no ice skating for me :( so i took the pic from outside the rink)
cheers! toasting, champagne & spa night at the hotel after ice skating & dinner
at the ferry market in the city. we ate rice with olivia.
olivia got proposed to. not by jono. by this guy who is signing her shirt.
and this is what the guy wrote.
at paper source... our finished albums
alinna & i were trying to do the blue steel look, except we kept laughing. we finally thought we did a pretty good job until...
our waiter walked by, set down a basket of bread, and muttered "for the teenage mutant ninja turtles."
visiting the miyais
this past saturday, a bunch of us went to sac to visit the miyais.
the food tomio so graciously prepared for us... nachos galore!
the star of the day... christopher!
oski shakes hands with olivia
oski's naaaasty, foamy ball
everyone at the park
the aftermath.
andy's farewell
that night we celebrated andy's time up in norcal with a bang (aka farewell party). we'll miss you, take care of those patients in riverside!
the man of the hour
babysitting agape kids
on sunday, our cell group spent our free week helping out the agape fellowship by babysitting their kids. honestly, i don't know how the fellowship can get anything done without babysitters. everyone in other community groups... you should consider offering your babysitting services, i'm sure the parents would really appreciate it. plus you get to see the cutie kiddos all night. :)
tobi & sarah
gracie
jacob literally stood there in that position for more than 15 minutes without moving. i have a video of all the chaos going on around him with him not so much as blinking.
it was total chaos, until tobi whipped out her nintendo ds and saved our lives. thank goodness for... technology? :)
george took tytus' nintendo ds & started playing on it. yes, george took a kid's video game from him to play with it. except lucas was really obsessed with the DS and wouldn't let george see the screen.
okay, lots more pictures on my smugmug.
mike's bday
easter sunday brunch
visiting the miyais
andy's farewell
babysitting for agape
and lastly, i leave you with more videos of the kids. why are they so cute??
sarah & lucas hold hands and find joy running around a tree
lucas & jacob find joy in a rock that magically keeps popping back up the hole. their laughs are so cute.
and... here's the video of chaos. notice how jacob barely flinches. i'm not kidding when i said he literally stood there for 15 minutes without moving. do you like how i yell at the kids even while videotaping? haha.
olivia's bachelorette party
just some snippets from the party...
taking her ice skating at sam mateo ice rink (no ice skating for me :( so i took the pic from outside the rink)
cheers! toasting, champagne & spa night at the hotel after ice skating & dinner
at the ferry market in the city. we ate rice with olivia.
olivia got proposed to. not by jono. by this guy who is signing her shirt.
and this is what the guy wrote.
at paper source... our finished albums
alinna & i were trying to do the blue steel look, except we kept laughing. we finally thought we did a pretty good job until...
our waiter walked by, set down a basket of bread, and muttered "for the teenage mutant ninja turtles."
visiting the miyais
this past saturday, a bunch of us went to sac to visit the miyais.
the food tomio so graciously prepared for us... nachos galore!
the star of the day... christopher!
oski shakes hands with olivia
oski's naaaasty, foamy ball
everyone at the park
the aftermath.
andy's farewell
that night we celebrated andy's time up in norcal with a bang (aka farewell party). we'll miss you, take care of those patients in riverside!
the man of the hour
babysitting agape kids
on sunday, our cell group spent our free week helping out the agape fellowship by babysitting their kids. honestly, i don't know how the fellowship can get anything done without babysitters. everyone in other community groups... you should consider offering your babysitting services, i'm sure the parents would really appreciate it. plus you get to see the cutie kiddos all night. :)
tobi & sarah
gracie
jacob literally stood there in that position for more than 15 minutes without moving. i have a video of all the chaos going on around him with him not so much as blinking.
it was total chaos, until tobi whipped out her nintendo ds and saved our lives. thank goodness for... technology? :)
george took tytus' nintendo ds & started playing on it. yes, george took a kid's video game from him to play with it. except lucas was really obsessed with the DS and wouldn't let george see the screen.
okay, lots more pictures on my smugmug.
mike's bday
easter sunday brunch
visiting the miyais
andy's farewell
babysitting for agape
and lastly, i leave you with more videos of the kids. why are they so cute??
sarah & lucas hold hands and find joy running around a tree
lucas & jacob find joy in a rock that magically keeps popping back up the hole. their laughs are so cute.
and... here's the video of chaos. notice how jacob barely flinches. i'm not kidding when i said he literally stood there for 15 minutes without moving. do you like how i yell at the kids even while videotaping? haha.
Friday, April 21, 2006
more knee gripings
one more week until our quarter ends. it can't come soon enough, it's been brutal. i definitely need to offload some of my work, i can't keep this up. late meetings, working from home until midnight... i hope we hire someone soon.
tomorrow... we go off to sac town to see the miyais! yay!
**
i went to the doctor this week for a check-up on my knee. as usual, it went as i expected. have you guys seen the stanford medical commercials on tv lately? talking about how they treat each patient with care, blah blah? every time i see that, i have to shout "liars!" to the tv. (seriously. ask anyone who watches alias, 24 or lost with me. i really do that. even if i'm by myself i still do it.) they treat you like a barcode (like in the washington mutual commercials) unless you're a famous celebrity. i'm worth maybe... 2 minutes of my doctor's time. i brought my mom with me this time, so he talked a little more. maybe about 4 minutes. also, usually there's some other doctor who sees you first - all the way up to my surgery, it was the same doctor, which was nice because i felt like he at least listened to me and spent more time looking at my knee. but ever since then, it's been a different person every single time. it's like a surprise who will come from behind the door - which of course means they don't know my history, they weren't at my surgery, etc.
anyway, before the surgery, when i asked my doctor about recovery, he had told me, "oh, in six weeks you should be able to do everything. no problem." i was like, okay, six weeks sounds good to me. well now it's been more than ten weeks post-surgery and i still can't do even some simple things, and i still have a lot of pain. this time, he now says "well, it can take six months. you have to give it more time." how did six weeks turn into six months?? i know circumstances change, and things like this are hard to predict, but man, six weeks and six months is a big difference.
so... yeah. he gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatory pills. and i'm suppposed to go back every 4-6 weeks for a checkup. so that he can tell me every 4-6 weeks to give my knee more time.
obviously, if you can't tell, i'm frustrated. not necessarily so much at the doctor(s), although it may seem like that, but just in general - with the persistent pain that i live with everyday, the fact that i thought i'd be healed by now and i'm not, my inability to do simple physical activities, and at hearing the doctors always tell me "give it more time" without taking the time to look at my knee. that's what my first doctor told me, too. "more time," although he didn't take my problems seriously. he said that to me from day 1 after the first surgery, even when i had that horrible shooting pain that started in my back and shot down all the way to my right foot, and when i complained of excruciating pain, much worse than after the surgery on my left knee. in fact, he didn't even address those problems when i told him. he just said, "you'll be fine," and it took him two months and watching me limp pretty severely before he finally acknowledged something wasn't right. now it's been one year, two doctors, and three surgeries later, and it's still "more time." i'm already an impatient person as it is, so obviously God is trying to teach me something. if i really think about it...six months isn't really that long of a time - so long as my knee improves and i'm not in the same condition in six months.
on sunday, during the Easter brunch, Ruth shared her testimony, which really struck a cord with me. her situation was much worse, and she went through a lot more physical issues for a much longer period of time than what i'm going through, but i could understand some of the feelings and emotions and struggles that she experienced. i never, ever, in my life thought such a small physical problem could affect me so much as it has this past year. it's probably pretty evident since i still blog about it all the time. :) I'm generally a happy person, and i'm not moody, but i have never cried so much in my entire life combined as i have in the last year. anyway, ruth shared a verse that i've really taken to heart.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
His grace is sufficient for me. He can use my weaknesses for His glory.
tomorrow... we go off to sac town to see the miyais! yay!
**
i went to the doctor this week for a check-up on my knee. as usual, it went as i expected. have you guys seen the stanford medical commercials on tv lately? talking about how they treat each patient with care, blah blah? every time i see that, i have to shout "liars!" to the tv. (seriously. ask anyone who watches alias, 24 or lost with me. i really do that. even if i'm by myself i still do it.) they treat you like a barcode (like in the washington mutual commercials) unless you're a famous celebrity. i'm worth maybe... 2 minutes of my doctor's time. i brought my mom with me this time, so he talked a little more. maybe about 4 minutes. also, usually there's some other doctor who sees you first - all the way up to my surgery, it was the same doctor, which was nice because i felt like he at least listened to me and spent more time looking at my knee. but ever since then, it's been a different person every single time. it's like a surprise who will come from behind the door - which of course means they don't know my history, they weren't at my surgery, etc.
anyway, before the surgery, when i asked my doctor about recovery, he had told me, "oh, in six weeks you should be able to do everything. no problem." i was like, okay, six weeks sounds good to me. well now it's been more than ten weeks post-surgery and i still can't do even some simple things, and i still have a lot of pain. this time, he now says "well, it can take six months. you have to give it more time." how did six weeks turn into six months?? i know circumstances change, and things like this are hard to predict, but man, six weeks and six months is a big difference.
so... yeah. he gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatory pills. and i'm suppposed to go back every 4-6 weeks for a checkup. so that he can tell me every 4-6 weeks to give my knee more time.
obviously, if you can't tell, i'm frustrated. not necessarily so much at the doctor(s), although it may seem like that, but just in general - with the persistent pain that i live with everyday, the fact that i thought i'd be healed by now and i'm not, my inability to do simple physical activities, and at hearing the doctors always tell me "give it more time" without taking the time to look at my knee. that's what my first doctor told me, too. "more time," although he didn't take my problems seriously. he said that to me from day 1 after the first surgery, even when i had that horrible shooting pain that started in my back and shot down all the way to my right foot, and when i complained of excruciating pain, much worse than after the surgery on my left knee. in fact, he didn't even address those problems when i told him. he just said, "you'll be fine," and it took him two months and watching me limp pretty severely before he finally acknowledged something wasn't right. now it's been one year, two doctors, and three surgeries later, and it's still "more time." i'm already an impatient person as it is, so obviously God is trying to teach me something. if i really think about it...six months isn't really that long of a time - so long as my knee improves and i'm not in the same condition in six months.
on sunday, during the Easter brunch, Ruth shared her testimony, which really struck a cord with me. her situation was much worse, and she went through a lot more physical issues for a much longer period of time than what i'm going through, but i could understand some of the feelings and emotions and struggles that she experienced. i never, ever, in my life thought such a small physical problem could affect me so much as it has this past year. it's probably pretty evident since i still blog about it all the time. :) I'm generally a happy person, and i'm not moody, but i have never cried so much in my entire life combined as i have in the last year. anyway, ruth shared a verse that i've really taken to heart.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
His grace is sufficient for me. He can use my weaknesses for His glory.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
there are people picketing outside in front of our company, blowing whistles and horns and beating loud drums.
why are they picketing our company? well, they're not.
who are they picketing then? apparently the union is picketing the company we contract to help move our cubes and other things. they're not upset with us.
then why are they picketing in front of our company? you got me. go picket the actual company.
i was walking in and i heard of the security guys on the phone. "i'm serious! they have whistles and drums and are making loud noise!"
i actually find it a little amusing. the drum is really loud.
**
alias was okay. it's just... we can't remember anything that has happened. why didn't they do some kind of recap episode the week before, like they're doing with lost, and every other abc show next week? it was a little difficult to watch, we made bob look everything up online to refresh us on what happened because it's just a big fuzz. like, people and certain plot points seem familiar, but it's been so long, we just can't put everything together. and can they really close off the entire series in 5 more episodes? all the rambaldi, sd-6, prophet 5, etc plotlines? they haven't even brought up rambaldi yet. at least all the favorites are coming back - spymom, weiss, even will and anna espinosa comes back next week! (but no francie) they just need sark, and crazy taiwanese guy (glasses? is that what they called him?). oh and vaughn is back. seems a little anti-climatic now - i didn't even care all that much. but marshall is awesome. i love it when he goes out on the field. go marshall!
why are they picketing our company? well, they're not.
who are they picketing then? apparently the union is picketing the company we contract to help move our cubes and other things. they're not upset with us.
then why are they picketing in front of our company? you got me. go picket the actual company.
i was walking in and i heard of the security guys on the phone. "i'm serious! they have whistles and drums and are making loud noise!"
i actually find it a little amusing. the drum is really loud.
**
alias was okay. it's just... we can't remember anything that has happened. why didn't they do some kind of recap episode the week before, like they're doing with lost, and every other abc show next week? it was a little difficult to watch, we made bob look everything up online to refresh us on what happened because it's just a big fuzz. like, people and certain plot points seem familiar, but it's been so long, we just can't put everything together. and can they really close off the entire series in 5 more episodes? all the rambaldi, sd-6, prophet 5, etc plotlines? they haven't even brought up rambaldi yet. at least all the favorites are coming back - spymom, weiss, even will and anna espinosa comes back next week! (but no francie) they just need sark, and crazy taiwanese guy (glasses? is that what they called him?). oh and vaughn is back. seems a little anti-climatic now - i didn't even care all that much. but marshall is awesome. i love it when he goes out on the field. go marshall!
Monday, April 17, 2006
o almost tried to kill me
Sunday, April 16, 2006
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' "
Luke 24:1-7
He is risen indeed!
Luke 24:1-7
He is risen indeed!
Friday, April 14, 2006
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:44-46
Luke 23:44-46
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
nooooooo...
alias series finale & 24 season finale are up against each other in may!
what to do... what to do?? i guess everyone will just have to be ready to camp out at our place all night on may 22 (both are from 9-11pm)! but which to watch live? what a horrible quandary. hehe.
btw, the answers to the previous post below. it was pretty interesting to hear everyone's guesses. quite a big range. my favorites are the people who guessed five albums at a time, none of which were mine. or the people who guessed one at a time, but picked the correct one last! :)
1. alinna
2. ev
3. amy
4. jean
5. shirley
6. olivia
7. me
8. (the other) karen
9. jenie
alias series finale & 24 season finale are up against each other in may!
what to do... what to do?? i guess everyone will just have to be ready to camp out at our place all night on may 22 (both are from 9-11pm)! but which to watch live? what a horrible quandary. hehe.
btw, the answers to the previous post below. it was pretty interesting to hear everyone's guesses. quite a big range. my favorites are the people who guessed five albums at a time, none of which were mine. or the people who guessed one at a time, but picked the correct one last! :)
1. alinna
2. ev
3. amy
4. jean
5. shirley
6. olivia
7. me
8. (the other) karen
9. jenie
Sunday, April 09, 2006
guess who
we had o's bachelorette party this weekend. maybe i'll do a recap later, but it was a fun-filled time!
so let's play a game of guess who. one of the events from the weekend was a paper source workshop on making a photo album. we got to pick our own paper, ribbon, etc.
guess which one i made?
or, if you're brave enough, match as many people to albums as you can!
the cast:
a. olivia
b. jean
c. jenie
d. alinna
e. evelyn
f. amy
g. shirley
h. karen (chiang)
i. karen (me)
the albums:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
pick your favorite!
so let's play a game of guess who. one of the events from the weekend was a paper source workshop on making a photo album. we got to pick our own paper, ribbon, etc.
guess which one i made?
or, if you're brave enough, match as many people to albums as you can!
the cast:
a. olivia
b. jean
c. jenie
d. alinna
e. evelyn
f. amy
g. shirley
h. karen (chiang)
i. karen (me)
the albums:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
pick your favorite!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
!!!!
LOST. 24. AHHHH!!! even though i only half-watched both this week b/c i've been working while watching, all i can say is... OMG.
and alias finally starts up and begins its series countdown in two weeks!
the three greatest shows on television!
(although, i've forgotten what last happened on alias since it's been so long. i need someone to refresh my memory.)
and alias finally starts up and begins its series countdown in two weeks!
the three greatest shows on television!
(although, i've forgotten what last happened on alias since it's been so long. i need someone to refresh my memory.)
Monday, April 03, 2006
let's go _____
james definitely has lucas trained well.
me: lucas, who do you cheer for? let's go...?
lucas: go yankees
me: no, no lucas, say goooo oakland!
lucas: go yankees!
me: no, no... oakland. say goooo oakland!
lucas (big grin on his face): go yankees!!
me: okay fine. say go bears!
lucas: go bears!
joy: say go stanford! (why is it that joy just roots for everyone anti-cal? haha, she's not even fans of any of those teams.)
me: no, say go bears!
lucas: go bears!
at least i can influence him on something still. :)
lucas, jacob, and gracie all came to cell group last night! plus we had it at janet/john's, so of course we got gourmet food. what a treat (of course, a treat on top of fellowshipping & praying together. hehe.)
me: lucas, who do you cheer for? let's go...?
lucas: go yankees
me: no, no lucas, say goooo oakland!
lucas: go yankees!
me: no, no... oakland. say goooo oakland!
lucas (big grin on his face): go yankees!!
me: okay fine. say go bears!
lucas: go bears!
joy: say go stanford! (why is it that joy just roots for everyone anti-cal? haha, she's not even fans of any of those teams.)
me: no, say go bears!
lucas: go bears!
at least i can influence him on something still. :)
lucas, jacob, and gracie all came to cell group last night! plus we had it at janet/john's, so of course we got gourmet food. what a treat (of course, a treat on top of fellowshipping & praying together. hehe.)
Saturday, April 01, 2006
sales conference
i've spent the past couple of days at our company's sales conference/training at the santa clara marriott. some highlights & lowlights.
highlights:
-free food. lots of it, we were practically eating non-stop. breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners, all buffet-style, and all delicious. lobster, seafood, prime ribs, desserts, and open bars for all dinners. the works.
-hanging out with all the people. the conference had maybe 200 people because it contained almost our entire sales team plus a good portion of marketing. i obviously don't know everyone, but over the years, i've worked or am currently working with a good amount of our sales team worldwide, so it's nice to put faces to the names of the people i haven't met, and to chat and catch up with the people i have.
-free stuff. here's where you get involved. who plays PC games? i have the following brand new games (have multiple copies of some) up for grabs:
-Lord of the Rings II: The battle for middle earth
-Swat 4: special weapons and tactics
-Red orchestra
-Lego Star Wars: the video game
-Chronicles of Narnia
-City of Villians
there were others (age of empire III, ice age 2, etc), but unfortunately people grabbed them before i could get to them. these are full versions, but as a warning, a lot of them require pretty good graphics cards to play them. let me know if you want any of them. the only catch is that you must own an nvidia card. :) and i will not negotiate on that. i'm not giving away free games i got from my employer only to be played on a competitor's card.
-got to see cool demos. a guest speaker from microsoft came and showed us a preview of microsoft vista, and we saw demos of other neat things, such as 3D medical imaging, 3D car navigation, etc.
the biggest highlight:
-our ceo closed off the entire conference, and the last thing he ended with was... if we hit a certain revenue target (which i will leave unamed) for a quarter sometime this fiscal year, our next sales conference? hawaii. it will be a lot of miserable nights and lots of blood, sweat, and tears during quarter end to hit this number, but i think an all-expense paid trip to hawaii may be worth it. yeah, that announcement definitely got lots of cheers.
the lowlights:
-internet connection sucked, and a lot of us kept getting kicked off our vpn. so frustrating when trying to get work done. some of my coworkers just went back to the office for most of the first day.
-a lot of the sessions were BORING. most of my coworkers went to sessions with other people in my group, but i got stuck at one LONG session by myself with a bunch of people i didn't know very well the first day. sure, i work with them and work in their segment, but i don't know many of them since i took it over not that long ago. i declined to have dinner with them at parcel 104 because i wanted to eat and hang out with the sales people i know & love, even though parcel 104 is a nice restaurant. the second day, i ditched that breakout session to attend more interesting ones.
- hanging out with all the people. while i do love it, especially since i don't get to see most of them very often, it's so tiring schmoozing and making small talk for three days straight.
-free food. i know, free food a lowlight?? but there was so much free food, that i felt like i was going to explode. yes, i'm like a true asian at heart, trying to make the most of anything free. haha.
-having to get up so early and stay so late every day. i'm exhausted. i fell asleep at 8pm last night. i didn't intend to, but i couldn't even keep my eyes open.
in all, it was still fun, mostly because i got to talk to all the sales people who are not based here. open bar + sales people = craziness. i was shocked when i found out one of the sales guys i've worked with for years: 1) doesn't drink, 2) goes to sleep early, and 3) drives like a grandma. ahahaha. he's like this young guy in his early to mid 30's, and these older sales guys are telling me how they won't let him drive anywhere anymore because he's so slow. awesome.
oh, hey. happy april's fools day. and happy 4 yr anniversary to me at nvidia.
highlights:
-free food. lots of it, we were practically eating non-stop. breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners, all buffet-style, and all delicious. lobster, seafood, prime ribs, desserts, and open bars for all dinners. the works.
-hanging out with all the people. the conference had maybe 200 people because it contained almost our entire sales team plus a good portion of marketing. i obviously don't know everyone, but over the years, i've worked or am currently working with a good amount of our sales team worldwide, so it's nice to put faces to the names of the people i haven't met, and to chat and catch up with the people i have.
-free stuff. here's where you get involved. who plays PC games? i have the following brand new games (have multiple copies of some) up for grabs:
-Lord of the Rings II: The battle for middle earth
-Swat 4: special weapons and tactics
-Red orchestra
-Lego Star Wars: the video game
-Chronicles of Narnia
-City of Villians
there were others (age of empire III, ice age 2, etc), but unfortunately people grabbed them before i could get to them. these are full versions, but as a warning, a lot of them require pretty good graphics cards to play them. let me know if you want any of them. the only catch is that you must own an nvidia card. :) and i will not negotiate on that. i'm not giving away free games i got from my employer only to be played on a competitor's card.
-got to see cool demos. a guest speaker from microsoft came and showed us a preview of microsoft vista, and we saw demos of other neat things, such as 3D medical imaging, 3D car navigation, etc.
the biggest highlight:
-our ceo closed off the entire conference, and the last thing he ended with was... if we hit a certain revenue target (which i will leave unamed) for a quarter sometime this fiscal year, our next sales conference? hawaii. it will be a lot of miserable nights and lots of blood, sweat, and tears during quarter end to hit this number, but i think an all-expense paid trip to hawaii may be worth it. yeah, that announcement definitely got lots of cheers.
the lowlights:
-internet connection sucked, and a lot of us kept getting kicked off our vpn. so frustrating when trying to get work done. some of my coworkers just went back to the office for most of the first day.
-a lot of the sessions were BORING. most of my coworkers went to sessions with other people in my group, but i got stuck at one LONG session by myself with a bunch of people i didn't know very well the first day. sure, i work with them and work in their segment, but i don't know many of them since i took it over not that long ago. i declined to have dinner with them at parcel 104 because i wanted to eat and hang out with the sales people i know & love, even though parcel 104 is a nice restaurant. the second day, i ditched that breakout session to attend more interesting ones.
- hanging out with all the people. while i do love it, especially since i don't get to see most of them very often, it's so tiring schmoozing and making small talk for three days straight.
-free food. i know, free food a lowlight?? but there was so much free food, that i felt like i was going to explode. yes, i'm like a true asian at heart, trying to make the most of anything free. haha.
-having to get up so early and stay so late every day. i'm exhausted. i fell asleep at 8pm last night. i didn't intend to, but i couldn't even keep my eyes open.
in all, it was still fun, mostly because i got to talk to all the sales people who are not based here. open bar + sales people = craziness. i was shocked when i found out one of the sales guys i've worked with for years: 1) doesn't drink, 2) goes to sleep early, and 3) drives like a grandma. ahahaha. he's like this young guy in his early to mid 30's, and these older sales guys are telling me how they won't let him drive anywhere anymore because he's so slow. awesome.
oh, hey. happy april's fools day. and happy 4 yr anniversary to me at nvidia.