jcz's Xanga

Hockey Night in Canada

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:08:50 GMT

As a kid growing up in Toronto, the arrival of April generally meant 1 thing: NHL playoffs on CBC - Hockey Night in Canada.

Hockey Night in Canada is a Canadian institution and icon. It's something that every Canadian at home can identify with, and no matter where you are in the world, a shared cultural bond amongst Canadian abroad. What one often doesn't realize is the sheer quality of the overall production. Hands down, CBC does a better job covering hockey than any of the US networks. Everyone involved in the production of a hockey game on CBC — from the producers to the cameramen to the announcers — has an innate sense of hockey action. It makes for exciting, edge-of-your-seat coverage without extraneous fluff commentary. Having lived in the US for the past 9 years, its something I've come to miss.

Bob Cole, the CBC play-by-play guy, has been calling the games on HNIC since 1969. Harry Neale, the color commentator, is a former coach and GM. Unlike their American counterparts, theses guys somehow anticipate the play a split second faster. With reserved excitement, their call of the game is more crisp. Additionally, with the use of onscreen "arrows" and "magic markers", Neale breaks down the finer points of the game, for example, how to best defend a 2-on-1 rush.

This is a game shown on CBC - HNIC
And this one shows a game on Versus
Both were held earlier this evening.

I think you'll very quickly see the difference. As a simple example, in the first video, the commentators don't announce every single detail, instead letting the game come to the viewer. It makes for a more fluid and coherent experience. In the second video, you can hear one of commentators rambling on and on about some trivial statistic while an exciting play develops into a scoring opportunity and eventually a goal. Also, why does the guy scream "gooooaaaal" every single time someone scores? This is not Mexico. This is not soccer.

Anyway, tack one more thing onto the growing list of things that are better in Canada.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:57:41 GMT

Every general on the battlefield has a favored weapon. Napoleon had his artillery, Rommel had his panzers, even Steve Jobs has those black turtlenecks he wears at every single MacWorld. So as I venture into the world of "job seekers", I figured the first step is to sharpen the one, shiny implement I will shove in people's faces and jam in people's doors: my resume.

So as I sat down this weekend to put my achievements down on paper, I realized a very disconcerting conundrum. Every bullet point I had listed was something I was good not, and not necessarily something I enjoyed doing. It seemed as the list of skills I had learned and deals I had done (neither very many) came into form, the more I realized that those skills and achievements were the very things I didn't give a rat's ass about. So, if I'm ever able to leave these salt mines for something better, I would need to convince the owner of another mine (perhaps a gold mine, but still a mine nonetheless) to throw me a rope, and pull me out because I'm such a good miner. In short, the jobs I most likely will get, I most likely will dislike.

As you see, this throws a wrench into the whole thing.... argh... I'll keep you posted...

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 04:48:29 GMT

Everyone talks about an "exit strategy". Unhappily married men talk so about their wives. Venture capitalists talks so about their start ups. Me? Well, I talk so of my current situation at "the sale mines", which I've affectionately nicknamed work.

So, 5 Ws and the H... what we all learned in the 5th grade. So here we go:

1) Who: Me

2) What: Just like Hilary Clinton, I'm forming an "exploratory committee" for a new job. And also similar to Mrs Clinton, I'm announcing this news on my personal website.

3) When: I'm looking now, but ideally I'd like to quit the day after bonuses are paid out in July.

4) Where: I don't really mind moving, and I don't really have a preference. Somewhere with decent asian food would be a plus.

Ok,, so the first 4 weren't so exciting....

5) Why: now this gets interesting. Why am looking to leave? Because I don't really find what I'm doing to be all that interesting. I'm learning a lot, sure, but its in esoteric stuff that I wouldn't give a donkey's ass for, and don't really want to ever be involved with again. The money is ok, but truth be told, while the steak at Peter Luger's is good, it really doens't bring me $120 worth of satisfaction; and I think I'd be happier cooking my own $5 steak anyway. Oh yeah, I also like getting out at a decent hour, and eating dinner like normal people: at home and NOT at a desk via Seamless FUCKING WEB!

6) How: this is where it gets a little murky. I plan to start at the PennLinks site, work my way to that career services lady's e-mails, surf on through to doostang.com, maybe call up some old acquiantances, OR... perhaps this is the time to start looking at grad school/cookery school apps....

As an appreciative note to all of you who follow my ramblings, I will try my hardest to keep you abreast of my job hunting misadventures. I will try my hardest to post all meaningful events and anecdotes to this site.

Wish me luck!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 02:22:02 GMT

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.'"
-Martin Luther King Jr.

So I'm at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square today, and I happen upon one of Mario Battali's cookbooks. This one is entitled Babbo, and features all the recipes to the dishes offered in his Greenwich Village restaurant (also named Babbo). As I leafed through page after colorful page of pasta, herbs, cheeses, and sardines, I came to realize that this was indeed my passion: cooking.

So two questions that I haven't quite figured out yet. First, I'm good at what I do now; however, would I be a good chef? And second, how would I do it?

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 05:15:09 GMT

Interesting article today in Newsweek about Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton "considering" to run for President in 2008. I'm interested to see what either of these candidates' positions are on social security, education, fiscal policy, et cetera. Perhaps being in a funk forces me to delve a little into today's social/political issues...

Social Security. Did you know that by 2011 (4 yrs from now), money going into social security will be LESS than the money being paid out? By 2018, we're going to have to start dipping into the humungus social security slush fund we've been building up. And sometime between 2035-2050, the slush fund is going to run out. (this is all according to Olivia Mitchell, a professor who researches social security at Penn).

By no means am I an expert, but the following is a snipet of what I've gathered:

Option 1 is to cut benefits or raise SS taxes. This makes sense: either reduce money going out of SS, or increase money coming in. Unfortunately, politically unpopular.

Option 2 is these so called "private accounts", where a portion of your SS taxes are put into your very own "lock box" at the Treasury Dept, where it is invested VERY prudently until you retire. Also politically unpopular.

Option 3 is to pretend there isn't a problem, and hence do nothing. Politically this is very popular, because nobody gets screwed over. And as you've probably guessed, this is precisely the plan we're following.

Now I don't know, but fellow classmates of 2006, it doesn't seem that there are going to be any SS checks to collect in 2049 when we all turn 65. This is troubling. In accounting terms, Social Security owes about $3 trillion to people like us over the next 75 years, and as of right now, there is no way to pay for it.

Pretty serious, until you look at Medicare. The only thing worse than the current state of social security is Medicare. Medicare, on the other hand, owes somewhere in the neighborhood of $28 trillion to people like us over the next 75 years, and has no way to pay for it.

Since I don't vote in this country, I can only HOPE that Barak, Hilary, or whoever gets elected in 2008 will actually do something about the two giant white elephants sitting in the room, twiddling their thumbs as we all pretend not to see them.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:43:41 GMT

Its hard to believe that it's been almost half a year since I've written in this thing. Half a year of work. Half a year of the real world. Half a year of being an adult. Well, maybe not quite an Adult.

Work has proved to be nothing what I had imagined. I don't know if I've truly learned what I've set out to learn. THe hours, to be truthful, have not been as I feared, and the people have been surprisingly friendly. So, *shrugs*, not sure what that equation works out to in the end.

I enjoy living in New York. It really is true: if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. At times, it can be the most challenging, most inspiring, most creative, most breathtaking, most drunken city anywhere. Oh, and it can seem to be the most lonely as well.

But its also the most tiring city in the world. I'm fucking tired of my job. I'm fucking tired of this city. And I'm fucking tired of dealing with this shit.

And perhaps thats the best way to transition this piece: I'm FUCKING frustrated. On one hand, I tell myself rationally that "I have an incredible professional opportunity" in front of me, and that I make more money than 99% of the people in this world. I will make 6 figures as a 22 year old. I will be taxed at the highest tax bracket this year, and there's only one direction to go after this.

And yet on the other, I'm somehow unsatisfied. I ask myself that if I could do it all over again, would I? And I honestly don't know. I'm tired and unsatiated, and money can't solve either of those problems.

And the problem isn't even that my job is all that terrible. The hours aren't horrible, the people are nice, the perks are great, and as I mentioned above, I'm definitely overpaid for what I do. I just don't love it.

I'm not sure what I love anymore.

sleepless again

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 05:51:27 GMT

I loved you; and perhaps I love you still,
The flame, perhaps, is not extinguished; yet
It burns so quietly within my soul,
No longer should you feel distressed by it.

Silently and hopelessly I loved you,
At times too jealous and at times too shy.
God grant you find another who will love you
As tenderly and truthfully as I.

-By Alexander Pushkin

How I feel right now...

Sleepless in Rome 3 AM

Sun, 28 May 2006 00:20:31 GMT

I can't sleep.

I mean, I should be tired after a long day of travel and stuff. And while I know that I'm physically tired, I just can't fall asleep. I suppose it doesn't help that the hostel room we're staying in has 6 beds, of which 2 are heavy snorers. It's like a stravinsky symphony, except there are no strings or brass, only inhales and snorts. I think I feel a new empathy towards those with clinical insomnia...

So its our first night in Rome (after 4 days in Paris, and 3 in Barcelona), and I must say that the food here is truly incredible. I had a seafood risotto that was just incredible. I must also say, however, that the great taste has a price. Food is generally more expensive here than in the US, and the weak dollar-to-euro exchange rate doesn't help either.

While I was waiting earlier at Barcelona's airport, it occured to me that my stomach is probably the most stubborn part of me. One week without rice or some sort of burger, and I was beginning to miss it. Hence, tonight's risotto was highly welcomed. I think when I get off the plane in Shanghai, I'm going to just gorge on fried rice and xiaolong baos.

Awww... what I'd do right now for a box of Kim's and a sleeping pill.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Thu, 04 May 2006 18:20:38 GMT

Last Undergraduate finam exam ever: Thursday May 4th, 2006. 6-8pm College Hall 200.

Perhaps it is fitting that I shall end my college career in the exact room where I started 4 years ago...

College Hall 200: Freshman Year, Econ001, MW10:30-12:00

The Joys of Craigslist

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:31:59 GMT

Look what you can find these days on Craigslist!

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/stp/150377315.html

I need a fake girlfriend.....free meal involved!!! - m4w - 19

Date: 2006-04-11, 7:12PM EDT

Hello, my name is Jus and I am going to a formal in just over a week with my fraternity. I do not have a date, and I am too lazy too woo one, so I decided to do what any rational person would do--turn to Craigslist. Here, in the innards of cyberspace, I'm hoping to find the perfect girl to be my fake girlfriend. We can come up with a great story about how we met and how our relationship has progressed, it will be fun. Most importantly, my fake girlfriend will get an amazing free meal and high quality drinks all night! If you're wondering about the food selection, I've already ordered my date chicken.

This is what I'm looking for:

Someone between the ages of 18-20 who is attractive, funny, and a talented actress, because I want this to be convincing. I would also prefer someone who is in college, and a Penn student would be totally awesome. I don't want any one who smokes, smells bad, is morbidly obese, is diseased, etc.

This is what I expect from you as my "date":

You will come to Penn and meet me at the Quad at 37th and Spruce, and we will head over to my fraternity house for some drinks. Then we will take a cab over to the restaurant and eat, drink, and dance the night away. I promise it will be incredibly fun, and probably hilarious given the context I've created by asking for a date on Craigslist. After the date, you have no obligation to ever see or talk to me again, but it might be fun to keep in touch if we enjoy ourselves.

I'm a very low key, respectful guy, and I promise that this whole thing will be totally not-sketchy. It would just be a fun little adventure.

The Response to the Question I Know You're Asking (Why can't he find a date on his own?): It's pretty simple. I'm not ugly, I swear. I just finished pledging, and I have had no opportunity to meet or interact with girls lately. Right now I'm completely overwhelmed with classwork (I'm in Wharton), and I just don't have time to deal with this in the "traditional" way. Despite the fact that I am posting on Craigslist, I am socially ept, not psychotic, and pretty fun.

OK, now's the time to email me....give it a chance, ladies, because this is a really great opportunity!

Peace--Jus

* this is in or around Penn

* no -- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests