Wait, you just got your license?!

For some of you may know, I didn’t have a drivers license until now.  For most, you’re thinking why you haven’t gotten a drivers license?  There are several layers to this.  At the beginning, my father was an auto body worker, so he knows a lot about cars.  He took it slowly for me to perfect my turns and see the whole road.  I never failed, but I never attempted.  What stopped the momentum was our family was cash strapped and I had no time practicing driving (including the driving classes).

In between, a few things have happened:  I was practicing, but the car was jinxed.  It might had no brakes, no lights, etc.  In that same time, I had to retake the knowledge test.  Also, gas prices were skyrocketing and I don’t want to spend all my hard-earned money on gas.  I relied on carpooling, public transportation, and on occasion, walking.  Actually, it was not bad and love being a public commuter. 

Two weeks ago, I took the road test.  Amazingly, it only takes 5 minutes (That’s the Virginia DMV I guess) and got my drivers license.  Am I relieved?  Sort of.  Am I happy?  Not really, because now I’m part of the Northern Virginia drivers, the absolute worse type of people in the country.  I’m going to drive on occasion because as I learned in the past few years, I don’t need a car.  I just need to get from point A and point B and enjoy it.   So if you see me driving White Shadow (my White Oldsmobile Cutlass), be afraid because I’m an Asian, a Northern Virginiaier, and unpredictable; a lethal combination.

Virginia SHRM Conference

At the beginning of October, I attended the Virginia SHRM (HR Professionals) Conference at Crystal City.  What basically Crystal City is a bunch of hotels, restaurants, and buildings like any typical growing city.  I swear, the most exciting thing about Crystal City is the Crystal City restaurant…and it’s a gentlemen club.   Also, the night life is not that exciting.

Anyway, I found the conference to be very useful and better than I expected.  The food and atmosphere of the event were great.  I’m not strong about the Capitol Steps as entertainment, but I’ll give it a pass, but they need to work on makeup to even look remotely like the characters they’re mocking.

However, the sessions were better than I expected and I really did learn a lot from how to use strategic HR towards your company, how to detect a liar, International HR, and so on.  These sessions actually help me apply to use with my company.  Then the Dan Pink session came.

Dan Pink is the author of Free Agent Nation and The Whole New Mind and worked under Robert Reich during the Clinton administration.  He gave a session about what the current employee is thinking and it hit me.  He gave a PowerPoint that people are getting richer, but are not satisfied in their job.  This is how I feel right now.  I like the company, the pay, and the benefits.  However, I want to move on because I don’t feel comfortable in my current position and want to go back to an industry I really like.  I’m not going to say much, but I want to head back to this industry because I love it and I would really make a difference with my HR skills and the knowledge of the industry at a young age.  By time, I will explain later.   Dan Pink’s session did really hit me if you need to move on, do so, but I need to make sure that I have the personal resources to make this move, which I don’t right now, but later on, it could happen.

The conference serves as a reminder the basic skills of HR for me, and what opportunities could be there and after my reflection towards the conference and my current situation, I’m ready to move on, but whom and where?

Tracy’s Random Thoughts August 2007 edition

I was going to do this sooner, but with technical difficulties, I’m back and on vacation.  Here are my thoughts:

1. The Virginia driving laws

To make this simple, Virginia passed a law that reckless driving (i.e. speeding over 20 mph the speed limit, DUI) will triple the fines to help rebuild roads and transportation issues.  There are two segments about the story:

The law itself- GOOD!!!  There has to be tougher laws on reckless driving and being from Northern Virginia, this is a wonderful law.  I don’t drive, but as a passenger, there are too many idiots who don’t know how to drive, thus causing most of these accidents.  Now, the only flaw is the fines are only effect Virginia residents, but not out-of-state.  I agree with the Henrico County judge that residents of Virginia should not only be the only ones punished.  Hell, most of Northern Virginia is not from Virginia.  The law should spread to everyone who is traveling to Virginia and the law will be amended and I do hope this is still the law for years and years.

The people who hate this law- SHUT UP!!! Virginia is giving you a service to drive better and the only thing you’re complaining about is it will hurt in your pockets.  You want to drive 100 mph or get drunk and pay a small fine?  I’m happy you want the government bump the gas tax, but you’re upset of actions that you’re not suppose to do?  You worry about the poor?  Here’s how you tell the poor: Be careful on the road.  That’s it, that’s the list and they’ll listen.  All you have to do is pay attention on the road and follow the rules.  Is that really difficult?

2. Conspiracy TheoriesYou know, these conspiracy theories are becoming true every second.  There is the NBA fixing games, 9-11, Iraq, Lynne Cheney being the boss of Dick, Memo 46 that booted a radio talk show host.  I think these conspiracy theories are hidden truths.  With evidence and the media surrounding 24/7, these theories are becoming the truth.   What I’m more worried is that some the newsmakers of the past might have an untold history; hence change the course of history.  I don’t think it’s bad, but it now questions what to believe now.

3. Summer is almost ending.

I just have a question; when did August became the new July?  There was a huge heat wave in the middle of August.  I’m telling ya, the summer might extend to September, my favorite month sooner than later (Disclaimer: yes, the same month as my birthday, but fall begins).  I wish the rainfall just go to Northern Virginia anytime.

4.  Animal Lovers

I have given it some thought and this pops up from my mind, why there is a lot of love for animals?  I heard from a discussion of why humans care more about animals than other humans?  I really don’t know the answer, but if anyone knows an answer, I want tom know.  From Barbaro to the Michael Vick investigation, these animal stories have a strong attachment to us than anything.

5. Others that you need to check out

• No wonder Hollywood is optimistic about the movie season.  The Simpsons Movie was very funny, I want to see The Bourne Ultimatum, SuperBad I might be interested, but Hot Fuzz is the best comedy I’ve seen this year. 
• My new show on the list: Psych.  It is a wonderful show about a fake detective with perfect vision and his sidekick.  If you want pop culture references, inside jokes, great characters, and storylines, this is the show.
• Soccer can be popular here in the states, but it won’t reach the major sports zenith.  They need to attack the NHL audience to be competitive and if the scandals continue to scroll in the other leagues, you might never know.
• One month away from Judgment Day.

That is all, have a nice time.

Tracy’s Random Thoughts February 2006 edition

Every month, I would like to shoot of some topics off the top in my head because it is.

Topic #1: Dick Cheney

Holy crap, what the hell happened? What, he heard a quail call and sounded like a quail but oops it’s was his attorney? The sad part is the attorney had a mild heart attack. Great, Dick Cheney is now the bird flu giving everyone heart attacks figuratively. Honestly, you do feel bad for the attorney, but this story was just too hilarious and hopes he is alive so we can fully laugh at it. Oh, for late night jokes of Dick Cheney, I recommend David Letterman’s Top Ten List and The Daily Show this past Monday. Both were hilarious.

Topic #2: Virginia Amendment law of gay marriages.

First and foremost, I’m Catholic. I believe in God and follow the Catholic bylaws. I want to marry a Catholic for two reasons: 1) my parents won’t bug me. 2) Life gets slightly easy when you marry the other of the same religion (Although, love is tough these days and the odds are 10% at best). The only people I would help in depth in their personal lives are Catholics. On a personal note, I think gay marriages are the same as a regular marriage. The only difference is Virginia doesn’t want gay marriages on paper. While I do not condone a gay marriage (meaning I won’t attend one, but give a nice gift because it’s the right gesture), they have a right to have a family. The term family has changed in many ways in the past generation. Family use to mean father, mother, siblings and the grandparents. Now, things have change with a variety of ways. Here is my fear about this amendment; this is about politics and religion is the cloud over Virginia. Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Sadly, Virginia is stuck with religious zealots Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Are the more religious people afraid the status quo of “family” changed? If I were a Democrat or Independent, I would fight that you would lose tourists and residents to different states. Virginia is on the boom of economic prosperity, but they are stuck in the middle ages with values and ethics. Sadly, religion is a strong point in many elections around the US and it’s a shame.

Topic #3A: The Winter Olympics

At this point of time, I wish I could vacation to Europe to not only go sightseeing, but to pay attention to actual sports broadcasting, not personality journalism (which is every network’s approach now these days). As to why the Winter Olympics are way down and why they are losing to Grey’s Anatomy (great show by the way) and American Idol in the ratings? Easy: time delays, no personalities, careless broadcasting by NBC, too much hype. People already know the results and have the internet to watch the action. Also, when you setup hyping stars like Bode Miller, Apollo Ohno, and got nothing, people aren’t going to watch. This leads to NBC hyping these stars and using the interwoven theme used in movies these days. It might good for movies, but the Olympics must have a beginning, middle, and end to get the viewers attention, and NBC has failed that approach. 2008 might be easier since it’s the summer and 2010 is a dream since it’s in Vancouver, so a lot more live highlights. NBC needs to pickup steam.

Topic #3B: The true stars of the Olympics

Michelle Kwan- Doesn’t matter if she slipped in a dollar to the U.S. judges, she had the right to petition and the three skaters (except Sasha Cohen) didn’t perform to the U.S. standards. Although she might have not won the gold medal, she has the right to show she was fit to go. She did the classy thing and gave her spot to someone else. You can’t fault her for trying and looking at the real big picture.

Lindsay Kildow- If you have that fall lie she did in the downhill, shattered body parts are likely 99%. Well, not only she was the rare 1%, the next couple of days, she competed and completed the race. I don’t care if she finishes in the podium; she is an example of the Olympic spirit. If she does go to the podium, endorsement deals galore.

Shaun White- I follow sports a lot, including snowboarding and he is amazing. The reason of why he’s on this list is not the gold medal he won, he went to an interview with Bob Costas and said I’m want Sasha Cohen and now that he is a gold medalist. The guy has balls. If Sasha and Shaun hookup, they have an object they can use if they get horny.

Joey Cheek- After winning the 500M, he’s donating his share to World Play to help third world countries. Also, he wants to attend Harvard. Enough said.

Johnny Weir- This guy is classic. He’s a great figure skater, but probably the next big commentator for the Olympics. All subjects are no holds barred and he isn’t afraid to answer his own. He also has the guts to wear an old Soviet Union jumpsuit. He reminds me of Dick Button, Charles Barkley, Al Davis and Clinton Portis all rolled into one.

Topic #4: The Metro

I’m not afraid to say that I’m a Metro rider and take public transportation everyday. A few things: One, my biggest pet peeve about the Metro is the riders don’t go to the center. When there is a crowded train, go to the center, but the riders are too lazy to go because they’re afraid no one will move. First, if you stand up and signal, people will move, so don’t be a stiff. Second, well the Metro is great way to get any real action (You can’t say that!!!) accidentally. Finally, I want the new voice of Metro to be demanding to let everyone know whose boss and let them move to the center. I also like the countdown they are instituting.

Well, that’s all for today. Next month might not be good since its Lent season and I’m in lockdown mode. The next issue of my random thoughts is coming in April.
To quote Nate Newton, “I want to be guy all over the world that I have great weed.”