tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-136772662011-04-21T15:37:34.500-07:00"the real world is just inundated with constant crises..."Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.comBlogger1461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-30432809478193136842006-12-13T22:13:00.000-08:002006-12-13T22:24:08.990-08:00

i swear, this is the last time. if you're seeing this it's cuz you're on the old atom feed for your reader. click on this and all your problems will be solved: http://feeds.feedburner.com/smallchou

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-12641690269074644642006-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:002006-12-12T12:34:01.474-08:00

Fantasy football... Sometimes you win and sometimes you get into the playoffs as the number three seed only to see your pretty-boy quarterback do absolutely nothing for you and then your star wide receiver on monday goes nuts for 2 td's but you still lose by less than a point because your opponent had steven jackson and he caught two balls in a garbage time last-minute drive. And then you feel

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-75933416166392401582006-12-06T00:31:00.000-08:002006-12-06T00:49:02.995-08:00

i don't spend too much time criticizing the bad behavior of professional athletes. i never considered them role models, even when i was young. i always had my grandfather for that. as a result, i always find myself pleasantly surprised when a star athlete is actually all of the qualities that you would want to impress upon your children: confident, humble, gracious, kind, and pleasant. i just

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-35505357765420999692006-12-03T00:44:00.000-08:002006-12-03T01:17:51.012-08:00

bear in mind, i don't have allegiances to any of these teams involved (except for loving the fact that usc and notre dame both missed out on the national title game. i'm entirely excited to see their fan bases lose out), but unless you went to michigan or are related to charles woodson, you have to know that florida deserves to play in the national title game. i think mark schlabach makes the

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-60502990295336519342006-11-30T21:17:00.000-08:002006-11-30T21:19:22.712-08:00

the best way to finish up the longest work day you've ever had? DEFINITELY getting out to your car and seeing that you have a flat, because the thing you really want to do at 9pm is put your spare on. yay!

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-28854078870224244512006-11-29T00:19:00.000-08:002006-11-29T00:26:59.204-08:00

i was plugging away on the treadmill at work just now, watching a little wsop coverage on espn. they were showing phil hellmuth at the featured table of the first day of the main event, when i saw some young kid in seat seven squeeze four chips into the pot in the MOST familiar way. when i saw his last name pop up next to his cards i did a double-take: he's a guy that i played with in a bunch of

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-33105664940814607202006-11-24T17:46:00.000-08:002006-11-24T18:00:44.125-08:00

back when i was working at oracle, i used to have a real commute (note: i say that because i do not have a real commute now, as 1.9 miles doesn't count). after working at oracle for a few weeks, and making the drive back up to san francisco, i started noticing something funny about the traffic: as i approached oracle from the north, there would be a horrific traffic backup every day at the

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-38771970219856782172006-11-23T15:31:00.000-08:002006-11-23T15:50:57.145-08:00

as a good google employee, i've decided to stick my google reader "shared items" in a clip on my blog (over on the write. look!). i use google reader to subscribe to a dizzying variety of blogs, including: a random law school student in chicago, a myspace blog for a poker radio show, a well-read web 2.0 blog, a wine blog, and countless sportswriters. if you haven't tried out an rss reader, go

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-62998463764472708952006-11-23T01:20:00.000-08:002006-11-23T01:44:55.720-08:00

so just got back from booking a nice win at garden city. i arrived around 8:30pm and found a ridiculous list on every game but 6-12, so i was quickly sitting at (seriously) one of the BEST limit hold'em tables i've ever seen. anyhow, rather than regale you with silly stories of donkey players, i'll just recount one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me at a poker table (good story,

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-11230598825982841602006-11-18T11:22:00.000-08:002006-11-18T11:25:11.906-08:00

the truth of the matter is that games billed this large (with their own ESPN pages, in fact) rarely ever live up to the hype. that doesn't stop sports fans from getting excited though. i've got no allegiances today, so i'm just hoping for a good game. still, i wish i DID have some allegiances. anyone who has ever been watching a game of that magnitude while rooting for one of the teams knows how

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-18753137899566187412006-11-14T23:07:00.000-08:002006-11-15T00:21:01.641-08:00

of all the heinous things to say at a poker table, by FAR the most obnoxious/asshole-like is the phrase: "ship it!" for those of you that have never sat at a live poker table (and don't realize how mean-spirited this phrase is), let me explain: literally, the phrase "ship it!" is an order to an opponent and/or the dealer to 'ship' the chips in the player's direction. seems pretty harmless,

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-47020800793593004502006-11-13T23:36:00.000-08:002006-11-13T23:58:30.954-08:00

one of the those strange things that you can only ponder after 11pm on a weekday, but i wonder why i never got into sportswriting. or sports writing. when i was a freshman in college, i was deadset on taking some time to figure out what program i wanted to major in. my first quarter i took math, ihum (humanities course), econ 1, and a class called 'the jet engine' because it sounded fucking

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-43680362321554701462006-11-09T22:25:00.000-08:002006-11-09T22:42:18.789-08:00

so first my oakland a's decide it's time to hang out in fremont [editor's note: FREMONT?!], and now my 49ers have decided to run from famous candlestick point to the glorious urban center of santa clara? what a week for bay area sports! in all seriousness though, what the HELL is going on? as much as i enjoy both of my favorite professional sports teams moving closer to me geographically, i'm

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-90336458913230639512006-11-06T22:59:00.000-08:002006-11-06T23:05:16.399-08:00

i just watched an entire one-hour show on the food channel about fried chicken. now i didn't really watch and listen to the whole thing, but it was on tv while i was been sitting here doing other things. they showed plate after plate of delicious-looking, golden brown poultry that left me actually hungry. i now have a ridiculous craving for some good fried chicken, but i really can't think of a

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-20886722513430278852006-11-04T20:06:00.000-08:002006-11-04T20:47:45.216-08:00

i just returned home after the usc-stanford drubbing at stanford stadium. it was, as all stanford games have been this year, an extremely sobering experience. there was a time when we were actually competitive on the field. stanford fans today now refer to the tyrone willingham years as "the good years". we may have lost some games back then, but we NEVER got embarrassed. but these years under

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-14993525626424784792006-10-30T22:54:00.000-08:002006-10-31T23:19:24.780-08:00

i finished up the book high fidelity while i was on the plane last night. it's actually rather remarkable that i had never read the novel, considering how i've had many people (who know me pretty well) over the years tell me how much i would enjoy nick hornby's work. so high fidelity was number two on my list of hornby novels, the first being about a boy. first of all, i'll start by saying that

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-8092742634409119002006-10-20T10:50:00.001-07:002006-10-20T10:55:47.390-07:00

Prohibition II: Good Grief When government restricts Americans' choices, ostensibly for their own good, someone is going to profit from the paternalism. By George F. Will Newsweek Oct. 23, 2006 issue - Perhaps Prohibition II is being launched because Prohibition I worked so well at getting rid of gin. Or maybe the point is to reassure social conservatives that Republicans remain resolved to

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-4776014103559628292006-10-16T23:16:00.000-07:002006-10-16T23:41:24.631-07:00

my name is jack. i have a blog that, like, ten of my friends read. i almost forgot about it anyhow, sorry for the lack of updates lately. things have been moving fast and it feels good. one of the underrated experiences in the world is being busy and booked enough to feel full. i think that's a good way to say it. for some reason i was never the type of person to feel stressed about things. it

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1160296555961882962006-10-08T01:02:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:12.174-07:00

i always get the sense that sports non-fans have trouble understanding why we sports fans care so much. in fact, sometimes i even forget why we care so much. but occasionally, a sports moment is so special that you immediately remember what it is that we love so much about sports. i was at old pro (we're gonna start calling it OP from now) this afternoon, watching the end of the detroit and new

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1159862329073720932006-10-03T00:46:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:12.091-07:00

so sad day for the online poker world today. apparently the us senate decided to stick a little provision into the defense bill that aims to stop online gambling. it is yet to be seen how this will actually affect online poker, but one the world's largest online poker site (party poker) has already said that they'll stop operations if/when bush signs the bill into law. full tilt published a

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1159609514665727942006-09-30T02:39:00.000-07:002006-11-14T23:05:59.837-08:00

Originally uploaded by poisoniivy.oh yeah, forgot this... enjoy

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1159609400253887552006-09-30T01:57:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.922-07:00

whew! i'm back. it took two weeks, but i feel like i really got a sense of what australia (specifically new south wales and queensland) has to offer. some things i learned about or while in australia: :: sydney is most definitely a beautiful and mature international city. the harbor is gorgeous. it's clean and crisp and sophisticated. really unlike any harbor or wharf that i've ever seen in a

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1158587602592960412006-09-18T06:43:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.843-07:00

so i had some interesting little tidbits to share from my trip so far, but they were all overshadowed by this story: ivy and i were sitting in this old pub in The Rocks here in sydney. i decided to order another pint of guinness and, as i was finishing up the drink, i saw a couple of pretty big guys walking in on the other side of the bar. as i put my drink down, i couldn't help noticing that

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1158377165532846232006-09-15T20:26:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.727-07:00

are there many things more exciting than sitting in an airport bar waiting to board your flight for a two-week international adventure?

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1158301574972383332006-09-14T23:07:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.638-07:00

i'm excited because tomorrow i'm jumping on a long-ass plane flight Down Under. i don't really plan on having absurd adventures while i'm down there, but hey, you never know. i think that when i'm at work and in the grind, i tend to lose focus on some of the more important aspects of being 24 with some financial freedom. for instance, i feel like seeing as much of the world as i can before i

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1158183805622594632006-09-13T14:38:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.541-07:00

i've been using the yahoo! launchcast radio while i'm powering through stuff at work. the application creates a "radio station" for you based on your musical preferences. everytime you hear a song, you rate it and the system is supposed to come up with some new stuff for you to listen to (yes, i know, there are better services out there for this). anyhow, i was listening along, plugging away

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1157991612371269672006-09-11T09:03:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.455-07:00

five years ago today, i was a 19-year old college student still reeling (perhaps alcohol-induced) from my freshman year of college. i was in kotzebue building some websites for maniilaq association and a few other organizations in the rural alaskan town. in other words, i was pretty much as far away (both in distance and culture) from new york city as i could be within the united states. i

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1157958737384921132006-09-10T23:44:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.369-07:00

chuck klosterman's team usa proposal is not only entertaining, but also (honestly) pretty damn intriguing as a real option for our national basketball team. what i see when i watch our guys out on the court (in the world championships or anywhere else) is a group of players that are playing scared to fail. if dwyane wade, lebron, and company go off and win the olympics, the collective response

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1157611072347912612006-09-08T09:55:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.281-07:00

a few months ago, i wrote a post entitled Short stack is power? in which i discussed a theory that i had involving the power of a short stack (i.e. 40-50x the big blind) in a no limit hold'em cash game. in my experience up to that point, playing with a short stack in a no limit cash game had been profitable and i concluded that having a short stack in a no limit cash game, where blinds are

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1157606868584456152006-09-06T22:13:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:11.191-07:00

i'll occasionally link to my friends' blogs, but i almost never outright TELL people, "go read this stuff." i think will's new blog is probably worth your time though, so you should go take a look. it's not really a blog, as much as it will be insightful glimpses into his trek through south america. the short background is that, having finished two years teaching in the new york public school

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1157369539206307332006-09-04T03:53:00.000-07:002006-11-14T23:12:16.302-08:00

it's late, er, early and i can't sleep. time to do some writing instead, since i've been neglecting all of you out in reader land: firefox 2 beta 2 - mozilla firefox 2 is finally in a decently-stable beta form and 700 tech nerds spread out all over the bay area are rejoicing. in all honesty though, there are some nice things about the beta. for one, they finally got the closing of tabs right.

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1156491378287612942006-08-25T00:23:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.984-07:00

one thing that i've learned in the first few days of work is that i'll be needing to make copious use of the gym facilities here. remember when you got to school freshman year and suddenly all of the food was prepaid and all-you-can-eat? and you summarily packed on 10 pounds chewing on rubbery chicken tenders and sucking down beer by the gallon? well, my new job is like that, but there are no

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1156139600494662962006-08-20T22:48:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.893-07:00

Originally uploaded by smallchou.just happened upon a set of old photos from senior formal in 2004, which was held at the sfmoma in san francisco. for some reason i had never stuck these online.i saw this particular picture and started laughing. the backstory to the picture was will, ankur, and me driving throughout san francisco for an entire day perusing every thrift store in the city to

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1156135508211037122006-08-20T21:19:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.805-07:00

if you think about it, there are only a handful of times in your life that you sit down and sign a document called "At-Will Employment Agreement." this is one of those nights. a few months ago, i came to the realization that i needed a change. more precisely, i needed to affect change, which is something that is related but different. one of the frustrations that i always felt at oracle was an

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1155770954932593042006-08-16T16:10:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.720-07:00

i realized just now that i'm still young enough to care too much. this whole week, i've been hammering away at a mountain of work that i NEED to finish. my (soon to be ex-) coworkers are all amazed that i'm working so hard in my last few days. when i told one dev manager yesterday that i was working on a piece of documentation and asked him a few questions, he looked at me like i was crazy. with

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1155232361079590802006-08-10T10:47:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.547-07:00

the wsop main event final table is today and jamie gold, the chipleader, is apparently quite the winning personality. every time i've read a cardplayer hand history, it's been some ridiculous hand like 'jamie gold calls off a bunch of chips with 78 and flops a straight.' that's the thing about poker though: sometimes you just out-flop people... for eight days straight... i think anyone who

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1155165457816498622006-08-09T16:12:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.454-07:00

so if you're a little confused about how i went from the statement that 'my whole trip was this amazing experience that i haven't digested yet' to 'the two lessons i learned from my trip are that poker is tiring and you need to not care about money,' then this post is for you. between my week spent in chicago catching up with the stoopsons (stoops, will, pseudostoops, and baby stoops) and my

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1154731740941727812006-08-04T15:44:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.361-07:00

oh! i almost forgot about the best hand of the week last week, when my own girlfriend busted me in a big $3-$6 pot. i thought i should write about this since you would all find it so amusing. ivy wanted to get started in poker, so she sat down in the 1 seat of a $3-$6 game and i sat in seat 2, giving her advice on hands to play. i told her i wasn't going to soft-play her in hands, since she

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1154711708664212732006-08-04T10:10:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.265-07:00

phil ivey said on the circuit yesterday that, "if you're not willing to take a thousand dollars out of your wallet right now and set it on fire, then you shouldn't even consider playing poker." while this is being said by a guy that plays $4000-$8000 every day, meaning that the exact sum is probably not applicable to players at lower limits, the point is valid: you need a disregard for the amount

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1154643123897418962006-08-03T15:12:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.160-07:00

for all you poker players, next time you take a bad beat and you're feeling bad? go watch this video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yg551su1KnM)... should make you feel better

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1154558725150325082006-08-02T15:40:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:10.059-07:00

the first thing i learned from last week is that being a full-time poker player is tiring. really tiring. sure, it's not in a physical sense (because, after all, i sat around a table all day), but it is in a type of mental exhaustion that i've never felt before. i can remember spending hours studying for a class while in school and never feeling NEARLY as zombie-like as i felt every day last

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1154391852179935302006-07-31T17:19:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.967-07:00

i've started this post five times and ended up stumped each time on what to say. in other words, i'm still digesting my week in las vegas. it was a tremendous eye-opening experience to peer into the life of a professional poker player. much of it was good, some of it was bad, and some of it was just surprising. when i'm done processing everything that happened, i'll probably have something

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1153369247636399122006-07-19T21:15:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.883-07:00

i might not have mentioned this, but i'm currently on vacation. i flew out to chicago yesterday (tuesday) and immediately attended the cubs game at wrigley. that's kicking off about five days in the second city, where i will thoroughly attempt to answer the question: "why is chicago the most unhealthy city in the country?" the list of things consumed so far: shawarma sandwich (near wrigley)

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1152893239660932792006-07-14T09:02:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.793-07:00

somewhere off in the upper reaches of this company, some power-that-be decided he wanted to do a live in-studio presentation at 8:30am pacific time today. he called down to the oracle studios and told the technician to get a room ready for 8:30am sharp. why does this matter? well the technician (we'll call him technician A) then promptly bumped the 8am presentation recording that was supposed to

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1152566973424153362006-07-10T14:24:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.710-07:00

while the new reports on barbaro's medical situation are nothing to laugh about, i couldn't help but chuckle at the following quote by his doctor:"Right now, he's happier," Richardson said. "He's got a normal heart rate, normal temperature, he's eating like crazy. He's very hungry. He's making lots of manure." Blogged with Flock

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1152316857828465182006-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.626-07:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iwuY0TWUCO0 um, wow...

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1152300662855879712006-07-07T12:26:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.543-07:00

one play that i've tried to introduce into my play is the idea of inducing bluffs. 'inducing a bluff' means that you find a way to encourage a player to bluff at a pot when you're fairly certain that you have the best hand. it's another way to extract value out of a hand. layne flack (clearly a greatly superior poker player to me) wrote an interesting tip about the idea of inducing a bluff in

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1152209038699702522006-07-06T10:59:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.454-07:00

seeing this newsvine article today, i couldn't help but think back to being in europe at this time two years ago. i was thisclose to taking the overpriced train ticket to pamplona, just to take in the festivities. at the last second i chickened out because of the horror stories i heard of visitors having to sleep on muddy streets as the tiny town's hotels and hostels were already overrun with

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1152117480469606552006-07-05T09:33:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.365-07:00

i would bring my ipod with music and the circuit podcasts, notebook/pens, running shoes, and a couple of poker books. paul graham would take other things... Blogged with Flock

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1151683469462281072006-06-30T09:00:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.252-07:00

if you were a small child in the eighties (like i obviously was), you probably grew up watching a tv show called Transformers. i know i did. i was in love with the show. even now, years later, i can think back on it fondly. when i was a kid, my brother and i used to worship the Transformers. we would watch it religiously and argue over the relative merits of optimus prime and his cohorts. i

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1151567885138823902006-06-29T00:38:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.155-07:00

in march, i attended the sweet 16 games at oakland arena. if you'll remember, i watched the ucla-gonzaga showdown, which was preceded by a rather uninspiring blowout of bradley by memphis. because the memphis-bradley game was so lopsided, i spent the entire second half watching a player on bradley named Patrick O'Bryant. a long-armed 7-footer, o'bryant picked up some notice the week before the

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1151346421883507262006-06-26T11:22:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:09.050-07:00

and then there is this minor league manager meltdown. hilarious. Blogged with Flock

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1151169803692163852006-06-24T10:23:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.759-07:00

oh, one thing you also shouldn't do as a coach is back the commissioner into a corner and make him suspend you for being an ignorant jerk, hiding behind your lack of command of the english language. if bud selig doesn't grow some balls and suspend ozzie guillen, he'll look like a joke for as long as he's commissioner of baseball. oh wait, too late! Blogged with Flock

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1151169365735779472006-06-24T10:16:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.668-07:00

i realize that i know little about how the world of futbol actually works (from a personnel standpoint), but everything i've seen or heard about bruce arena leads me to believe that he might not be the best coach in the entire world.i'm not talking about strategically on the field (which eric wynalda rips arena on all over the press), because i don't really know all that much about the tactical

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1151102157234144032006-06-23T15:31:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.585-07:00

this might sound vain, but i'm glad that i'm me. not so much because i'm stunningly handsome and charismatic (cue laugh track), but because i can speak convincingly without yelling. now the ability to get my point across without twisting the volume wheel 25 clicks might not seem like a big deal, but there is a guy on our floor (let's call him Yelling Guy) who reminds me why it's so nice to be me.

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1150829183450892662006-06-20T11:42:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.502-07:00

but this is a foul, despite what mr. cuban says Blogged with Flock

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1150533293121103232006-06-17T01:34:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.420-07:00

unfortunately, another tournament, another finish short. with the proper hours to think about my effort now, i'm pretty happy with how i played, but disappointed in the finish. rough one :|. next time... Blogged with Flock

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1150497108378436872006-06-16T15:27:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.333-07:00

when i was in eighth grade, i couldn't sleep. i went through a period of about six months where i (literally) could not, for the life of me, fall asleep. every night i would roll around anxiously waiting for The Anvil of Sleep to drop on my head. the wait would ultimately culminate in a bizarre panic over my insomnia, which would (of course) keep me awake. my brother thought i was a little bit

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1150405758417567142006-06-15T14:05:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.233-07:00

people are bugging me about the lack of actual "check out what's going on in my life" type posts that used to be a staple of my old xanga journal. the truth is that i don't know really know where they've gone, but here goes. semi-inspired by helping ivy train for a marathon the past few months, i'm planning on racing a half-marathon sometime in the october-november time frame. i've just embarked

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1150393443263882212006-06-15T10:40:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.144-07:00

the interesting part of the A's Esteban Loaiza getting arrested for a DUI while doing a cool 120 on the highway isn't that he was a professional athlete recklessly driving drunk. it's that esteban loiaza, the somewhat journeyman pitcher who was good for a few years (note: read previous post), owns a ferrari. a ferrari. even pretty good major league players are driving ferraris. i need to get

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1150159678724218102006-06-12T17:41:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:08.057-07:00

saw this poll on espn.com last week and was not surprised by the results (though i imagine the folks over at espn were expecting something different): the reason the results turned out so negatively is that they simply asked the wrong question. when i watch a baseball game now, i don't see a good performance and guess that the person is on steroids. instead, i associate someone with steroids

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1150158424908243972006-06-12T17:23:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.974-07:00

ivy and i skipped up to napa valley this past weekend, traipsing around to a variety of some of california's best wineries. i'd regale you with a spirited list of our favorites, but that would probably just bore you to death. i will say that, as a guy who previously was ambivalent to fermented grape juice, i'm now somewhat of a convert. no more r&r canadian whiskey for me! (and if you don't know

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1149289555659515932006-06-02T16:02:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.820-07:00

i went down to garden city on wednesday and played in an 8-16 limit hold'em game, hitting a string of cards that should have been pretty profitable for a 3-hour session. and somehow, i left just $50 winner. for you scoring at home, that's about a one-big-bet-per-hour session. which is, in reality, atrocious considering the cards i received. as i drove home, i frustratedly thought about how i

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1149287078589090482006-06-02T15:21:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.719-07:00

i was sitting at my parents' house last weekend, when my dad (as he is known to do) commented brusquely on an article he was reading in the newspaper, about the $100 Laptop project. Speaking more about the entire idea of the $100 laptop, he said something to the effect of: "I don't understand these people. They're so stupid. Why would they try to build a $100 laptop. It's so stupid. The hardware

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1148366495841062982006-05-22T23:25:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.633-07:00

getting ready for the jump off of a four-day weekend, so without a lot to blog about, a semi-interesting poker hand: i was playing in a 6-player no limit hold'em sit-and-go the other night on full tilt when the following hand took place. Seat 1: SSkterprep (1,220) Seat 2: Donald Leroy (2,000) Seat 3: smallchou (1,435) Seat 4: Kanill111 (2,135) Seat 5: yourgonnapay (860) Seat 6: hkyfrk (1,350)

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1148081635763906952006-05-19T16:16:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.545-07:00

ok, honestly, this Mavericks Outrage is why i cannot, under any circumstances, root for the dallas mavericks from here on out. i just can't stand it when professional athletes and coaches make ridiculous sarcastic comments like: "You grab, you don't get suspended," Johnson said. "But the rule is clear: You punch, you get suspended. So, next time, grab." um, hello. you are recognizing that your

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1148059231179406112006-05-19T10:17:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.460-07:00

as an asian-american and (pretty much) the biggest sports fan in the world, i found today's ESPN.com article on asian athletes to be interesting. have a read...

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1147897421657070632006-05-17T12:19:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.382-07:00

i was once talking to someone about playing in a no limit cash game in las vegas, when he asked me how much i generally buy in for. i told him about 40-50 big blinds usually seemed reasonable for me. his reaction fell somewhere between shock and "this motherfucker is crazy". after all, wouldn't buying in for $200 at a $2-$5 no limit table at the wynn (where there is no max buy-in and people

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1147733931097564052006-05-15T15:56:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.263-07:00

when i was at stanford, we would often remark about "being in The Bubble." this is not to be confused with The Internet Bubble (of my high school years), when venture capitalists were supposedly wrapping up $100 bills in thick wads and throwing them at would-be entrepreneurs (or so i've heard). no, The Stanford Bubble refers to the seemingly self-enclosed world of the stanford campus, where

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1147493463637237292006-05-12T21:08:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.177-07:00

Originally uploaded by smallchou.um yeah, that sucks.

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1146873734299624732006-05-05T16:36:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:07.006-07:00

i was spending some lunch time thinking about the demo i saw at sharpcast last evening, which spurred some interesting thoughts about their business (a quick note on that: seems like their competitors will be as much omnidrive and the online storage companies of the world as it will be mobile services startups. after all, users are going to care about access to information everywhere; whether

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1146815043268257472006-05-05T00:00:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.918-07:00

so an interesting thing has happened since i moved from xanga to blogger: i don't write about personal things anymore. somehow having a *dun dun dun* BLOG as opposed to just a tiny little online journal can change your state of mind and your writing. i used to have a fine mix of opinions and reflections, and it's something that i miss. after all, am i really so authoritative on any of the issues

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1146594927125092142006-05-02T11:24:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.837-07:00

one of the really entertaining subplots of the nba in the past, oh, 20 years has been the conflict between LA's two nba teams: the clippers and the lakers. there's really no way to describe the situation beyond taking it out of the context of sports entirely. let's say that a family has two children. one is the good child. he gets straight a's, quarterbacks the high school football team, dates

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1146297377646370822006-04-29T00:39:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.739-07:00

draft day's here. just a few quick notes on what i'm hoping from the niners at the top of the draft: 1st Rd, 6th Overall: i want us to pick up the best available here at one of our need spots, which (lucky for us!) is any position but qb really... i'd be happy with vernon davis, the freakish tight end from maryland. i mean, honestly, what kind of a person is a ripped 6'3" and 254 lbs., while

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1146257698081166572006-04-28T13:53:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.654-07:00

you know, you have to admit that these e-mail spammers are getting a little more creative.. check out this one that i got from a "lee_pang1": Due to the sudden death of my husband General Abacha the former head of state of Nigeria in June 1998, I have been thrown into a state of hopelessness by the present administration. I have lost confidence with anybody within my country.I got your contacts

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1146157406085426902006-04-27T09:58:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.562-07:00

that dunk was just plain filthy. ESPN.com - NBA - PhotoId_1132139_ go watch the video highlight here on espn...

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1146070885006512912006-04-26T09:59:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.483-07:00

every time i fly on southwest (which is, unfortunately, pretty frequently) i vow never to take that evil, devilish airline ever again. the reason? well, besides the fact that the airline hasn't departed a flight ontime in about 10 years (only on southwest will you commonly hear the line, "well, the flight was scheduled for 8:20, so i decided to arrive at the airport around 8:15 because it's

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1145641575712617172006-04-21T10:02:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.394-07:00

so after the comments left on my last post, i think it's probably a good time to put down some thoughts about america's redheaded stepchild sport: soccer. here are some basic facts: - more children and youths play soccer in the united states than any other organized sport. period. - soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world by any measure. - almost everyone else in the

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1145562945248012642006-04-20T12:54:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.322-07:00

as the nba season just ended, i thought this was a good time to roll out an entry that i've been writing for weeks. at a thursday "tim dinner" a few months ago, someone brought up the following question:If you could pick one basketball player RIGHT NOW to start an NBA franchise with, who would it be?keep in mind that all of the following factors count:1) winning games: we want to win games.

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1145476973494177382006-04-19T12:32:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.235-07:00

probably a little-noticed piece of news today, but the Niners picked up the 22nd overall pick in the upcoming draft from the Broncos for two lower picks (2nd round 37th overall, 3rd round 68th overall). as a niners fan, i was elated by the trade, but not because we duped the broncos or anything like that. nfl front office people are inherently a suspicious and careful bunch, particularly

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1145404259236435262006-04-18T16:42:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.143-07:00

he's going to be too humble to write about something like this in a public place, but check THIS shit out: sharpcast blog post some of you will, of course, wonder what that has to do with anything and who the hell is this charles guy. well, the 'charles' is my buddy charles srisuwananukorn (sorry for ruining the anonymity). this is, of course, the same guy who used to claim that he was

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1144948066735765132006-04-13T10:06:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:06.058-07:00

conversation between me and phillus... [10:04] smallchou@gmail.com: i'll invite you on google calendar [10:04] lehman.p@gmail.com: whoa...cool [10:04] lehman.p@gmail.com: how do i get to that? [10:05] smallchou@gmail.com: yeah [10:05] lehman.p@gmail.com: is there a link to it from gmail? [10:05] smallchou@gmail.com: ah HA so i'm still wondering where that link is. also, all the reports about

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1144908534413636242006-04-12T23:08:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:05.963-07:00

so here i was, dabbling around on my home computer in gmail, when i saw a tiny little ad on the right-hand side of the page that read "Google to launch new calendar service" from some seattle-area newspaper. "interesting," i thought to myself. "probably time to go try this new thing out." after determining the proper url (http://www.google.com/calendar), i jumped into the application and was

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143680657753762412006-04-09T16:44:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:03.745-07:00

i am not driven by money. i'm not. the funny thing is, i just realized this a few weeks ago. how does one go about determining that he is not driven by money? well, a couple of months ago, i was talking with phil (about a bunch of random topics) and he said something to me that was particularly sticky. i'll paraphrase: 'i have these two conflicting desires. one is to do something good for society

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1144339875299785452006-04-06T09:11:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:04.162-07:00

last week was the first time i ever paid for an online service. true, i paid for ESPN Insider before, but that's not so much a service as it is a personal necessity like food (i guess it is a service too :) ). of course i've paid for products online (amazon.com, etc.), but never a service. my reasoning? there are so many free services available that i just find it infuriating when a web service

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1144104375161722472006-04-03T14:45:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:04.098-07:00

my brother asked me today why ucla seems to get no love from the "experts." it seems that, for their fourth game in a row, the bruins will enter tonight's game as the underdog. this must be somewhat strange for the selection committee considering they gave ucla a higher seed than all but one of those four teams. i thought for a while about this topic. indeed, it seems like the experts have all

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1144049775347229812006-04-03T00:09:00.000-07:002006-10-11T17:57:04.026-07:00

when i was back in school, i always used to marvel at people who talked about how busy they were. i can remember scoffing at people who didn't have time to go get a beer (or fifteen) because they needed to study/eat/sleep/read. i realized the other day that i've become one of those people. i lament about how packed my schedule is. i struggle to fit workouts into my day. i question why i have a

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143851584857229362006-03-31T16:21:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.955-07:00

enough with the dabbling: i decided yesterday that i will be mostly playing stud hi/lo split eight-or-better for the next few months. granted, it probably will not provide the best monetary value (especially considering that the limits are 4-8 while the new no limit game at garden city is generally juicy), but i want to get good at the game. stud hi/lo is a much more intricate and complex game

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143740195674111922006-03-30T09:11:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.886-07:00

bud selig and baseball announced yesterday that they are launching an independent investigation into steroid use in baseball. i think the common response by most baseball fans is: "now?" if we backtrack over several years of baseball history, the inklings and suspicions of baseball were always there. the massive growth of a multitude of average baseball players. the rapid rate of home runs

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143685258823874482006-03-29T18:20:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.813-07:00

Originally uploaded by smallchou.got a new cell phone yesterday, same number. time will tell whether the 1.3 megapixel camera on the thing turns me into a picture-taking flickr whore.

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143606470240555992006-03-28T20:27:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.676-07:00

Originally uploaded by smallchou.i'm on flickr so that means, for any of you reading my blog, you should prepare to be bombarded with photos interspersed with my ramblings. prepare yourselves.this is an old picture, from last ski season.

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143448648601734272006-03-27T00:15:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.545-07:00

interesting perspective by mike lee in the comments of my last post, though i don't think i ever said i watch sports to see gonzaga (or any other college kids) choke away games. if it didn't come across in the post, i think we watch sports because on any given night, something that is stunning, unthinkable, amazing, or terrible could happen. about the game: i don't really believe that gonzaga

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143183117823704442006-03-23T22:36:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.476-07:00

and that is why we watch sports: games like tonight's. unbelievable game, i can't believe i got to watch it in-person (thanks phil). the first game of the night, memphis-bradley was rather lackluster as the tigers used their superior athleticism and aggressiveness to run bradley into the ground. the arena was about half full. as we neared gametime for ucla-gonzaga, the seats started filling up

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143085467461019122006-03-22T19:43:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.395-07:00

on espn.com, chat session with bill simmons... Vinay (Norwalk, CT): At what point do you think Tony Parker finally tells Eva Longoria to just shut the hell up? Can't anything remain private? How bad do you think his teammates rip him for her latest comments about his bedroom skillzzzz? And, in the end, does any of it matter since he's sleeping with a smoking hot Hollywood actress? Bill Simmons:

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143071866191181112006-03-22T15:53:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.331-07:00

Scott Adams has an entertaining perspective on the gender difference. 90% of the gender difference seems to be the male preference for compartmentalizing thoughts while women think everything is somehow connected.

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1143061807232748922006-03-22T12:20:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.267-07:00

phil hooked it UP with sweet 16 tickets for thursday in oakland. second game? memphis-bradley; an after-dinner drink to be enjoyed after the main course: ucla and gonzaga. given the enormity of the game, let's talk a little bit about my ucla bias... i was always a john wooden fan. i think he is the greatest coach in the history of sports and a tremendous man. i don't like rick reilly as a

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1142972622754833902006-03-21T11:44:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:03.198-07:00

during the afternoon yesterday, i realized that my "my google" homepage was just not cutting it anymore. the reason? real estate. i understand that google's design goal is minimalism. for something like search, that just makes a lot of sense. compare google to the most broken search paradigm that i've come across lately (linkedin's People Search) and you realize how nice a single box on a search

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1142572693704394662006-03-16T21:17:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:02.981-07:00

i'm chilling out at my parents' house, making use of their high-speed internet and big-screen television to (what else?) watch multiple tournament games at once. time to jot down thoughts as they come to me: - too bad iona couldn't finish up on that upset earlier today. that would've been nice. - during a short break from working this afternoon, i logged onto the cbs stream of the

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1142499728217184122006-03-16T00:45:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:02.850-07:00

this is THE best sporting day of the year. super bowl is for the sports non-fans. march madness is for the people who actually care. i think i summed it up best in 2003 when i wrote in this xanga entry on march 17, 2004: IT'S CHRISTMAS! back when i was a kid, my birthday was my favorite day of the year. it helped that christmas was always the next day (imagine that) and i always felt special

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13677266.post-1142378137616007982006-03-14T15:04:00.000-08:002006-10-11T17:57:02.783-07:00

last week i wrote a post wondering why barry bonds decided to taint his legacy in baseball, when he was already one of the five best players to ever play the game after the 1998 season. apparently here's our answer: jealousy. it's a strange mindset to put yourself into because, realistically, none of us can imagine how absurdly ruthless and competitive athletes of that level can become. i still

Jack Chouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206301002671240799noreply@blogger.com0