Vacation summary: pre-Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) was September 4 - 6. I had a lot of fun there, but I also had fun hanging out with friends beforehand.

Several friends from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) were in town for PAX. The day before PAX, I explored Seattle with two of these friends, Joel and Adam. We visited a famous bakery, the Essential Bakery Cafe. They helped us find the house that inspired the movie "Up"!

From House from "Up"

The story behind this house and its owner is, well, enough to inspire a Pixar movie. And my pictures do not do it justice. Check out this story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A more recent picture than that is here. Finally, the latest chapter on this story is here; it explains the banner on the house.

Incidentally, the development surrounding the house contains a Trader Joe's, which I like. I am glad that the owner got to live this life out as she wanted.

Next, we checked out Gas Works Park. If you check out the official site for the park, it doesn't look special. However, I think it is awesome! Here, Joel raises the "ring of triumph" atop the hill at Gas Works Park.

Joel and Adam look out at Downtown Seattle. The strange pipes in the background are the old gas works.




Here I am!

From Gas Works Park

Gas Works Park juts out into the water of Puget Sound, leaving a clear view of downtown.







We also visited Green Lake Park, which is also very pretty.

Then, on the freeway, we were eyewitnesses to an accident! Two cars bumped into each other on the side, and one went careening off the freeway and into a ditch. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Finally, a dozen of us gathered at my place to hang out and to eat pizza and Ezell's Famous Fried Chicken. It was a great way to end an eventful day and to prepare for three days of video games, board games, and friends at PAX!

Remembering September 11.

I had an extremely fun time at PAX 2009.

However, for this entry, I want to take time to remember 9/11. It does not seem like it was 8 years ago. I still remember what I was doing at the time: I was in lab, because I had been working overnight to analyze a protein that I had made. I needed some liquid nitrogen for the CD (circular dichroism) machine, and when I called the chemistry supply center to deliver it, the guy on the phone told me what had happened. I am a bit ashamed to admit it, but I did not even know what the Twin Towers or the World Trade Center were. (I have never been to New York, and to the East Coast only sparingly.) Of course, Caltech soon cancelled all work for that day, and some of us gathered at a friend's apartment to watch the news for hours upon hours.

About 3000 people died in the 9/11 attacks.

I will close with part of a speech by President George W. Bush, delivered on 9/20/01:

"Presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the Union. Tonight, no such report is needed. It has already been delivered by the American people. . . . My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of our Union -- and it is strong."

I always liked that turn of phrase.

Next Tuesday, I fly to Los Angeles for a week. Two friends from Caltech are getting married (Ryan and Vi), and the reception will be at my old dorm/House, Avery House. It promises to be a joyful time, a festival.

Trip summary: San Diego

After going to Anime Expo in Los Angeles, I spent a week in San Diego. This was in July.

From Balboa Park, San Diego

My cousin Gayle took me to the "Body Worlds 2" exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Body Worlds is beyond text description, and they did not allow photographs. But you can check out their website. The most profound parts of the exhibit were 1) a human head showing all of the blood vessels in it, and 2) a display with real preserved human fetuses and embryos. (The exhibit noted how the embryos had been obtained. I do not remember exactly what they said, but I was satisfied.) Actually, the entire exhibit was definitely worth seeing.

The huge tree in the picture is just outside the museum. That tree is off-limits now, but Gayle said that, when she was a kid, people could climb on it.

I saw the Pixar movie "Up" with my cousin Lance. Then we went to Barnes & Noble, and I saw the strangest book: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." I do not know which was more disturbing: adding zombies to "Pride and Prejudice," or the fact that this new version was a New York Times bestseller (and had no doubt outsold the original, at least recently). Nevertheless, I thought this would be the perfect gift for my cousin Jason, who both likes zombies and aspires to be a high-school English teacher.

I also went to the San Diego Zoo with my friend Steph. It had probably been 15 years since I had last been there.









We had a great time, but of course we did not see everything. I really enjoyed the seal show, which included this hawk. The hawk actually flew right above our heads, and I was totally tempted to stick my arm out and see if he would land on it. But seeing the hawk in person, one realizes that he (she?) could easily maim any person he wanted to.

From San Diego Zoo w/Steph

My favorite part of the zoo was actually not the wildlife, but this. Around that signpost is not ivy; it is a person! You can see more by clicking on the link below the picture.

From Hom dinner

We had a Hom family dinner at Gin Lai Sen. In the picture are my Uncle Jim, cousin Karen, and Auntie Evelyn.






The impetus for going to San Diego was the wedding of my friend John Love. John and I were in the same lab at Caltech; now he is a professor at San Diego State University. Our friend Possu was also there.

From Wedding of John and Therese Love

John's bride, Therese, seemed very nice.












I did a few other things in San Diego, but I did not take any pictures. I stayed a couple of days with my cousins Will and Nora, and Nora introduced me to the TV show "The Next Food Network Star." I also played some board games with my friends Elliott Davis and Aleck Lin (and Steph).

Next week is PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo! I went last year and blogged about it. Wil Wheaton will be there again!

One year later.

I was planning to show pictures from my trip to San Diego. However, this time I would like to reflect on the past year.

From My last Genentech Ho-Ho

One year ago, July 31, 2008, was my last day at Genentech. I was doing postdoctoral research studying human genetics and the disease lupus. There were many nice things about that situation; nevertheless, I decided to quit, and also to move from San Francisco to Seattle. The picture is from my last meal as a Genentech employee.

Why did I decide to do this? In hindsight, it was due to three F's.

The first "F" was "Flash," as in Adobe Flash. Instead of studying lupus, etc., I wanted to make some computer programs. But not computer programs for scientists; rather, programs that my mom, sister, or even grandma could use and would want to use. The programming language that I chose to use was Flash. I had tried to program in Flash while I was still a postdoc, but I really wanted to try programming full-time. So, that is why I quit.

The second "F" was "Family," as in my mom's side in Seattle. In recent years, I had gotten to know my dad's side (mostly in Los Angeles and San Diego) much better than before. However, I had spent very little time with my relatives in Seattle: two weeks every summer when I was a kid, and one wedding a few years ago. So, that is why I moved to Seattle.

The third "F" was "Faith," as in faith in God, specifically Jesus Christ. Since 2005, I have been much more proactive about seeking faith, and in a related sense, truth. For example, the Bible describes Jesus Christ as dying and being raised from the dead. Did this really happen? While I was living and working in San Francisco, I had a lot of help trying to answer these questions, but I still was not sure. I did not have to quit or move to Seattle in this case, but the change would hopefully allow me more time and flexibility to pursue faith. Also, I really respected the faith of my grandma in Seattle, and I thought I might learn something from her.

So, with regard to the three F's, how has the past year gone?

Flash: I learned a lot, and I made some real progress on two programs. It is probably a lot more than I would have done if I had stayed at Genentech. But in terms of programming full-time, I honestly have failed. I will chalk this up to laziness, and I need to do better with my remaining time.

Family: I have gotten to know my grandma; Auntie Nancy and Uncle Paul; cousin Chris, his wife Olivia, and their daughter Jubilee; cousin Jason; Auntie Audrey; cousin Brian; cousin Michelle (and her newborn son Braden!); and Uncle Gordon, Auntie Marlene, and their kids Brendon and Sydney. Some better than others. And I have also gotten to know extended family, such as my Auntie Nancy's relatives. When I consider how little I knew beforehand--for example, I had never even met Jubilee before I moved--it has been quite rewarding.

Faith: I have read some books, joined some study groups, visited some churches, talked to many people, read the Bible more, and prayed. But I still am unsure. I am still uncommitted. However, I definitely think I have learned a lot over the past year, and I now practice daily quiet time and Bible reading. I feel more at peace with my spiritual progress than when I was in SF ... at least I think I do.

So that is how things look to me now. I do not regret my decision to quit my postdoc and move to Seattle, but clearly I still have a lot of progress to make.

I was thinking about how things would be if I had stayed at Genentech. I would probably have more money. For everything else, who knows? However, I know some things that probably would be gone: all of the experiences I have had up here in Seattle. All of the pictures.

From Roof cleaning

I will close with just one. My Uncle Ron was visiting from Fresno, and we were cleaning my Auntie Nancy's yard and roof. I was on the ladder, and Uncle Ron let me snap this picture of him.

I cannot explain why I like this picture, even to those who know Uncle Ron. But I feel that having even one picture like this means it was a good year.

Trip summary: Anime Expo in Los Angeles.

I was in Los Angeles (LA) and San Diego for a trip. In this entry, I will cover the LA portion, which was basically Anime Expo 2009. Next time, I will cover the San Diego portion.

Anime Expo (AX) was held at the LA Convention Center. This was my first time at AX since 2005, and my first time as a dealer. I was a dealer because my friend Richard had just started an anime store, and I offered to help at his booth. Here is the dealer's room before opening on Day 2 (of 4).

I spent a lot of time with another friend, whom I will call Mika, who also helped out at the booth. Notice the car being swallowed by the ivy? That belongs to Mika.



I got to see my friend Justin Simonson, from the Game Developers Conference. Here, Justin is channeling his rage into a hadouken from Street Fighter.



There were some great single costumes ...







... some great pairs in costume (these are from "Last Exile") ...










... and some great group gatherings! (These are from "Trigun." In the bottom row is Trigun's creator, Yasuhiro Nightow!)

From From Mike: AX day 3

We spent a lot of time working at the booth. This was my first retail experience, and I really enjoyed working with old and new friends. However, it was a little hard on everyone's feet. We needed those pads that they have behind fast-food counters. (I am on the left; Richard is on the right.)

From Anime Expo 2009

After the last day of AX, we had to pack up the entire booth and put everything back in storage. We celebrated the thoroughly-exhausting-but-fun convention with Korean BBQ at Manna restaurant. (From left to right: Lucan, Gary, me, Mika, Stephen, and Richard.)

Overall, AX was awesome, and I am really glad that I went!

Special thanks to Amy Wong, for letting me stay at her place while she was in Australia, and to Mika, for driving me back and forth every day (in the car *not covered* in ivy)!

Next time: A summary of the San Diego portion of my trip!

Vacation, part 2. Plus: Vacation 2.

Vacation, part 2, and Vacation 2? Yep. Part 2 is the rest of what I did while I was in Los Angeles for Caltech's Commencement, et al. But today, I fly again from Seattle to LA: this weekend is Anime Expo 2009, and next weekend is the Love Wedding in San Diego. Seriously: the groom, John Love, was a postdoc at Caltech, so he really can be called Dr. Love. And nowadays, even Professor Love. Yeah, it is fun. :-)

More pictures from hanging out in LA with friends Glenn, Shay, et al.:

From Mini-golf w/Glenn and Nick

Glenn and I visited our childhood friend Nick McGee (and his girlfriend Danielle). Nick does a lot of stage acting, from Shakespeare to ... Shakespeare musicals. This time, it was a dramatic adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." Totally cool.

Less cool is the picture of us mini-golfing. Glenn (center) and Nick look like healthy mini-golfers, whereas I look like an old man using my mini-golf putter as a cane. Still, a great time. :-) At the bottom, you can see the shadow cast by my camera.

I visited Eduardo Garcia and his fiancee, Allison, in Glendora. Ed and I used to play Settlers *all the time* back at Caltech. According to Ed, Glendora is known for only one thing: Donut Man.


But, as Ed said, that is not bad for one thing. They are famous for their strawberry donuts. (They also have peach when in season.)

From Donut Man in Glendora

They even make lemon-filled donuts! Yes!!!!









For Shay's birthday, we all went to Disneyland! Shay's mom and his sister Tori also joined us. I had not been to Disneyland since 1995, the year that the Indiana Jones ride came out. So that was 14 years ago. Indy was still fun.

I did not take many pictures at Disneyland, but here is one from a show based around Playhouse Disney. It was pretty interesting to see a live person interact with puppets of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc., while all the kids oohed and ahhed. The live person, Casey, was *incredibly* upbeat, as one might expect. So in that sense, quite a professional performance.

From Disneyland

I found a great bargain at Disneyland. You know those penny-flattening machines at many tourist locations? You insert a penny (plus the fee), and the machine flattens the penny while imprinting it with an image from the tourist attraction. At Disneyland, they have a room filled with these machines, and they all cost less than $1, I think. What really surprised me was that the machines cover not just classic Disney stuff like Snow White but also really recent stuff, like Wall-E. Wall-E on a nickel? That's worth 80 cents!

Caltech Commencement was quite pleasant. The main speaker was Stephen Chu, now Secretary of Energy. One thing that stuck out for me was his only piece of advice to the graduates: "Be generous in your negotiations. Leave some change on the table."

I really took Dr. Chu's comment to heart, perhaps because I am Chinese-American. American culture emphasizes "me first," not "love your neighbor as yourself." And Chinese culture values shrewdness, not generosity. I was reminded of a garage sale I recently went to. There was a very large, nice wooden children's storage box selling for $2. A Caucasian man (who in this context could easily have been Chinese) offered $1 for the box. I said I thought it was worth $2 and would offer $2. The man got *really* mad and called me un-American, which hurt a little, but not as much as if I agreed with him. Anyway, the man quickly said he would also pay $2, so I let him have it rather than fight over it and make him even angrier. (I wasn't sure if my cousins' kids would use it anyway, but if so, I would have happily paid $5 or $10.)

From Caltech Commencement

Back to Commencement: Three people graduated from the Mayo Lab! Left to right: Ben Allen, Professor Stephen L. Mayo, Jennifer Keefe, and Heidi Privett. Congratulations, guys!

Overall, a wonderful trip to Sacramento and LA. I got to spend time with a lot of people, which is quite different than my (chosen) Seattle life in the apartment.

From Anime Expo 2001

Now I am planning for Vacation 2: this week is Anime Expo! I am totally excited. I am not sure if I will take many pictures, but certainly there will be a lot of people walking around dressed up as anime characters. It is really fun to see people walking around like this. For example, the picture at left is from Anime Expo 2001. The girls are two characters from "Trigun," which is one of my favorite anime. As awesome as those costumes were (especially that huge gun), every year the costumers get better and more frequent. It is like digital cameras becoming simultaneously more powerful and less expensive: double-win!

Click here to view someone else's pictures from Anime Expo 2008. The pictures no doubt cover only a small fraction of all the people and costumes at the convention.

From Bainbridge w/Christina

Perhaps some year, I will dress up at Anime Expo. For example, I could go as a muscle-man from "Street Fighter" or "Dragonball Z." :-)

Busy on vacation. So, a good kind of busy.

I was in Sacramento for a few days, and now I am in Los Angeles. So far, my trip has been full of catching up with old friends, meeting a few new ones, and having quite a pleasant time.

I took pictures of only a few things, so I will describe those.

From Cats at Glenn's

In Sacramento, I spent a lot of time hanging out with Glenn Mondro, a friend since 5th grade. There are currently a lot of cats at Glenn's place.

Glenn and I drove from Sacramento to Los Angeles in my mom's car. Mom, thank you!

A friend from high school (Shay) has been letting us stay with him in the city of Sierra Madre. The house he is renting has a great view.

From Shay and James' house

See the cat on the roof?













Glenn and I were able to attend E3, a large video game convention. Here I am with some Ghostbusters.





Joseph Hatcher showed me around E3 a bit. Joe is a friend from the Game Developers Conference; he now works for Perfect World, who make beautiful *and* free-to-play MMORPGs. Here we are checking out "Wii Fit Plus" from Nintendo.

From E3 2009

At E3, one sees many unusual things. Like the robot mech in the center. At this distance, it looks like it could be stomping around the convention center! Yikes!

Tomorrow is Caltech's Commencement! Three people from my old lab (Steve Mayo's lab) are graduating. I also know a few undergrads who are graduating.

Pictures!

Well, as soon as I said otherwise, I found myself taking pictures again. :-) In chronological order below.

We visited my grandpa's grave. It was the first time there for me.

Afterward, Auntie Muriel, Uncle Ron, Grandma and I went to V-Garden restaurant. Grandma likes it because they do not use MSG. Auntie Muriel made a funny face for the camera: she is sticking her tongue out at Uncle Ron.

From Grandpa's grave

One of the menus at V-Garden had a very funny name for a dish: "Budda Jump Over The Wall." Note that the other dishes have perfectly understandable names.

From Cyndy's Pancake House

On another day, Uncle Ron and I went to lunch at one of his old hang-outs: Cyndy's Pancake House. They had something called a "Holland Pancake" which I had never heard of. So of course we ordered a large one. It is really big, isn't it? :-)







A friend from SF, Christina Ha, has been visiting for a nurse's conference. On Saturday, we went to Bainbridge island via the ferry. It was my first time on the ferry since I moved to Seattle, but I have fond memories of it from my childhood. It is the kind of ferry in which you can drive your car onto it, and then drive off of it at the other side.

From Bainbridge w/Christina

On the way back on the ferry, downtown Seattle looked really nice.

Next: Mom arrives in Seattle, then goes to Europe. Geoff goes to Sacramento, then to Los Angeles. And, yes, I am still trying to program something....

No pictures....

I rarely take pictures anymore. In spite of this, I almost always carry my digital camera *and* a miniature tripod with me. I do not know how to express why I rarely take pictures now . . . I guess I am not sure why.

Anyway, life is still nice. The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) has been having their annual meeting in Seattle. I am not attending the meeting, but I was able to catch up with some friends from Genentech, my old employer. (Genentech is now fully owned by Roche.)

My Auntie Muriel and Uncle Ron are also visiting from Fresno. We went to a local Indian casino (Muckleshoot) to try their seafood buffet, which was very filling, of course. :-) Auntie Audrey and cousin Michelle ate with us as well. Toward the end, the others went to gamble a little, but I wanted to let my stomach sit so I could squeeze in dessert. Uncle Ron came to get me 20 minutes later, but I hadn't even moved from my seat, because I was so full! Uncle Ron said that maybe I should get dessert first next time.

They also have bingo right next to the casino, but I did not get to try it out.

For Mother's Day, we spent time with three mothers: Grandma, Auntie Nancy, and Olivia, my cousin's wife. (I called my mom in Sacramento.) There were a lot of relatives and good food.

A quiet spring

Last Saturday, I spent the day with Auntie Janice. We ran errands and just hung out. We had lunch at Ivar's, which is a fish 'n' chips place that also has good clam chowder. Then we went for a walk on the University of Washington campus, because the cherry blossoms were in bloom. Janice said that the blossoms seemed to have faded in color since she was a student, years ago. Sure enough, in another part of campus we saw some cherry blossoms that were a much brighter pink. (I did not take a picture of them, however.)

From Day with Janice

Otherwise, things have been calm. I have been trying to keep life simple, not sleep so much, and program more.

Regardless, everything should get busier soon. Several people are visiting in May, the weather is getting nicer, and I plan to visit California again in June (LA, 6/6 - 6/15) and July (LA/SD, 7/1 - 7/14).

I feel very fortunate to have this time. Prayers appreciated that I will use it wisely.

Back in Seattle.

From Beach with Stephanie

Well, I had a wonderful time in California. A quick summary:

Seattle (dr. w/two from Craigslist) -> Sacramento (dr. w/Grandma) -> Fresno (Uncle Ron and Auntie Muriel) -> Los Angeles (friends from Anime Expo, Caltech, the GDC, and high school) -> San Diego (friends from high school, Caltech, Genentech, Urbana; Uncle Well's birthday party; dr. w/friend from GDC) -> Los Angeles (dr. w/friends from GDC) -> San Francisco (GDC: Game Developers Conference; old landlord; friends from Genentech, two churches, Stanford; cousin Danielle) -> Sacramento (Mom, friends from high school, namesake, neighbors) -> Corvallis (friend from high school) -> Seattle.

The top picture is from a beach in San Diego.

From Aleck Lin

Breakfast with Aleck Lin, a friend from Urbana. (My hair always sticks out on the left....)







At the Game Developers Conference: friends just having fun playing "witch hunt" (mafia).

Also, Wednesday was my birthday; I am now 32. Working on my taxes. Grandma returns on Saturday. Mom also visiting. Reading some books.

Sadly, I have not done any "work" since I got back. However, I know that great flexibility comes with great accountability.

From GDC 2009