eMarkLee

I collected stamps as a kid from the ages of 6 through the age of 10. It was great to have all these different colored stamps of all sizes and shapes from all over the world. We even had the “coveted” Chinese stamps, which we were told was “illegal” at the time because we were from Taiwan. In college I acquired the Elvis stamps on the day it came out. I don’t know if it is worth anything, but it’s still cool cuz I’m nuthin but a hound-dog.

Return to Sender

It’s been a long time since those Elvis stamps and I have been out of the stamp collecting world but recently these Star Wars stamps caught my attention.

I am your father

Just like your pillowcase

Go get your own sheets on May 25!

chris mullin was in the next box in first playoff in 13 yrs!

For 4 years, I trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu(BJJ) with Roy Harris is San Diego. I was fascinated with BJJ because of two factors. The first was that it was an art you can apply directly to street fights. At the time, right after the first UFC came out, I felt that this was the best way to prepare me for general fighting situations and to be able to make my college roommates tap out if they did not clear the sink of filth. I didn’t even mention rowdy cousins acting up in their or my parents’ house. It was also a way to practice at 100%, going for submissions at every training session. It was also a martial art that did not involve getting punched in the head. For some reason, I don’t enjoy repeated blows to my head.

Fast forward to today, where UFC is a big popular mainstream sport more popular than boxing. Watching all of the fight shows makes me wonder if I can compete with these guys in the Lightweight division (155lbs). There was a time when there were no weight divisions and everybody just fought, which meant the little guys like yours truly would not stand a chance. Weight classes show how much better the fighters have become.

So how well would I do in the UFC? I just found out because last night I saw myself fighting in the UFC.

Fellow Taiwanese Fighter

If you follow the UFC Ultimate Fighter on Spike, you know there’s a fighter named Andy Wang on the show. Andy’s a Taiwanese who came to America at a young age. Andy is a technical fighter, a black belt in BJJ, who fights with determination. He’s mainly a ground fighter with very limited stand up skills. He practiced tai chi with his grandfather just like I did when I was young.

So what happened when Andy Wang (my parallel universe equivalent) fought in this last week’s Ultimate Fighter?

1. Andy got out-fought
2. Andy was out-sized.
3. Andy was just out-classed.

The reasons are simple actually. There are better fighters than Andy on the show. There are bigger guys (the guy he fought dropped 20 lbs prior to the fight) that dwarf Asian dudes that are smaller. There are also guys much taller, which gives a significant edge in the stand up game. Andy also thought he was a lot tougher he really was. For two rounds, Andy decided to forget about what he’s supposed to do as a 5′0 Taiwanese guy and thought he was Mike Tyson. He just kept trading punches with the taller, bigger man. Not a good idea but I could see it happening to me also. I would do the same…why go for an arm-bar when you can get a big KO?

In the end, Andy and I lost our fight in the UFC. That’s the end of our professional fighting careers. The UFC was never meant for short, stubborn, out-classed Taiwanese guys. I guess I will reserve my BJJ skills for arm-baring Workmonkey and my cousins.

I’m liking what B of A is doing recently. Not only do I find out that I can use my ATM card for free internationally, now you will be able to visit museums for free during the month of May. All you gotta do is flash your Photo ID and Bank of America credit card, ATM card, Check Card or MBNA credit card and you’ll be able to check out some good old Salvador Dali and Frida.

California museums:
Asian Art Museum San Francisco
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
de Young Museum
Legion of Honor
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Japanese American National Museum
Ocean Institute
Discovery Science Center
Orange County Museum of Art
Laguna Art Museum
Newport Sports Museum
Surfing Heritage Foundation
Newport Nautical Museum
San Diego Natural History Museum
California Center for the Arts, Escondido
San Diego Museum of Man
San Diego Museum of Art

New York museums:
Albany Institute of History and Art
The Hyde Collection
New York State Museum
Bronx Zoo
New York Aquarium
Historic Hudson Valley
Museum of the Moving Image
Whitney Museum of American Art
Museum of Modern Art
Studio Museum in Harlem
New York Hall of Science
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Museum of Television & Radio
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
South Street Seaport Museum

Chinese translation error blamed for slur on sofa label on CNN

Apparently Kingsoft, a Chinese language translation company, decided that when you try to translate “dark brown” from Chinese to English, it should describe the “nigger” shade of brown instead of the “dark” shade of brown. A black family saw a tag on their brown sofa that described the color as “nigger brown” and saw fit to cause a stink with the media. The problem is that my peoples don’t understand “politically correct” like nappy hoes in the US do. The real problem I find with this translation is that the shade of brown the Chinese software described as “nigger brown” could range by quite a bit. For example, if you compare the dude from Black Diamond to Haile Barry you would get quite a range of “browns”.

The inaccuracy and uncertainty of the translation is what offends me. The Chinese culture is known for being quite precise and accurate and in this case it is highly inprecise. This software company is banned from being called Chinese until further notice.

Check out this clearance item:

INTEL PENTIUM II 350MHZ OEM W/ HEATSINK for 99 cents. That’s right…99 cents. So if you have an old Pentium 1, 2 or even 3 sitting around, it’s time to let it go. 99 cents.

The credit card application process for Capital One Cash card was cake online, taking maybe 3 minutes for the excellent credit flow. They tell you you’ve been approved right away and send you the credit card in 7-10 biz days. No wonder why so many people in the US are in terrible credit card debt.