long way round.

New RSS

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:36:13 -0800

Ok, so that was super easy. It’s already on Tumblr. This RSS will be discontinued, so if you’re reading this via RSS, please go to iamdz.com and re-subscribe in your favorite RSS reader (I prefer Google Reader).

Thanks!

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Switching Platforms to Tumblr

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:07:21 -0800

Posterous has had a few rocky patches with their service going down recently, coupled with some email troubles. I’ve been a big fan of Posterous early on for its simplicity and ease of use, but in my opinion, they have been lagging for quite some time in building a better product in the past year. Along the same lines, Tumblr has been continuing to innovate and have built a very diverse and large user base. The future of blogging is not in Wordpress, but in services like Tumblr. I’ve been constantly surprised at the amount of interesting content I’ve found, from philosophy to art, via Tumblr, and it was extremely easy to do so.

And now, it’s time to move my domain over and join the masses in tumbling away. The community built in Tumblr is far more interesting, and features such as the “fan mail” and “ask” are a delight in this new age of “tumbling.” Besides, over the holidays, some 13 year olds looked at our wedding pictures and exclaimed “wow, these are awesome tumblr pics!” You know a service is hot when young kids are using your service as nouns and verbs.

Stay tuned on getting the new updated RSS link.

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2011 In Review

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:03:36 -0800

I’ve been doing some reflecting about the year 2011.

The biggest story is work has taken me to many different places and away from home. I’ve flown 103,108 miles, spent 123 days on the road, 239 hours on the plane, and 90 nights at various hotels. I drank 61 cups of coffee from Starbucks according to my Starbucks rewards card, which I only started halfway into the year. I stayed in 11 different hotels. Consequently, that means I spent 34% of the year away from home, away from sunny southern california, and away from my wife.

The best book I read this year is “Let The Great World Spin” by Colum McCann. It was a swirl of emotions ranging from the hilarious to the tragic, all in the backdrop of the 1974 event of Philippe Petit’s daring act of walking across the World Trade Center on a tight rope. The best long form reading I did on the web is the New Yorker’s article on SEAL Team Six’s mission to get Osama Bin Laden. The best new music I discovered is BOBBY. I also sank into the addictive new service called turntable.fm. The best $5 I spent is on Louis CK’s performance at the Beacon Theater. Check out his update from the “experiment.” It’s so refreshing.

I finally acted out my fanboy impulse and joined Dave Eggers’ army of volunteers through 826LA. I heard many heartbreaking stories of students while helping them craft their college essays. But like most good deeds, I felt like I didn’t do enough.

But along with the good, there’s also some bad. I didn’t volunteer on MLK Day, which I promised to do after listening to the president declare it a national day of service. I had more instances of being inebriated beyond control than the previous year. I became more selfish with my time and money. I’m obsessed with mileage rewards and Starbucks points. I haven’t spent much time in the church. I traded my loose fitting GAP jeans for trendy form fitting jeans. Ryan Gosling’s words from Crazy Stupid Love, “be better than the GAP” haunt me. And most of all, I realized that all the decomposable waste I throw away won’t really return to the earth because it’s sealed tight in a non-compostable plastic trash bag.

I’m not much for new year’s resolutions, but clearly there’s room for improvement next year.

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Making It Work All The Time

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:31:20 -0800

A little side hobby of mine is keeping track of the state of mobile payments technology. The future is going mobile, and soon the mobile device will be the primary device in which we interact with our data, and manage our financial transactions. it’s already fast becoming our primary device for our online activity, so it is only a matter of time. Which brings me to the Starbucks App. The user experience of the app is as satisfying as drinking a hot cup of coffee on a chilly morning. It’s simple, straight to the point, and works all the time. Let me say that again. It works all the time. I don’t know how important this last piece of fact is. If an app works almost all the time, it’s still not a great app. I hear so many people complain about the new Facebook app and for the most part, they’re right. It works almost all the time, and for the few times when it doesn’t can really be frustrating to the user and tarnish the pleasures of Facebook.

Square is a great piece of technology, opening up a new channel for small and medium businesses to interact with their customers. Yet, the swipe of the credit card on the small little plastic card reader requires a very delicate balance of speed and force in order for the card to be read properly. I was sitting in a cab an extra five minutes because the card wouldn’t be read properly through the dongle. The American Airlines app has a mobile boarding pass feature that allows you to get through the TSA checkpoint and boarding gate with your device. I’ve used it numerous times and the success rate is 50% at best. I know it’s not a mobile payment technology, but worth mentioning because the concept is similar. Now, I’ve switched back to paper boarding passes.

A staggering 73% of retail companies are planning an investment in mobile channels this year, with half moving into mobile commerce. Apple is getting a head start with its new Apple Store app that allows a customer to scan the product and pay for it with their own device and without ever having to interact with a retail employee. I haven’t used it yet but I’ll be sure to the next time I’m there. In these early stages of a growing technology, all of these companies are truly taking advantage of mobile to propel their business. But a crucial factor is in making it work, not most of the time, but all the time.

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The Upside to Skinny Jeans

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:49:42 -0800

Skinny jeans is quite popular these days, among men. Those benefiting from this trend, besides hipsters, are cellphone belt holster makers and keychain carabiner manufacturers. Putting an HTC Evo in your pocket would be no small task, and a keychain full of keys is nigh impossible. Next time you’re out on the street, do an informal visual survey yourself. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

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Innovate or Die

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:37:54 -0700

I’ve been using Posterous ever since its inception. I’ve always liked it over other publishing sites like Wordpress or Tumblr, because of its ease of use. You email it to post@posterous.com, along with any links, and it does everything else for you, including embedding videos and photos. No need to mess with HTML tags or CSS. “It just works.”

I was content with it for the longest time because it was so easy to use. But recently, I’ve been using Tumblr for a new blog I started, “Korean Footballers in Europe”. And I’ve been enjoying it much more.

In Tumblr, it’s much easier to discover other people’s tumblog, via the “explore tags” feature, and as a result I’ve been introduced to a whole slew of people who have very interesting tumblogs (here and here as an example). there is a real sense of community in Tumblr, where part of the fun is not just posting on your own blog, but also discovering others’ work and sharing it. I’ll admit, my blog is still somewhat of the old school variety where a good majority of my posts are long form, but some of my priorities in a blog tool are ease of use with minimal intervention (hence, I will not be returning to Wordpress), and the ability to post via mobile.

So, I may be moving my domain to Tumblr. Stay tuned.

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The End of Summer Is The Beginning of Post Summer

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:37:02 -0700

Summer is already over. When it began, I had ambitiously set out to accomplish two goals, which were diametrically opposed to each other. And now, as I look back, I realize I’ve failed both in spectacular fashion.

After four weeks of P90X, I called it quits. I rationalized with myself saying that I didn’t really want hard abs or beautiful shoulder blades. Instead, I opted for something less rigorous, namely a mdoest 3 mile run two to three times a week, and a slight trimming of food portions, with a lot more greens mixed in. I’ve managed to lose 10 pounds, basically shedding all the winter storage. But I don’t have abs to show for it.

As for tasting the 100 great beers of the world, I pretty much gave up on that too. Drinking craft beer is not only heavy on the calories, but also heavy on the wallet. I’ve become a miser of sorts, ordering Miller Lite or Coors Light more often than a St. Bernardus. Trust me, it’s the neo-hipster thing to do these days.

And so the summer is now gone. In southern California, the end of summer means the beginning of post-summer. That’s right. There’s really no change of season to fall, just a continuation of clear blue skies and 80 degree highs. The only way I can tell is college football is now on TV.

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Everything Is Amazing Nobody Is Happy

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:58:00 -0700

I’m sitting on a plane surfing the internet, complaining at its slow bandwidth because I can’t watch my football highlights. Louis CK had an opinion about this, and the gist of it is that “everything is amazing, and yet nobody is happy.” Technology is truly amazing, but I guess it doesn’t bring happiness. Now, I’m just going to use this to make everything ok.

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War of Words

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:31:34 -0700

The wife and I have a habit of getting into intense debates. Early in our dating period, in one of our car rides, we had what started out as a very light hearted conversation about government taxation. It soon escalated into a war of words by the time we arrived at our destination. I advocated for the need to tax more, especially the rich, and she, argued for a flat tax system where the rich didn’t have to give up more just because they made more. Suffice to say, our differing views on taxes almost made us break up.

Another time, we got into a very explosive disagreement about religion, or more specifically, church. I’ve developed a healthy dose of distrust for the church as an institution and advocated for more grassroots, communal organization of spiritual communities. She, on the other hand, strongly insisted that the church as an institution has been there for centuries for good reason, and should not be abandoned. If I could describe the intensity of our “debate”, the picture of Mohammad Ali v. Frazier in the Fight of the Century come to mind. Or Godzilla versus Mothra.

I’m glad to say, we’ve put our political and religious differences aside when we tied the knot . But our penchant for intense debates has not stopped there. Our most recent one? On investing. We’ve become hobbyists in stock investments and the wife has gained quite the knowledge in trading. One day on yet another car ride, she started with the opening statement “MSFT is worth investing in because we can always trust that they will always be around as leaders in the industry.” It was just begging me to lay a counter argument with a sprinkle of examples of big companies with invincible reputations that have faltered (i.e., Sears Roebuck, Nokia, and even RIM) over the years. She countered my counter with MSFT’s strong portfolio of products, monopoly-like marketshare and promising acquisition of Skype. After a few rounds, we adhered to the Good Book when it said ”don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry” and kissed and made up.

Yeah, we’re weird.

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Summer

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:17:27 -0700

Went on a nice run through the suburbs of Deerfield, IL on a midwestern summer evening. The sun was setting, warm air was filling my lungs, and the smell of green grass lingered throughout the brisk jog in this quiet and idyllic neighborhood. It reminded me of my time in Ann Arbor, of all the summer runs I embarked on, from the Arb to Gallop Park, to North Campus and back. It was a place called home, with the familiar creeks and streams, and hidden spots where I can run through for my own solace.

Summers were filled with running. During the day through the crowd in Main Street, or in the night when everyone is sleeping. Sometimes under the heavy sun, other times in lightly drizzling rain. Any run was a good one. Long jaunts all over town, or a short jog through the neighborhood, it was all the same because it was still a run during the warm season, where school is out and things slow down.

And then, as if on queue, just about when I was finishing my run, the night sky turned dark and violent with lightning and thunder. Rain poured on and sirens blared everywhere, lights flickering in and out in my hotel room. The nostalgia was interrupted and now I’ve come back to reality, that in the Midwest, tornados and thunderstorms are real. I shut off the AC and most of the lights, opened the window, and watched in silence the downpour. The dark clouds, the lightning, and the furious rain all came together in some terrifying beauty. Even this was good in my eyes, because it was all part of summer in the Midwest.

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Rewards

Thu, 26 May 2011 18:48:42 -0700

I’m here at the airport, waiting on yet another delayed flight home. I’ve been thinking about the “traveling consultant” life these days and the single biggest takeaway is that I’ve become obsessed with “rewards.” It’s in the game of achieving milestones and amassing points. Airline rewards, hotel points, and rental car upgrades. It’s even bled into my coffee habit, where every Starbucks grande drip gets me one step closer to gold status.

Priority access, here I come!

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I Hate Android, I Love Android

Sun, 08 May 2011 20:52:18 -0700

Ever since the Nexus S debuted, I drooled over it incessantly. Here it finally was, a successor to the Nexus One and markedly a vast improvement from Google’s first iteration of its Android phone. It was to be the pinnacle in the marriage between hardware and software from a company that was known for its “engineering approach” to solving problems. In my mind, it was also the only worthy one to make me jump ship from the iPhone bandwagon.

Overtime, my zeal and enthusiasm for Apple have been replaced by skepticism and a loss of faith. The walled paradise of iTunes became more of a prison than a utopia and the utter lack of respect for one’s autonomy became all the more blaring. It was time to leave the cult in search of the rough and tumble waters of true freedom that Android promised.

The first week was absolute bliss. The Nexus S has a gorgeous 4 inch super AMOLED screen, with a slick curved front. It is thin, jet black, and minimal in its branding save for the name “Google” on the back. When the screen turns on and off, it mimics the box TVs of yesteryears, paying homage to the cathode ray tubes that paved the way for today’s digital media world. And most of all, it does everything that the iPhone won’t; transfer files directly to and from the phone with a USB cable, install apps not on the app store, and turn by turn GPS navigation (I’m the worst when it comes to getting lost) for free. I have fallen in love with a phone that wasn’t Apple’s.

But as I approached a full month of using it, the more I found myself comparing it to the iPhone and lamenting its poor performances in certain areas. The battery life is horrendously poor, not lasting a full day. Frequently I found myself with a dead phone by 5pm. The choppiness of the user interface (such as when it transitions from home screen to app, or when sliding from one screen to another) is clearly sub-par compared to the iPhone. And most importantly, the Nexus S, or more appropriately the Android platform, lacks serious photo apps. The iPhone 4 was my primary camera, offering stunningly beautiful hi-res photos with gorgeous effects applied courtesy of Instagram. There are other minor annoyances with Android apps compared to iPhone apps, making me hate this cursed phone and second guessing whether I made the right decision to make the switch.

It’s been several months of mere tolerance of the Nexus S, but after this week I have become a believer again. The client site I am working out of has the strictest of network policies, often preventing me from accessing our own corporate sites, let alone Office Communicator. All week, I’ve been using the Nexus S as a mobile hotspot, jumping on its 3G connection to surf the internet, log in to Office Communicator, and even upload a 127mb file for a colleague with ease. All of this without paying an extra cent for tethering. It was a life saver.

Since much of my life is embedded in Google’s services, the Nexus S delivers all of that seamlessly and effortlessly. I use Google Voice, Google Docs, Google Reader, and Google Talk daily on my laptop, and this week I found myself using the Nexus S to access all of these things while on the move. I’ve looked up rewards numbers at the Hertz desk using Google Docs, chatted with friends on Google Talk while commuting, and caught up with soccer blogs via Google Reader before boarding the plane.

Most of all, I am truly free with the Nexus S. I can upload any file directly to the phone without any intermediary software such as iTunes. I can look at the entire file structure, and upgrade to whichever OS I want to upgrade to. Even the UI can be customized via third party apps such as LauncherPro. It is as flexible as I want it to be, offering me unprecedented freedom that I did not have with the iPhone.

I can confidently say Android is terrible at certain things. But there’s enough about it that truly makes it stand out from the iPhone, and is a welcome alternative to Apple’s totalitarian approach to the world of mobile devices.

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Goals For The Summer

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 23:44:56 -0700

I have two contradictory goals for the summer.

One is completing the P90x physical regimen. I’ve been growing tired of the spare tire that continues to inflate around my mid section. And it doesn’t help that I now live in a town with some of the most physically well endowed people. This is a place where many have aspirations to make it on the silver screen, and looking good is akin to having ruby on your resume in Silicon Valley. It might not automatically get you a job, but it sure makes you look sexy.

The other is tasting as many beers as possible on beeradvocate.com’s top 100 list. Since moving to LA, I’ve been introduced to many gastropubs, specialty bars, and german style “bier gartens.” Some of the world’s greatest beers is just a car ride (and traffic jam) away. A glass of scotch or bourbon is nice, but there’s nothing quite like the refreshing and often complex taste of a well crafted beer.

I realize pursuing both goals with unrestrained rigor and persistence might end up counteracting each other. Such is the complicated irony of summers with no World Cup or Euro Finals.

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I Left My Heart In The Bay

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 22:18:54 -0800

After almost four years in Northern California, the wife and I packed our little apartment and moved further south, to tinseltown. We moved to be closer to family. That’s code for going to be the uncle and aunt that will spoil the heck out of their niece and nephew. Life in tinseltown will probably be different. I won’t be going to any tech conferences hobnobbing with other geeks. I won’t be swapping ideas with friends on the next hottest app or tech trend. Instead, in LA I will be fighting traffic day in and day out, only to lose 9 times out of 10. I will be gorging myself with the finest foods, including frequent stops at the Father’s Office where Pliny The Elder is always on tap. I will also secretly work on making my not-yet-released book “Confessions of an Ex-Pastor” into a feature movie. No more quick jaunts to Napa. No more geek celebrity sighting of Sergei Brin or Steve Jobs. No trek through Emigrant Wilderness or Yosemite.

The truth is, I left my

heart in the Bay Area (to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s crooning). The period of living there was some of the worst times, and the best times. I’ve hit the lowest of lows, and the highest of highs. There was a point where things were so bad, seeing a therapist seemed like the right thing to do. It was a period of going through detox from all the years of being in ministry. There was also a moment where things were so good, wearing my deadstock Military Grey Jordan IVs seemed like the right response. I got married and celebrated by wearing my Jordans to much of my wife’s chagrin.

I’ve met some incredible people along the way and was privileged to experience some once-in-a-lifetime events. Old friends who understood my journey and opened their homes to me for some much needed home cooked dinner and deep conversation, not to mention some lessons in mahjong. An invitation to visit Ghana and join a friend in exploring the country side, drinking in the African spirit of community and hospitality, and roaming the streets of Accra at night like locals. A small band of misfit Christians who opted to do things differently by deliberately simplifying their faith to the core necessities, which simply meant loving God and loving others. Spending time in what felt like purgatory while working at retail for the first time in my life, and building deep camaraderie with them in the trenches. Finding my way to Corporate America and meeting incredibly smart, funny, and nice people. Truly a dangerous combination.

But now lies ahead a new chapter in a new town. I imagine there’s more to be learned, more to be experienced. More searching and more finding. Oh yeah, and more Pliny The Elder.

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Paris

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:16:16 -0800

It’s hard not to like Paris. A large cosmopolitan city in the heart of Europe, it is a city that blends the old and the new seamlessly together, creating a place that’s mindful of the past, but also looking to the future. Every arrondissement is a self-sufficient town in and of itself, making you feel like you’re in a small village, with its patisserie, brasserie, and market all side by side. Much like other Parisians, every morning we went to our neighborhood café for some expresso and croissants. We never got a chance to find out why they call it expresso instead of espresso, but I guess that’s for another time. Starbucks, or the concept of coffee to-go, is scarce in this place. Sitting down and ordering in before heading out for the day seems to be very much a part of what it means to be French.

We surveyed many of the historic sites, from the 900 year-old Notre Dame cathedral to the once magnificent palace now turned museum Le Louvre. We marveled (along with a throng of other tourists) at perhaps one of the greatest paintings in the world, La Joconde. We studied the history of the impressionist movement at the Musée d’Orsay, appreciating the works of the masters Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh. We visited the Chateau Versailles, the envy of every European monarch, and the rightful home of Louis XIV.

Four years of high school French have long been forgotten, and too many trips to Peru and living in California have compounded our language barriers, often mistakenly and subconsciously replying with si, gracias, and como. Most of the locals were probably confused to see two Asians speaking broken Spanish in reply to them. “Donde el bano?” rolls off our tongues so much easier than ou est… I don’t even know what bano is in French. La Toilette? Most Parisians were gracious enough to offer their help in English, and we’ve reciprocated it with a hearty merci beaucoup.

To say that Paris is a romantic city is quite the understatement. There are lovers everywhere, taking quiet strolls on the banks of the Seine River, sitting on top of the other’s lap in the metro stations, and of course, French kissing right in the open. Not to be outdone by the locals, we also took to kissing whenever we had the chance. But alas, our Asian sensibilities got the best of us and what started off in our minds la grande romance often diminished to a petit Asian kiss (as informed by Glee).

Every meal we had was accompanied by wine (do as the Romans do, they say), and there was plenty of pain au chocolat, croissants, and baguettes to be had. Macarons at Laduree were simply heavenly, warranting a second visit. On New Years Eve, we brought a bottle of champagne and two glasses with us, and paraded down the Champs-Elysees with the rest of the Parisians. The entire boulevard was shut down so that the people can overtake it. Everyone was in a festive mood; lovers, friends, families, all with champagne in tote, waiting for the countdown to begin. As soon as the clock struck twelve, there was a chorus of bottles popping open, toasts being made, and kisses (the French kind!) performed. With the Arc du Triomphe in the background and glasses raised, we ushered in a new year the Parisian way. Bonne Année!

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Computers in Disguise

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:55:27 -0800

At the dawn of the Windows era, 3.1 to be exact, my mom told me Bill Gates predicted that in the near future, using computers will be as easy as using a telephone. This was at a time when using a telephone simply meant picking up the receiver, dialing the person’s number, and waiting for that person to respond. Easy. It was also a time when using a computer was akin to rocket science, where one had to know DOS commands and recall them from memory to get the computer to do anything remotely useful, such as rename a file, or format the floppy disk.

Just last week, mom got a brand new iPhone 4. The idea was that it’d be easy to use and hassle free in doing video chat (via Facetime) across the Pacific Ocean. It’s after months of frustration not being able to get her webcam work properly on her PC, leaving many sessions of Skype in futile attempts to “see each other”. The first day she got it, she was telling me how complicated it was to use, and how it wasn’t really a phone at all. I believed in Steve Jobs’ promise that the iPhone “just works”, but alas, mom’s iPhone didn’t “just work.” After studying how to use it, it crashed on her and never came back to a normal state. Disappointed, she returned it for a refund and went back to her non-smart phone. She said “I’ll wait until Apple works out all their issues and makes a better phone.” I chuckled.

I was reminded of the Bill Gates quote she shared what seems like eons ago in technology time. Using computers is just as easy as using phones alright, except the phones are now more computer than phone.

A month back, while visiting family friends in Sacramento, I drooled over their newly bought Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy S. It took beautiful pictures, seamlessly integrated with Google apps, and connected crystal clear with their car’s bluetooth hands-free system. Except, to an older couple who weren’t used to smartphones, the Android phone was confusing to use for all its non-phone qualities. To make a call, you have to touch the “phone” app. To answer a call, you have to slide the puzzle piece to its right place. You can swipe down to bring a set of menus. You can push the physical buttons to bring another set. You can open an app and there’s yet more options to choose. Gone are the days of flipping open a phone, dialing a number, and pushing “talk.”

So, Bill Gates’ predictions still has some ways to go. Hopefully one of these days, a phone will be as easy to use as, you know, a phone.

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The Tradition

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:02:35 -0800

When every freshman arrives in Ann Arbor for their first year at the University of Michigan, the first lesson they learn is not in Econ 101 or English 125. It is not in the venerated Angell Hall, or in room 170 Dennison Hall. It is on that very first Saturday, in every dorm room, fraternity house, sorority house, and of course, the big house. It is the first Michigan football game in which every freshman, whether they come from Saginaw or Singapore, gets their taste of the Michigan tradition and takes the first step in learning the ethos of being a Michigan man and woman.

They learn every word to The Victors, every chant for every down, and the important fact that it’s not yellow, but maize. Over time, they will hear of the legends of Bo Schembechler and his ten year feud with his mentor, Woody Hayes. They will realize all the great quarterbacks that once captained the Wolverines during their college careers. And most importantly, they will know how important the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State is.

Every year, it is “The Game” that is the most important game of the season, regardless of the circumstances. Next to the Yankees-Red Sox, it is the second most fierce, bitter, and historic rivalries in American sports. All year long, the team plays with one thing in mind: to beat Ohio State. Bo Schembechler made sure his students prepared with this kind of mindset. Lloyd Carr made sure that everyone knew that this was their mission. That is why, in every matchup, it was truly a “clash” worthy of such grandiose and self-important title “The Game.”

But the days of such history and tradition are gone. Rich Rodriguez, with his spread offense and quarterback that’s more comfortable running than passing, has transformed the tradition of Michigan football into something unfamiliar to any alumni; soulless, classless, and devoid of any character. A whole generation of Michigan students have gone through their entire college careers without anything to be proud of. There is no memorable game, nor any standout performance that can be talked about at every Thanksgiving dinner table from here on out.

The game against Ohio State revealed how much Rich Rod does not understand the tradition of the school and the history of the program. Even if he did understand it, he did not cherish it, value it, or take care of it as his own. The players clearly seemed unprepared to face their opponent. They did not show the kind of tenacity and “do or die” mentality that is necessary for this game. Even if you lost every single game of the season, you still played your heart out for The Game. The players did not realize how this very last game of the season is what every single student, every single Ann Arborite, and every single alumni is waiting for with bated breath. And Rich Rod is to blame for this.

So, it is time to move on from the Rich Rod era. It is time to be done with the “spread offense” experiment and go back to what Michigan does best, classic smash mouth football. It is time to bring in a Michigan man, who knows the history and will preserve the tradition. It is time for someone who will invoke the spirit of Bo Schembechler and seek the wisdom of Lloyd Carr. And speaking of Bo, this speech about “the team” chokes me up every time I hear it. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the stale stench that is Rich Rod.

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instead of a love letter...

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:56:13 -0800

Chicago is a strange place. It is an urban canyon with towering skyscrapers and glittering signs. It is a city fascinated with revolving doors, steel bridges, and perfectly symmetrical street blocks. The sidewalks are immaculately clean, and in every corner there is yet another architectural marvel and historical landmark waiting to be discovered. And yet, there is a Midwestern sensibility underlying all of its metropolitan guise. You can’t walk 50 yards without running into a local joint that makes the damnedest Italian beef sandwich. Enough people still use the word “sir” and “ma’am” when addressing a stranger. Opening the door for others, waiting until women walk through first, and answering questions when tourists ask are all part of the charm. Much has changed, and yet much has stayed the same since my days in seminary in this windy city. There is a sense of progress without losing its identity. There is an evolution.

I had a conversation with a friend recently that was triggered because of his recent survey of my Facebook profile. Whatever he saw on my page must’ve caused him concern to ask me “if everything was ok.” I tried hard to recollect what recent updates were made, and whether any of it was risqué, salacious, or downright troublesome. A few harmless wedding pictures, a few incongruous check-ins, and some recent photos of our anniversary trip was all I could remember. So, I naturally responded, “Everything is great! Why?” This friend then asked whether or not I was still a Christian. I thought it to be a very bizarre question arising from my Facebook profile, and did my best to think what wall posting or status update would have hinted at my apostasy.

Perhaps it is the fact that sometimes, people change. I have changed. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is more impacting than any John Piper book. Truth and beauty have been discovered in Siddhartha than A Purpose Driven Life. I can’t say anymore I enjoy Sufjan and all his clever Christian theology in hipster folk music skin. Wilco’s cynicism and Regina Spektor’s Human of the Year speak to me. The Bible is a masterpiece as literature, but hard to understand. There are more questions than answers, more uncertainties than certainties, and more “maybes” than absolutes. I still consider myself a person of faith, even if it looks very different from before. Perhaps that is what triggered my friend’s question.

While in Chicago, I met with one of my students from youth group from back in the day, and we had a delicious Argentinian steak with a bottle of wine. Is a student always a student and therefore subordinate, and never a friend? Even Jesus at the end of his tenure on earth called his disciples “no longer servants, but friends.” There was something strangely satisfying when he referred me to others as his friend. There is an evolution.

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Becoming a Man

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:40:48 -0700

The ancient Hawai’ians had a certain way of transferring their way of life from one generation to the next. The men, who were warriors, were tasked to mold and shape their young boys into future warriors. As much as Hawai’i was about the friendly and warm aloha spirit and still is today, it was also a place where survival was essential and conflict between other islands of Polynesia a reality. In short, the older warrior men had to make boys into men and used the island to do it. An older warrior would often take his young boys out to sea in his canoe, traveling to neighboring islands regularly. Many times, he will do this at night, teaching the young ones how to recognize constellations and swell patterns. After years of taking such trips, as far away as Samoa and perhaps even to what is now known as New Zealand, with nothing but stars in the sky and tidal patterns of the ocean, these young boys would grow up to be expert navigators, tough enough to survive in the high seas for long periods of time.

Meanwhile back on land, older warriors would take their young boys on hunting expeditions, in search of the elusive wild boar in the jungle, one that must be captured at least every year for the annual luau, or celebration of the harvest. They would learn to understand the land, the habitat of the animals, and to become a hunter among the beasts. Often the rite of passage for boys in becoming men would culminate with a dive off a cliff from 25 feet above. This dive, particularly the spot off the southern tip of the small island of Lanai, would require a running start to clear away from the rocky area below that when not taken properly, can lead to one’s fatal demise.

These boys of Hawai’i, through their warrior fathers, learned all that was required to become men. They became masters of the seas, amassed bravery in the midst of the life threatening cliff, and became providers of food and shelter with their wits, guile, and skill with a spear. Today, the ritual of manhood is all but lost. The bravery, the honor, and the life skills learned are seldom passed on from father to son. At least, that was the case for me. My father, like many others before him, did not understand the gravity of taking responsibility for one’s family, nor the courage it takes to face one’s inner demons. In his folly he mistakenly considered retreating from his wife and kids as the honorable thing to do. Hence like many of my generation, I grew up with an absent father, relating to Luke Skywalker’s daddy issues with Vader, and mistakenly understanding that being a man meant treating women loosely while wielding a killer smile along with a Walter PPK in a tux. Obviously these were not the same as the boys of Hawai’i.

No wonder I yearn to jump off a cliff into the deep blue sea and scale the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. I want someone to show me how to track an animal by it’s prints and sleep in the wild with nothing but a rock for a pillow and stars for a blanket. I can buy my own car and drive across the country from Michigan to California, pack my bags and head out on an adventure in Ghana and India, and drink as many Guinnesses as anyone else, yet I’d be hard pressed to say that these things make me a man. In the church, many have told me that “God is my father now” and that manhood is about “getting on your knees.” Being a man meant praying a lot, being faithful in attending the myriad of events put on by the church, and learning responsibility by taking on more things to do and accomplishing them successfully.

I have believed all of these things and done all of them to the tee and yet after 10 years of doing such I don’t feel I am a man in the same vein as those who came before me in ancient times, like Abraham, Samson and David. To this day, I’m still not sure what to think of the phrase “God is my father”. I understand it cognitively and can appreciate the logical reasoning behind it but often see that it cannot be accepted unless it is taken with what is called “a leap of faith” or “blind faith”. In this modern era, blind faith seems so… antiquated. So now I’m up to my own devices, in search of that elusive idea of “becoming a man.” An ancient lore buried deep in the earth with our predecessors, where pop culture and Christian culture both don’t have a clue as to what it is. Maybe this is just me saying I need another trip to Hawai’i.

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