"Fixing" the NCAA March Madness Tournament

Every year during March Madness, amid the amazing games, comes the reason we say
"madness" in 'March Madness." Someone wants to change the system.

Can't people just leave well enough alone?

I think people are barking up the wrong tree. The tournament is fine as it is. Each team has 30-odd games to prove themselves, and a conference tournament. Eventually, there are 31 conference champions and 34 at large births. You have a committee of very well versed people that sit down, look at the whole body of work, and pick those 34 at large teams. Sure, sometimes they must split hairs, and occasionally they're going to make a mistake, but most of the time they're going to be pretty accurate. For those 2-3 teams on the cusp that get left out in a given year, here's my advice: Play better next year. Another win here, a harder scheduled opponent there and things would be different. Ultimately the onus falls on your shoulders to execute, and you didn't. Unless you go 30-0 and get left out, you have SOME blemish that is very real, and potentially very worthy of causing people to think you aren't among the best 34 non-conference champions in America.

Can't people just leave well enough alone

Those who want to change things (uhhhumm Jim Boeheim), typically point to those last cut teams as proof that things need to be expanded. Well, Syracuse, I might be inclined to agree that you're stronger than Alabama, but it was close. All you had to do was beat Notre Dame in your final game and you wouldn't have had that issue. Or maybe not let go of Villanova, when you lost 75-78. Or what was the loss to little ole' St. John's (60-64)?

When I was a freshman in high school I had my heart set on playing on my high school's basketball team. I played basketball daily--loved it. Tryouts came around. I did the sprints. I shot the free throws. I ran the drills. Names were called and cut boys headed to the locker room. That was day one. I came back for day two, and day three.

At the end of day three coach gathered all of us sweaty freshman around him. He had varsity full and put one of us on JV. That left 15 boys for 12 spots on the freshman team (yes, I was at a big high school that had three teams). One by one, twelve boys had their names called, until I and two others were left--cut.

It hurt--sure it hurt--because those boys playing ball were the ones I played with every day after school at the park. It hurt because I felt he picked players he was more familiar with--those who played AAU. It hurt because I felt I was good enough to be out there with them, but I wasn't. However, I came to realize that I had nobody to blame but myself. Of course a coach is going to pick a known quantity over an unknown quantity (that's the same reason a medical school residency program will pick a medical student with lower grades from in house over a graduating student from another medical school). Moreover, if I wanted him to know I was a good basketball player, I could have run a little harder, shot a little better, practiced a little more at nights. If I had truly stood out, I wouldn't have had to worry about having experience with me, or sweating out the cuts. But I didn't take care of my end of the deal.

So, Syracuse, do what my old girlfriend used to tell me:

Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.

I mean, you wouldn't want a computer doing the picking would you (a la NCAA football)?

Now that I've just pontificated about why things shouldn't be changed, I'm gonna give you my thoughts on how to change them (sounds dumb, huh?). The two main issues I see with the current tournament format are:

1. Some good teams get left out because the tournament doesn't include more teams. These "cut" teams want an expanded tournament.



2. Smaller conference champions get embarassed having to play the "play-in game" between seeds 64 and 65. The don't want to be in such a game since they took care of business and won their conference.

My solution is so easy, that should the powers that be actually do the stupid thing and tweak the tournament, they'll never institute it. I propose that:

• All conference regular season champions be issued automatic invites to the dance. They proved they were the best team from their conference over 16 games.


• All conferences should hold a conference tournament and the winner, if not the same as the regular season champion, should be invited to the tournament. Each regular season champ still plays in the tourney because they want a good seeding by the committee. In most smaller conferences, the regular season champ and tourney champ are often the same team, and the benefit for a regular season champ of winning the conference (seeding) will outweigh tanking to guarantee the conference two bids, so those "one-bid" conferences will--in all probability--stay so. In stronger conferences, the regular season champion is less assured of winning, and it effectively gives the conference a second automatic bid--up for grabs for the teams like Syracuse.


• All remaining at-large teams, from 34 to 3 (if no regular season champ won their tourney), would be selected by the committee and seeded as usual. This is not far different from now, because most sportswriters admit that there really are only 5 or 6 bubble spots truly available after the conference tourneys are over.


• Make the "play-in" game between the two lowest seeded at-large teams. This allows for a potentially more enjoyable game, because the at large teams could be playing for a 14 or 13 seed, and rewards those teams who won conferences/tourneys to bypass the indignity of being forced to play another game.

Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it

These suggestions will effectively turn the conference tournaments into the extension of the NCAA tournament that people wish for. With potentially two automatic bids up for grabs in each conference, you have double the reason to perform during the season or go for broke in the conference tourney, and half the reason to gripe. Also, the change in the play-in game can happen regardless of the other changes and still bring the benefit outlined.


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The First Yahoo 360 Blog Highlight: Susan

While in Vietnam I met many people who touched my life forever. Many of my students taught me almost as much (or more) as I taught them. For good reason, this girl's blog is my first blog to highlight. She is one of the students I grew closest to, possibly because we have such similar dreams.

And, she's only 15. Man, I wish I was so forward thinking when I was 15.

Her post on February 25 highlights the direction I desire Vietnamese blogging to go. It's title: "Top 10. Good or Bad." In it she points out some very salient things. The blog is in Vietnamese, and I won't attempt to translate it, but I will paraphrase some things. She says

Viet Nam dung thu nhi the gioi ve san xuat lua gao. Dieu nay di nhien la tot, no chung to rang nuoc ta co nen nong nghiep vung chac.

...Viet Nam dung trong 10 nuoc tren the gioi ve viec an hoi lo nhieu nhat. Good or bad?"

She, like many of the youth in Vietnam, goes on to express displeasure in the bribery and corruption rampant in Vietnam because they have such pride and patriotism. Her blog is well written, and in her short time blogging, has covered a variety of topics personal to her.

My hope is that people -- especially China -- will stand up and take notice. These youth like Susan are proving that you don't have to keep your people in the dark. Vietnam has taken the lead in Southeast Asia by being open about corruption within and without the government, and trying to clean it up. It's also let people discuss it. The result is the realization that Vietnam has succeeded where China has failed. The Vietnamese youth can be incredibly patriotic and loyal to Vietnam, while expressing displeasure about something specific in the system. They are not mutually exclusive.

Her most recent post is called "Cay Tao." It's a Vietnamese translation of the parable of the child and the apple tree. I don't remember who first wrote it. You know the one--child eats apples, young man sells apples, adult cuts down tree, elderly man sits on stump--to teach us about serving. It's interesting to see her Vietnamese take on it's meaning.

Cay tao ay chinh la hien than cua cha me chung ta. ...

So, check out Susan's blog.

BYU Woes and Shady Refs

I'm gonna start the conspiracy theories now -- the NCAA puts a little extra $$$ in the pockets of the refs if they can stack the cards in Xavier's favor. Because, hey, a Xavier-Ohio St. matchup (old romp of Matta vs. new) will bring more ratings than BYU v. Ohio St.

What really happened?? A superior BYU team got handcuffed by refs that put them in the bonus with over 14 minutes to go. Xavier didn't hit the bonus until 7 minutes. Yes, a full seven minutes of free points. Xavier ended 23-29 from the line while BYU was 10-13 from the line. 13 free points? BYU lost by 2? Hmmm, sounds like an 11 point swing to me.

Whatever the nefarious reason really was, it was clear that the refs were calling the game tight at one end and loose at the other. They called it clean--no phantom fouls--but ticky-tack. On the other hand, Xavier was doing the same thing at their defensive end and getting away with it.

I hate that.

Well, good luck Xavier. I hope Ohio St kills you by 50. Long live Texas A&M and Georgetown, Kansas and Florida. That's the final four.

The New Generation of Viet Bloggers: Yahoo 360

Since the inception of the Bleeding Ear, we have joined with others in looking for Vietnamese blogs. Previously, I listed a couple blogs I found off of Noodlepie, and some reasons why I wished blogging among the Vietnamese would blossom.

How Yahoo became the exclusive purveyor of chatting in Vietnam, I don't know

My first foray into the "Vietblogosphere" found a wide variety of expat blogs but only a few blogs written by Viets.

Yet over the last year, things have started to change. I'm not sure how noticeable this is from America, but I have seen it personally. You see, Yahoo and Google get a lot of flak for bowing to communists and censoring search results--as well they should. But Vietnam is showing China that things can be done differently. The internet is slowly opening--not closing--in Vietnam, and the presence of Yahoo and Google, if neutered, has had profound blessings.

What blessings?? Well, Vietnamese youth waste hours a day chatting on Yahoo messenger. My first day as an English teacher in Vietnam was a lesson in the power of Yahoo. It was in Go Vap district, in Ho Chi Minh City, with VATC--Vietnamese American Training College. I arrived to the skinny, three-story concrete building as the sun was setting, and walked inside the front doors, found the manager, and received my lesson materials. After a quick planning session, I was escorted to my first class--PET3. PET classes are pre-teenage classes. My class was full of 25 boys and girls all about 12-14 years old, with moderate English skill.

These pages mix the allure of Myspace with the chatting of Yahoo Messenger

My teaching was nothing memorable that first day, with most of it spent answering personal questions from the students. But every class has a ten minute break, and when the bell rang, my class emptied so fast, I almost believed the previous 45 minutes had been a dream.

Eager to find out where my students were running to, I walked downstairs. I passed one or two talking on the staircase. Then I reached the first floor and found the computer room. Every VATC has a room for students' use that contains about 10 computers. This room was packed--standing room only--with about three students per computer. Every student was doing two things--playing flash games and chatting on Yahoo.

How Yahoo became the exclusive purveyor of chatting in Vietnam, I don't know. But unlike America, where everyone is broken into AIM, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, and MSN circles, there is only one large circle in Vietnam--Yahoo. Children and teenagers squeeze every minute they can chatting with friends--10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, an hour before school here, an hour at night before bed there. Internet cafes are chalk full of them at almost all hours of the day, and it has become a nearly unregulated way of mass communication and relationship building.

At that moment, seeing all those students chatting, I wondered if they would ever jump to blogging. They were so close--talking to friends about school, what to do the next day, the game they're playing--all over the internet. I shouldn't have wondered.

Thanks again to Yahoo comes the next generation of Vietnamese youth. Yahoo 360 has finally taken off. I have seen most of my chatting students set up personal Yahoo 360 pages within the last year. These pages mix the allure of Myspace with the chatting of Yahoo Messenger. You have a home page where you see new blog posts or messages from friends in your network, a blog page, and picture albums like Myspace.

My Yahoo 360 page

All of this thinking about Vietnamese blogging and Yahoo 360 happened when I read a student's post that came nearest to an American blog post that I have ever seen. Over the next couple weeks I hope to highlight her and some of my other students' pages because they are the next generation--no, the first true generation--of Vietnamese bloggers. As they get used to writing their feelings online, I think it will be wonderful to follow their maturity, and see how their discussions of weather and music turn to school and love and even politics.

It's an exciting time to be growing up in Vietnam. Yahoo 360 just adds another dimension to that statement.

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AMPAC Regional Campaign Workshop

I just returned from attending a political campaign workshop in Austin, Texas. What an interesting experience. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting to go. Another student from UT-Houston's TMA/AMA chapter was assigned to go and bailed at the last minute, so I took his place. So many stories from two days!

Wow, I feel all warm and fuzzy about our democracy ... Goodbye warm-fuzzies

Many of you who know me, have heard me ruminate about possibly running for office someday. Unfortunately, I'm an idealist and a family man. I know in my heart of hearts that politics is dirty, but I want to "help the world." I also want to provide for my family, and often politics doesn't allow that. This workshop allowed me to see more in-depth the makings of a campaign, the strategy behind one, and weigh whether or not I really want to do that in the future.

AMPAC is the American Medical Association Political Action Committee, basically the political wing of the American Medical Association. American laws are all screwed up, and election laws are no different. As I learned on Monday, American politics are supposed to be pure, unadulterated, bereft of corporate or other special interests. To such end, laws prohibit corporations, unions, or professional organizations (like the TMA and AMA) from making direct contributions to a candidate or campaign.

Wow, I feel all warm and fuzzy about our democracy.

BUT, they allow any of the above entities to sponsor political action committees (PACs)made up of employees, run by employees, and --obviously-- espousing the ideals of the "parent" organization.

Goodbye warm-fuzzies.

Actually, the pragmatist in me doesn't see any real problem with this. It allows people interested in the survival of HMOs to tell their point of view and those who want them gone to share theirs. Ultimately, the people vote (via candidates and party platforms) for whose ideas they support more.

So, the AMPAC (and TEXPAC...Texas Political Action Committee) is made of members of the AMA (and TMA, respectively) who feel strong enough about their feelings to make monetary and time donations to the candidates and parties that they feel will support and protect the profession of medicine.

the average age of a person who responds to mailers is 67

AMPAC sponsored this workshop, and brought in two political campaign strategists to teach us about fundraising, advertising, employees/volunteers needed, strategy, etc. Heck, who better to protect medicine than a DOCTOR in office, right?

The AMA (and AMPAC) is a nonpartisan organization, so they brought in one Republican campaign strategist--Carlyle Gregory (without the mustache)--and one Democratic strategist--Gary Nordlinger. Both were very good. Some things I learned from their presentations:

1. 80% of voters have their mind made up regardless of what you do to persuade them. They're either Democrat or Republican, or care about some issue so much that their minds are made up in the beginning. 5-8% are "hyperinformative" voters, because they weigh everything up until the last minute and make up their minds on who to vote for while on the way to the polls (yours truly). The remaining 12-15% of voters are considered "low information" voters. These people are those who pay little attention to a campaign until the last two weeks. Then, they see a couple adds, gain little information, and make a decision on who to vote for. They are typically able to change their minds many times up until about 5 days before the election.

It's these "low info" voters that most TV ads are targeted to, so if you wonder why sometimes TV ads have so little substance, now you know. (This was from Gary Nordlinger)

2. Evidently direct mailers are the most statistically researched of all advertising techniques. Everyone knows that when you send out a mailer asking for donations, you will receive 50% of your money in the first 5 days. It's like gospel. Also, the average age of a person who responds to mailers is 67. The stats experts have also shown that the longer the letter (contrary to logic), the more likely someone is of reading it and responding. (This was from Carlyle Gregory)

I suppose this is because as you get older, you get less and less mail, so any seemingly personal but really impersonal letter one receives from a candidate will allow he or she to delude herself with the joy of receiving correspondence.

All in all there was too much information to put down here and not bore everyone to death. Yesterday we lobbied at the capital, and then came home--but that is another post.

Engine Troubles ... Blogger Style

Now that I have a little free time, I'm trying to bring this blog into the 21st century. Or how should I say, bring this blog into the year 2007.

Blogger has gone and revamped everything, and while this is old news for most everybody, it's new to me because I've had my head stuck in a book for the last billion years (it feels like).

Now, I love my layout. TBE version 2.0. I worked long and hard with my meager HTML skills to put that together...and I mean meager skills. But I feel the need to be on the new platform--give in to the man, so to speak. I have some great additions to my blog, things under the hood, like my categories and such, that require user scripts through greasemonkey on firefox for optimal use.

I love greasemonkey, and everything about it, but there is one problem: my new life at medical school has me using many different computers throughout the day. Most are not my own (school labs and such), meaning they do not run greasemonkey, or often firefox at all. That leaves me a list of things to fix when I get home--provided I post at school--or not do at all.

A switch to the new blogger would smooth some of the multiple computer issues, but i fear I don't have the talent or time to transfer my design to the new system.

Grrrr...engine troubles again. Can anyone point me in the direction of a really good tutorial or to that explains the new layout system, writing for it, or transfering designs to it (not counting actual blogger pages, seeing as how I've read all them)? I could really use pics. Blogger gives code and some explanations, but i like to see pics to tie with the code.

Welcome Xanghe

There's a new blog in the Bleeding Ear -o- sphere.





It's Xanghe, a blog about all things xang and he. Actually, his tagline says

God gave me a mind to think and a heart to feel, but sometimes I get confused about when I should be thinkin and when I should be feelin. That's when I just talk.

It's written by a good friend of mine, and deals with Vietnamese issues. I'm glad he finally joined the blogosphere, because I think his perspective will be a good addition to the collective we have going.

Here's to many posts and much success, Xanghe!

Texas 1st to Require HPV Vaccine

Friday I was greeted by some good news after finishing my practice physical exam. Texas is requiring all girls entering sixth grade to be immunized for HPV.

HPV stands for Human Papilloma Virus--a sexually transmitted virus that causes genital warts. This disease is especially interesting because it doesn't ALWAYS cause disease.

While at BYU, I collaborated with Dr. Meyers of Penn St. Medical School who is very well known in HPV research. His research focused on elucidating the lifecycle of the virus. He was interviewed by WPSU (Penn State Public Broadcasting) about the vaccine and disease.

One of the problems with studying HPV is that it's lifecycle has different stages in different tissues. That made studying it in vitro almost impossible until Dr. Meyers perfected a method of creating an organotypic skin culture--pseudoskin--to study it. The other big problem is that HPV has numerous different strains. Each strain behaves similarly, but not identical, to others. While many cause genital warts, the nature of the virus may lead it to latent infections, and some strains lend themselves to that more than others. This means it can be transmitted very easily because many people--especially men--may not know they have it because they won't have any symptoms.

HPV has an interesting secondary disease. According to Dr. Meyers,

"Certain types of the virus that infect the cervix or anal-genital region can cause cancer."

In fact, about 90% of all cervical cancers have HPV as a cause. According to Dr. George Ort, on the same radio show, cervical cancer causes about 25% of cancers in women worldwide. Hence a vaccine that could prevent 90% of those cancers would be incredibly important.

The vaccine, Gladasil by Merckx, doesn't quite get 90%, but it is very good. Dr. Meyers said,

"there are over 15 human pap virus types that cause cancer, and the vaccine is directed against the two major types that cause cancer--and about 70% of cancer are caused by these two types--so its effective for 70% on that basis."

However, although this vaccine looks so good, it has caused a lot of controversy.

In Texas, a very conservative and strongly religious state, many people and groups argue (like when arguing birth control in schools) that requiring this vaccine will give a green light in girls' minds to have more sex. Others are not properly educated on the vaccine because it is so new. My mother worried about the vaccine on Friday. She remarked that she had raised my sister right, and didn't worry about her being at risk for getting HPV, so why spend the money? Why have the chance to get the virus?

It is imperative that pap smear education go hand in hand with HPV vaccine distribution

Well, giving the vaccine to 9 year old girls, or girls entering 6th grade, will not give them the greenlight to have more sex anymore than preaching safe sex in schools will. Surveys are showing sexuality rates declining among high school students, giving fodder for the view that possibly sexuality has more to do with culture and less to do with the availability for sexual education in schools. Moreover, students are required to get many shots before school anyway, and few know what the shots are for. Adding one more shot to the barrage placed before them will be accepted as a fact of life, with little care into what disease it will prevent and therefore minimally impact behavior.

Secondly, people can raise their chlidren "right," in the sense that those children might not be sexually active during their teenage years or before marriage, but that never decreases the probability for rape or abuse. Unfortunately, raising your child right doesn't mean others raised their children correctly, and nobody wants their daughter to develop cervical cancer after being raped.

Thirdly, the vaccine is not the virus. Dr. Meyers described it as,

well this is a very simple little virus, and with all viruses theres a nucleic acid--either dna or rna inside. And what they did was they made empty viruses, so there's no dna inside these particle, so there just empty little particles, and when they inject that into a woman, the woman's immune sys sees them as a virus even though their empty, and so it mounts a response and creates protection against infection by that virus."

So if a person gets the vaccine, there is NO CHANCE she could get infected by the virus.

One problem with the vaccine is that it only protects 60-70% of cervical cancers, so some health professionals fear that vaccinated women will stop getting regular pap smears (that test for cervical cancer). It is imperative that pap smear education go hand in hand with HPV vaccine distribution.

The shocking thing is that Texas is the first state to require students to get the vaccine. Governor Rick Perry did an end-around republican state legislators and the inevitable fight it would have received in this conservative state, and passed it by executive order. According to the Los Angeles Times, Perry side-stepped part of the backlash by saying that parents who don't want the vaccine for their children because of reasons of conscience can opt out of it. However, human nature is such that most parents won't object, because it's just one more shot.

Having just returned from the Texas Medical Association Winter Conference, I can say that this was the news of the meeting. Over the two days I was in Austin, both doctors and medical students were discussing this, and I heard 100% happiness that Gov. Perry took this step. Although controversial among social conservatives, he has the backing of the medical community, and that might be most important of all.

School-Girl Fight

Another article on CNN describes girls fighting at school, and some idiot stabbed and KILLED another student in Boston the other day. All that got me thinking about how Youtube.com always gets fingered for having fight videos.

How many? Lots. Tons. That kinda surprised me, but i guess it shouldn't. However, in comparison with these fights we've just heard about, hear's a video of a girl fight in Vietnam--similar to one's I've seen, and much better, in my opinion.

(Plus I get to try out Youtube's blog posting stuff and see if it's worth it).

The Wonders of MRIs

My professor started off our second neurology lecture today by saying:

"Today we just heard a description of CT, and MRI, and PET, and how they are useful. A couple years ago, a senator and a president ran against each other for office in this country. After the election was over, both were incredibly tired and got routine physicals from their GPs. The muscle fatigue was serious, so both got MRIs. After the results came back, the senator and president asked what they were.

'Well, you can see both the left brain and the right brain in these scans,' replied the doctor. 'We know that the Left has got nothing right, and the Right has nothing left!'"

Well, I thought it was funny.

The cold of Utah...The Universal Problem of New Labbies

Ouch, is it cold. I cannot even ride my bike outside. Well, who in their right mind would want to ride in Lycra in a single digit wind chill? Not I.

But I cannot explain why people who sign up to be part of a science lab do not commit more time to the lab when the weather is horrible outside? Shouldn't they enjoy the heat of an autoclave or a hot water bath? I say nay. They (the labbies) do not take the time to hibernate in the lab. Maybe they are in the library or cuddling up with a good read such as a biochemistry textook or a book on evolutionary biology. I think my thoughts deceive me. The labbies are not looking up journal articles. They are not studying. They are wandering through the mists of darkness of not understanding that they are not alone in the process of research! Each labbie may "own" a project, but they do not understand that the only way to come to a knowledge of the truth of research is by performing it. It is time for them to step into the unknown, the darkness of the lab and turn on the light to see that the pathway is lighted that much more after they make the initial step.

Till next time.

Old Man Winter...

The last two days have been amazing. The cold front sweeping through the nation finally hit Houston, and we've had winter for the first time. When living in Utah I wasn't a huge fan of the snow and cold, but it was beautiful and did give variation to the year. It was such a pain to drive in though.

I was beginning to be afraid that we might get three seasons here but not four

Now I'm in Houston and December was warm--50s and 60s warm. I was beginning to be afraid that we might get three seasons here but not four. However, it's finally into the 30s, and although it's not likely to stay there for long, it'll be in the 40s for the next week or so. At the very least, I'll get two weeks of winter.

It's funny to see everyone react to the cold. People have no experience driving--living--in cold weather. It hit 31, 32 degrees, with a little ice on the roads, and about two-thirds of the school districts closed. The other one-third opened late. I drove my wife to work and there was no ice on the roads at all except for a little patch on an entry ramp to the 59 freeway. I hit it, skidded a little, and kept going--nothing major at all--but it had caught someone inexperienced because there was a wheel laying in the middle of the ramp--not a tire, but the metal wheel of a car.

It's too bad I have exams next week, or I might be able to spend some time outside in the refreshing cold air. As it is, I have to make due with breathing it in while waiting for the bus, and trying to warm my feet on my cold, cold hardwood floor.

A Crazy Day

Monday was a crazy day. I looked up trying to find a full moon--since full moons often are harbringers of disaster--but to no avail.

I was at the bus stop when my wife called me. The car was smoking. Quick change of plans. I hopped another bus and eventually reached my poor wife, sitting in our car, late for work, and found the radiator busted. The metal "T" that connects the radiator to the hose was snapped clean off. Old radiators suck. After getting my wife on another bus and off to work, I grabbed a tow truck, took it to a shop, and went to school.

I want to highlight how awesome the public transportation in Houston is. People think that Houston is so large a city, that you MUST have a car. Well, I have been able to go anywhere with minimal planning because the routes are so well done.

Now, at the end of the day I picked up my car. $500. Sucks. But that's not the big deal. Well, it is big, but not the deal. On my way home, I'm stopped at a light, and I see a college-age girl jogging in place as the light turns from yellow to red. I thought to myself, "Gee, she looks like she wants to run."

Then, right as the light turns green (for the cross traffic), she takes off. Now, it's not a large street. The car in the turn lane almost goes, but sees her and stops just short of hitting her. The car in the fast lane sees her and stops. The car in the slow lane goes before she gets there, causing the car behind it to go and never see her, until it hits her and she flips over the car hitting the ground.

All i could think of was "ooooo..." Evidently she was trying to reach her father/older man waiting for her on the other side. She got up and was crying on his shoulder as the man who hit her got out to see what had happened and how bad she was hurt. A couple people pulled over to help also.

How dumb are you to cross a full street at a green light? I just feel bad for her.

But that's not the end--I get home and there's an ambulance outside my building. Some old lady was in the back. Dunno why. I talk to two guys waiting for it to leave so they could get to there car, and find out one of the two had his $400 bike stolen a couple hours previous.

At least after that all i did was study.

What a crazy day.

First Semester in Review

It's been two months since I've written a post on TBE. I must say, it's been a loooonnnngggg two months. Not a week--no--not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about posting. Countless reasons to post have came and went, but one reason not to post trumped them all: school.

I never imagined medical school would be this hard. My sentiments have been echoed countless times by most of my classmates. Every one of us did well at our undergraduate institution. Some did remarkably well. We all expected to come into medical school and do what we always did--studying and what not--and get the grades.

The first semester was divided into three blocks. Each block was about six weeks long. Block exams then lasted one week. At the end of the semester we had Thanksgiving, then third block exams, and then finals. All in all, I was studying exams for the first two and a half weeks of December.

After finals, I spent the next week before Christmas playing tour guide, translator, and shopper. My father-in-law came in town and spent Christmas with us. It was great, but busy. While my wife worked, I got to drive all over Houston, pointing out interesting sites, translating things into Vietnamese, and trying to find Christmas gifts.

After Christmas, we all (wife, father-in-law, myself) went to San Jose, CA for a wedding. I love California. Now, I'd never want to live in San Francisco, but I was impressed. It was my first time going there, and it was fun, interesting, delicious (the food), and expensive. I'll talk more about that later.

But now I'm back. It's a new year, a new semester, new classes, new experiences, a new blogger (if you have a blogger blog you understand), and new posts. Here's to a great 2006 and a better 2007.

Second Anniversary

Today is my wife and my's second anniversary. I can't believe two years has gone by since we got married, and about four since we met. This means a couple things:

I truly am the luckiest guy in the world

1. I am getting old. Don't laugh. Yes, I know I am still in my twenties, but I am older than 98% of my medical school class, and it tells.

2. I am the luckiest guy in the world. My wife loves me and keeps reaffirming how great my decision was to marry her.

I'm not sure how I won her heart. You see, she didn't like me at first. She thought I was stuck up. I thought she was stuck up. Obviously looks can be deceiving. We met briefly at a Vietnamese Student Association thing, I gave her my email address so I could be informed about upcoming meetings, and we both took away those first impressions.

Little did I know I'd marry her about two years later.

[She] slipped her her hand into mine, and my heart fluttered

A month after that fateful email delivery, I went down to Orange County, CA to visit old friends and attend the Tet festival (Chinese New Year) in Garden Grove. By this time we had talked, and things were generally confusing. She wasn't sure how she felt about me. I wasn't sure where things were headed. I went down with some friends of mine, and invited her to take the second car down. She said she'd think about it, but needed to stay and study.

The next night she met me at the Tet festival and slipped her hand into mine, and my heart fluttered, and the train was off.

Two years later she slipped her hand into mine, this time wearing a diamond ring, and we drove away from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City a married couple ... and my heart fluttered.

Last night, with stuff nose and headache, I went to bed. I have a cold. I feel horrible. You know the feeling--your head pounds, you can't breathe out of your nose, and generally you just feel like drilling a hole in your head to let out the pressure, and hopefully allow you to breathe better. A little while later I felt my wife slip under the covers, kiss me on the forehead, and slip her hand into mine as I fell back asleep ... and my heart fluttered.

I truly am the luckiest guy in the world.

Medical School is Crazy

Nobody understands what doctors go through until they are there. I just finished my first round of exams, and as you might have noticed, have blogged little as of late. I have a blog on medical school, but even that is hard to find time for, let alone my passion on Vietnam and international politics that use TBE as a forum.

Let me just tell you that doctors do not make nearly as much as the effort that is exerted. People think doctors make a ton of money, and most are compensated far better than average (i.e. top 5% of the country) but compare that with law, business, or another profession, and a doctor's time is cheap, pennies-on-the-dollar cheap, in comparison.

So, next time you visit your doctor, thank him for surviving, yes, surviving medical school, so he can keep you healthy enough to bill your clients $100 an hour to do their legal stuff.

Ode to a Great One

Photo taken from NY Times

Goodbye. Farewell. Today I saw the end of an era. I still don't believe it ... well, I believe it, but my consciousness has yet to accept it. Andre Agassi is done. My family is a tennis family. Since my earliest days I remember sitting on Saturdays and Sundays watching two or four people hit a green felt ball back and forth, "click, clock! click clock! click clock!" the crowd silent, until some incredible angle was attempted and hit or a line painted. Then came deafening roars and cheers from my living room.

To me, the only planet to live on was Planet Agassi

By 10 years old the world revolved around two people -- no, not Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev -- Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Sure, there were others. Who can forget the memorable French open run of Chang? Or the Wimbledon of Malivai Washington a little later? But the Galaxy was determined. There were two planets: Planet Sampras and Planet Agassi. Everyone else were at best moons revolving around these two.


Sure there were older players. I remember Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Boris Becker. But every brightly burning star eventually bloats to a red gas giant and then cools to a black dwarf. These great stars had no more light. The two that remained, revolving around each other, could not be any more different. To my young mind, Planet Sampras was pure power. Lightning serves rained down from his serene skies, points finishing quickly. I could hear a point: "ugh, pop! *grunt!* thunk!" and the ball had hit the wall behind the returner.

Ace.

Planet Sampras was always clean cut. His orbit was round and he stuck to it, never deviating. His private life stayed private, and people loved him for his mastery of the game.

But I never could. To me, the only planet to live on was Planet Agassi. Whereas Sampras lived by a legendary serve, Agassi redefined returning serve. Agassi took serves so fast you couldn't help but say "ouch!" and laugh. Yes, it's impressive to throw a huge punch, ut how much more impressive is it to just stand there, take the punch without flinching, and rip one back so fast and hard that the other guy is on his back before he knows it? That was Agassi.

"ugh, pop! *grunt* clock! thunk!"

and the ball was in the wall behind the server.

Planet Agassi had no appreciable standard orbit. As a kid I loved a player finally not wearing tennis whites with short, clean cut hair. Agassi was the youthful freedom we all sought. His long hair and flamboyant clothes defined his personality, the pirate, bucking against tradition and form. He was The Rebel. Even in commercials, it was the EOS Powershot Rebel. We all wanted to rebel.

As the years rolled on I would cheer him in the great Sampras:Agassi matches. I mourned him when he hit bottom in the late 1990s. I thanked God for an answer to my prayers during his resurgence. My highschool days were marked by long hair too, hoping for the same statement I saw out of him a few years earlier.

Agassi the rebel had returned from the dead as Agassi the Sage

McEnroe was a firebrand, a misfit of sorts. Agassi was different. He was a phoenix. He lived a burning hot life, and when it ended, he arose back out of the ashes, reformed. After a year in the minor leagues Agassi returned, different. Everything I loved about him as a kid was gone, and everything I didn't like then I respected now. He and I had grown up. The hair was gone. Fashion cannot conquer genetics, and Agassi's pate had nothing on it. Bald. His clothes were white. Agassi the rebel had returned from the dead as Agassi the Sage.

Planet Agassi's orbit became as regular as ever. He became the Monk of Tennis with his shaved head and all white ensemble. And more than his clothes, his words and actions spoke nirvana. As he won, Agassi relected on the greatness of tennis, its fans, and humanity. As he won, he put more and more money into charities such as his charter school for economically dsiadvantaged children in Las Vegas, NV. As he won, he became even more respected for that return, especially as his back continued to fail on him.

The wounded warrior who falls to a great foe after a strong fight is more revered than the strong warrior who dispatches him. And so it was with Andre. Even down to his last tournament, I watched in awe as he took Baghdatis to five sets, winning in the end, and then Becker to four sets, losing close each set. It conjured up dreams of what he would be like, even at 36, with a good back. A couple more majors, Andre?

21 years are over. The wise monk has finally retired to his mountain home. The bright star has burnt out with fury, not slowly. The stormy planet that grew calm has finally grown silent. I sat and watched his last match. I stood for points on ending hoping that the cosmos would align because of my superstitious actions and will him to victory. I screamed at the tv as an obviously tired Becker got lucky with big serves against an ailing Agassi.

I cried when Agassi broke down in his chair, and again when he thanked the fans and people of New York for 21 great years. And I too said "Thank you, Andre."

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Categories:

• America
• sports
• Triet
• tennis

Vuelta a Espania

Have you ever riden a 10 to 12% grade on a bicycle at a speed over 10 mph? If you haven't, let me give you a clue about how it feels. Imagine someone has a meat tenderizer hammer and pounds your thighs until they look like hamburger. The riders in the Vuelta a Espania (Tour of Spain, one of the three Grand Tours) experienced this today. Ouch. Imagine your thighs hurting like that and then someone passes you. What do you have to do? Attack, of course. So, that means putting the pain aside and putting all of your effort and sanity to catch up to and pass your opponent. I respect those guys for the effort and skill they have gained in their cycling careers.

On to the doping stuff again. It looks like the doping news has settled down a little. For all of you Tyler Hamilton supporters, he will end his ban for blood doping in the month of September. The current president of the UCI (http://www.uci.ch) or International Cyclists Union is trying to get Hamilton banned for life due to the current doping mess. His name some how appeared in documents of the charged doping doctor. Who knows?

Well, I'm upgrading my bike. I am using new components from the SRAM corporation. These parts move into a market dominated by two makers: Shimano and Campy. SRAM gives me light weight parts at a fraction of the price of either. However, the parts I am buying with SRAM pasted all over them are for my road bike, not my time trial bike. For instance, the gear/brake levers built by SRAM (model Rival) weigh in at 335 g. Shimano's Dura Ace, their top of the line shifters, weigh a staggering 420g. For a climber, those numbers are huge. Next, look at the brakes, SRAM Rival (SRAM's number 2 model, their Dura Ace model is called FORCE) brakes weigh 290 g while DA brakes weigh 305 g. When you add up the components, RIVAL only lacks in their crankset which is 30g heavier than DA's crank. Give SRAM a few more years, and they will break up the Shimano/Campy domination.

Till next time! Keep on riding! and Studying!



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Iraq and the Melia, addendum

Consul-at-arms made a good comment in my first post, prompting my reply and study.

"The Belgians went into the colony and separated the people according to physical features that looked European vs. Non-european."

Huh? Where'd you hear that? And if it were true, how is that several neighboring countries, where the Belgians weren't the colonial power, have the same two tribes?

I replied,

Well, I took your question and ran with it. First, I made the statement based on admittedly little knowledge on the subject, and what I had seen on Sometimes in April.

So, after reading your comment, I wanted to see if I was wrong. Yes and no. The Belgians did separate people into the groups Hutu and Tutsi based on physical features. But I was wrong in the insinuation that they were exactly one people before this.

The Hutu and Tutsi were one people for years. They lived in tribes, intermarried, etc. For most of this time, Hutu designated farmers and Tutsi designated rulers or people not doing rural work. Therefore, the indentifier could change as you changed class, work, etc.

However, by the time the Europeans arrived the Hutu and Tutsi designations were starting to congeal in a Tutsi=non-farm-worker and Hutu=farm-worker identity, making most societal leaders Tutsi. Their work indoors and a different genetic origin for many of them, gave them lighter skin, and more European features generally.

Hence, when the Belgians came, it was easy to see the Tutsi's as more European, already versed in ruling a society, and easy candidates to run the colony.

Since this is becoming longer than expected, I am going to put quotes in another post.

I want to add some to that.

Wikipedia--not always the most reliable source, but good--says

The Belgian government continued to rely on the Tutsi power structure for administering the country. It also consistently favoured the Tutsis where education was concerned, leading to a situation where many Tutsis were literate, while the majority of Hutus were not. Belgians educated the Tutsis in Catholic schools, which widened the ethnic rift between Hutu and Tutsi.

...Current academic thought is that the European emphasis on racial division led to many of the difficulties between Hutu and Tutsi in the latter part of the 20th century.

from Wikipedia:History of Rwanda

Here it talks about Hutu and Tutsi denominations, saying,

The word "Tutsi," which apparently first described the status of an individual—a person rich in cattle—became the term that referred to the elite group as a whole and the word "Hutu"—meaning originally a subordinate or follower of a more powerful person—came to refer to the mass of the ordinary people.

...Because Europeans thought that the Tutsi looked more like themselves than did other Rwandans, they found it reasonable to suppose them closer to Europeans in the evolutionary hierarchy and hence closer to them in ability. Believing the Tutsi to be more capable, they found it logical for the Tutsi to rule Hutu and Twa just as it was reasonable for Europeans to rule Africans. Unaware of the "Hutu" contribution to building Rwanda, the Europeans saw only that the ruler of this impressive state and many of his immediate entourage were Tutsi, which led them to assume that the complex institutions had been created exclusively by Tutsi.

Not surprisingly, Tutsi welcomed these ideas about their superiority...

(found in Rwandan History)

Although my reference towards the origin of the Hutu and Tutsi was not entirely clear, and generalizations are never entirely accurate, I still think the Hutu vs. Tutsi conflict has some bonafide similarities with the Shi'a/Sunni situation I wrote about in the first post, including the repercussions still today of Europeans arbitrarily outlining colonies.




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Chinese Censorship and Tour Guides

Yesterday, my family had a little get-together with some relatives to celebrate my brother's return from Italy. As talk moved to everyone's recent travels (Vietnam, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia, China, Korea, and the Philippines), my aunt recounted her favorite times in China--the Great Wall and the Terracotta warriors.

Did you know he had concubines?

Then the topic turned to Mao.

The tour guide happily explained about Chairman Mao and all the great and wonderful things he did for China. Then he said, "he had a wife and a couple kids and was a great family man."

"Did you know he had concubines?" my cousin, fleunt in Mandarin and who graduated with a degree in Asian Studies, queried.

"No, that is not true," retorted the tour guide. "I have never heard such things."

"Oh but it is," she responded. "He had over one hundred concubines, and stopped brushing his teeth about 20 years before he died."

The tour guide's eyes widened. "Really? What more about Mao have we not been told?"

They don't have weapons now but watch out

My cousin proceeded to explain a few points to him. My aunt, relating the story, then said,

"Everywhere we went, we stood in long lines of tourists. With capitalism, China is embracing tourism, and where tourists go, people talk. Eventually, the aggregate sum of these encounters will lead to something big. Shanghai is an amazing city. In my opinion, it's more amazing than New York City. But you go 10 miles outside of Shanghai and people have mud floors in their huts. Right now, the government controls the media, but eventually this knowledge will spread, and you will have millions of angry citizens. They don't have weapons now, but watch out. It'll be big."

Iraq and the Melia

I was listening to NPR yesterday evening and couldnt help connecting the current conflict in Iraq with one in Africa that was the subject of two great movies: Hotel Rwanda and Sometimes in April.

What in the world could Baghdad have with the Hotel Melia?? Small bastions of solace amid a storm of sectarian violence spiraling out of control.

If you haven't seen Sometimes in April, I highly reccomend it. I think it is better than Hotel Rwanda, which is a great movie. Something running through both movies is the theme of international indifference while people slaughter each other over a name.

"What's in a name?? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
(Who wrote that line?)

The Hutu and Tutsi sects that massacred each other in the movies above really were one people. The Belgians went into the colony and separated the people according to physical features that looked European vs. Non-european. The Tutsi, or European group became rulers over the more numerous Hutu group. When the Hutu regained power, tension spiraled towards genocide.

Now, in Iraq, we have the start of a similar situation. Shi'a and Sunni are both Arab, however, due to differences in religious belief, stemming from hundreds of years ago (i.e. who should rule after Mohammad, his grandson or someone else), numerous wars and sectarian violence has bred mutual animosity and distrust in --not all but-- a number of people who now work towards cleansing towns and suburbs of Baghdad of the "other" group. I fear it may have hit critical mass. The government there and here cannot stop the course of events without seriously stepping up manpower, and that will only put the lid on things until the "police" leave. How can you stop and change hundreds of years of pride and animosity?

I blame the Brits for arbitrarily creating Iraq from a mish-mash of ethnic and religious groups that weren't getting along then and don't now. The road to peace will be long and hard, changing the habits and prejudices of parents and children, and could start by having mandatory study of enlightenment philosophers in schools (for the young...when they can go to school). Obviously much more needs to be done, but I don't profess to have all the answers, if any.

Categories:

• America
• colonialism
• democracy
• government
• history
• human_rights
• Imperialism
• Iraq
• Locke
• religion
• terrorism
• Triet
• war

My First Day of Medical School

Today was my first day of medical school. On that note, I am taking the advice of a blogging master, Virtual Doug, and I am starting a one-post-a-day blog about medical school. It will consist only of my thoughts and experiences while in medical school or my life as it directly pertains to medical school (possibly alot, since that's all I'm doing for the next four years). I hope people find it interesting.

Welcome to A Med Student's Life.

Categories:

• medicine
• Texas
• Triet

Texas Drivers

I'm eating crow. Lots of it. Every day my wife ribs me as we drive around Houston looking for houses or taking her to tennis lessons.

"I thought you said Texas drivers were good?"

"I did."

"Well, I don't see that," she replies. "Nobody here is courteous. They're worse than Utah drivers."

"Now, don't say that! They haven't stooped that low!" I retort.

What's this world coming to when a smoking grandma tries to get you to rear-end her

But the truth is, they're coming close. Why? When I grew up here, drivers were courteous. They stopped with room to spare at lights to let merge out of parking lots and into traffic. They drove at that general lackadaisical pace found on the farms that "farm roads" are supposed to lead to (FM 529--farm road 529--is NOT a farm road anymore!). Sure, driving wasn't perfect--drivers weren't perfect--but people generally were nice, and after being helped out once, you typically returned the favor, spawning this viral good deed driving atmosphere.

Today things are different. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only driver on the road still doing the things listed above. Drivers drive fast, the ride bumpers to make a Southern Californian jealous. When I first got into town, my mother drove the family to the Museum of Natural Science. Someone tried to get over, put on his or her blinker, and my mother sped up.

"I can't let them in. They'll put me farther behind."

WHAT!? Then she proceeded to speed up, forcing the car to merge farther back, and then slammed on her brakes because she was riding the rear bumper of a SUV that was slowing. My heart leapt into my throat.

Driving has been hard for my wife. She has almost no experience driving in traffic like this, and our old car was a 1990 Toyota Camry held together by duct tape and chewing gum. It leaked more oil than it burned, and burned more than it used. Hopefully, she can take backroads as she gets used to a new car and roads.

For me, I still have the roads memorized. There are some new street lights where we used to have stopsigns, and stores where there was cow pastures, but generally the layout is the same. I've driven in Utah and SoCal, so I can manage the cutthroat practices here. The impetus for this rant came two days ago, when I almost got in an accident.

I was traveling down West Road, after dropping my wife off at tennis class. This area of West Rd. is four lanes, divided by a marge median with trees and grass. So two lanes one way, two the other. The oncoming two lanes were packed, as people returned home from work during rush hour. My lanes were generally empty because I'm driving east, into town.

I'm driving along at the speed limit, 40mph, left lane, with one silver car in front of me in the right lane. West Rd cuts through subdivisions in

If the lane I just came from wasn't empty, I'd be in that car's back bumper right now

this area, so there is a light at the intersection into one subdvision with my old elementary school, Fiest, and then another light maybe 200 ft past because of a blind turn into the intersection on the left. My entrance is on the right just past the second light.

Well, I passed the first light and switched over to the right lane because i will turn just after the second light. It turns yellow.

"Man, I just got into this lane behind the silver car," I thought. "I guess I'll move back because there's not a lot of room to stop and I'll be first at the light."

There were no other cars.

As I start to shift back to the left lane, the silver car in front of me slams on its breaks forcing me to cut over quickly so I don't hit it.

"What the heck?" I think to myself. "If the lane I just came from wasn't empty, I'd be in that car's back bumper right now."

I wasn't following inordinately close, the car just stopped really quickly. Whipping into the left lane, I look over and see an old gray-haired woman, about 70, lighting a cigarette. Her car comes to a complete stop a full 2 car lengths before the light. There's only about 200 ft or so between lights!

Gathering my wits before me, I moved back into the right hand lane since I needed to turn right. Mind you, I'm not cutting this smoking grandma off. Even with me in the right hand lane, there's still a good 12 feet between us. The light turns green, I take off, and the grandma speeds up, cuts into the left lane behind a car that caught up to us, and proceeds to give me the evilest glare as she passes me.

What's this world coming to when a smoking grandma tries to get you to rear-end her, stops multiple car lengths from the light, the gives you the evil-eye as she passes?? Beware Houston drivers.

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Landis in question for doping??!?!?!?!?

Phonak confirms Landis rider in question

The Phonak Cycling Team confirmed Thursday that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is the rider who submitted a positive "A" sample following the 17th stage of this year's Tour de France. The UCI revealed Wednesday that the anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry in Paris discovered an "adverse analytical finding" in a doping control taken during the 93rd Tour. "The adverse analytical finding received on Wednesday morning relates to the first analysis and will have to be confirmed either by a counter-analysis required by the rider, or by the fact that the rider renounces to that counter analysis," the UCI statement said. A positive "A" sample is only the first step in the process and does not constitute proof of any rider's use of performance-enhancing substances.

The Phonak Cycling Team issued the following statement Thursday, confirming Landis as the rider in question:

The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI of an unusual level of Testosteron/Epitestosteron ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France.

The Team Management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result. The rider will ask in the upcoming days for the counter analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation. In application of the Pro Tour Ethical Code, the rider will not race anymore until this problem is totally clear.

If the result of the B sample analysis confirms the result of the A sample the rider will be dismissed and will then pass the corresponding endocrinological examinations. Please understand that we cannot at this time give you more detailed comments.

Categories:

• AnonCyclist
• corruption
• bicycle
• Tour_de_France
• sports

More about doping in the 2006 Tour DAY France.

The UCI revealed Wednesday that the anti-doping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry in Paris discovered an "adverse analytical finding" in a doping control taken during the 93rd Tour.

<---- Is it one of these guys?
Please no. The European press loves a scandel as much as any news agency. Once a decade, they try to derail the tour on doping. Other reports show that the Astana-Wurth team which had five riders implicated in Operacion Puerto was cleared. That means that Vino's chance at taking the tour was derailed for NOTHING! This guy should have placed on the podium! --->

Categories:

• AnonCyclist
• bicycle
• corruption
• Tour_de_France
• sports

The Next Lance?

This guy, Levi may be Discovery Channel's next Lance. If no one knows, Levi used to be on the old US Postal Squad that became Disco.

Next years Tour de France will be another shocker. With people like Jan Ullrich trying to get cleared of doping problems, Vino who will be as combative as possible, and now Levi and Discovery, get ready to be on the edge of your seat again.

Today, word was released that one of the cyclists at the Tour had one of their blood samples test positive for some banned substance. Wow. Could a tour that was already rocked due to drugs be rocked even more? Well, in the next few days we will know who had to cheat to compete. These guys are at the top of their game and are driven at times to maintain their high placing or level of competition. Why dope?

Back to Levi. With an entire team behind him, his chances of standing on top of the podium in Paris next year skyrockets. However, look at the horrible time trial that Levi rode. This next season, he definately needs to spend a little more time on the TT bike and get rid of all excuses to lose eight minutes to the first place finisher of the ITT stages.


On other news... I am interested in getting the new SRAM Force/Rival components for my bike. Right now, two major companies control ALL of the high end cycling market: Shimano and Campy. I have been a Shimano rider for a long time...ever since I started racing bikes. However, I am displeased with the cost of the components and sometimes the weight of the components. SRAM is moving into the arena with two groupos that offer better pricing and usage together.


I AM A STUDENT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! CHEAPER... lighter... stronger parts are what I call for my bike!

Categories:

• AnonCyclist
• bicycle
• corruption
• sports
• Tour_de_France

Americans Dominate French Tour

As you know, I love the Tour de France. I like cycling, but I'm not good at it, and I love watching the tour. Dunno why. This year, with the moving and all, I haven't posted about it, but hopefully AnonCyclist will stop worrying about my great Texas/Vietnam logo or med school applications and fill us in on the state of cycling (since he is a cyclist).

Floyd Landis was not the race favorite in May. He wasn't the race favorite in June. Only after Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, and some other big names were barred from competing because of the blood doping scandal, and some bad accidents at the beginning of the race dashed the hopes of one or two others, did Landis move from a potential top 10 finisher to a potential winner--and he didn't disappoint.

That makes 11 in 21 years ... They're probably sick to death of the Star Spangled Banner

In fact, there's a theme here. Americans don't like cycling nearly as much as europeans, but we can kick their trash IF we are NOT healthy. There have been three winners of the tour--Greg LeMond, Lance Armstrong, and Floyd Landis. Greg was shot and nearly killed right after winning his first Tour de France.

Over forty shotgun pellets ripped through Greg's body, lodging not only in his back and legs, but more critically in his small intestine, liver, diaphragm, and heart lining. While waiting for rescue, his right lung collapsed and he lost three quarters of his blood supply. A cell phone, a police helicopter and nearby hospital that specialized in gun shot wounds saved his life. Because of the dangerous locations, surgeons were forced to leave over thirty of the pellets imbedded in his body.

He came back from this adversity to win the Tour in 1989 and 1990 before retiring.

Armstrong's saga is well-known, and provides a great springboard for politics which many people predict he will get into. Maybe we will see a Governor Armstrong in Texas. Anyway, his fight and victory over cancer, return to cycling, and domination of the world's toughest race and most talented racers, turned into seven consequtive yellow jerseys and an explosion of cycling interest in America.

But then he retired and the French breathed a sigh of relief that an uncouth American would not win their tour again. Boy were they wrong. Out pops Landis, who rides on an arthritic hip that will be replaced in the next month or two. He bonks, is in 11th place and 8:08 back entering the final mountain stage, and proceeds to go for broke--ending up third, 30 seconds behind Oscar Pereio, who he beat during the time trial to win the Tour de France.

That makes 11 in 21 years. Those Frenchies have gotta hate us. They're probably sick to death of the Star Spangled Banner.

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Categories:

• Triet
• bicycle
• corruption
• Tour_de_France
• sports
• America

What's up with Texas? Does it now have....

What's up with the Texas picture in the upper right hand corner? It looks like it has a massive gastrointestinal tract. I can see it now in the headlines:

"Texas eats up all of the resources of Oklahoma.

Sends the trash into Mexico."

Well, who really knows? I think I have used more question marks in this post than I have in the last 4 weeks of filling out medical school secondaries. HA HA.

Next headline for Texas. In the latest magazine stand at the Wal-Mart grocery side of the store you find this headline:

"Keep energy costs down, fry on the hood of your car and use the inside for an oven!"

Well, I don't really know if the temperatures are as high in Texas as they are in Houston. With 100% humidity, you should be able to see the moisture move out of the way of your hand as you try to fan yourself in the middle of the day.

Have fun. And keep the ear bleeding!

Categories:

• AnonCyclist
• Texas
• Mexico
• medicine
• TheBleedingEar

Robbing Walmart

First, I'm sorry that the posts are few, far between, and irregular. Life is crazy right now as my wife and I look for a house in Houston. I promise things will become more regular as life settles down.

trying to rob Walmart in the middle of the day ... is just plain stupid

Two days ago my wife and I ran to Walmart, on the corner of FM 529 and Hwy 6, to pick up some tennis balls for her tennis class. She needs only 1/2 of a credit of PE to graduate from BYU, so she's taking a tennis class at the local community college. Right as we are walking in the front door, out comes a tall, big-boned caucasian woman with long brown hair pulled up in a pony tail in her upper 30s. She's wearing a black dress with white designs on it, and it catches my eye because she is booking it out of Walmart and the dress is slipping off her right shoulder.

"Geez, what's up with her?" I think to myself.

Immediately she yells, "Go! Go!" to a tall mexican man, upper 30s to mid 40s, short black hair, standing next to a blue chevy cavalier that is parked right outside the front door in the fire lane. The woman dishes off her shopping cart to the man who proceeds to dump large boxes into the open trunk. They looked to be electronics of some kind.

At the same time, out runs the poor older Walmart lady who checks purchases and gives carts at the door.

"Stop! Stop!" she cries. "You can't take that! Stop!"

"Outta my way!" screams the brown-haired woman at a smaller blond lady with a child, convieniently standing near the car. Then she ducks into the passenger seat.

"Do you want me to get the license plate?" asks the blond woman to the Walmart employee.

Within seconds the mexican man slams the trunk closed and hops into the drivers seat. The car looks like a mid-1990s (1995?) blue chevy cavalier, license plate # Z34 JHT. The tires squeal and he peels out right as another Walmart employee, a man runs out with pencil and paper.

I walked inside with my wife and that man, giving him the license plate number, but he didn't want my contact info. Then another Walmart employee, a middle-aged Asian woman, came to see what was the matter--probably the manager. At that point I figured I'd done everything I could and commenced shopping with my wife. However, the whole day I kept replaying the scene over and over again, digesting it. When it happened, it happened so fast I could hardly react. My first thought was get the license plate # and make/model of the car, so I did, yet the rest of the day I wondered if I should have done more.

I dunno, but I do know that trying to rob Walmart in the middle of the day, when packed with witnesses, and with the cameras they have at every door and in the parking lot, is just plain stupid.

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Jury Duty

No sooner do I step foot in Texas but they haul me into a court room for jury duty. Actually, I was summoned months ago while in Vietnam, but obviously I'm not going to fly back to Texas for three hours of civic duty...so I postponed it. I wonder what I could have done had I stayed longer in Vietnam??

Anyway, I was actually excitied to go to jury duty this morning. My wife and mother thought I was crazy, but they predicted it, because of my fascination for all things legal and political (yet I am not going to law school...).

Harris county jury duty consists of two parts: dumb & boring, cool & interesting. Unfortunately, all I will tell you about is the dumb and boring side. I showed up at the courthouse downtown this morning at 7am--a good hour early--thanks to waking up at 5:30am and driving on already crowded highways for an hour. From 7am to 8am, I sat in a large room, reading a book on real estate, and watching the various and sundry people enter the room to take a seat like me. Continuously, in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, a tv told us that we can not serve on a jury if we are criminals, and there are many reasons to exempt. Don't forget to exempt! But excercise your civic duty and waive the exemption....but don't forget to exempt! But exercise your civic duty and waive the exemption....but don't ... (you get the picture).

I could have exercised my exemption (student) because I am in med school now, but I wanted to get picked. So I sat there, reading, staring at weird people, remarking at how truly multicultural my county is (and how even MORE varied all their backgrounds must be), looking at the old guy's dandruff in front of me, and generally trying not to sleep (since I stayed up last night watching Kiba until 2:00am).

At 8am, for the next hour, they waited for stragglers and picked up our papers saying who we are, what ethnicity we are, what we do for work, who our favorite baseball player is, what we ate for breakfast, and where we were on the night of Nov. 25, 1976--you know, the standard info that lawyers need to weed out the good jurors and pick the ones biased in their favor.

Finally, a nice lady with a monotone voice got on the loudspeaker and announced where we would all be headed.

"Will the forty people with numbers one thousand one to twelve hundred forty nine please go downstairs to my right to the orange waiting area? Court 4 needs twelve jurors. Numbers one-zero-zero-one to one-two-four-nine, please go down the stairs to the right to the orange waiting area."

However, my grandiose dreams of furthering the democratic ideal and rule of law were shattered when a nice cop in a southern drawl got on the PA and announced:

"Sorry, y'all. All courts are currently filled with jurors. You must stay here and wait to see if any additional juries are needed. We will turn on the televisions. If y'all don't want ta watch tv, y'all can head outside for a smoke or to the snack room where the tv will be on but muted. If nobody comes in a reasonable amount of time, ya'll are free to leave. By reasonable, I mean 11:15am."

I looked at the clock; it read 10:00am. "Man, I'm in for the long haul," I thought. At that moment my hopes were dashed. My number was 3795 and they barely got to the 2000s. I would spend my whole morning reading a real estate book in a large cold room behind an old man with dandruff...*sniff*

At 11:15am, the cop came in again and released us, and it felt like elementary school again, fighting the kids through the hall to recess. Everyone young and old bolted for the doors and the elevators. Remarkably, nobody died. Merging into the long car line trying to leave the parking garage, I inched my way to the ticket-taking-lady-guard-person. I handed her my ticket and my credit card.

No go. Evidently, even in 2006, someone (namely Harris County) still doesn't use debit or credit cards--only cash or checks. Aren't checks being phased out everywhere else because of processing fees? Am I dreaming of the 1980s? What do I do, m'am? I have no cash or checks. What? You've never met someone from the future? Well, pleased to meet you too.

So I had to park at the exit (after going through the arm-guard-thingie, and "on my honor" go back into the courthouse, find an atm, get cash, walk back to her stall, pay her, find my car, and leave. At least I felt I did the right thing and paid instead of just driving off. Oh wait, I feel used because they called me to jury duty and then make me pay $5.50 to sit and read a real estate book in a large cold room behind an old man with dandruff....

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Wireless Issues

I have issues. Most people who know me are probably laughing, nodding, and quietly saying "yes," but seriously, I do. My wireless doesn't work anymore.

This is a large problem because it's how I get on the internet. Posting has been scarce because I've been moving, and right when posting can pick back up again...*poof!* there goes my notebook adapter card.

What is wrong??? I dunno. I got it for Christmas last year and it worked fine with my family's 2WIRE router (DSL) at that time. Then I went to Vietnam and didn't use it. Then I got back to the states and it worked fine in Utah at BYU. But coming back to Texas did something, because it doesn't work.

It doesn't work on my wife's computer, or my friend's laptop either. And my wife bought a similar one for her comp yesterday and it didn't work on our comps either.

So, if you have a clue why Netgear 108mbs wireless notebook adapters (PC slot) don't work with fully updated windows XP SP2 and a 2WIRE router, please, please, tell me.

That, on top of reformatting my parents desktop to fix driver issues caused by old viruses, and then having to listen to constant querying as to when my family can use the internet again has kept me pretty busy.

Categories:

• blog
• wife
• computers

Ponderances on Vietnam

As the wife and I return to life in the United States, I thought I would give some remembrances of Vietnam.

1. A Vietnamese friend is a friend for life.

I've believe that the native Vietnamese--those who grow up and live in Vietnam--are incredibly friendly people. But being friendly is different than being a friend. The Vietnamese do not make friends easily. They will be courteous and kind and helpful, but a friend is someone who shares your personal life, and they keep that sacred.

Over the last 6 months that I was in Vietnam, I think I made maybe one true friend that was not a student. Interestingly, I have made friends with a couple students, but all told, the total is probably around 4.

That does not mean I didn't have lots of fun--people were friendly, I knew lots of acquaintances, but only 4 that I could (and would) sit down with and talk about life.

That said, once you have a Viet as a friend, that bond is incredibly strong, and almost never fades. It is a great thing.

2. Can you not like Vietnamese food?

I love food. Period. I love to cook. I love to eat. I think cooking is truly an art. The Vietnamese are masters, from the big restaurants down to the street stalls and home-cooked meals. I am already missing the pho, bun thit nuong, rau muong, etc. that is so hard to find in America. Take that back...so hard to find done well in America. There are some great Vietnamese cooks in the States, but pho there misses something you find in a small bowl in the corner stall.

3. Social society

I miss talking to people every day. I miss the wonderful Vietnamese way of sitting outside in your hem after work or school and talking with each other, or heading downtown to play during the evening. The karaoke places are always packed, the live outdoor concerts rock, and you can't beat sitting atop the Hoa Duong cafe on Quang Trung street, chatting, eating ice cream, and watching the planes fly overhead and land at Tan Son Nhat airport.

4. Motorbikes

I love driving--absolutely love it. Leaving my motorbike was a hard thing. Driving a car is great, I love the speed, but there's something about feeling the wind in your hair, and having your wife hug you tight while sitting behind you that makes riding a motorbike intoxicating...

It's amazing, now driving a car again, how 40km/hr can feel so fast. I keep telling my wife that we should look into getting me a bullet bike in the States for going to medical school, but she won't buy it. She cuts out the "bullet" and says I can ride my "bike." Bummer. I mean, bikes are great and all, but they aren't motorbikes.

In addition to riding, I miss seeing a million people stuffed on one motorbike or bicycle. The Vietnamese are so industrious and ingenious--they use ever part of the animal for food, and every part of the motorbike for work. What's the most people you've ever seen on a motorbike?? I've seen 5 (counting children), but my brother swears he's seen 7 in the Philippines.

4. Pollution

My second week back in America I went mountain biking. Man, who wants clean air and mountains?? Why would I want to get away from people, and noise, and actually hear myself think?? Actually, I loved it. No matter how far out in the boonies you go in Vietnam, you still can't be by yourself. My wife and I went to see the tomb of Gia Long in Hue--the farthest tomb out, away from everything--and we were never out of eyesite of a house. Crazy. And in the city, the sleep in my eye was always black and oily and stained my clothes if I wiped it on my shirt. I know I lost years off my life riding behind busses that have never met any sort of EPA standards. Like smoking 400 cigarettes an hour, is riding behind those things...

But I do miss seeing my students enthusiasm at how much they loved Vietnam's environment and wanted to protect it. One day in class, they went off for 30 minutes on various ways to clean up Ho Chi Minh City, including planting trees and starting enviornmental clubs in schools. I hope that someday one of them does it, because a great HCMC would be even more amazing if it was clean.

5. Orphans

Finally, although I'm sure I could go on, I miss my orphans at the Phu My Orphanage. They are so innocent, so pure, so fun and loving. I grew more volunteering there than doing anything else in Vietnam. I know they served me far more than I served them. The men and women who work at the orphanage make pennies on the dollar, really, for the work they do, but they continue to come to work every day, and serve these children. Most are poor themselves--the salaries don't allow for much. They pool it with their husbands' or wives' salary and rent an apartment from which to raise their two children, always hoping that their kids will do well in school and have a better life. At moments they share their fears, that they do not make enough money to send their children to extra school, and so their children will not do well enough to enter college and will lead a life no different from theirs. Still, they give it all for those children. They are my heroes.

The beautiful thing about Vietnam, is that even when you leave it, it never truly leaves you.

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The Bleeding Ear 2.0

Introducing The Bleeding Ear v2.0!!

Thank you in advance to all my readers for patience. Although I feel the design is stable enough to be rolled out on the blog, it is nowhere near bug free. First and most obvious, the javascript on the page work fine in IE 6 and Opera 9, but not in the Mozilla based browsers, Firefox 1.5 and Flock Beta. In the latter two, the lists will show up or open but the white box will not expand around them like in the html only boxes on the sidebar. Talking with my friend Dennis, he explained the basics of identifying browsers, but we were interrupted before he could look into a fix.

Therefore, if any reader understands what I should code into my javascript to fix the glitch in Firefox 1.5/Flock, let me know please.

Otherwise, I think you will like the new, uncluttered design. I wanted to move to a different color scheme, tried a million things, and finally landed on blue and orange as accents rather than the base color. I also owe alot of the look to Cultured Code. I stumbled across their website and realized that was where I was trying to head haphazardly. My code is table based, but the look is similar. Over the next few weeks and months I hope to little by little fitch glitches and modify styles to make it more my own.

Suggestions are always welcome. TBE promises to continue to pontificate about and elucidate for you the foibles and important events the world over. I hope you enjoy.

Categories:

• TheBleedingEar
• blogtech
• tags
• blog
• categories
• blogspot

Why Americans Hate Soccer

As the world cup plays out many themes appear before our eyes: horrible American play, underdogs, brilliant Argentines, red and yellow cards, and referees in general.

People ask, every four years, why don't Americans love soccer as much as the rest of the world?? Various reasons are given, and most Americans themselves would say one of two: it's slow or there's not enough scoring.

(Which, I admit, is very similar to "it's slow")

We Americans hate the brouhaha stirred up by the imbroglio of referee scandals

However, I would like to submit that the real reason Americans don't like soccer, despite the scores of youth leagues, YMCA, etc that every young boy and girl play in throughout elementary school, is the referee system. No other game is so racked by controversial calls and allegations of bribery/tampering/corruption as soccer.

Today the Italians escaped Australia with a 1-0 victory on a last secong penalty kick that was NOT a penalty. Is it a coincidence that half Italy's players and its coach are implicated in the current referee tampering scandal in Serie A?? I'm not so sure...

Deep down inside, we Americans hate the brouhaha stirred up by the imbroglio of referee scandals. Any scandals. Cheating. Baseball, arguably the most subjective of American sports--and maybe also the slowest (closest in speed and scoring to soccer)--hears complaints by fans but never tampering. Why? First, there are ample referees on the field to cover most plays, and second, the referees are hired and evaluated by MLB in a way that ensures fair play so they can get a paycheck.

This is what mutes the Seahawks' complaints after the Superbowl, or Mark Cuban's complaints during the NBA finals: No matter how bad the missed call, the system of referees in American sports helps ensure that corruption is minimized via instant replay, where the paycheck comes from, and the number of refs on the field/court.

Contrast this with Europe. Cycling, a sport predominantly european suffers from huge amounts of substance abuse. BAseball goes into fits over an alleged use by one player. Soccer teams, like mini-kingdoms, make backroom deals to get what refs they want, and what happens if caught? They move down a league. People would be banned in America.

So it comes as no surprise that FIFA can't, or won't, keep a handle on the referees during this world cup. First, there should be more referees on the field--instead of one and the side judges, give two or three plus judges to accurately call fouls. Second, flops should be penalized harshly. It's not that hard for the ref to have hand-held instant replay piped from the tv coverage and it wouldn't slow the game down that much. Third, referee org structures should mimic the NFL, to minimize corruption.

Until then, Americans won't tune into soccer that much. They just don't like watching a game and wondering which team paid the ref the most.

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Categories:

• corruption
• soccer
• World_Cup
• FIFA
• Australia