Into the Fire

The Knicks held their first pre-season game today, and I was able to catch only ten minutes of the game in the first half. They looked surprisingly comfortable in D’Antoni’s new fast-paced system, a black-and-white contrast to the slow and methodical style that coaches have hammered into the franchise in years past. Every year I get very excited and hopeful for the Knicks chances in the season and making the playoffs. Who knew Marbury wouldn’t deliver? How could anyone have predicted Larry Brown’s torrid performance? Let’s not forget Isaiah Thomas’ ineffectiveness, even after taking the full-time coaching reigns from a position of presidency. It’s absolutely nuts how badly the Knicks perform every year given the level of talent, expectations, and salary numbers that are poured into the organization.

This year, I remain a loyal fan (and a very happy one, having moved closer to Madison Square Garden and into local MSG Network television coverage), but my expectations are not about to be popped again this year. I don’t see them making the playoffs, and unfortunately for D’Antoni and his strong and positive reputation, it just can’t be done with the tools on this team. Secretly however, I harbor the idea that God has a sense of humor and will use this opportunity to prove my expectations wrong again, perhaps vaulting the team into the 40, 45+ win total category. Miracles aside, I see the organization winning 36 games. That’s 36-46, good enough to just barely miss the post-season. And yet in my unwavering fanboy eyes, the Knicks still kick ass.

In video-game news, I converted to the realms of the Sony PlayStation. I’ve conducted my fair share of research into determining whether to even keep my Wii (sold it on eBay along with my games) and if I should choose the XBox 360 or the PlayStation 3. Pages and pages could be written on the pros and cons of each system, in addition to why I feel the PS3 is the better choice, so I’ll try to be succinct.

- I purchased the PS3 as part of a limited SKU that was bundled with probable 2008’s Game of the Year, Metal Gear Solid 4, along with a DualShock3 (replacing the then standard controller SixAxis w/out rumble) and a free voucher for a PSN game (which at about $20-40, have smaller scopes than retail games, but are downloaded to the console’s hard drive). This bundle came at a price tag of $499, but with a $100 gift card (which Best Buy price matched from Wal-Mart). That’s $400. Considering the NTSC PS3 originally debuted in 2007 at $600 with 20GB less HD space, a controller with no rumble feature, and no bundled game, this is one extremely good case where it paid off to be a late adopter.

- The XBox 360 has roughly a 30% defective rate, and frequently encounters a problem known as RROD, or the “Red Ring Of Death”. This manufacturing defect has cost Microsoft over $1 billion to recuperate and it continues to this day to see systems being sent in for replacement. All they could do to temporarily appease its customers worldwide was offer an extended standard warranty to 3 years, while allowing the system’s problems to persist.

- Microsoft charges gamers a $50 annual subscription fee to its online service, though Live is considered a slightly better service than PSN. They also charge $100 for a Wi-fi adapter, $90 for a mere 20GB external HD, the power supply is external, the controller’s use AA batteries, and HDMI is only available on the higher priced Elite model. All PS3 systems include Wi-fi, an internal HD, HDMI, an internal power supply, and all of the controllers have internal rechargeable batteries.

- This PS3 model can play CD’s, DVD’s, BD’s (Blu-ray Discs), PS2 games, PS3 games, and can accept media cards in SD, CF, Microdrive formats, and has 4 USB ports. It comes loaded with a built-in web browser (which is a bit slow but is free), whereas the 360 does not. The Live service offered on the 360 is also loaded with advertisements, whereas the PSN Store is not. The 360 cannot play Blu-ray discs, has limited backwards compatibility, and no media card support.

- Games. Again, this is too deep to get into. I’ll just say this: Microsoft has marketed the XBox more successfully than Sony has with the PS3, and their game line-up also reflects more of the mainstream crowd. More casuals will pick up games like Halo, Gears of War, Madden, etc. and be fully satisfied with their experience. But the PS3 houses titles that haven’t been exposed properly to non-hardcore gamers, but nevertheless often feature far more richer and better gameplay, cinematics, graphics, or presentation. The XBox has more games (people often forget it was released a full year earlier) but the PS3 has tilted its advantage towards having more exclusives. It’s quality over quantity, that’s basic logic.

- They’re both good systems… but the PS3 is just better in terms of value, as a media center/player, and it is more future-proof.

- Halo 3 is overrated.

In personal news, I’ve moved on to another assignment yet again, this time in familiar (yet unfamiliar) territory. Whereas I’m now back in the region of the country I’ve grew up in and out of the Northeast, I’ve still never lived or worked in a true city before on a day-to-day basis. That’s changed now, and in a tumultous time when the country is fighting an economic crisis and jobs are shaky, I’m leaping straight into the fire of Wall St. (well, one street off of) and can confidently declare I don’t know where I’m headed for the future. Seven months ago was a whole ‘nother ballpark, but apparently God likes to play with my future a lot, changing his plans for me unexpectedly as if he can’t make up his mind (or laughing as I’m forced to build character). I’m stressin’ like mad and busy as heck, but hoping things will settle soon.

I played three games of basketball with this guy.

Well, I suppose most people don’t know who he is… I sheepishly admit that I didn’t at first. It wasn’t until after we hit the water fountains and I struck up a conversation with one of the regulars that I discovered the guy was is a cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks.

Stats: Marcus Trufant, #23, CB, 5′11, 197 lbs and ripped like a beast.

You know, I remember seeing him run up and down the Gold’s Gym basketball court, and couldn’t help but notice how cut and muscular this guy was (no homo). I remember thinking “How can some run-of-the-mill gym-goer have this ridiculous kind of build??” And “why wasn’t I born black?”

To hear that the guy was a multimillion-dollar professional athlete… well, that made me feel better. That and the fact that I handed him like 4 assists for the night easy, one being a game-winning jumpshot from the 3-pt line…. money.

(But just so we’re clear here, I was probably the last reason why our team kept winning).

Rule Change

In Washington, the standard rule for half-court pick-up basketball is “Make it-take it after three.”

“After three” ??

In a nutshell, “make-it-take-it” is the rule where the possession of the basketball goes back to the team that’s just scored a bucket.

In this case, that rule only applies after the scoring team’s point total hits 3. For the first two points scored on either side, the possession returns to the team whose been scored on. I’ve never encountered this rule before… just one of the few interesting changes I’ve observed here. I wonder if it’s a West Coast thing, a WA thing, or just some strange coincidence that I’ve never experienced this before.

B&N

I feel a bit sheepish. I forked over $25 to Barnes & Nobles for their 1-year membership fee when I purchased a book back in late February. I’ve saved about $7 through its terms, but haven’t returned to the store since. To make this (trivial) matter worse, the Borders bookstore here is much closer than the Barnes & Nobles. And the public library is less than a mile away, right off of the jogging trail behind my complex. The King County library system boasts its “the second-busiest library in the nation (behind Queens, NY)”. I don’t really feel that immediately translates to better quality, since it probably means higher traffic and a greater chance that the books I want are already checked out. Still, the library was pleasantly surprising for the better. It held a decent selection of books and a wealth of computers, and I liked the self check-out system (either my prior library was very outdated or underfunded, or I just haven’t been to a library in years because this was new to me). And through all this, I can’t help but know that I still have $18 left to make up in savings at B&N, and that my spontaneous decision is why I am pressured to purchase books, when I can really just borrow them for free.

How Did They?

As a living member of Generation Y, a daily user of Web 2.0, and an aficionado of the latest technological advances, my life would feel barren and absolutely lost if it were stripped of the resources and technology available today. I am amazed at the great changes I have witnessed in my short time here on Earth. Not only referring to the vastly different means of communication and entertainment of the previous era (pay phone booths??), but what I find more personally intriguing is this: How in the world did people move to new homes back in the day, in particular the daring and ambitious immigrants who migrated across continents? Having to face an onslaught of new cultural, language, financial, and possibly racial barriers, just how did these immigrants overcome these critical issues head-on while searching for new homes or jobs without the handy tools and advanced gear we have today?

The reason I marvel at this concept so vividly in my head is due to the fact that I, have personally undergone a rapid move from one home to another. No, I’m not referring to my time spent in India, for as I iterated before, I knew this was not going to be and never would be my home. A training “period” after all, is but a segment, or portion of time. I wrote earlier that one chapter of life had turned its last page; and now, another has begun on the north-western coast of America. In one week’s time, I was to pack everything I owned, find a new place of residence, ship a car nearly 3000 miles, leave everyone I know behind, and report to work on a project at Microsoft that I was told would “hit the ground running from day one.” All this in literally one week from the day the decision was made. And that, only a day after the opportunity was offered. (Why was I given such short notice? One reason I was brought in was to help reduce the team’s backlog of work since it was behind schedule. Promptness was key.)

What would have followed these sequence of events in the previous generation? I suppose I would obtain a phone book/Yellow Pages, and begin thumbing through entries for car movers and shipment companies. I would have one landline to utilize in this short window of time. One landline to make these arrangements that would help me to secure not only some of the more affordable companies, but pinpoint a quality company of solid reputation amongst the high number of companies that probably warranted a complaint every other day. But it’s not like I would have a Better Business Bureau website I could check out. I imagine they published volumes of information to the public in BBB guides long ago, but my family certainly didn’t own one. As for sending the signed customer application forms so quickly, I suppose I could have somehow found an individual with immediate access to a fax machine.

How about arranging a car pick-up location? The auto-shipment company I secured was a door-to-door service that offered very affordable rates. I was pleased. The driver whom I was finally able to reach, was driving a rig designed to hold over eight cars. This beast was no MINI Cooper. In short, it wasn’t feasible for him to navigate the suburban roads (it’s at least five turns to my house from the closest major road) to reach my doorstep so he phoned me to meet him in a large, open area that would make for an easy pick-up. In order to proceed smoothly, the driver phones me in when he’s fifteen minutes from the agreed pick-up point (behind a Walgreens). The thing was, that was his third call to me, since he had been driving the majority of that day, didn’t necessarily know New Jersey too well, and didn’t know how long it would take him to reach a suitable place. Years ago without cell phones, this either would have been an extremely long waiting game on one of our ends, or I would have had to drive my car to their closest location, which could have been located at a very inconvenient distance from home.

Finding temporary hotel accommodations once I arrived in Washington would have been relatively simple. One of my supervisors provided me with an address and a phone number I could use to reserve a room. But finding an apartment? …was this even possible to perform remotely, back in the 70’s and 80’s? Here’s where the advantage of having the Internet really kicked in. Using craigslist.com and two major apartment review websites in conjunction with Google Maps’ free and simple-to-use service, I drew a layout of the top five apartment complexes I had in mind to check out once I arrived. I knew where they were in relation to work (determining my daily commute), and exactly how to get there. I was graciously handed a portable GPS device (easily replaced by a map, I know) by my brother to ensure the apartment hunting process boded well and I could find my way around, be it groceries, churches, gyms, or restaurants.

I flew into Seattle on a Saturday morning and was in the Microsoft office by Sunday. Getting a headstart on the project overview and listening to a run-through by the project head, scribbling furiously on the white board. My mind was thrilled to intake this new information and process it as quickly as possible; yet, tense thoughts in the back of my mind were persistently reminding me that I needed to find a studio, that my car was dangling off the top of a rickety rig driven by a Russian dude who seemed like he didn’t have a care in the world, that it would be weeks before I would see my major relocation costs reimbursed (shipment of belongings, car transportation). My company was also reimbursing me for approximately five days worth of hotel stay. However, my car wasn’t expected to arrive for another five days from my arrival flight. What a pickle I was in, living out of a suitcase with no home and no car.

Most ever fortunately, by some amazing luck, a family friend now re-acquainted was available in the area, and she totally drove me around, made me feel at home, took me out to eat multiple times, and was an absolute blessing in the entire process. Bringing this back to the central theme of this post (wait… this is a personal blog, it doesn’t have theeeemees) I’ll admit the friend would have been equally as helpful in the past as she was now. She knew the area, she had a car, and even housed me for a few days until my refurbished apartment was ready. Nothing technological there.

But wait… yes. Now she too, was uncharacteristically busy at this time, because she was in the midst of a complicated process of selling her condo. This required appointments here and there, remodeling phases, etc. My new work schedule with its first-week erratic times (eventually pretty flexible I discovered, in the IT industry; varies in relation to the project’s deadline) and her busy schedule didn’t always align; having our cell phones helped us out tremendously. I can only imagine what it would have been like to feel a strong vibration on my ass, jump up and check the number on my beeper, then dash to the nearest pay phone. Not very efficient in my 2008 opinion, especially when time was crucial during days when many apartment showing hours closed before I even left work.

Needless to say, my stress levels hit some new highs the past two weeks, though only fleeting at its time. Work has kept me busy enough to keep me free from distractions and focus on the huge list of tasks I have to do. Staying busy has replaced most feelings of apprehension or stress and best of all, has led me to some very restful nights (being able to fall asleep within 15 minutes is pretty amazing for me). I’ve checked most of the major marks on my to-do list (found an amazing apartment 2.5 miles from work with wonderful owners who gave me a $60 Bed Bath & Beyond gift card for a miscommunication they made, the car arrived safe and sound, installed high-speed Internet and cable TV services) but I still have much more to do. There have also been minor delays with the shipment of my belongings, so I’m still sleeping and eating off the floor.

Can’t stop, won’t stop.

The next step.

Some changes are underway and the next two weeks are looking to keep me extremely busy. Let’s see how this goes.