Over the past couple of weeks, I got in a funk, uncertain of what I want to do with my life. I was still figuring who I am such as what is my purpose here on this Earth. It appears that I seem to have everything going on but something was still missing. So I spent some time reading and surfing the web especially Wikipedia. I can’t imagine not having Google or Wikipedia. I also go to Amazon.com often to read customers reviews. I realize that by doing a lot of reading does help with the sense of who I am. After a while of doing that, it dawns on me that I need a role model and as you know, imitation is one of things of how we learn. I’ve found a person who I’d like to model after. That person is Tiger Woods. The more I read about him, the more I feel in common with him. He is a shy person but when he’s focused on something like golf, nothing can stop him. That is true about me. Once I get started, I don’t stop till I achieve that I was aiming for. I could spend hours at a driving range tuning my swing or in front of computer coding for hours. Lately, what I lack is the focus and that I easily get frustrated or have a lack of patience. Tiger Woods had the same problem that he tends to get impatient sometimes. So, he and I share similar personality and ofc, I love to play golf. :)

Excerpts on him:

If one word could describe Tiger Woods’ personality, it’s “conscientious.” His attention to detail and tireless determination to reach his goals is what separates him from the competition. For Woods, his drive to achieve wasn’t born over

People say Tiger has a real presence and that his ability to help others extends beyond the U.S. He is truly a multi-racial person, not just a black athlete. People feel that he will be a big influence on people across the world – and not just in a golf sense. He can hold everything together. He is a universal child – truly multi-cultural.

That’s what I want to be, a person who can keep it real and together. I remember in my youth that I received the most conscientious award from my former dorm supervisor.

I’ve started writing in my journal book to write down my thoughts and things that I want to do. I realize that every night, I need to think about my day, whether I was productive, and write to plan my day ahead so that I’ll be ready to get out of bed and start the day. If I feel my focus begins to waver, I’ll look in my book and get my thoughts organized. If I start to feel frustrated or down, simply, I’ll google the man, Tiger Woods, and read more about him.

Woot, this looks good! I shall make some soon.

KOREAN BARBECUE BURGERS

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
Cooking spray
6 (1 1/2-ounce) whole wheat hamburger buns, split
6 red leaf lettuce leaves
6 tablespoons thinly sliced radishes

Preparation
Prepare grill.

Combine first 8 ingredients. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.

Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 6 minutes on each side or until a thermometer registers 160°. Remove from grill; let patties stand 5 minutes.

Place buns, cut sides down, on grill rack; grill 1 minute or until toasted. Place 1 patty on bottom half of each bun; top each serving with 1 lettuce leaf, 1 tablespoon radishes, and top half of bun.

Yield

6 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 343(38% from fat); FAT 14.4g (sat 4.7g,mono 5.7g,poly 2.3g); PROTEIN 26.7g; CHOLESTEROL 72mg; CALCIUM 72mg; SODIUM 534mg; FIBER 3.7g; IRON 3.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 27.4g

Bruce Weinstein , Cooking Light, AUGUST 2007

I knew it. It was a matter of time before someone would create a Google Doodle logo in ASL. That has happened. Here’s the image below.

Click on ‘Grades 7-9’, and Region 2 to see it.

Kudos to Molly Kestenbaum for creating the art and getting nominated! Vote for her!

A milestone happened today. I’ve hit six figures, 100,000 hits, on my website.

I remember when I first started this blog, the only statistics was coming from me. Two sure facts about blogging. People use the Internet to find information, so make it useful and easy to read. Then, keep it updated—just about anything and make it interesting and original—in other words, just be you.

Thank you all for stopping by!

Ben Bahan. One of the greatest ASL storytellers.

Out of all things what I can get for my dad’s birthday and his retirement, I think the best gift I can get for him is this, other than a plane ticket to surprise him at home.

My dad turns 57 years old today; we’re 30 years apart so that makes it easy to remember. This one is probably his best one ’cause he gets to retire! he worked for 31 years at the United States Postal Service. He was a mail handler and for the last five or six years, he worked the forklift. To be frank, I was a little depressed to hear what did he get out of this. All he got was a plaque that’s made of paper and a cake to go with it. That’s it. Not even an ounce of cheese, summer sausage, celery, carrot or a single cracker. Zilch. Just a cake for my dad. He had a clean record—no suspensions or late warnings—and had more than 500 sick hours to spare.

It was only two weeks ago that my team and I had a nice team outing. We went to this cool indoor go-kart racing where we put on racing uniforms and helmets, then had some pizza and soda for lunch. What a contrast. The speaker box blasted on after a half hour of celebration, telling everyone to go back to work. So, after working for more than thirty years for P.O, ensuring that every box goes to your door on time, my dad’s retirement party was over in less than a half hour.

I’d like to share a story about how my dad wound up at the P.O. He used to work as a printer, along with his good friend who was also deaf. They were good workers who do their jobs well and would know exactly if something went wrong. It could be as obvious as ink running out or as small as a nut getting loose. My dad would see that easily and go to fix it. keeping the whole facility equipment running, which kept the business going and ultimately, for managers to be happy.

For some time, I wonder why did my dad decide to make a jump to work at the P.O. I found out it was because of me. When it came to a time for my parents to have a child, they already knew they couldn’t have a child so they wanted to adopt. After they’ve found a child to adopt and that, of course, came with a cost. My dad knew they couldn’t afford the adoption, had he stayed at the printing so he applied and got the job. His math skill helped him out. He had to work on weekends, had Wed., and Thurs. off and worked overnight because it paid more than the daytime. He thought he would eventually work in the daytime but he never did, though he did have better days off – on Fri and Sat. and he was the last employee to have those such days off.

For the first year or two, my parents didn’t see each other much but that didn’t bother them, they had the same goal, which was to save up money to afford the adoption. At that time in 1984, the cost was eight grand (18k in today’s value). They were able to save 6 grand, two thousand dollars short but when the agency found out that I was deaf, they slashed it by half, to four thousands. Ha, I’m a bargain child, so to speak.

With those said, I’m ecstatic to see my dad retired and I hope he’ll enjoy his retirement and do whatever he wants. Happy birthday and retirement, Dad. This is yours.

This is a cool commenecement speech by Dennis Prager.

Counterculture
by Dennis Prager

Following is the commencement address Dennis Prager gave to the 1997 graduating class of Pepperdine University.

I would like to offer you seven ideas. That’s all I want to do. If you fall asleep during one of them, there are six remaining. If you fall asleep during five, maybe you’ll get two ideas.

But I want to just give you seven ideas culled from one human’s life that I think can be very powerful in the way you live your lives when you leave this institution.

In no order of importance:

One: The Greatest Struggle Is with Yourself
The greatest struggle in your life is not with society; it is with yourself. This idea is not taught in America today. We are taught that we are victims of a society that is sexist, racist, ageist, anti-Semitic, anti-Asian, anti-Hispanic, anti-woman, anti-old, anti-young — anti just about everyone. The temptation is therefore overwhelming to see your problems and challenges in life as being with America and not with yourself.

(more…)

It’s been a big dream of mine to play on some kind of golf tour – Nike, Hooters, Nationwide or even PGA if I can ever become that good.

Anthony Kim, a 22 years old Korean American golfer, just picked up his first PGA tour win at Wachovia Championship, winning by five strokes.

It was about a year ago that I first heard about him. Since I’m a Korean-American myself, I’ve been following those who are of same descent like Michelle Wie and Kevin Na. All I know is that Koreans love to play golf and there are a few driving ranges that are operated solely by Koreans in Los Angeles. When I saw how Anthony Kim played on TV, I knew he has some talent and would win a PGA event one day but not this soon, tho!

I check out his bios and wow, we’ve got almost the same build – 5’10” and 160 lbs. I’m 5’9” and 155 lbs. He’s 9th on the driving distance, with the average of 301 yards.

so I gotta go to driving range and practice everyday. :)