White Rabbit Candy

I love everything about White Rabbit candy. From its creamy, sweet flavor to its original-retro wrapper to its edible rice paper covering the candy, White Rabbit is simply awesome.

The candy originated in China in the 1940s, and has accompanied the growth of a couple generations. I recently spotted them at 99 Ranch, and without hesitation picked up a bag for late-night snacking.

Definitely the best $1.99 I’ve spent in a while.

Follow the white rabbit at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: 99 ranch, china, edible paper, white rabbit, white rabbit candy

State of the Union & Sleep

So I was eating dinner and watching Obama’s State of the Union address a couple days ago when I noticed several of the politicians in the background asleep.

Now I assume they’d had to have been Republicans to be falling asleep during an important Presidential message and with full knowledge of all the cameras in the room. Ha – I kid, I kid.

So it’s safe to say they were probably very tired, and with good reason. As much as we bash on politicians for their lies and incompetence (and oftentimes rightly so), it’s still apparent that the job can be tough.

I can’t imagine all the boring meetings, traveling, and meeting with people that they do. These are reasonably intelligent people, and successful people, too.

Which leads me to my point: successful people are people who work hard. This means they aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves, to lose some sleep, in order to get the work done.

Granted, politicians may not be the best example, but the fact is most are high-achievers, probably the top in school, work, etc. And watching the few getting some shut-eye reminded me of all the hard work, sweat, and tears people need to put forth in order to achieve great things.

Now on the subject of sleep and health, I think that’s another matter. Perhaps a future post.

Catching some zzzz’s at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: obama state of the union, obamma, politicians, state of the union 2012

ABA First General Meeting Spring 2012

It’s weird watching from the other side something you’ve been really involved in for so long. Tonight, I had the opportunity to experience ABA’s First General Meeting for Spring 2012, which marked the first time I was in the audience since freshman year fall semester.

In short, I was very, very impressed.

Excellent videos, funny skits, good information, great speeches, and everyone was confident. The high turnout was great news, and it was nice to see the alumni again. Makes me proud to be part of this organization.

To the Spring 2012 Cabinet – I wish all of you the best. You’re going to have an awesome semester, I know it!

ABA Love at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: ABA, aba first general meeting, asian business association, spring 2012

Glen’s Personality Type

Since stumbling across Myers-Briggs back in the summer, I’ve been a pretty steady forum crawler at Personality Cafe. It’s strangely comforting and quite surreal that there are others like me who have the same questions, are going through the same problems, and have accomplished things in similar manners.

I believe that life should be a process of self-improvement, and the first step is knowing yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, thought processes. Only then can you focus on the less-developed parts of you and become a better person. Below is another description of my personality type (I’ve done a couple posts on this in the past). Hope it gives you guys some insight into what I’m like. I also encourage you guys to check out Myers-Briggs – when utilized correctly, it can be a useful tool.

ISTP

Estimated to be between 4 and 7 percent of the American population

Quiet, reserved, and serious, ISTPs are down-to-earth, logical people. They tend to be cool observers and rarely provide even a glimpse of what is going on inside them. ISTPs are usually cautious and down-to-earth. They like to think through things fully before speaking or acting, and they prefer that people speak clearly and directly with them. They are usually very independent and even-tempered people. They tend to be socially detached and cautious about talking to people they do not know very well. Extremely private, ISTPs tend to say exactly what they mean and say it only once. It often takes them a long time to get to know you well enough to share their reactions or feelings, and even when they eventually do, they tend to speak in very matter-of-fact ways, avoiding great emotion, embellishment, or repetition.

While ISTPs appear reserved and even reticent around other people, they are naturally impulsive and willing to take surprising risks. They usually like playing and working alone for long periods of time and are content to follow their own curiosity and figure out how the world works by studying it, taking it apart, and seeing how it operates firsthand. Keenly observant and totally aware of their environment, ISTPs are often very quick learners of anything they have physically experienced, especially skills involving their bodies, hands, or natural extensions of them like tools, instruments, or equipment. Highly adaptable, ISTPs are often good at many things, and seem to do them all quite effortlessly. But they tend not to be interested in anything abstract, theoretical, or remote from their immediate lives.

ISTPs value their freedom and personal competence above all else. They are rarely interested in conforming to external standards and are generally not worried about pleasing others. Easygoing and casual, ISTPs prefer to live their lives free of restraints or structure of any kind and may simply ignore rules or go around any limits that stand between them and their desire to experience every aspect of the world that intrigues them.

Calm and relaxed, ISTPs often exude both a quiet confidence and a playful spirit that others find attractive. Their ‘live and let live’ attitude means they usually get along well with all kinds of people, as long as no one tries to press an agenda on them. They would rather withdraw from an argument or just walk away from a conflict than try to change anyone else’s mind or subject themselves to attempts to be controlled. ISTPs sometimes struggle to find anything interesting or sustaining enough to be worth great energy or effort. They also may need someone they really trust to show them the specific, necessary skills they need to better understand relationships and learn to open up to their emotional side.

[Source: Nurture by Nature: Understand Your Child's Personality Type – And Become a Better Parent by Barbara-Barron Tieger and Paul D. Tieger]

Potential follow-up/self-reflection to come.

Sixteen types at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: istp, myers briggs, personality cafe, personality type

New (Awesome) iPhone Case

Old-school.

8-track cases next at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: iphone case, tape case, tape casette case

Spring 2012 Classes Round-Up

Just my initial thoughts after a week of classes this semester. Overall, I’m really enjoying my classes so far, and the professors have been great! I guess it’s true that the higher up you go at Cal, the better the quality of classes.

Media Studies C103 (Understanding Journalism) – My first class of the semester, 8 AM, bright and early. Pretty standard core class, with about 200 students. The professor, Tom Goldstein, is an older gentleman with experience at The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Pretty legit (plus, he’s the director of the Media Studies program). What impressed me the most was his promise that teaching is his number 1 priority. The first time I’d heard a professor say that here, given all the research that professors focus on. I was impressed.

Media Studies 101 (Visual Communication) - Another MS core class, with twice-weekly meetings at Andersen Auditorium. This professor, Josh Jackson, had emailed us the night before to consider bringing our monocles, given that Andersen is such a nice place. I could tell he was going to be a funny guy. Turns out, Josh, as he told us to call him, is absolutely insane (in a good way). He’s the most energetic professor I’ve seen this side of Alex Filippenko, shouting in a barrage of words followed by sharp pauses. Told us that since he’s deathly scared of owls, we are allowed to “hoot” at him in case he talks too fast during lecture. Oh, and he also gave us tips on how to fight mountain lions.

UGBA 100 (Business Communication) - Got the “good” professor, Perez-Reyes. Started off with an impressive introduction of himself, his experiences, and his qualifications (studied Greek, apparently). Then proceeded to break down his intro to analyze how each topic he talked about added to his legitimacy and acceptance by the students. Very articulate and confident guy, with obvious experience and know-how. Makes very fluid notes on the whiteboard, writing a few words, sliding up a board, moving to the other side, etc. Looking forward to improving my speaking/writing skills this semester.

UGBA 103 (Corporate Finance) - Pretty standard business class. Probably the class I need to spend the most time on this semester (although the MS classes are harder than they seem, too). I heard Professor Opp is better than the fall professor, and even though he’s not particularly exciting or funny, he seems alright…I didn’t fall asleep during lecture, so that’s quite a change from past “boring” lectures. Also, I’m pretty interested in learning more about finance – I have a feeling it will come in handy in the near future.

Edit: Opp is actually pretty funny, although he has a strange sense of humor (i.e. no one laughs because they didn’t pick up on the joke). Also, he has a slight German accent that reminds me of the goldfish character in American Dad.

UGBA 107 (Business Ethics) - My first lecture for this class is tomorrow, but from all accounts, Alan Ross seems to be a pretty awesome professor. Quite a sarcastic guy, too. Looking forward to his lectures.

That’s it! Loving my classes this semester, and even though it won’t be easy, I don’t mind learning new and useful things.

Spring ’12 ftw at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: berkeley, cal, haas, media studies 101, media studies berkeley, media studies c103, spring 2012, ugba 100, ugba 103, ugba 107

Taboo and Personalities

You can learn a lot about people’s personalities just by watching them play Taboo. It’s actually mind-boggling how unique each person is.

From how people describe words, to how they respond to the ticking clock (or hour glass, in this case), to how excited, calm, or nervous they appear, not a single person is the same.

This leads to a lot of trial-and-error before one person guesses what someone else is trying to describe, but sometimes, you’ll see two people who’ve known each other for a long time nearly perfectly in sync. Regardless, the game is almost always a lot of fun.

I think this is similar to how we view and interact with different people in our lives.

People might not start off with the same mindset, especially with differing personalities, but in time and with trial-and-error, they become friends through mutual understanding. Of course, this “inconvenience” keeps life interesting, and presents a challenge for people to have open minds and not be afraid to step outside their comfort zones.

Sands of time at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: personalities, taboo

Ten Words You Need To Stop Misspelling Infographic

I love infographics. I also love words that are spelled correctly, although I’ve been guilty of some of these misspellings in the past. Just a fun (and tongue-in-cheek) review of commonly misspelled words. All credit goes to 9GAG.

I before E at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: commonly misspelled words, spelling, their there

College Winter Retreat 2012

Spent the weekend on a retreat with Gracepoint Berkeley. Beautiful location, had a great time, and came away with a lot to think about and process about my faith. Glad I met lots of really cool people and spent time getting to know new friends.

School tomorrow! Kinda wish I had a couple more days to prep, but don’t really think it’s going to make a huge difference. Might as well start now. 8 AM, bright and early.

Back to school at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: berkeley, gracepoint, winter retreat

VIDEO: Glen at Shooting Range – SIG Sauer P226 9mm

First time out at a firing range, first time shooting a gun. Went with my dad this afternoon, it was quite a fun experience! The gun I picked out was “three days old,” according to the owner. SIG Sauer P226 9mm, pretty standard handgun.

Loading the clips took a bit of practice. Shot about 100 rounds between me and my dad. Close-range with first 50 rounds and longer-range with last 50. Close-range shooting was definitely a lot more accurate!

Firing the gun felt very nice. Couldn’t believe how loud the shots were, even with ear protection. The recoil wasn’t too bad, but it did get a bit tiring after a while. Location was at La Puente Firing Range.

All in all, had an awesome time, and looking to go back in the future! Video below.

Bang! at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.

Tags: 9mm, hand gun, la puente firing range, p226, shooting range, SIG, sig sauer