Once again, ARML has come and gone. This year marks the 10th consecutive ARML that I’ve attended. It was really fun seeing old timers and meeting so many great kids for the first time. I even met a few really cool kids from Dalton and Horrace Mann! Of course, then there’s the usual suspects from Stuyvesant and Hunter… but we all know those schools suck

NYC Math Team did very well this year, and placed third nationally. Taoran Chen from NYC Math team even took top honors at ARML, and placed first individually!

I of course, will always have a soft spot for Baltimore’s team, which once again improved significantly in its rankings under Raymond Cheong. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if Baltimore wins it all within the decade .

Florida also did very well, and I’m really happy to see Chenyu Lin kicking ass at ARML after all the work he’s put in!

Incidentally, I had written an earlier post about ARML’s financials being questionable. This year, ARML actually disclosed fairly detailed financial information to all the coaches and asked for approval. Personally, I still don’t think ARML is running as financially lean as it could (and some of its expenses are kind of odd), but I really appreciate its new efforts in increasing transparency. Given what I do, It’s probably true that I expect organizations to run much tighter ships than normal.

I’ve actually been thinking about making this year the last ARML that I attend, and quitting all math competition related endeavors by next year. This year’s ARML is definitely making my decision much harder….

ABC News is reporting that Viagra could be the potential cure to jet lag:

Perhaps Viagra Can Soften Jet Lag’s Impact

Erectile Dysfunction Drug Shows Promise in Animal Study

By JOSEPH BROWNSTEIN, ABC News Medical Unit

May 21, 2007 —

The little blue pill known for making time in the bed more enjoyable may also help weary jet travelers roll out of it in the morning.

New research shows Viagra may be the solution for travelers who suddenly find themselves needing to rise hours earlier as they cross time zones, at least if those travelers are hamsters.

A study at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Buenos Aires showed that male hamsters who received an injection of sildenafil along with a 15-minute stimulation of light were able to adjust their internal clocks by six hours in roughly half the time that hamsters who did not receive the treatment took.

…

You might notice some very amusing headings:

• Rise and Shine
• Study Arouses Interest
• Will Results Stand Up to Scrutiny

That’s right, my college roommate Joseph Brownstein is now reporting for ABC News! Congratulations Joe, I expect a lot more hilarity to come!

A good friend Aswin is leaving the States for good and returning to India to lead his startup.

What’s particularly cool about his startup is that it’s actually based on the theory of social contract. A company that revolves around solving infrastructural problems in the developing world, how cool is that?!

Incidentally, I would also like to use this post as proof that I predicted Aswin’s rise to the ruler of India well in advance. Good Luck Aswin!

Shali and I were just visiting Cunningham park today and it turned out the park was playing host to the 11th annual Korean Children Festival! I tried to google for some reference to the festival online, but found none. The festival should really do a better job of marketing itself, it seems really fun for the kids!

Anyway, I had my Canon Rebel XT with me today, so I took a few pictures.

A general picture of the festival.

First Birthday Celebration (Tol). The one year old baby is presented with a table of items. Depending on what item the baby picks up, the baby’s future is said to be foretold. Read more about the tradition here.

Shali playing with a Gong.

Kids sumo-wrestling each other?

You can see all the pictures here.

South Park has recently grown on me and has become one of my favorite shows. So of course, when George Xu told me I must watch S10E08, I was more than happy to oblige. Little did I know that South Park has apparently taken on MMPORGs! For anyone who has ever played WoW, or any MMORPG for that matter, South Park S10E08 will be an absolute riot. Of course, some of the “jokes” in that episode sometimes hit a little bit too close to home…..

BTW, if you want to see it, I know a little birdie that can show you

For anyone who has spent significant amounts of time in college dorms, you probably have at one point sat on THE amazingly versatile foam chair. This foam chair is not an ordinary foam chair, but can in fact, fold out and transform itself into a bed! Still confused? Well, check out my amazing drawing of the chair:

I have been trying half heartedly to acquire this chair since first laying eyes on it during my sophmore year @ Hopkins. Just like most things I’ve tried doing @ Hopkins, it did not work out. Well, after seeing it again this year in Zhenzhen‘s dorm and once again realizing how useful it would be (especially for my cousin Yiyi‘s stay over at my apt), I re-engaged myself in the quest for this chair. I scoured Target, Walmart, Costco, and found.. absolutely NOTHING. How could this amazing chair not be found in my 2 favorite stores and Walmart?! I brought this dilemma (and the amazing hand drawing above) to many of my cube mates at Capital One. The consensus among all the business analysts? Nobody ever buys these chairs, they simply gets passed down from graduating seniors to underclassmen…. With this seemingly unsurmountable road block, I was forced to put this chair behind me once more.. until today!

Out of the blue today, I got an email from Sujatha, one of my friends at Capital One that I have previously approached about my quest for THE chair, stating that THE chair is on Craigslist!! After a quick correspondence with the seller, a 30 minute drive, and $10 dollars. My quest has finally ended with the acquisition of the chair!!

In the last 4 years, I have had the pleasure of leading and learning from a wonderful groups of kids through The Baltimore County Math Team. The Baltimore County Math Team took a hiatus for two years due to various reasons, but this year, it’s coming back stronger than ever under the leadership of Raymond Cheong (M.D. PhD).

I would however, like to use this post to celebrate and recognize the early accomplishments (college acceptances!) of these extraordinary kids!

• Li – MIT
• Alex – U of Washington, St. Louis
• Rachelle – UMD, College Park
• Mariah – U of Chicago
• Daniel – Caltech
• Charles – Johns Hopkins
• Tamas – Caltech
• Justine – MIT
• Drew – MIT

I’m sure they are going to accomplish great things in the future, glad I had the opportunity to influence some of their development

After seeing the below survey floating through the internet, Grommit, and finally Jeanne’s xanga, I’ve decided to do it too…

1. Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says: “Find the original number of sparrows.”
   
2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first? Dell 1901 FP
   
3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? Friends – S10E04 – The One With The Cake
   
4. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? Friends – S10E04 – The One With The Cake
5. When you last stepped outside, what were you doing? Having Lunch at Panera Bread in Richmond, VA
6. Before you came to this website, what did you look at? Email / IM / Grommit
   
7. What are you wearing? T-shirt and Sweatpants
   
8. Did you dream last night? What about? No, haven’t dreamt in years
   
9. When did you last laugh? Just now, watching Friends “no more falafels for you!!!”
   
10. What is on the walls of the room you are in? A bunch of Chinese decorations
    
11. Seen anything weird lately? Standing next to Dr. Brody, looking at the victim of a drive-by in front of Broadview in Baltimore, MD
    
12. What is the last film you saw? The Constant Gardner
    
13. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first? Fully loaded Acura MDX
    
14. Tell me something about you that I don’t know: Currently attempting to upgrade to Jack v3.0, and my hero is Robert F. Kennedy
    
15. George Bush: He might be right about Iraq…
    
16. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her? Caroline
17. And if it’s a boy, what do you call him? Robert
18. Name four bad habits you have:
    1. Procrastination
    2. Inability to properly judge available bandwidth
    3. Inability to say no to requests
    4. Gets angry / irritated easily
19. Name four things that you wish you had:
    1. A startup
    2. Excellent Management Ability /Charisma
    3. A massive mansion
    4. A lot of free time
20. Name four scents you love:
    1. Pastry Shops
    2. Restaurants
    3. Fresh Air in the morning
    4. Hot Girls’ Perfumes
21. Name four things you’d never wear:
    1. Speedo
    2. Anime costumes
    3. Female clothing
    4. Jean jacket
22. Name four things you are thinking about right now:
    1. NYC Math Team
    2. NYSML
    3. Jabber Protocol
    4. Fedora Core 5
23. Name four things that you have done today:
    1. Watched Friends
    2. Had Lunch @ Panera
    3. Drove home with Ed Chan
    4. Cooked Dinner
24. Name the last four things you have bought: (Besides food, which happens everyday…)
    1. Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard
    2. March of the Dimes Beanie Baby
    3. SATACables
    4. 2 250 GB SATA Western Digital HDs
25. Name four people you would like to spend more time with:
    1. Shali Zhang
    2. Kevin Zheng
    3. Gayan Edirisinghe
    4. Professor Aronhime
26. Name four bands/groups most people don’t know you like:
    1. Microsoft
    2. Baltimore County Math Team
    3. Brooklyn Tech HS
    4. Hunter HS
27. Name four drinks you regularly drink:
    1. Water
    2. Milk
    3. Ice Tea
    4. Vitasoy

im kinda scared of you lately
u have these super idealistic or super extreme visionsof everything
nothing in what you see of people or the world is balanced
i won’t go into the girls thing because it’s too complicatedbut professionally you’re attracted to certain things (harvard, math people, etc)
because u see a certain “glow” thing on them
u don’t see that it’s not all glamour or rather
u choose not to see the other side
that makes for a really bad policy further on

I think you have another quality that is a more general cause of the problem
I think you are very quick to judge in general, not just people but non-people concepts too
and you have a hard time going against your grain, experimenting with something different, trusting that just because a way
is not the way you’d do things, that does not mean it won’t work just as well or better
you are very apt to change the world to suit you, which is in general a good quality, but
Jan Siwanowicz: sometimes it is better to let others change it while you watch
you’re also too tense

My results:

The Mixed Messenger
Deliberate Brutal Love Dreamer (DBLDm)

Just…take…the…fucking…flower…darling. The Mixed Messenger apologizes again.

You’re looking for love, but you’ll always maintain your independence. You’re prepared for a real commitment, but it’s also likely that you’re ambitious, which creates a certain romantic tension and ambivalence within you. So although you can be very affectionate to someone, you are also capable of pulling some dubious shit.

Your exact opposite:
The Playboy

Random Gentle Sex Master
In a relationship, you’re usually the emotional leader. With your friends, you’re a little bit more part of the pack. You’re well-liked but you’re not the uninhibited type, so the spotlight’s often on someone else. In both social and romantic situations, however, you almost always get what you want. Influencing people is something you do very well.

ALWAYS AVOID: The Playstation, The Peach

CONSIDER: The Priss

The Pris
Deliberate Brutal Love Dreamer

Mature. Responsible. Aristocratic. Excuse me. The Priss.

Prisses are the smartest of all female types. You’re highly perceptive, and confident in your judgements. You’d take brutal honesty over superficiality any time–your friends always know where they stand with you. You’re completely unfake. Don’t tell me that’s not a word. You’re also excellent at redirecting internal negative energy.

These facts indicate people are often intimidated by you. They also fall for you, hard. You have a distant, composed allure that many find irresistible. If only more of them lived up to your standards.

You were probably the last among your friends to have sex. And the first to pretend that you’re pregnant. LOL. Though you’re inclined to use sex as weapon, at least it’s not as one of mass destruction. You’re choosier than most about your partners. A supportive relationship is what you’re really after. Whether you know it or not, you need something steady & long-term. And soothing.

ALWAYS AVOID: The Playboy, The Loverboy

http://www.okcupid.com/