kobechibbs

competing

2006-07-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

There's similar examples in boxing but I see the same things during poker sometimes. When playing someone heads-up (1 on 1) I usually find it easy to beat someone who's cautious and afraid of making a mistake. They're easy to read and when they eventually make a mistake I can take advantage of it, assuming I have the patience to keep my cool until they blink first.

The harder opponents to play are the ones not afraid of losing and play a little crazy. Not only are they harder to read, when you think that you're in a slightly better spot you've got to be able to put your entire stack on the line. In the long run, you might still have an advantage over such players but the swings you experience and the resulting hits to your confidence will be significant.

To be a championship player, or a championship team, you've got to be able to endure those swings and be prepared to put it all on the line each time. If you're a team like liverpool, arsenal and Man U, you often don't know how teams like Bolton, Leicester, Blackburn will play you. They might play cautious football and pack it into their own half or they might gamble and go for the win as if their premiership survival was at stake. The big clubs will still win more often than not, but the mental state of the players after they've gone a goal down against these clubs, or after they've lost a match they should have won really determines whether they can challenge for trophies in the long run.

I don't think i'm anywhere close to that mental state of mind. It will be impossibly hard to give my all and put everything on the line while consistently enduring failure after failure that you can't seem to comprehend.

Cheers to David Duval for his work ethic and dedication to the game. You're a great role model for people aspiring to be great.

is working hard a necessary evil?

2006-07-04T00:50:00.000-07:00

As the Korean electronics industry rapidly developed in the 80s and 90s, executives began to realize that, in order to catch up to the best in the business (like Sony), they needed a competitive edge to help them overcome the disadvantages they have in the technology development process. What they came up with was the philosophy of working harder and longer till you get it right. It's hard to argue that it has not been successful, especially when you look at how much companies like Samsung and LG have grown. However, the deeper question I ask myself is whether such an idealogy, of working hard and going at it till you get it right, a necessary evil to be successful in life?

Samsung is now considered one of the world-leaders in the memory chip and cell-phone industries and has a market capitalization exceeding 100 billion dollars, which is roughly 24.3% of the Korea's total market capitalization and twice that of Sony's. However, it can be argued that both the level of productivity and the quality of life for Samsung employees have been on a rapid decline. If long hours are the norm, there is simply no incentive to push for increased productivity and when things don't get done on time it simply means that it's time to add more employees.

The Korean national soccer team provides yet another example of this philosphy. In terms of pure footballing ability the Koreans lag significantly behind the europeans, latin americans and the africans. After years of getting pushed around by the better teams in the international arena, we decided that to have to have any kind of success we needed to play soccer differently. If you've noticed the Korean team play in the recent World Cup, you'll know what I mean. Our philosphy for the first 70 minutes is to run, run and then run some more. (The famous Dutch coach Guus Hiddink came up with this strategy while watching a re-run of Forrest Gump in his hotel room after signing on with the Korean team.)

If you get the ball you run and even if you don't have the ball you run, pretending to make an incisive run although the player with the ball is likely incapable of making an accurate through pass. By the 70th minute the other team will hopefully get so tired that they stop challenging for balls as much and start backing off, allowing the best Korean strikers like Ahn Jung Hwan (who usually come on late in the 2nd half to exploit this) some room to start putting some attempts on goal.

During the last World Cup, Korea had the home advantange and the European teams were not well prepared for fitness battles lasting a full 90 minutes plus extra time (in some cases with an extra-man down which makes it so much tougher). This time, the French were ready and the Swiss were ready and it's hard to win games consistently when luck+running is all you have.
Many Koreans have lamented that we're a few Park Ji Sungs short of doing well in the World Cup. But is that the way football is meant to be played or are we encouraging a new breed of alien soccer where the aim is to outlast the opponent in running around the pitch?

It is the same within the workplace environment of Samsung as it is with the national football team. There is something deeply unmotivating about such a work philosophy that only tries to achieve quick results. Nobody follows a boxer, that always trys to win by decision, for long. Likewise, admitting from the get-go that your employees or your players are technically second-rate and trying to outlast the opposition is never going to put you on the path towards becoming one of the world's best.

Undoubtedly, it takes a phenomenal amount of effort to become truly successful in whatever you do. However, the lesson often comes with a price; the subtle message that we need to work hard only because we are not as smart, capable, or physically gifted. In order to truly become great, there's got to be a stronger sense of self-belief, coupled with motivation and dedication towards each of our daily tasks.

You really have to enjoy the soccer more than the running or winning.

how did we all become engineers?

2006-06-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

From my experiences in Singapore, Korea and reading about the ever-determined focus of developing asian economies to produce engineers that contribute to economic growth, I think we're gradually losing touch with emotional development on an inter-personal level.

China currently produces 600,000 engineering graduates per year, India - 460,000 per year while Europe and the United States produce only 100,000 and 70,000 respectively. Numbers like these could mean a lot of different things. After all, China and India have a large overall population and although the percentage of engineering grads to overall population is still alarmingly large, that can be attributed to the need to support the influx of foreign invesment in engineering and manufacturing-related industries.

However, there are severe side-effects that can occur from skewing our social priorities towards first improving our economic interests. Oversupply of engineering graduates breeds unhealthy competition between potential hires that causes an abundant amount of emotional stress, both to new graduates with no experience and to middle-aged engineers in danger of being displaced by younger hires. From the company's perspective, the oversupply or undersupply of potential candidates dramatically skews the perceived value of these new hires. During a period of oversupply, new hires and company employees are simply chess pieces that can be easily replaced, while during a period undersupply potential candidates are desperate stop-gap measures that you have to take regardless of the candidate's value or virtue. Furthermore, societal pressures that attempts to conform young minds into doctors, lawyers and engineers
diminishes our ability to encourage the interest and development in other less recognized but equally important fields.

In an ideal world we would only have the kids who have the keen engineering intuition coupled with a strong interest in the field, to pursue careers in engineering. Not every half-smart kid in class pushed towards engineering because they can do the work and not because they want to.
With more motivation and less competition, managers would feel more inclined to guide subordinates and value current employees. Employees would feel less pressure for career advancement as they would feel more satisfied in accomplishing their work tasks. I've read about workers here who have declined promotion opportunities because of current job sastisfaction (with little desire for management tasks) and lifestyle opportunities (more time with family) which they enjoy in their current job situations.

In my mind there is nothing more devastating in life than doing things because it was the thing to do then, rather than thinking about what you really want to do. The result of personal disatisfaction with our lives breeds a situation where we give less thought towards doing the right thing and more towards self-serving thoughts that appear to feed the depressing void within us.

summary of recent events

2006-06-02T02:32:00.000-07:00

have not updated for a while but not much time so I'll summarize real quick.

Decided to go back to korea after graduation.
Submitted resume to a few places.
Got back the standard "we're sorry but at this time.." emails.
My labmate who recently joined the lab from korea got a call from her colleagues coming over for recruiting.
Fwd my resume, got the call, interviewed with them.
Went pretty well I think. waiting for call back for the 2nd interview over the phone with the technical folks.
that's the short summary of the boring things that happened the past few weeks.

now for the less mundane things...
thinking of starting soccer again. will go for the korean grad students soccer club practice tomorrow if it doesn't rain like they say it will.
my winning eleven skills are improving. still dunno the flashy stuff but better overall team play.
started reading alan alda's never get your dog stuffed. interesting + funny reading. if you thought your childhood was messed up, you should read what he has to say about his.
my korean buddy in the lab (more like an older brudder since he's much older) told me about the adult nightlife scene in korea which I found shocking. I won't go into the details but maybe I'll bring you there Jo or loe if you come visit me.

read on the news about the baby in china with an extra arm. started wondering what would be coolest thing you could do with an extra arm.

What's Passe?

2006-04-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

When you're in you late teens and early 20s, you care about what's in and what's passe, what people are listening, reading, watching, wearing, thinking... we're either too lazy, too stupid or just too plain immature to figure out what we're like.

Now that I'm older, I classify things into different categories. Things that I understand or don't understand; things that I agree with, have no opinion on, or think are plain stupid; things I care about, things I'm somewhat concerned about (like global warming perhaps) and things I don't give a rats ass about.

Developing your own style and personality is about expanding your knowledge, thoughts, and sense about the things you care about. If that's passe, who gives a damn? I don't think I can have a normal conversation about someone who uses that word anymore, "That's so Passe". What's that got to do with what you think, or what I think?

With that said, to my labmate who only listens to Celine Dion type diva songs and be openly public about it by singing in the lab, rock on brother. You're still cool,.... sometimes.

I think I've learnt what it's like to be parent

2006-04-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

I just came back from work and my dog kobe's just lying there on the floor. Normally he would jump up and wag his tail to greet me but this time he just stays there on the floor looking at me. Then all of a sudden he jumps up as if he remembered something, then runs to the patio door and scratches it with his paw, asking me to open the door so he can sun himself outside.

I can so imagine coming home from work and my kids immediately going "Dad, can I have 20 bucks to go to the movies?" then disappear for the rest of the night. But I still love kobe, and as a parent I guess you just take what you get, don't expect any more or any less.

My parents should know, I haven't called home for several weeks. Oops!

swamped with work

2006-04-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

life sucks, it sucks, it really really sucks.

Defining my standards on beauty

2006-04-26T00:56:00.000-07:00

Was reading someone else's blog about the plastic surgery issue and was reminded about my own standards on beauty. A good buddy of mine recently mentioned that whether way out of his league or not, if he see's a "chio-bu" he will try his best to court her. No loss even if it doesn't work out, he says. Besides from the obvious such as physical appearances, he wants someone who's kind and cooks well. Well my guess is, that's probably the most common standard that many guys use until they decide to "settle" for something and decide to stop looking.

I think when I was 18 I used to have the same standards. Now, I think my perceptions have changed. Pretty faces are always around; magazines, movies and porn. I don't need to go out with someone who's hot to feel satisfied or secure. On the other hand, I find the people who are good at what they do, attractive. Carmen Electra? No. Helen Hunt? Yes. Or even someone as old as Emma Thompson. Not just at a job, but overall skills set as a person. How you speak, how well you maintain relationships with people and family, and so on.

If I ever want to go with the first option, I could go back to Korea like my parents want me to. Matchmaking and blind dates are extremely common back home and especially with the recession (haha), I'd probably be a good option for someone looking out for marriage options.
I think I'd probably feel insecure in that kind of relationship, because I don't want my self-worth to be buried within the physical confines of how tall I am or what education I've had or how much salary I make. Questioning your self-worth can be the most painful thing in the world and I don't think I want to go down that path.

Is Osama still relevant?

2006-04-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

Read Anderson Cooper's blog on CNN where he was asking if Osama Bin Laden is still relevant in the news today. He's been on the run for so long and with al qaeda only a shell of it's former capabilities, perhaps it's about time he's slowly forgotten.

Nowadays, I think Osama only serves as a stark reminder of the failings of the US government, with Bush and Rumsfeld in particular. Catching Bin Laden used to be the number one priority, but since then it's been a sequence of missteps which just keeps compounding one after another. Now it turns out Iran may be WAY more dangerous than Saddam ever was. Am I looking forward to Osama finally getting captured. Not really. However I'm looking forward to the presidential elections.

Crazy Hand

2006-04-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

I'm ashamed to admit that I have tilted once again. I noticed a juicy 2/4 Euro NL table and sat down but couldn't hit a damn card while everyone was moving money around by going all-in with top pair. In the end I got fed up and tried to bluff in spots I knew I shouldn't have. Long story short, I was quickly down 500 Euros. Naturally I was extremely fed up since I had taken 2 weeks to build that up so I took my remaining 500 Euros to sit down at a 5/10 Euro NL Heads up table. Then this hand happened.

Game # 313209174 - Texas Hold'em No Limit EUR 5,00/10,00 - Table "Leuven", Game ended 2006-04-25 13:54:59 GMT+01:00

Players: kobechibbs (EUR 569,22 in seat 1), fstrand (EUR 918,88 in seat 2)
Dealer: kobechibbs Big Blind: fstrand (10,00) Small Blind: kobechibbs (5,00)

kobechibbs was dealt: Jd - Js

kobechibbs Call (5,00), fstrand Raise (29,00), kobechibbs Raise (100,00), fstrand Call (71,00)

Flop 9d - 2h - 4h

fstrand Check, kobechibbs All-In (459,22), and after taking forever to think fstrand Calls (459,22)

Turn 9d - 2h - 4h - Kh

River 9d - 2h - 4h - Kh - 7h

fstrand shows: 4c - Ac (a pair of fours), kobechibbs shows: Jd - Js (a pair of jacks)

kobechibbs wins: EUR 1 137,69 (with a pair of jacks) Rake: EUR 0,75

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the King on the turn as I thought he could have had Ace King, and I thought I was dead for sure when I saw the fourth heart on the river. But I guess he put me on Ace King when he called my all-in bet on the flop.

I live to survive another day.

TO SEE OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US

2006-04-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

To offset a serious protein deficiency, powdered milk was introduced into the diet of New Guinea schoolchildren. But the children didn't like the milk, so a live cow was taken on tour, milked in front of them & the milk distributed in glasses. But again they grimaced & laughed & rejected it.

Miss Juanita Ferguson, a teacher in the Southern Highlands, filmed these reactions. Her students loved the films. They asked to see them over & over. Each student especially wanted to see himself - to see the funny face he had made & watch the reactions of others to his humor.

At which point, much of the resistance to milk disappeared.

Children everywhere are fascinated by pictures of them-selves, far more so than by pictures of friends. They know what friends look like, but they've never seen themselves. They're also more interested in their own art work than in the art work of others. The work of another is simply part of the environment, but their own work is visible proof of what was hitherto, for them, merely an inner thought, a psychic experience. Now part of them is visible to themselves & for a moment, at least, it gives them new identity . Then gradually it becomes subject to environmental control. Any environment has the power to distort or deflect human awareness. Photographs increase self-awareness only as long as they are private & not part of the environment.

Page 136
Oh, What a Blow That Phantom Gave Me! by Edmund Carpenter
Holt, Rinehart and Winston - New York, Chicago, San Francisco
Copyright 1972, 1973 by Edmund Carpenter
translated to hypermedia and edited by Michael Wesch 2002

Who are you?

2006-04-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Article from HBR: "The Power to see ourselves", Paul J. Brower, 1964.

Everything we do or say, everything we hear, feel or otherwise perceive, is influenced by how we see ourselves. Unrealistic self-appraisal has cost many a manager his or her job. Think of people you know who have been fired, eased out, or moved laterally because they no longer "seemed up for the job". Has there not been in many such cases the subtle flavor of unadaptability, or a rigid inability in a manager to adjust his or her sights to a new role as times have changed? Most familiar are the unnecessarily tragic cases of those who cannot old gracefully. Next are those uncounted misfits who fail through lack of realistic insight into their true worth. There are endless instances of failures owing to a disparity between "who I am" and "who I think I am."

If realism in the individual's self-view has a one-to-one relationship with effectiveness on the job, then it surely follows that all of us can improve our effectiveness by the simple expedient of developing a more realistic, more accurate self-concept. The difference between a strong person and a weak person may not be a difference in ability, for many clerks have keen intelligence; or in drive, for many ambitious people get nowhere; or in opportunity, for somehow, strong people make opportunity. No, the difference lies in self-concept.

Growth is the evolvement of personal goals and the sense of venture in pursuing them. This is the meaning of dedicated people. Their personal goals, their company goals, and their job goals have coincidence to a great extent; and their personal power is directed single-mindedly toward seeing themselves in relation to the fulfillment of their executive potential.

Neko-kun

2006-04-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

It's been about four months since we took in the stray cat, that Ryan named Neko-chan. He's a boy so Neko-kun would be more appropriate I guess. He is extremely playful, naughty and much worse than Kobe in messing around in the house. Exhibit 1 - guai lan face as if to ask "waddya want?" Exhibit 2 - We left him a box to play with (which most cats like) but he decided he wanted extra doors and chewed up several huge holes.

Ryan's supposed to pick him up in a couple of months when she moves to an apartment that allows pets but I'm not really looking forward to it. A personality like his, you'll miss having around once you've gotten used to.

Forensic Economists

2006-04-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

Gladwell proposes an interesting idea of letting loose forensic economists, that will weigh upon the circumstantial evidence of athletes under the suspicion of using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I'm sure this solution will probably work in convicting those widely thought to have used steroids to propel themselves to mega-stardom:- barry bonds, mcguire, big sammy sosa, etc. The jump in their power numbers are too overwhelming for someone in their age-group that it's just too ridiculous.

HOWEVER for such a judicial system to be in place, we need to keep in mind the few innocents who may become wrongly convicted. Overcoming stacked odds and breaking new records is every boy's dream as we each undertake a sports endeavor. Now we have to be careful of overperforming in case we come under suspicion? If that's the case, we'll have to start casting doubt on every heroic sports tale ever told. e.g. George Foreman's incredible heavyweight title win in the later years of his career? It just gets too ridiculous.

Case in Point: Lance Armstrong. The guy overcame cancer, fought to build his strength back, and dominated the Tour de France. Am I 100% sure that he's clean? No. But with a story like his, I don't even want to think about the possibility of thinking that he's dirty when he's not. So until there is undeniable proof that indicates otherwise, I'll choose to believe in his courage and determination as an individual and as an athlete. The other extreme would be just too cruel.

Why I blog

2006-04-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

I've been in a slump recently. Next steps after graduation and not knowing what direction to take in my life, especially as I near the end of my 20s. So in way, this is a way for me to jot down my everyday thoughts and perhaps make some sense of my life as I go along.

And then I thought, these are things that everybody goes through. Sure not everybody is interested in reading about someone else's life but it would be cool if I could keep write a journal for my kids, when they grow up and start thinking about life. I sure would be interested to know about the choices my parents made when they were younger that made them who they are today, regardless of whether they were right or wrong. There's only so much you can gather from memories, after all I can't remember why I did the things I did when I was 18.

Of course if I don't have kids eventually, I'll have to leave it to my dog.
Kobe's my dog and Chibbs is my cat btw. Together, they are kobechibbs - with the power to eat, sleep, poop and cause destruction.

Eloquence

2006-04-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Main Entry: el·o·quence
Pronunciation: 'e-l&-kw&n(t)s
Function: noun
1 : discourse marked by force and persuasiveness; also : the art or power of using such discourse
2 : the quality of forceful or persuasive expressiveness

Briefly watched MM's Lee Kuan Yew's press interview/discussion with a panel of young adults, mostly fresh graduates on Channel News Asia. The questions offered weren't very incisive or thoughtful and I didn't think LKY spoke very well, although at his age it's still pretty amazing that he's still up for such public appearances. Even those his words struck me as being rather empty and a recast of the same opinions he's offered up in the past, he still struck me as someone with a remarkable amount of eloquence in his speech. Not necessarily through his words but through the level of conviction and belief that you could clearly see in his facial expressions.

It's an aspect that I've not given much thought to in the past but if eloquence is defined as "the quality of forceful or persuasive expressiveness", the spoken word is but just one aspect that you need to focus on.

Listening to Crossroads now

2006-04-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

Don Mclean's American Pie and Vincent are great songs but Crossroads has to be his best song.

Which brings us to the Top 10 songs when you're feeling down & moody. (ala High Fidelity although I barely remember the book or the movie now)

1. Don Mclean - Crossroads
2. Stevie Nicks - Landslide
3. Bob Marley: No Woman No Cry
4. Jodeci - Lately
5. Cat Stevens - Father & Son
6. Don Mclean - Empty Chairs
7. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird
8. Pulp - Something Changed
9. Natalie Merchant - Life is Sweet
10. Eminem - Mockingbird

Honorable mentions:
Frank Sinatra - My Way
Madonna - This used to be my playground
Ben Folds Five - Brick

Being Greg Maddux

2006-04-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

Article on Greg Maddux, one of the best pitchers of our time and his philosophies that worked out pretty well for him.

1. Keeping things simple
"He is so smart, he makes everything so simple,'' Mazzone said. "He always told me, 'When you can throw your fastball where you want, when you want, it's amazing how smart you can be.' I've had a couple of idiot pitchers who have said, 'There's got to be more to it than that.'

2. Practice being in situations that make you feel uncomfortable
"The first time he threw for me in the bullpen [in 1993],'' Mazzone said, "he threw 80 percent of his pitches from the stretch. I asked him why he did that, and he said, 'The biggest pitches I make in every game come from the stretch.' It's so simple, but I'd never seen another pitcher do that. He always told me the hardest pitch for a right-handed pitcher to throw is a fastball down and away to a right-handed hitter. That's the one he practices all the time. He's always practicing, he's always thinking about what he'll do next.''

3. Play to Win
Several years ago, Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton invited Maddux to go out to dinner with him. Maddux politely declined, saying, "I've got a pizza that I didn't finish from last night, and I've got a video game that I can't beat, but tonight, I'm going to beat that game."

Gospel of Judas

2006-04-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Interesting article on the Gospel of Judas from Slate and the possibility that Judas might have been a Saint, and not a traitor of all mankind.

This kind of makes sense to me, which is not to say that I believe this theory completely but I'm certainly open to this possibility. If Jesus was destined to save all of mankind by sacrificing himself, why even blame Judas for it, right? In a normal situation what he did would be downright dirty and pitiful but granted those circumstances, Jack Bauer would have done the same thing.

The thing about religion is that everyone takes themselves and the written word too seriously. The priests, the rabbis, the bible, the Koran, the Sadhus (India's travelling holy men)... all they provide is but an interpretation of life and spirituality. I believe in Jesus but I'm open to the possibility that many aspects of the bible are inaccurate. In fact I haven't gone to church for a long time as I got tired of sermons that just try to force certain doctrines down your throat.

Religion is and should remain a personal issue. My interpretation of Jesus is different from everyone else's and really don't care even if my pastor thinks I'm crazy. After all, we're all here to make up our own minds about why we're here.

started playing poker again

2006-04-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

After cashing out a few months back, had no bankroll to play for while and I played like a tilt-crazed maniac the few times I deposited small amounts to UB or Stars. It's hard to build up slowly when you're not used to playing micro limits anymore and it's hard to play through the bad beats and negative swings when playing games too rich for my micro bankroll.

In an earnest effort to build in up again so that I can make a run to tunica over the summer, started playing at a new site that offers a lot more playing bonuses. Haven't taken down any monster pots yet but doing pretty well and made some good laydowns as well (I think). It's a european site, so a lot of scandinavians at the table, using interesting cuss language which i find funny for some reason.

akaBUTTERS: runkhomo din ***** sopa
akaBUTTERS: ger ** fortarande bort gratis pengar
runkhomo: qq
akaBUTTERS: hahaha, *****
akaBUTTERS: fick ** **** draget denna gang? *****?
akaBUTTERS: ***** sopa
Winger: i am manager.......
runkhomo: bad looser?
akaBUTTERS: yeah, when u go all in with flush draw???
akaBUTTERS: and of course u get it, what else...
akaBUTTERS: fiskjavel
akaBUTTERS: samsta *** sett
akaBUTTERS: allvarligt, tanker ** overhuvudtaget?
runkhomo: come and get it back then?
akaBUTTERS: i will
akaBUTTERS: or, i would if this site were not rigged for the
fish
akaBUTTERS: lol
akaBUTTERS: never gonna play b2b again