It's been a while...lot's of pix...time for an update...

2005-12-09...The Standard...

Annie and Minger...

Timmy before we started throwing things and were asked to leave again...

2005-12-28...Big Bear...

2006-01-24...Big Bear Again...

2006-02-01...Vodka Bowl I...

2006-03-04...Mammoth Trip...

2006-03-16...25th Birthday...

2006-04-07...Angie's 23th Birthday...

2006-04-07...Bimmerfest 2006

2006-05-01...Disneyland...

It's been so long I forgot I even have a xanga...

First time out to the track...

I look so damn goofy...



The track...



I ran in intermediate...i sucked pretty badly the first few times...then I got a bit faster and really just pounded the car after that...and broke it...



Here's some other random cars there today...

Hope you guys are all doing well =)

2005-11-10...Supercomputing 2005...Seattle, Washington

Wow its been a while since I posted...been busy with everything as usual...

3AM finished some homework...5AM drive to pick up Henry...6AM get transported to LAX...

7AM flight to seattle...11AM Brand Spankin' New Toyota Sienna rental with 7 miles...you know its gonna be a good trip...=)

Got to the convention center...This is what we're building this year...

Helped setup...

Henry looking happy...

Finished the day off with dinner with susan...

Day 2...continued with more building...long day...

Lots and lots of wiring...

Ended the day with happy hour at Wild Ginger with Dave...

What's going on at the rest of the show?

Actually pretty cool to see everything come together...

Got my nifty little badge...

Had fish n chips for lunch with susan, gina, mary, helen, dave, and henry...

Headed over to Karen's for a house party...buzzed and tired...

Next stop...some bar...

Then club trinity after that...

Now for the exciting part...we went to seattle so we HAD to bring our snowboards...this is my 2nd time since whistler...ive gotten much better...my butt no longer sticks out...

The conditions were absolutely amazing...

Finally got to the slopes at 2:30PM...

There was like no one around...it was perfect...=)

I actually fell off the lift when I was getting on and it almost hit me over the head...

Wow...

So far so good...

Here's a video of Henry running into me...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-11-14%20Seattle/MVI_2818.avi

Me screwing around...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-11-14%20Seattle/MVI_2813.avi

Some of this stuff was just unreal...I'm gonna print this out...2ft x 30ft...

2005-09-03...Pimps'N'Hoes...Las Vegas, Nevada

"OMG, you have to go!" -Sihan

"OMG, it's the best party ever!" -Sihan

"OMG, I went last year it's off the HOOK!" -Sihan

Party preperations...$20 feathery thing...$10 dollar sign alumnium knucles...$10 white cane...$5 New Orleans beads...

Turn out wasn't bad...12,000+ people...trance music was excellent...=)

I can't post pix of the Hoes...it just wouldn't be PG-13 or parent friendly...sorry :( But instead here is a pix of Sihan the next morning...

On Sunday we went to Light@Bellagio ...and that was actually 100x more fun than Pimps'n'Hoes...Sihan agrees with me...

Too bad I don't think he remebers any of it thou...

He got so drunk that some dude pointed out a $100 Sands casino chip on the floor and asked to be tipped $20 in exchange of his finding...Sihan agrees to the trade and finds out later that Sands was demolished so that Venetian could be built and he just got ripped off...What a way to end the trip =p

A simple penny coin flip actually decided our fate on Sunday...I'm glad it was heads (thus we stayed for Light)...and it was definately worth the 6 hour drive home the following day...

2005-08-02...World Expo 2005...Nagoya, Japan...

Day 5...Last Day...

Two full days and still no luck with getting into Toyota and Hitachi Pavillions...So here's our game plan...The Expo opens at 9AM everyday...Wake up at 5:30AM...bust our ass over to the expo via the train...7AM...Wait in line at the Expo's North Gate...9AM run to the Pavillion and get in line for a reserved ticket for later that day...that's our best chance...

Everything is going well...My dad, Ted, Pat and I wake our tired asses up...get on the first train out of Nagoya...we were the first to exit the train...we get to the North Gate at 7AM...then...

WTF...there is already 2000 people in line!!! This is completly INSANE...plus it was already almost 90 degress and humid as fuck...So we sat in line for two hours...while even more people came running off the trains...

We were smarter this time thou...we brought our laptops and played worms 2 for 2 hours...made the wait a lot better...

9:45AM...finally got to the front of the line...gave them my ticket and sprinted to the Toyota Pavillion...WTF YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME...all the tickets have been distributed...That's the World Expo 2005 for ya...

But...we came all the way around the world from LA to see this shit so my dad wasn't gonna give up so easily...thus he made me jump over the rope and into line while they weren't watching...when you don't want to do something make your son do it...ahhah...My dad and I were in line...Ted and Pat took another route...but it ended up to be blocked off...the ticket booths were being anal bitches saying that we could only get two tickets...when we needed 7...so we begged and finally cus the ticket dude loves LA...He gives us 7 tickets for 2PM showing that day...I would not be surprised if you could sell these "reservation" tickets for $100 each...of course I'm gonna take pictures even if I'm not supposed to...that way you guys don't have to wait in line...=)

Next door...Hitachi Pavillion...of course...is already full...another 4+ hour line...

Yes...it's fucking hot, ted says...

Long wait but great view...

Without wasting any time we decided to go hit up some of the smaller pavillions first...

Germany Pavillion...Theme...Bionis

Wait Time = 3 hours

Plasmas = 2, But they had a freaking ROLLERCOASTER!!!

I think its funny how no one wants to see France...but everyone's all up in Germany...Why did I wanna go to Germany...should be pretty obvious...

Inside was a cave...that lead to a rollercoaster...

Video of the coaster...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2144.avi

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2145.avi

After there was a show room with all the cool things the German's have been working on...

Robotics...planes with flapping wings...

It's hard to see but the whole wing is bent...

Robotic Penguins...

New types of wing architecture...

3-D imaging techniques...

Bat like sonar techniques...

Just whistle and it pin points you...

Then downstairs...BMW time!!!

BMW Vid...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2170.avi

Everything on this floor was about how to make things more efficient with out loosing strength and durability...

Cool Vid...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2175.avi

Instead of using a solid piece of metal...you can get the same strength out of...they are saying look at nature and how they design their building blocks and we should follow it...they have a video explaining why a cheetah can catch a rabbit...when it's so much heavier...

I always wondered how they made automotive pieces...I guess they do a stress test on every single part...

Nifty stress tested chair...

Chair vid...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2179.avi

Eagle vs. airplane...

They even designed swimsuits that mimic the surfaces of shark skin...they think of everything...

Light weight dashes for cars...of course the BMW E90...

As if we don't believe them already...they showed us a few stress test demos in person...

Vid...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2196.avi

Materials research...Alumnium Foam!

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2193.avi

Always wondered about this...

And finally...man this had to be the coolest shit...I'm a clean freak and all so...

Lotus Vid..

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2205.avi

I was absolutely BLOWN away...Overall Score...A++...Germany Pavillion gets best Country Pavillion so far...

We went back to the main area...to meet up with my Mom and the kids...the people who didn't make the Toyota cutt off line...which would've been us had already started forming a line for the 5PM first come first serve showing...This was at noon...5+ hours easy...to get a feel for what it was like...

2PM finally rolls around...Toyota here we come...

Here's a few cool things about the building itself...it's built of completely recycled material...so when they get it taken down there will be 0% waste...

What were they gonna show...

Taking a picture in this pavillion was almost impossible from where I was sitting...they had a zillion ushers who patrolled the area...i managed to get a few...but they told me to leave if I continued...

The first show was a robotic band...Not only did they play the music perfectly...

they moved around the stage...Most of them had legs or segway like gyroscopes...

Then they brought out the personal transport things...they are FUCKING cool...pictures don't do it justice...so I tried to get a video...

Vids...first one is when its upright...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2236.avi

Then it changes into a car...

http://lee.mit.edu/xanga/2005-08-02%20Japan%20-%20World%20Expo%202005/MVI_2237.avi

Wow its was an awesome performance...It's really worth the wait...no wonder ppl are willing to bake in the sun for this...

Like a whiny ass kid...one of those rare times...where I really wanted one of these things...

Or this will do too...

Overall Score...A++...Best Corporate Pavillion...let's see if Hitachi can beat it...

Hitachi Pavillion...Theme...Nature...and how to interact with it...

Wait Time = 3 hours

Plasmas = 2, complete 3d interactive roller coaster system

Hitachi had a cool building...there is a freaking waterfall that runs through it...

So we figured it would be worth the brute force wait...

Finally got inside...they took pictures of everyone...but I took pictures of them...=p

So the first part was pretty stupid...they gave you this wireless device...

You get to run around and put them on animals and it will download the data instantly via it's wireless link and give you info on the object...

The next event has to be much better to save the first one...

So you get 3D binoculars...and a strap around your right palm...you can reach out and grab animals as you walk by them...

The coaster would go from room to room and teach you things about nature...I obviously was too busy taking pictures to know what was going on...

this was freaking hilarious...I had this bird on my right palm that wouldn't get off...so I kept hitting derek on the head with it...and it started loosing feathers...

Overall Score...B+...It's hard to do well when you are after Germany and Toyota...

So we just fucked around for a while...

Here's me kicking Derek in the balls...

A family pix...

Anyway...that's all we did...3 packed full days at the Expo...but there were still a bunch of smaller pavilions that we didn't get to see...well its just wayyy too hot to come back for another day...I did want to see the Aichi and Earth Pavs but those were long waits also...anyone get to go into Earth Pav?