My Interests: Activities and Attributes

Activities

I get bored easily, and I like to try new things all the time.

Sailing

I have been learning to sail sailboats. Boston has a wonderful organization, Community Boating, Inc. (CBI), which teaches people how to sail on the Charles River, and I am a member. If you are a member of CBI, you may be interested in my Community Boating page, which contains write-ups on how to rig and handle many of the boats in the fleet and useful links on sailing and on local wind predictions. On June 13, I earned my Jib rating with CBI, which allows me, with crew, to sail with two sails in any wind. Many thanks to Orfeas Liangos, who was my partner in this endeavor. I've since earned my Rhodes Basic, Sonar (Full), HP Sloop Basic, and HT Crew ratings.

Photography

I have started to delve into “serious” photography, which means I have learned how to adjust the parameters of an SLR (single lens reflex) camera. It’s fun to set the aperture and the shutter speed to control the exposure on 35mm film, and to use different lenses to control the depth of field. Eventually I will put up some of my work up on this site, but for now other endeavors must be accomplished. People interested in learning more about almost any aspect of photography would do well to see what’s on www.photo.net.

Game shows

I enjoy watching game shows; I like to compete vicariously. Interestingly, one can create a business to become a professional game show contestant, aka a Game Show Pro. My favorite show (and the one on which I most wish to appear) is the renowned Wheel of Fortune. As a person who soaks up trivia, however, I am probably more likely to eventually appear on Jeopardy! or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (if they select me as a contestant someday). Appearing on one of these game shows is one of my Goals 100. If you also like game shows, then you should bookmark the excellent site, TVGameshows.Net.

Poker

While I enjoy most forms of mild gambling, I enjoy poker the most. While my local poker buddies and I have been playing mostly Texas hold’em, I have written up rules for some enjoyable variants of poker that I like to play. For those interesting in learning more about poker, see the useful, ad-free site, Poker Top10. An excellent site on gambling in general is The Wizard of Odds, which does a fantastic job in explaining optimal strategies in many casino table games and provides the opportunity to play many of these games online. As a statistician, I am sometimes asked for advice on how to make money by gambling. The short answer is: get lucky. I will further pontificate from this position of authority. First, anybody who claims to have a method that reliably "beats the system" is a liar. Second, anybody who claims to consistently win at casino gambling is extremely likely to be an accomplished liar. The only exception to these declarations is in the game of poker, where one does not compete against the casino, but against other players.

A cappella music

I like to attend a cappella concerts. I used to sing in a cappella groups in school. I was a founding member of the Johns Hopkins Octopodes and was a member of the Boston University Dear Abbeys in its first full year of existence. But now I am "retired" from a cappella singing and just enjoy going to see others perform. I mostly follow professional groups. One of my favorite groups is Toxic Audio. I also like going to competitions, such as the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella and the Harmony Sweepstakes.

Rock climbing

I took up rock climbing when I lived in North Carolina, where climbing gyms are conveniently located and inexpensive. My climbing days are on hiatus, but they will resume one day. One of my Goals 100 is to climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

Postcard collecting (deltiology)

Since I was seven, I have been collecting postcards of places to which I have traveled. The study and hobby of postcards is called deltiology. Here’s a decent link on postcard collecting.

Comic book collecting

My brother and I have been collecting comic books since we were 14 years old. We do not treat comic books as commodities; rather, we read them. Comic books deserve more popular appreciation as a vibrant, expressive form of literature. We collect mostly Marvel Comics, although I also collect various manga (Japanese comics), such as those published by Viz Comics and the American manga published by Antarctic Press. Fred Perry’s Gold Digger is a particular favorite of mine. A comics line masterminded by Alan Moore, America’s Best Comics, features several excellent titles, including Top 10, Tom Strong, and Promethea.

Traveling

I like to see different places. Many of my Goals 100 are related to travel. Here’s a map of places where my fianceé Jen and I have been to.

Attributes

Being Taiwanese-American

While most Americans regard Asian-Americans as a monolithic block, my family and I take pride in being distinctively Taiwanese-American. By "Taiwanese-American," I mean especially those who can speak the Chinese dialect called "Taiwanese." Not everybody who calls themseleves Taiwanese can speak Taiwanese, which is explained by history that I will not explain here. Here’s a link referring to a portion of an old friend of mine’s research on Taiwanese-American history, which is distinct from that of other Asian-American groups.

Allegiance to professional sports teams

In general, I cheer for professional sports teams from Philadelphia. This is because where I grew up, the TV signals that we received were from stations based in Philly. I grew up on the enthusiasm of WCAU’s “Big Al” Meltzer. In practice, however, I am not much of hockey fan and only obliquely follow basketball and baseball. My passion for professional sport resides mostly in pro football and, correspondingly, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Back to home