andycology

[andycology]

Andycology has moved!

Hi Readers,

I’ve migrated Andycology onto Wordpress. I will no longer be using Tumblr’s services moving forward.

You can continue to read my blog on http://andycology.com/.

This move is largely due to discontent over recent changes, especially after Yahoo!’s acquisition of the site. HTML and CSS editing is no longer effective.

[andycology]

First live MMA event: Evolution Sports Expo.

On Saturday, June 27, I spontaneously attended the Evolution Sports Expo with Terisa, held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I didn’t expect actual competition to take place -- there were judo, boxing, bodybuilding, BJJ, and MMA events.

Having watched MMA for about 9 years on TV, seeing a small production versus the top dogs (Pride, WEC, UFC) was extremely fascinating. Most MMA fans have huge complains about the UFC -- mostly about their mistreatment of fighters in contractual obligations and pay. But man, compare that to the problems this event had, it’s not even a comparison.

Here are some issues and general observations of the event.

1) The first fight was scheduled for 4pm. Some ring girl trainee was just modeling with a photographer for the first 15 minutes.

2) The actual ring girls then came in, and modeled for another 15 minutes.

3) At 4:50pm, a hip hop artist performed one of his hit songs at the expense of the disgruntled crowd. Some folks were shouting to begin the fights, whereas the remainder of the crowd tried to act impressed. He asked everyone to stand up, but half way through the song, everyone sat back down.

4) Microphone problem. The crew didn’t bother making sure that announcers could be heard, so they swapped microphones after trying to begin the show. The new microphone still sucked.

5) At 5pm, after a one hour delay, they still had someone sing the national anthem. She then sang a song for the announcer, stating he had been a 27 year military veteran. That’s cool man, but the announcer is not the big deal here.

6) Zero security at the show. No barriers separating the crowd from the coaches or fighters.

7) Fights were stopped very early. The referees didn’t seem knowledgable. This may not be the production company’s fault; rather it might be the California State Athletic Commission, and we all know they’re pretty miserable at refereeing MMA.

8) They duct taped the corners of the cage. That’s a very bad sign of cage quality.

9) Ring girls were walking around the cage at inappropriate times, when they’re still announcing the fighters.

10) It seems like most of the people in the crowd had some sort of connection to the fighters or the production crew. A fight broke out in the crowd after one of the fights. I think opposing fighters’ friends got into a scuffle.

11) The announcer made a big statement about this being unprofessional, then proceeded to say that he had been a professional kickboxer for 17 years and knew what he was talking about. Except the way he said it was extremely self centered and unnecessary.

12) The crowd almost stormed the stage as one fighter was about to knock out his opponent. This blocked the view of everyone else in that section.

13) No replays. No live screen TV to see how the fights ended. Instant replays are nice.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the event. It was only $25 for the entire expo, versus hundreds (or thousands) of dollars for a UFC event. Very worth it considering the short notice.

[andycology]

I bought a car, but...

Returned it the next day.

The car dealership ran a hard credit check on me, even though I had paid the full amount in cash. The lies that occurred during the negotiation process and the next day (when I inquired about the credit check) led me to no longer want their business.

Future car owners: here are the lies for your educational and entertainment purposes.

Note: the dialogue was over the span of two days.

1. Dealership: a credit check is necessary to confirm that you are not terrorist. We are required to run this in compliance with the US Patriot Act.

Me: I read through the Patriot Act. It says no such action is necessary for car purchases.

2. Dealership: the credit check is a soft inquiry only, not a hard inquiry.

Me: I received an email immediately after I left the dealership that a hard credit check had been run.

3. Dealership: You’re right. The Patriot Act isn’t necessary. This is actually a company policy. We’ve been burned too many times where people have stolen our cars without paying.

Me: Do you have this on paper, that it is company policy?

Dealership: Yes.

Me: I’d like to see it.

*Ten minutes later.*

Dealership: Here’s the company policy.

*Three sentences on company letterhead, describing company policy that credit checks are necessary when paying with personal checks.*

Me: You obviously typed and printed this out just now. This was never on paper.

Dealership: You’re right, we did. We just need to protect ourselves, sorry.

4. Dealership: Credit checks are required for car purchases surpassing $10,000.

Me: That is only true when financing is required, or if payment is conducted with a personal check in the full amount.

5. Dealership: We thought you were going to pay with a personal check and had to run a credit check.

Me: One of the first things I said when discussing numbers was, “I will pay in cash in full. I do not have any checks on me, my checkbook is in Southern California.”

Dealership: Sorry, there was some sort of miscommunication.

6. Dealership: You had given us authorization to run a credit check on you.

Me: You’re right. I was reassured by the salesperson that this was a soft inquiry, because I was paying with cash, yet obliged with a soft credit check under the impression that this was in compliance of the US Patriot Act.

7. Dealership: We didn’t mean to run a hard check. It was supposed to be a soft check, but we were so busy and handed the task to the sales manager who accidentally ran two reports, making it a hard check.

Me: You will have this reversed.

Dealership: We can’t. You have to write the credit unions to file a complaint against us. If we do not reply to those complaints, which we won’t, then the credit checks will be removed.

Me: You will provide me with the unions’ contact information, and draft the full email complaint for me.

8. Dealership: If you’re so concerned about your credit score, why not just finance the car to build credit? Your credit score is excellent, so I’ve gotten the manager to approve a financing rate of 1.99%. You can pay it off in full the next month.

Me: You’re trying to offer me financing options when I've already paid the vehicle in its full amount?

Dealership: It’s only $20.

It’s not so much the credit check that bothered me, but all the lies that surrounded the inquiry.

The dealership is called Oak Tree Mazda, part of the Del Grande Dealer Group (DGDG).

[andycology]

Motorcycling through Taroko National Park (#2).

The second day of motorcycling through Taroko Gorge was mostly consisted of hiking two trails.

The first trail led us underneath a bridge and followed a river trail.

We could feel the residual rainwater; the air was moist. The trail was easy, and we eventually found ourselves at the end of the trail one kilometer in. The rest of the trail had been closed due to FUBAR typhoon damages a coupleyears earlier. You could see the damages ahead, making the scene look like a deserted island like the one in Crisis.

Off-topic alert: I loved Crysis and Crysis: Warhead. But Crysis 2 was such a disappointment, I forced myself to finish the game and didn’t bother with Crysis 3.

Our second trail was unplanned. We rode to the Eternal Spring Shrine and walked on in. All the tourists were content staying at ground level, but a flight of stairs at the back led somewhere. But where? Jin and I ventured forward, wondering where it would take us.

And up we went. For about half an hour, we climbed and climbed, getting an unexpected workout.

See that building at the top left of the photo? Yeah, we climbed higher than that building, scaling the side of a damn mountain. I was showering in my own sweat -- not sure if the hike was actually hard, or if I am that out of shape.

The view from the top was delightful, but we had to hurry back down to get back to Hualien, else Jin would miss her train ride back to Taipei. Back we went, and I spent the rest of the day exploring Hualien on my own.

Most of my experience in Taiwan has been in Taipei. For those traveling to the country, I would highly recommend this trip. Three days and two nights should suffice and will allow you to explore all of Hualien and Taroko Gorge. Prices were cheap:

* Train ticket from Taipei: $20 USD round trip * Motorcycle rental: $10 USD per day * Gasoline: $7 for full tank (lasted me three days) * Room & board: $51 USD for two nights at Shui Ming Yang B&B * Food: $2-7 per meal

I spent less than $150 for this three day two night vacation, very much affordable.

[andycology]

Motorcycling through Taroko National Park, Taiwan (#1).

Several years ago, I came across Mordeth13′s YouTube channel. M13 is a Canadian living in Taiwan. He popularized motorvlogging, otherwise known as motorcycle video blogging, where he would talk about various subjects while riding a motorcycle around the island.

Through him, I became obsessed over the idea of  環島, or traveling through the country via motorcycle.

Between March 31-April 2, 2015, I got to experience this by visiting Taroko National Park with a travel companion named Jin.

We took a train from Taipei Main Station to Hualien, rented two bikes upon arrival, and immediately headed towards Taroko Gorge. The park was first established by the Japanese empire in 1937. After the KMT took control of the island, the park was abolished until its re-opening in 1986. Thanks Wikipedia, getting me through college and beyond.

Motorcycle rentals were simple enough at 300 NTD ($10 USD) per day. The 125cc monsters took us off at 60-80 kmph. Bugs splattered on our faces pretty hard at these speeds, enough to deter us from going any faster. Oh, and it was both our second time ever driving a motorcycle. We “forgot” to inform/warn the rental place.

After riding 30 minutes northbound, we arrived at the entrance of the park.

There are around 30 peaks around the park that reach 3000 meters high. The mountains were mostly green (with trees) or white (marble rocks). Several rivers flow around the park, and the main river flow is controlled by a dam.

Jin and I cruised along the road and admired the scenery. Air was fresh and felt great hitting our skin. We eventually walked through a couple trails ranging between 2-4 km long. We used flashlights walking through tunnels, wore our hoodies through a waterfall, almost witnessed a monkey mugging some tourists, and other epic-sounding but easier-than-it-sounds kind of stuff. Unfortunately much of this epicness was not captured, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I appreciated how the park tried to minimize human presence. The tunnels were completely pitch black, no interior lighting ruining the feel. You could smell the sulfur and humidity from all the accumulated rain weather. I was also surprised to see how clean it was, cheers to concerted efforts by tourists for sustainability. Also cheers to Jin, who taught me how to properly say cheers -- she spent over eight years in the UK.

She was slightly afraid of heights and celebrated for not falling off the ledge.

On our way back in the afternoon, we crossed from the western to eastern park of the mountain. Never have I seen such a dramatic shift in weather -- from sunny to overcast in minutes. At first, I thought it was pretty cool biking along the same plane as clouds. Thought too soon, since it begun raining seconds later.

We tried to wait it out under the guise of a tunnel, but to no avail. Luckily, a taxi driver pulled over and handed us both raincoats, the yellow plastic kinds. He saved our lives; the rain did not stop for quite a while.

We rode back to our bed & breakfast in Hualien, drenched and exhausted but alive. Called the night early, for the next day would be just as adventurous.

Stay tuned for the second half.

[andycology]

What I did during my second seven hour layover in Istanbul, Turkey.

My first layover in Istanbul can be viewed here.

I landed in Istanbul at 4:30am on January 25, 2015. The visa from the first trip was still valid, so I quickly bypassed immigration and hopped on a taxi. Destination: Hagia Sophia.

It’s slightly scary. Nobody was around at that time, and the taxi driver didn’t speak any English. No data plan, no WiFi; the only thing I could count on were ATM machines and a pre-loaded Google Maps on my phone.

But that’s slightly the point of traveling: get lost in the city, find yourself, observe, reflect, and repeat. Minus the cheesiness.

Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosuqe looked incredible in the darkness. With nobody around at 5am, I walked around the perimeter of the area called Sultan Ahmet Park.

Not ten minutes after arriving, the Blue Mosque emitted a Turkish chant from super loud speakerphones, which I’m sure could be heard over one mile away. It was summoning the locals for Sunday morning prayer. Little by little, I saw people walk towards the building. I followed suit.

About a dozen seagulls flew around the Blue Mosque, as if they had made the pillars their home. Their presence gave a mysterious vibe. I followed three German tourists into the square.

Turns out we were not allowed into the mosque at this hour -- admittance for the general population was at 8am, and I wasn’t willing to stick around for two more hours.

So instead, I walked towards a square adjacent to the mosque called Mehmet Akif Ersoy Park. Alas, a restaurant was opening their doors! I stepped into Sultan Cafe & Restaurant.

Fortunately, an ATM was available right next to the restaurant. The owners also spoke English, which made ordering food easy. Was starving and chose the most expensive item on the menu in hopes of landing an awesome meal (less than $22 USD). It did not disappoint, but I was hoping for a local dish.

I ate breakfast while watching the sun rise, and wondered when I would see such a mesmerizing sight again.

Istanbul is unique in so many ways. As mentioned in my previous trip, the city is surrounded by water on three sides and connects the historical East and West. The geographic location has inevitably helped the air quality, which felt immensely refreshing with each breath. I walked along the waters and was confronted by endless stray (but friendly) cats and dogs. They lived/scavenged right by the water, super perplexing.

Virtually all the dogs I spotted had colored tags on their ears. I later found out that the city caught all strays, neutered them, and released them back into the wild. The dogs are free to roam around the city as part of the culture, and their population is controlled by this means.

If the waterfront had sand instead of rocks, I may have found a city that bests LA and Orange County beaches. Nothing is quite as beautiful as this city.

The stroll lasted nearly an hour before I headed inland again. Walked myself through the busy streets...

And the less busy streets...

To finally the small inner city alleyways.

Before I knew it, I found myself at the entrance of Topkapi Palace. The entrance resembled Wellesley’s campus, spacious and luscious green.

Seeing the Turkey flag for the first time, I finally made the connection to the Turkish Airlines logo. I like the clean look of the flag, simple yet powerful.

Photos weren’t allowed in most of the palace, so I was only able to capture snapshots of the scenic view of eastern Istanbul.

It was 11am before I knew it. Six hours had gone by, and it was time to head back to the airport. Hailed a cab and managed to communicate my needs to the Turkish driver, who happily obliged.

I would love to come back for an extended period of time, perhaps rent a car, and explore the rest of the historic city.

[andycology]

Box Dev 2015

Last Wednesday, April 22, I attended the Box Dev 2015 at Fort Mason, San Francisco. It was Box’s second annual conference, offering attendees a chance to hear what the company was up to and hear from various speakers talk about the ins and outs of the software business world.

This was my first tech conference in the Bay Area. At first glance, I liked the vast empty space within the conference room. Minimalist styling and scattered booths made walking around and meeting people easy. Folks crowded over the various food stands, the center coffee bar, and the various sit-down spots.

One thing I was impressed with in general was that an app was made specifically for the event. The app contained the day’s agenda for the various tracks and speakers involved. More impressively, it was interactive and allowed folks to meet others via location tracker -- if you pinged, nearby folks with their general profile will be able to get a hold of you. Professional Tinder, in short.

The opening talk introduced Box’s founder and CEO Aaron Levie and Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt engaging in lighthearted talks about what their respective companies were up to. In summary, Google is immersed in machine learning, and cars will be self driving within decades.

Sitting in a room with a combined personnel net worth possibly nearing $100 billion USD was humbling, not because of their worth, but because the entrepreneurs remained obsessed with product creation rather than making money. If the products are great, the money will naturally come.

Swag bags were nice. Every attendee received a free copy of How Google Works. I’m currently 1/3 through the book, and have noticed some overlap in mindset with Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. Both are easy reads and highly recommended for anyone interested in innovation and entrepreneurship, irregardless of industries.

Moving on with the conference, I admit I was disappointed with some promising panels. Marc Benioff acted pompous, and the talk was awkwardly felt across the audience. The VC Panel was lackluster and the conversations felt forced. The CIO Panel was fairly interesting, but the room acoustics made hearing the speakers difficult. 

An exception was the Security Panel with Andrew Rubin, Michelle Zatlyn, and Paris Tabriz. The three held a natural conversation revolving around cybersecurity with a moral spin. Highly interesting talk, and relate-able, as I’ve experienced a few DDoS attacks. My former company’s CTO eventually adopted and uses the CloudFlare software, which was cofounded by Zatlyn. She is a fan of the platform.

Overall, I would give the conference 3/5 stars. Great effort on lightheartedness, like the developer handprints on each of the bathroom urinals.

Points off for overly loud music, yet underwhelming microphones. Points off for many speakers who did not seem interested in the dialogue.

All in all, still a great time spent with buddies Eddie and Shir.

[andycology]

Introduction to Dota 2, and ownage Fridays.

After years of gaming hiatus, I began playing Dota 2 about 3-4 months ago. I had no idea it had been out for four years. Four years of my life could have been spent playing a damn fun game.

But first, the humble introduction.

Dota 2 is a competitive multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), which players compete in a five versus five match with selected units (heroes). Heroes kill non-player controlled units (NPCs) to gain gold, which they are able to buy items that increase their abilities. They then kill enemy heroes and eventually push a tug-of-war style map to secure a victory.

This is what a typical battle looks like in Dota 2.

Picking up the game wasn’t too difficult; I played Warcraft 3 Dota for a couple of years in high school. This multi-million dollar franchise, amazingly enough, was made by a map creator in Warcraft 3 named IceFrog. He essentially created a new genre from his own ingenuity, using Blizzard’s amazing open-sourced map editor. Dota stood for Defense of the Ancients (DotA), which was part of the Warcraft lore of the Night Elves battling the pre-Orcs. Nerds unite.

This is what Warcraft III DotA looked like.

Valve Corporation (creator of the Half-Life, Portal, and Team Fortress series) eventually hired IceFrog to remake the game as a standalone project, culminating into Dota 2.

Second, the fun.

I’ve been mostly playing on my own, as I don’t know anybody in the same time zone (Americas now) who play the game. If you play, reach out to me. Now and then, I get to play with my Ukrainian buddies Alexey and Igor. The two used to play fairly competitively, and thus are solid at the game. They “carry” me suffice to say.

Alexey to the left, Igor in the middle, and myself on the right in Lviv, Ukraine.

We were playing in ranked matches rated at the high 3,000s, as the two have 4,000-4,500 ratings. On the contrary, my individual rating is currently around 2,800. Therefore, I enjoy playing a “support” hero with them. My role is to allow them to get stronger with as few interruptions as possible, so that they can overwhelm the enemy with brute strength.

There were a few games in particular which we dominated. Igor then messaged me privately, suggesting I write a new blog about our dominant victory, titled “Ownage Fridays.” I agreed.

I’m not merely gloating; we have lost our fair share of battles.

The incredible thing is that the love for games has connected people together, who otherwise live in different parts of the world. Gaming with Alexey and Igor is similar to practicing mixed martial arts with Rostyslav, where we’ve bonded over similar interests. Instead of merely talking about work, or sticking to small talk, we exude passion over these hobbies.

Yet another reason why I love gaming.

[andycology]

Richard, met again (#27).

“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen?”

I took a walk around my neighborhood this afternoon. While walking past my junior high school, a familiar face walked into the basketball court.

“Richard?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember me?”

“Yeah, we used to play basketball together. I don’t remember your name though.”

“Yeah, it’s been almost over ten years. It’s Andy.”

Indeed, ever since I was around 10 years old, I would walk to the school and play pick-up games with Richard and a bunch of guys ranging in age. The love for the game brought us all together. Richard is now 29, five years my elder. He must have just begun high school when we had played together.

We ended up catching up, as we were no longer 10 and 15 years old. He’s been married almost a year now. Still plays often, still looking in great shape. He was and still is a decent guy, always kept out of trouble and stayed away from all the bad kids and drugs.

I was one of, if not the youngest, guys who played there. I remember Yohan, an early 30s guy who, along with his son, played often. I recall him saying his daughter was around my age then, and that we might get married one day. Hah!

Richard still keeps in touch with one of the originals, Brandon. I remember bringing Brandon over once, because he needed to use the bathroom. The family was shocked, seeing such a tall guy at 6′3″ enter the house. The two went to Sunny Hills High, but had already graduated by the time I entered high school. Brandon lives in L.A. now, great to see that they kept in touch all this time.

Shooting hoops with Richard brought back all the old memories. The drinks machine in the back, where everyone hoarded at the end of each game. The blue Powerade, yes. We reminisced about the old days, without iPads and smart phones, where all the kids and adults played outdoors. We shared our concern about kids at this age who are more into electrifying everything rather than enjoying the physical outdoors.

Richard has been re-met, but I wonder... how many people have I looked at all my life and never seen?

[andycology]

Scuba diving in Similan Islands, Thailand (#2).

Part 1 of this post available here.

Scuba diving is not difficult. You are technically not swimming; it’s more appropriate to say that you are floating in space. Scuba diving is meant to be extremely relaxing, because the slower you breathe, the slower you use up the oxygen tank. Therefore, controlled breathing is key, which can only be maintained through relaxation.

Our average dive times were between 40-45 minutes, with a maximum dive time of 50 minutes and inclusive of a five minute safety stop. Crossing 18 meters in depth increases the nitrogen presence in your blood. When ascending too quickly, divers can experience nitrogen narcosis (poisoning), so a “safety stop” five meters below surface is required to help release some of the nitrogen from your body. Dive computers help with depth calculations.

My dive partner Brady and I performing a safety stop, grabbing onto the anchor line.

Every dive in which divers emerge safely is a successful dive. The goal is to see something new, learning a new maneuvering trick, and to enjoy the underwater scenery. Our three days resulted in zero issues, but one dive in particular had me plenty scared.

The third dive on our first day was at Koh Tachai. The currents were very strong, so we had to maneuver through giant boulders. Fighting the current to not get swept away, while trying to control my breathing, was extremely tiring. I remember my heart beating very quickly, and had issues returning to a normal heartrate from panicking. Myself and many others had to grab onto boulders to rest. Everyone was fine, but most people called it quits before 40 minutes. I felt exhausted, nauseous, and skipped the evening dive.

Luckily, the other dives were in fairly calm waters. I do not wish to encounter strong currents again.

A group of barracudas swimming together. They are known to bad together in “tornadoes” as they slowly swim around in circles. Slightly reminded me of the scene in The Matrix Revolutions, whenthe machines breach Zion and move together as a single unit.

If I could only select one dive as the highlight, it would be at the Richelieu Rock site. This used to be on many “Top 10″ or “Top 30″ dive sites in the world, presenting world class views of rich corals and marine life. The above is my favorite photo of the bunch, showcasing tropical fish swimming through the red and purple corals.

This is where we spotted the shy eels, groups of lion fish, groups of cuddlefish, giant groupers, and more.

Three cuddlefish, with myself in the background.

An eel peeking out from its hiding spot.

A sea turtle at Turtle Rock Island. Its shell is particularly amazing. Other turtles we spotted had crusted, asymmetrical shells. Turtles here are very tolerant of diver presence, and do not flee on site. We took pictures of this turtle as close as five feet away, and it merely turned its head to look at us. Very docile creature.

The liveaboard was fantastic. The staff supplied everything from the equipment, to all-you-can-eat buffets, drinks and snacks, showers, and living quarters. They spend almost all their time on the boats, while speedboats carry divers to and from the boat. The staffers were local, while the dive masters came from all over the world.

Included amongst the diver masters was an American man and a Korean woman with a Ph.D in math! Both began as diving hobbyists, then shifted to careerists. Divers I met were also from all over the world: Slovenia, Croatia, USA, Australia, and more.

Last but not least, I’m grateful to have joined the diving expedition via Janet and Dan. From meeting them to Taiwan, to rendezvousing again in Berkeley, to scuba diving in Thailand, this serves as a reminder to me that the world is large enough to explore, but small enough to maintain meaningful relationships!

[andycology]

Dream retention (#31).

I remember two dreams from last night.

In the first dream, I was part of a group of people who were stranded on an island. We were in a jungle or forest, and were trying to outrun three women (or witches).

We failed at hiding, and the witches shot darts at us, transforming us into small to medium sized trinkets or materials. Each person transformed into 3-4 of those said objects. As the island became more inhabited with people, folks bartered my multiples, I became more “valuable” and was able to redeem more humanistic characteristics. Eventually, myself and others became human again, and we were able to barter our former goods to make a living.

I only remember two goods: AstroTurf, blue buckets. Yes, I became AstroTurf when I was shot by witches.

In the second dream, I was resting on a podium in the middle of a walkway, in the middle of an open recreational park. The park was slightly hilly, and the grass was perfectly green. A stray cat was sniffing around the grass a few feet to my right, and I pretended not to pay it any attention so not to spook it.

All of a sudden, the cat pounces onto the grass and pulls out a small 1.5 feet white-colored snake. The cat skins the snake perfectly and eats its white and red meat.

Analysis: In the first dream, the jungle may have been from my recent playthrough of the 2013 computer game Tomb Raider. I watched a clip of Kill Bill Vol. 2 yesterday, including the scene where Bill shoots Beatrix with the truth serum dart.

In the second dream, the skinning of the snake may have been my recent thoughts and brief talks about PETA regarding their filming of animals.

[andycology]

Manta rays, sea turtles, barracuda tornadoes, and more: scuba diving in Similan Islands, Thailand (#1).

In late November 2014, I embarked on a three day scuba diving trip off the western coast of Phuket, Thailand. Two friends Dan and Janet, whom I previously wrote about last year, invited me on a three day, two night diving trip on the world renowned Similan Islands, on board a boat.

Coincidentally, we touched base as I was finishing my scuba diving license, and there was room for more on the live-aboard! South Siam Divers was the name of the diving company we went to bed with.The trip would comprise of 11 dives over the course of three days, all inclusive of room and board, food, and equipment. All for the cost of about $820 USD.

To reach the liveaboard, a speed boat drove took us 1.5 hours off the coast of Phuket to reach the islands. The group of nine islands are approximately 70 kilometers off the coast, located on this map.

This was a scuba-focused trip, and we got to work immediately. The entire group of ~25 people dove three days within that first afternoon and evening. I was feeling nauseous and exhausted, likely from jet lag and lack of sleep, and skipped the night dive. Unfortunately, I missed out on the only night dive of the trip.

Even then, the diving experience was truly remarkable, expanding my total dives from four to 14. Most of these dives, including the first day at Koh Bon and Koh Tachai, dove to depths of 30 meters. As I was only Open Water certified, I was technically allowed to dive to a maximum depth of 18 meters. It’s a good thing I did not know this limitation, else I may have been more nervous.

Dan and Janet also brought their friends: Brady, Tim, and Ivy. Brady was my diving partner, and we also hired a local dive master to ensure that we see every little detail. Having Brady watch my back while following the dive master immensely boosted my confidence, as I was the least experienced diver of the bunch.

As much as I’d like to give details of the classes of fish or abundant sea life, I cannot say much besides providing the beautiful photos. Scuba diving was everything I imagined it to be, and more. All is quiet except for the sound of your breathing. You’re suspended in 40-50 minutes of tranquility with an endless array of color moving around as fish, corals, and all the little sea monsters.

Don’t forget the big monsters. Manta rays accompanied us from the first dive, with the largest having a wingspan of 5 meters long. They approached us curiously, almost within arm reach. Rays swim in circles, so all we had to do was turn and look at them, so spectating was effortless.

The rich corals brought Finding Nemo to life. From clownfish in their anemones habitats, to giant shrimps and lobsters hiding between the cracks, to eels looking up at you from their shy corners, it’s incredibly surreal.

Seeing the ocean traffic, chaotic but orderly, reminded me of all the futuristic movies with flying cars. The Mass Effects, Fifth Elements and every other Tom Cruise movie sprung to life in front of my very eyes

And the minute details was equally spurring, such as this little sea slug.

Or the intense details between these two gigantic boulders.

Or this one.

Other times, I’m left aghast from fish that seem to be glowing blue, swimming around you as you try to take a closer look. That, and bigger fish are chasing them -- must taste delicious.

Besides the marine life, another worldly sight was being able to see two different currents intersect. Thailand waters are extremely warm, but as we were 30 meters down, you could visibly see where the water temperature becomes drastically cooler. Similar to seeing “water” on the the asphalt in the California heat, or the same in deserts, we were able to see an upcoming current. I remember the lower half of my body entered this current, and the cold water felt good, albeit scary, as the current slowly swept me away.

There’s much more to be said for this three day trip, so I’ll continue on with barracuda tornadoes, sea turtles, and the overall liveaboard experience in the next post.

[andycology]

Ukraine: city tour of Lviv (#6).

I returned to Lviv in February 2015 and spent several days with wonderful people.

One of the groups is originally from Donetsk; they fled the war-torn city several months earlier and re-settled in Lviv. Most of them spoke Russian as a first language, but like most of the country, are proficient in both Ukrainian and Russian.

We explored the city together on a Saturday, beginning with the city hall tower. Accompanying me were Elena, Roman, Igor, Alexey, and Asya.

Lviv is tremendously different in the winter. Snow-covered rooftops and the winter chill left me no choice but to hide behind layers of clothing. The long walk to the top of the tower showed me the different styled architecture: Austrian in the center, which were intact from World War II, and the Russian style in the surroundings, expanded from the Cold War.

Igor, Alexey and I via selfie.

It’s no wonder, then, that being in the city hall reminded me of being in Disneyland; Walt Disney is Austrian, after all, and Old Town inevitably resembles his roots. We hopped in a tourist “train” that took us around the city. I sat back and listened to the tape playback the history of the many sculptures and iconic buildings scattered around Lviv.

Afterwards, we took a long walk towards the outdoor Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life. The park was enormous, and when looking at the surroundings, I would have imagined us to be in a national park. Fresh snow, frozen over lakes, leafless trees all contributed to a natural look and feel.

Elena walking back from a model windmill, unknowing that I took a candid photo.

The park is located about eight km away from the airport and three kilometers away from the city center.

The park revitalized my lust for outdoor exploration. Of all the places to see snow for the first time in two years, I could not have been happier for it to be in Ukraine.

[andycology]

Ukraine: skiing on the Carpathian mountains of Bukovel (#5).

Snow at the ground level is a foreign concept to Californians. Whereas the rest of the US and much of the world have a season called winter, Californians shiver at the thought of sub 65 Fahrenheit (18.3 Celcius) weather.

Ukraine's sub-zero temperature, though non-ideal on the ground level, presented the perfect opportunity to visit the Carpathian Mountains. Rostyslav and Volodymyr took me to Bukovel, the largest ski resort in Ukraine and the world's fastest growing ski resort in 2012.

We left my hotel at 6am, then drove over two hours to the slopes. I slept half way, but was again mesmerized at the roads, homes, foliage (or lack of), and blue-grey skies.

There were some difficulties getting ski rentals. None of us brought our passports, didn't know they were required for all rental equipment, even for Ukrainian citizens. Therefore, we needed to withdraw several thousand Ukrainian Hryvnias. This is a small fortune for local folks, and we maxed out the daily ATM withdraw limits on one debit card.

Afterwards, up the slopes we went!

It was snowing all day. Volodymyr brought his daughter, but Rostyslav and I parted ways and accidentally went down an intermediate slope on the first run. And that was Rostyslav's first run, ever -- he had never skied before.

He fell about three times within that timespan, and only fell an additional 3-4 times throughout the rest of the 6-hour day. I simply told him "This is hot dog, this is pizza. Hot dog is fast, pizza is slow. After that you just shift weights left to right to slow down, which cuts your skis into the snow." By the end, he was going down the intermediate slopes with ease, an incredibly quick learner. I want my refund back when I had learned through a ski professional, some time around the age of 10.

Bukovel slopes are no joke. There were three separate mountains with two main valleys. The gondolas all housed four people and moved at fast speeds. As a first, the boarding area was a moving platform; we simply lined up onto the moving platform, and the chairs would align.

The trip to Bukovel was unexpected. I didn't bring any contact lenses, thus wore my glasses on the slope. Didn't bring any gear, so I wore jeans. No mask or goggles.

This resulted in snow hitting my face at high velocities. I felt like The Day After Tomorrow descended upon me, and that a new Ice Age was upon us. I could barely speak from the semi-frozen lips. Major lisp, much embarrassed.

Spoiled, overdramatic Californians, can't get used to winter weather.

Even this doggy was just chillin' there. No shivering and no complaints. I dusted the snow off him, hoping he had somewhere warm to go at late. Sincerely hope that wasn't a stray.

First time on a slope outside of California, glad it was in Ukraine. Let's conquer an Asian mountain next time, maybe Japan or Korea!

[andycology]

Ukraine: Ivano Frankivsk colleagues (#4).

Being in a globally distributed software company, I'm proud to say that we have a globally represented team. Many of my colleagues are from Ukraine, which is my primary reason for visiting the country. This post is dedicated to our team in Ivano-Frankisvk, who are some of the most talented people I know.

Our youngest developer is 24 years old, and the eldest is in his early 30s. Almost all of them are from the Ivano-Frankivsk region (southwest Ukraine), and thus safe from the immediate conflict in the east/southeast region.

Several of them are married with children, and I've met two of their kids -- gorgeous kids. Although too small a sample to generalize amongst the region or country, I noted that they had kids at an earlier age of 24-27ish. I wonder what the average child-bearing age is?

I got to know many of them on a very personal level during my two-week visit in November 2014, and more recently in my two-week visit in January 2015.

We share many similarities. Rostyslav also loves mixed martial arts, and we talked about the recent UFC bouts. Through him, I learned that Fedor Emelianenko was born in Ukraine. Good, Slava Ukrayini (Glory to Ukraine)! Note: zero political biases intended.

I grappled with some local talent, many of them having competed or won some tournaments. I got my ass kicked and tapped out several times in just a few minutes. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is something I definitely want to learn more of, as it's incredibly fun and the risk of injury is much lower than kickboxing.

Vitaliy loves skiing, and described the nearby Bukavel ski resort, in which Volodymyr took us to over the weekend! More on Bukavel next time, but here's a sneak peek.

Volodymyr gets teased by the rest of the guys as being a huge flirt. He's also pretty dorky, despite being the biggest of the bunch, like a gentle bear. I can also see just how much he loves his daughter, hope to be the same when I have kids. Rostyslav two is the same, focusing on his family, and is more introverted.

There's also Oleh and Yulian, both incredibly funny in their mostly-joking arguments when delivering code. The two are the only smokers out of the team, and before large deploys, they walk outside for that cigarette break. That's when you know things are getting real.

Finally, there's Roman. He is perhaps the most calm and composed, yet incredibly articulate and possibly possesses the strongest verbal English of the group. He enjoys reading contemporary philosophy, Dilbert comics, and keeping up with economics and finance. I brought him two Calvin & Hobbes books, hoping to share some of my childhood with him. Roman is my main "partner in crime" where we've developed the most features together -- me on the product specifications; him on the software engineering; me on the user acceptance testing; and him on the revisions and bug fixes.

Most of them went to the local Ivano Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, which I had the pleasure of driving by one day. The campus looked completely different than any other school I've seen. I saw oil refineries uprooted in the center, with several brick buildings that I assume were classrooms. Most of them studied some field of engineering and either picked up programming during or shortly after school.

These guys are incredibly hard working, honest, decent people. They all value their families highly. They exude much passion in various topics, be it the above hobbies, or the greater crisis in Ukraine, or improving their English communication, and expanding their curiosities. They're kind and empathetic, doing their best to order foods they think I'll like, as most menus are in Ukrainian Cyrillic script.

If there's an ideal engineering team, this is the squadron; the team; the group of friends.

[√] Solid and closed!

[andycology]

Ukraine: the Soviet-style city of Ivano-Frankivsk (#3)

The city center of Lviv is nothing short of breathtaking. The Austrian style buildings resemble that of Disneyland's Old Town, which makes sense considering that Walt Disney was from Austria.

Ivano-Frankivsk, on the other hand, looks completely different. The city is 140km southeast of Lviv, much further away from the Polish borders.

Ivano-Frankivsk, or Івано-Франківськ in Cryllic script, did not fare as well as Lviv (or most other cities in eastern Europe) during World War II. Most of the buildings were destroyed, leaving much reconstruction to the Soviet bloc. This is evident in all the Soviet-style buildings present today.

According to a colleague, they were built to be as functional as possible, and upheaved in a short amount of time, and thus lacked in aesthetic value. Combined with poor maintenance in public parks and roads, the buildings and surroundings looked grim.

I don't mean to sensationalize photos, as abandoned buildings like these are also visible in Detroit, but seeing this small town with wild overgrowth, busted windows, and disheveled roads made me feel like I was in a completely different world. The gamer in me thought of both the post-apocalyptic world of "Bulletstorm" and the opening cinematic of "The Last of Us."

The cost of living of Ivano-Frankivsk is lower than the tourist-heavy Lviv. I was eating meals that ranged from 16-85 Ukrainian Hryvnia per dish. Using today's conversion rate, $1 USD = 25.62 Hryvnias. This is incredibly inflated, considering yesterday was $1 USD to 25.00 Hryvnias, and three months ago was 1 :: 16. Before the conflict, the currency was stable at 1 USD to 8 Hryvnias, so it has depreciated by over three times in one year. Incredible.

My colleague told me that the average salary of Ukrainian citizens is about $200 USD per month, which means that the meals we ate were comparatively expensive, averaging $12.5-$66 USD per dish scaled for someone who makes $4000 USD per month.

Despite this, there is much beauty in Frankivsk. Restaurants are wonderfully decorated. There are wonderful people there, still working and hustling day to day. More on both next time.

[andycology]

Hi! Been reading your travel stories! So are you still based in Taiwan? How do you deal with jetlag...working across timezones etc? And maybe work/life balance?

Hello, thanks for reaching out!

Yes, I am still based on Taiwan.

Jetlag impacts me greatly, and I already don't sleep well as it is. Sleeping on planes is not my thing, but an inflatable neck pillow helps. When back in Taipei, I sometimes take melatonin to help adjust; it doesn't induce sleep, but helps keep me asleep if/when I finally fall asleep.

Working across timezones is easy. I keep the hours of the current timezone, and communicate with colleagues via chat services. I manage teams in Europe and Asia. When in Taiwan, I often start and end later to communicate with the Europe teams.

If we broadly categorize work, I also include thinking or acting on investments and personal finance. If that's the case, I'd say my work/life balance is currently 80/20. In my opinion, your 20s is the time to shoot as far as you can, career wise. Any "play" you can spare, should be spared.

Even then, my work/life balance has greatly improved. I usually end work before 7:30pm now. I've made new friends in Taipei, which has made a big difference, else most my friends are in the States. I also began kickboxing classes at an MMA gym, getting my butt kicked every time.