It's been six whole days since we got back from Miami and there is absolutely no travelling plans on my calender for the rest of the year. WHAT?! Yes, really!! Can you believe it? I can't! I'm itching to fly... ok, I'd admit it: I'm trying to make platinum executive this year and dammit, if it means having to fly to Australia twice or going to Shanghai for a couple of days, I shall!
Yes, summer is fast approaching (yukky weather already!) and we'd fly a lot more together. But plans aren't concrete until the e-ticket has been printed and I hate planning and talking and no action. We want to go to SO many places but I know in reality, we'd be lucky if we go to a fraction of the places we want to go and see people we want to visit. I don't know why. It happens every summer. It's annoying. I guess we just get lazy - it's the damn heat of course! It always is the heat. Right now, plans are Japan (DUH!), Hong Kong (free hotel so it's a MUST go), Australia (c'mon before we have to pay for hotel!), China (mega miles), Boston (clam chowder, lobsters and shopping), maybe Seattle...
I've offered to take ROMT somewhere next weekend lol. Yes, I'm getting desperate. Coincidentally, April 28 is the last day in school for the senior boys and ROMT had decided earlier he will not partake in the ridiculous behaviours that day in school nor babysit them. He has taken the day off; which means we can go somewhere Thursday evening or Friday morning. Awesome! Unfortunately, it's already Saturday morning now which means it's less then a week before travel time and the trip will cost me my kidney! AIYOH! Pain in the ass.
Right now, our options are San Franciso - 800 bucks each, Seattle, $950 each, Toronto 490 each, Caribbean or Mexico (I told you I was desperate!) about 1K each... I could see a couple of friends in Toronto but they aren't very exciting. In SF, many friends whom I might not see but we would definitely see Dave and Arturo (see last posting), in Seattle we would hang out with the Shultze's and Julie (if she's around) and anywhere else, we'd just have to wing it and hang out and enjoy new things and people... but where?! ROMT is upstairs (as usual) working on his own thang and I'm being ignored on a too-bright Saturday morning. Maybe weekends aren't my favorite time of the week arrgh!
Need to decide NOW before the price goes up any more. Fine, I'd break the silence.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Monday, April 17, 2006
I'm Married To A Celebrity
No doubt only a mere Memphis celebrity for a day. Beats not being a celebrity at all I suppose lol.
This morning, on a slow news day (his words, not mine), an article in the local newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, was posted about ROMT. Yup, the husband!!
The article is as follows (in case the link above doesn't work) but let me prep you... there is nothing in it about me even tho' I was bloody interviewed HAHAHAHA! Well at least it mentioned my name lol. I suppose everything I said just all ended up on the editing room floor hahaha. It also did not print our neice's name (the one in Singapore of course!) or my brother would owe Bruce some loot... but in his defense, Emma's name was mentioned. I was there when he said her name :) At least he tried...
MUS alum's talent was Microsoft's loss
Photo Mike Brown
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Bruce Ryan is in his fifth year teaching eighth-grade algebra at Memphis University School, where he graduated in 1980. He left a lucrative position at Microsoft to return to the classroom.
April 17, 2006
The e-mail came from an old mentor at Memphis University School, Bruce Ryan's yearbook adviser to be exact, and it contained a familiar entreaty.
"Bruce, are you still alive?" wrote Ellis Haguewood, now the MUS headmaster.
"If yes, go to question #2. If no, skip down to the end.
"Is there life after Microsoft? If yes, where is it?
"You know that we could use a good-looking guy like you at MUS for a few years or a few months or even a few days."
During his 10 years at Microsoft, Bruce Ryan heard various versions of that pitch from Haguewood, but he was usually too busy working for one of the world's most powerful and important companies to even contemplate moving back to Memphis, much less consider working for his old high school.
He had graduated from MUS in 1980 and gone to Harvard, then to Stanford for business school and law school. He got to Microsoft in 1989, when there were 3,000 employees and six buildings.
When he left Microsoft in 1999, there more than 30,000 employees and more than 100 buildings.
Inside the Microsoft culture, where products are created with an almost evangelical zeal, shaping young minds sounds like a noble enough calling.
But Microsoft was trying to change the world, after all.
Go back to MUS? "That always seemed like a very fantastical thing that would never happen," Ryan remembers.
And yet, not long after getting the e-mail, Ryan found himself sitting in Haguewood's office, talking about a role as the school's chief of technology. Then the phone rang, and it was Major Wright, a math teacher and football assistant, informing Haguewood he was leaving for White Station.
"We'll find another eighth-grade algebra teacher," Ryan heard Haguewood say.
When Haguewood put down the phone, Ryan asked: "Mr. Haguewood, can I teach eighth-grade algebra?"
"He looked at me kind of funny," Ryan remembers, "and I don't know to this day if he was wondering whether I could do it or why on earth would I want to do it."
'Microsoft was a good preparation'
On a recent Monday in Mr. Ryan's classroom at MUS, the topics for the day are scrawled on a giant whiteboard.
Review Irrational Numbers
Introduce Radical Numbers
Standing before a classroom of eighth-graders, Ryan looks so comfortable in his fifth year at MUS that he could have been shipped from central casting.
"Indefatigable" is how Haguewood remembers Ryan as a student, and it isn't far off now as he takes students through the tricky fundamentals of converting fractions to decimals and delving into the complex world of square roots.
"Loving it, loving it, loving it," he cackles when the students find the midpoint between two fractions.
His class is a mix of formal and informal, casual and serious.
Kind of like Microsoft.
"Microsoft was a good preparation for teaching at MUS," Ryan says.
"We had a lot of smart folks at Microsoft, but they were not always the most mature people in the world."
At MUS, among 'boyhood heroes'
When he started teaching, Ryan says, he was nervous, more so because of the company he was keeping than the students he would teach.
Many of the teachers he found at MUS when he moved from Boston as a 15-year-old remain on the faculty.
"To me," he says, "it's like growing up with your boyhood heroes being the New York Yankees and then actually getting to play with them."
This, mind you, from a man who has stood on stage with Bill Gates in New York and given presentations. This from a guy who took one year away from Microsoft to work as a producer on the old show "American Gladiators."
"But that's another story," Ryan will say, and it is true that so many of his tales veer away from the main path.
There's the time he spent moonlighting as part-owner of Schulzy's Sausage in Seattle.
There's the long courtship with his wife, Karen, who is from Singapore and met him when a co-worker suggested she e-mail him for advice on a software glitch. They got engaged two days after 9/11 and married two weeks after that, on the MUS steps.
And there is the story of his good friend John Nielson, who like Ryan had joined Microsoft in the late '80s.
Nielson died shortly before Ryan left Microsoft, and Ryan can still remember his funeral, at Bill Gates' house, and hearing letters Nielson had written to his young children.
"It was," Ryan says, "the first time when I actually sensed that, despite my youth, time was a limited and precious commodity even for the young."
That led to Ryan re-evaluating his life, to thinking more about things like family. His mother, sister and two nieces live here, his father in Hot Springs, Ark.
"I would fly in for 24 hours on a holiday break, say hello, drop off some Christmas gifts and fly off to my next destination, wherever that might be," Ryan says.
With stock options, a nice salary and promotions over the years, he had done well. He is not a "billionaire," though some of his students have told him he must be.
Maybe if he hadn't cashed all those stock options in the early years ...
"I used to know people who sold none of their stock and so now they live in giant mansions and have streets named after them. I was not one of those people. I made enough money so that I can both teach here and make charitable donations to organizations that mean a lot to me."
In that e-mail from six years ago, Haguewood had said, "Actually the pay could be seven figures per year, if two of them follow the decimal point."
Ryan knows his math too well to fall for that one, but he also knows there are different ways to measure value.
"I wasn't sure how long I would do it when I came in. I get so much joy out of coming to work here every day. It is really exciting."
From MUS to Microsoft and back -- it may sound radical and even a little irrational, but Bruce Ryan is loving it.
--Zack McMillin: 529-2564
This morning, on a slow news day (his words, not mine), an article in the local newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, was posted about ROMT. Yup, the husband!!
The article is as follows (in case the link above doesn't work) but let me prep you... there is nothing in it about me even tho' I was bloody interviewed HAHAHAHA! Well at least it mentioned my name lol. I suppose everything I said just all ended up on the editing room floor hahaha. It also did not print our neice's name (the one in Singapore of course!) or my brother would owe Bruce some loot... but in his defense, Emma's name was mentioned. I was there when he said her name :) At least he tried...
MUS alum's talent was Microsoft's loss
Photo Mike Brown
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Bruce Ryan is in his fifth year teaching eighth-grade algebra at Memphis University School, where he graduated in 1980. He left a lucrative position at Microsoft to return to the classroom.
April 17, 2006
The e-mail came from an old mentor at Memphis University School, Bruce Ryan's yearbook adviser to be exact, and it contained a familiar entreaty.
"Bruce, are you still alive?" wrote Ellis Haguewood, now the MUS headmaster.
"If yes, go to question #2. If no, skip down to the end.
"Is there life after Microsoft? If yes, where is it?
"You know that we could use a good-looking guy like you at MUS for a few years or a few months or even a few days."
During his 10 years at Microsoft, Bruce Ryan heard various versions of that pitch from Haguewood, but he was usually too busy working for one of the world's most powerful and important companies to even contemplate moving back to Memphis, much less consider working for his old high school.
He had graduated from MUS in 1980 and gone to Harvard, then to Stanford for business school and law school. He got to Microsoft in 1989, when there were 3,000 employees and six buildings.
When he left Microsoft in 1999, there more than 30,000 employees and more than 100 buildings.
Inside the Microsoft culture, where products are created with an almost evangelical zeal, shaping young minds sounds like a noble enough calling.
But Microsoft was trying to change the world, after all.
Go back to MUS? "That always seemed like a very fantastical thing that would never happen," Ryan remembers.
And yet, not long after getting the e-mail, Ryan found himself sitting in Haguewood's office, talking about a role as the school's chief of technology. Then the phone rang, and it was Major Wright, a math teacher and football assistant, informing Haguewood he was leaving for White Station.
"We'll find another eighth-grade algebra teacher," Ryan heard Haguewood say.
When Haguewood put down the phone, Ryan asked: "Mr. Haguewood, can I teach eighth-grade algebra?"
"He looked at me kind of funny," Ryan remembers, "and I don't know to this day if he was wondering whether I could do it or why on earth would I want to do it."
'Microsoft was a good preparation'
On a recent Monday in Mr. Ryan's classroom at MUS, the topics for the day are scrawled on a giant whiteboard.
Review Irrational Numbers
Introduce Radical Numbers
Standing before a classroom of eighth-graders, Ryan looks so comfortable in his fifth year at MUS that he could have been shipped from central casting.
"Indefatigable" is how Haguewood remembers Ryan as a student, and it isn't far off now as he takes students through the tricky fundamentals of converting fractions to decimals and delving into the complex world of square roots.
"Loving it, loving it, loving it," he cackles when the students find the midpoint between two fractions.
His class is a mix of formal and informal, casual and serious.
Kind of like Microsoft.
"Microsoft was a good preparation for teaching at MUS," Ryan says.
"We had a lot of smart folks at Microsoft, but they were not always the most mature people in the world."
At MUS, among 'boyhood heroes'
When he started teaching, Ryan says, he was nervous, more so because of the company he was keeping than the students he would teach.
Many of the teachers he found at MUS when he moved from Boston as a 15-year-old remain on the faculty.
"To me," he says, "it's like growing up with your boyhood heroes being the New York Yankees and then actually getting to play with them."
This, mind you, from a man who has stood on stage with Bill Gates in New York and given presentations. This from a guy who took one year away from Microsoft to work as a producer on the old show "American Gladiators."
"But that's another story," Ryan will say, and it is true that so many of his tales veer away from the main path.
There's the time he spent moonlighting as part-owner of Schulzy's Sausage in Seattle.
There's the long courtship with his wife, Karen, who is from Singapore and met him when a co-worker suggested she e-mail him for advice on a software glitch. They got engaged two days after 9/11 and married two weeks after that, on the MUS steps.
And there is the story of his good friend John Nielson, who like Ryan had joined Microsoft in the late '80s.
Nielson died shortly before Ryan left Microsoft, and Ryan can still remember his funeral, at Bill Gates' house, and hearing letters Nielson had written to his young children.
"It was," Ryan says, "the first time when I actually sensed that, despite my youth, time was a limited and precious commodity even for the young."
That led to Ryan re-evaluating his life, to thinking more about things like family. His mother, sister and two nieces live here, his father in Hot Springs, Ark.
"I would fly in for 24 hours on a holiday break, say hello, drop off some Christmas gifts and fly off to my next destination, wherever that might be," Ryan says.
With stock options, a nice salary and promotions over the years, he had done well. He is not a "billionaire," though some of his students have told him he must be.
Maybe if he hadn't cashed all those stock options in the early years ...
"I used to know people who sold none of their stock and so now they live in giant mansions and have streets named after them. I was not one of those people. I made enough money so that I can both teach here and make charitable donations to organizations that mean a lot to me."
In that e-mail from six years ago, Haguewood had said, "Actually the pay could be seven figures per year, if two of them follow the decimal point."
Ryan knows his math too well to fall for that one, but he also knows there are different ways to measure value.
"I wasn't sure how long I would do it when I came in. I get so much joy out of coming to work here every day. It is really exciting."
From MUS to Microsoft and back -- it may sound radical and even a little irrational, but Bruce Ryan is loving it.
--Zack McMillin: 529-2564
Back From Miami
South Beach is so not our scene! Hot ass weather (we have that here, no need go go all the way to bloody Florida!), non-English speaking people (got that in TN too!) skinny ass people all clad in the least clothing possible (thank goodness we haven't got too many of those here) and too many topless pompous Europeans on the beach making the American boys go ga-ga. Yet, I cannot tell you how much fun ROMT and I enjoyed ourselves the last three days in Miami!
My favorite buddy, Mathi or Guru (as I like to call him - his last name is Gurusamy thus Guru), was getting married. I met Guru (also a Singaporean, except he is of Indian descent) in high school in Toronto about 20 years ago. He has remained a really good friend since. He was also the one whom both the husband and I visited up in Szombathy, Hungary a couple of years back; and he'd met us up in Bangkok last year on a fake business trip lol. Now he lives in Xiamen, China working for a Dutch company.
Where do I begin telling you how our Easter weekend began. I guess I have to start with that first awesome lunch Bruce took me to at Joe's Stone Crab. Need I say more?! Mathi, Helena and her 13 yr old niece, Christina, joined us mid way and the partying started there. A bottle of white wine... then we transported ourselves to Lario's on the beach. There, we drank... and drank... and drank... non stop and fast. Couldn't help it! The heat, the excitement to hang out with Mathi again... not to mention, he brings out the lush in me lol. Before I knew it, we were sitting there with married couple Dave and Arturo. Dave was Mathi's room mate in college and Arturo is Dave's husband of 2 over years and they live in San Francisco. They are SO fun. SO bitchy... I love it! Hopefully I can see then as planned in a couple of weeks out in SF just to hang out... tho' the husband is a little nervous about them wanting to 'teach' me some things to make Bruce an even happier man LOL! That night, The Ryans missed the big party. Why!? 'Coz we bloody partied 6 hours way earlier then everyone else I was smashed, sloshed, dead to the world. I was so out of it I skipped dinner. Now how drunk can you imagine I was lol. The wedding was on day 2 so Bruce and I simply hung out on our own... hung out by the rooftop pool, got some sun, some breakfast and just chilled. We got to walk around South Beach for a little but it wasn't that impressive considering the heat... so after another good lunch at Puerto Sagua, we decided to tough out the weather and headed for the beach. Yikes! 30 mins later, we were on our way back to the room for a nice nap before getting ready for the wedding.
The smallish outdoor wedding of 40 at the Ritz Carlton was beautiful. Even the loud house music at the hotel/beach next to the 'alter' didn't change anything. It was a nice simple ceremony. Helena looked gorgeous and Guru was shittin' in his pants nervous as hell HAHAHAHA! It was all perfectly awesome! He's always been mister cool so to see him in that state was quite hilarious :D He just couldn't wait to get married and start the party going lol. The party, as it turns out, continued way past after the bride and groom left to begin their honeymoon in their suite. We stayed even after Dave and Arturo left. At the end of it all, there was Jason the Best Man, Mathi's buddy from Central Michigan and Helena's niece and her bf, Chris. We sat and tried to solve Jason's loveless life without Rose - the girl he met in Jamaica three months ago FOR A DAY! Needless to say, the wedding got to Jason a little... but fun was had by all of us making fun of him... me most of all. Hey, somebody had to take Mathi's place :D
Sunday, we met up with Bruce's buddy, Wayne and his girlfriend(?) and joined Mathi and Helena for lunch at Bongo's. Yummy cuban food! It was nice see Wayne again since I haven't seen him since our last trip to Tokyo... and it certainly was exciting to finally meet Sherry after all I'd heard about her. She's very nice... they look cute together(!) so hopefully we'd get to go to another wedding in Florida again soon lol. "No pressure Wayne!" :D
So Helena is now Mrs Gurusamy... she's glowing even more than that 1.7 carat platinum diamond ring on her finger. They should still be driving themselves back to her house in Tampa with Mathi's two sisters and nephews who flew all the way from Singapore.
It seemed like just yesterday I was sitting at Mathi's house in Singapore being served food by his mom... it certainly seems like yesterday when we were at his apartment in Indiana laughing at his room-mate (another Singaporean guy) turning a quarter of a century years old and making fun of his 'old age' and telling him he was dying. We were merely a pair of very cruel 19 yr olds... who have turned into cruel 30-somethings lol. Where have all the time gone?! Now, we're a pair of 35 yr olds... thank goodness we only call older people then us, friends lol.
My favorite buddy, Mathi or Guru (as I like to call him - his last name is Gurusamy thus Guru), was getting married. I met Guru (also a Singaporean, except he is of Indian descent) in high school in Toronto about 20 years ago. He has remained a really good friend since. He was also the one whom both the husband and I visited up in Szombathy, Hungary a couple of years back; and he'd met us up in Bangkok last year on a fake business trip lol. Now he lives in Xiamen, China working for a Dutch company.
Where do I begin telling you how our Easter weekend began. I guess I have to start with that first awesome lunch Bruce took me to at Joe's Stone Crab.
The smallish outdoor wedding of 40 at the Ritz Carlton was beautiful. Even the loud house music at the hotel/beach next to the 'alter' didn't change anything. It was a nice simple ceremony. Helena looked gorgeous and Guru was shittin' in his pants nervous as hell HAHAHAHA! It was all perfectly awesome! He's always been mister cool so to see him in that state was quite hilarious :D He just couldn't wait to get married and start the party going lol. The party, as it turns out, continued way past after the bride and groom left to begin their honeymoon in their suite. We stayed even after Dave and Arturo left. At the end of it all, there was Jason the Best Man, Mathi's buddy from Central Michigan and Helena's niece and her bf, Chris. We sat and tried to solve Jason's loveless life without Rose - the girl he met in Jamaica three months ago FOR A DAY! Needless to say, the wedding got to Jason a little... but fun was had by all of us making fun of him... me most of all. Hey, somebody had to take Mathi's place :D
Sunday, we met up with Bruce's buddy, Wayne and his girlfriend(?) and joined Mathi and Helena for lunch at Bongo's. Yummy cuban food! It was nice see Wayne again since I haven't seen him since our last trip to Tokyo... and it certainly was exciting to finally meet Sherry after all I'd heard about her. She's very nice... they look cute together(!) so hopefully we'd get to go to another wedding in Florida again soon lol. "No pressure Wayne!" :D
So Helena is now Mrs Gurusamy... she's glowing even more than that 1.7 carat platinum diamond ring on her finger. They should still be driving themselves back to her house in Tampa with Mathi's two sisters and nephews who flew all the way from Singapore.
It seemed like just yesterday I was sitting at Mathi's house in Singapore being served food by his mom... it certainly seems like yesterday when we were at his apartment in Indiana laughing at his room-mate (another Singaporean guy) turning a quarter of a century years old and making fun of his 'old age' and telling him he was dying. We were merely a pair of very cruel 19 yr olds... who have turned into cruel 30-somethings lol. Where have all the time gone?! Now, we're a pair of 35 yr olds... thank goodness we only call older people then us, friends lol.
Friday, April 07, 2006
When School Is Not Cancelled
Shelby County where we live has been going on severe weather warning since this morning at about 8am till tonight at 8pm. Ever since last weekend's tornado tragedy in Dyersburg County (how the storm was formed so quickly and killed numerous people there), both the local authorities as well as the national weather authority has announced that this is a DANGEROUS SITUATION today. For the last two hours, not only have Shelby County schools been let out as early as 11am, even the Memphis City Schools are cancelled by noon - including private schools such as Lausanne Collegiate School and St. Mary's Episcopal School. Yet, this stupid article on the unofficial site of the MUS blog 'We Are Staying In School' just proves how stupid and idiotic Americans can be. Yes, there are bigger idiots out there who have gotten into car accidents. Yes there are bigger idiots out there who cannot drive! But while the weather is calm now, LEAVE!! It's as if they're trying to fight the weather... come on!! More than half the phucking kids and teachers live close-by! I cannot believe my husband practically hung up the phone on me 'coz I wanted him to come home early. Sure, 40% of it is for selfish reasons 'coz I don't want to be home alone during this traumatic time (he obviously doesn't care nor realize (yet) how scary it can be not having grown up in a country where this kind of crappy shitty natural calamities NEVER occur). But the rest of the reason is 'coz I want him to be home safe and not have to take care of bunch of babies in school! Gawd, I am so phucking pissed! You'd think I was sending him out to chase after the phucking Twister!
They say the next storm coming will be in the form of hail. Some counties in Mississippi have seen as large as softball size hail. I wonder what teachers might say when their cars are badly damaged later?!
The MUS 'article' says if you want to come pick your son up, you can. But that means the boys will be missing the rest of the official school day - which means the teachers are to stay and teach! The stupid ass people who head the school should be responsible if anything happens to anyone who stays. IDIOTS!
They say the next storm coming will be in the form of hail. Some counties in Mississippi have seen as large as softball size hail. I wonder what teachers might say when their cars are badly damaged later?!
The MUS 'article' says if you want to come pick your son up, you can. But that means the boys will be missing the rest of the official school day - which means the teachers are to stay and teach! The stupid ass people who head the school should be responsible if anything happens to anyone who stays. IDIOTS!
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Adventures @ The INS
Since my past postings about the INS, see: INS Makes Me Have Road Rage and INS Part II, it's been awhile since we have had to deal with the INS (Immigration & Naturalization Service). I would hardly call their work there 'service'. But that's another story for yet another day.
I got my stamp for my permanent green card today!!! Does that mean I'm more legal then I was yesterday? MAYBE! I'm supposed to get my Green Card within month. We'd see.
The interview process this morning was a joke and a half! We went in with Tim, our 20-something year old lawyer who is volunteering to represent us costing us absolutely nothing 'coz he's not a slimeball like Barry Frager (Tim btw, used to work for Barry) which made me feel a little better since he was there at our first interview as well. He knew the interviewer and they started small talk and lead us to the lady's office. We sat down, had normal conversations like we would at a cocktail party, she looked at some of our pictures from our past travels, looked at some bills and asked for my passport. Huh!? That's it? The entire ordeal took 5 minutes! I'm serious! Why do they need to do this to people like us when it's so darn obvious that we're legitimately married and give people Green Cards without an interview to people like Tim's other client, a divorced Nigerian man who was just locked up last year for assult or something. No interview! I'm glad this went smoothly or I would bust another blood vessel from rage lol.
But it's over for now. Thank goodness!!
I got my stamp for my permanent green card today!!! Does that mean I'm more legal then I was yesterday? MAYBE! I'm supposed to get my Green Card within month. We'd see.
The interview process this morning was a joke and a half! We went in with Tim, our 20-something year old lawyer who is volunteering to represent us costing us absolutely nothing 'coz he's not a slimeball like Barry Frager (Tim btw, used to work for Barry) which made me feel a little better since he was there at our first interview as well. He knew the interviewer and they started small talk and lead us to the lady's office. We sat down, had normal conversations like we would at a cocktail party, she looked at some of our pictures from our past travels, looked at some bills and asked for my passport. Huh!? That's it? The entire ordeal took 5 minutes! I'm serious! Why do they need to do this to people like us when it's so darn obvious that we're legitimately married and give people Green Cards without an interview to people like Tim's other client, a divorced Nigerian man who was just locked up last year for assult or something. No interview! I'm glad this went smoothly or I would bust another blood vessel from rage lol.
But it's over for now. Thank goodness!!
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