Lauren Wu dot com

Hubby has been working from home and the telemarketers are driving him crazy. Fortunately, the National Do Not Call Registry is finally available!

Terri Cullen of the Wall Street Journal wrote a great article entitled Three Reasons to Pause Before Taking Your Husband's Name (subscription may be required). Her reasons are Creditor Confusion, Account Imbalances and Career Complications. As she points out:

"... there can be drawbacks to adopting your husband's last name, particularly if your hubby-to-be comes to the marriage laden with some unfortunate financial or legal baggage. As women enter marriages later in their lives, often with more established careers and greater assets, they are facing far more complicated financial choices than their moms and grandmoms. The decision to take your husband's name -- once a given -- is one of them."

I was so impressed by her article (even though it sounds like she may/will change her name when she gets married), that I wrote her an email:

Terri,

BRAVO!!! I loved your article titled "Three Reasons to Pause Before Taking Your Husband's Name". I got married last year to a wonderful gentleman called David Liu (pronounced "loo"). My name is Lauren Wu ("woo") and since they sounded so similar (among other reasons), I didn't bother changing my name.

In this day and age, I'm surprised by the number of people who don't comprehend that my husband and I have different last names. "But his last name is Liu?", they ask, "And you are Wu?". Folks, we're in the 21st century. It happens. A lot. Deal with it. The airlines are the worst. I was unable to make reservations for myself using my hubby's frequent flier mile account because I had a different last name. I explained that we were married and we lived at the same address... but no dice. To book the tickets we wanted, they required my husband to make an in person appearance at a United Airlines office. I couldn't even fax them a marriage certificate. Meanwhile, some other random person with the last name Liu could book a ticket using my husband's frequent flier account and pretend to be an immediate relative.

There's a lot of hassle involved with name changing. If I were to do so, not only would I have to change the name on my driver's license, credit cards, bank statements, etc. in the United States, I would have to change the name on my Canadian passport and Hong Kong ID card. Just not worth the effort.

Form filling would be more complex as well. There's usually an additional line item for "maiden name, if different from surname". I have one less field to fill than most married ladies - less administrative hassle! The only problem, however, is that a lot of organizations use "mother's maiden name" as a security question, so that may be a problem for my kids. I'm often surprised that it's used as a security question in the first place, as though nobody should know who you used to be pre-marriage and it's some big secret.

Along these lines, if I were to change my name, old friends from grade school/high school/university/whatever with whom I had lost touch would have that much harder a time locating me. How the heck would they know whom I married, and what my new surname is?

I love my husband, and I will cheerfully respond to Ms. Lauren Wu, Mrs. Lauren Liu, or even Mrs. Liu, but NOT Mrs. David Liu. It's one thing to call be my husband's last name (I'm proud to be part of the Liu family), but I refuse to be addressed using his first name as well, as though I had no separate identiy and I were merely an appendage.

Finally, what would one do about email addresses? My business school "email for life" is lauren.wu@XXXX.XXX.XXX [disguised to avoid spam bots]. I can't change it. Also, I already own the URL http://laurenwu.com, should I now also purchase http://laurenliu.com? Dave and I have do have a joint website, however, and it's http://wu-liu.com.

Actually, I'm considering just dropping my last name altogether and be known as just "Lauren"... like "Madonna" or "Cher". What do you think?

Lauren

My POS (peace of [garbage]) Dell laptop that I bought in Fall 1998 is on its last legs. It runs the POC (piece of [junk]) Windows 98 O/S, and thus freezes regularly. Heck, it doesn't even shut down anymore: it consistently gets stuck at the "Windows Shutting Down" screen and nothing short of cutting the power will coax it to turn off. Granted, this laptop was DA BOMB when I first purchased it, and it's just a little old and tired now that it's reached the end of its 3-5 year replacement cycle.

I've patiently waited for the new Intel Springdale (865) chipset to debut, and they are finally available. I'm purchasing a Dell 4600, and taking advantage of their Dell Preferred Account purchasing program to get a 2% discount.

Everything was hunky dory until I was told that my online application was not successful and I would be contacted by a Dell representative "within two days". Eager to get my order rolling, I proactively called Dell to answer any necessary verification questions. Can I tell you what a pain in the rear it is to get to the correct department at Dell and to get a LIVE PERSON with whom to converse? There's a gazillion options to choose from (none of them appropriate), and their new funky voice recognition system does nothing but aggravate me. When I did get a customer support person on the phone, I would just be transferred (inevitably to an incorrect number) and have to go through a myriad of useless option menus again. Why, oh why does Dell make it so hard for me to be their financing customer?

I've been recording Alfred Hitchcock movies using the TiVo Wish List feature. I haven't located a showing of "The Birds" yet, but I've seen previews. I didn't think the premise of the movie was that scary until I recently got attacked by one near my home.

There's construction going on near my residence, and when I walked near the site the other day, a small black bird flew into my hair. I was startled but assumed it was a fluke thing and didn't give it a second thought - until the bird flew into my hair AGAIN and then for a THIRD time! At that point, I realized I was being attacked and ran down the street.

Upon returning home, I hoped that the birds had gone away, until I saw one attack the guy walking ahead of me. I ducked and hustled across the street.

I told hubby about this, and he thought it was strange but probably random event. Then HE got attacked while running. He talked to a construction worker who was standing nearby, and was told that this has been a regular occurence. There were probably some bird nests in the construction site that were destroyed or damaged recently, so the birds are attacking pedestrians in the area. I don't think they'll stop until they relocate somewhere else.

Since I was shaken from a single, tiny, bird's attack, I can see how I would be absolutely horrified from a full frontal assault by hundreds and thousands of them... just like in "The Birds".

There was a recent MetaFilter thread on strange rituals, and a poster mentioned the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. One of my teachers from high school, Mrs. Holgate, read it to our Form 4 (?) English class, and to this day, I think it's one of the best short stories ever written.

Roald Dahl is another of my favorite short story authors. Until I visited his website, I had forgotten that he had written "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and I didn't know that he wrote "The Witches". I recently watched the movie adaptation starring Anjelica Huston thanks to my trusty TiVo and subscription to HBO.

Remember when the idea of an Emotional Quotient (EQ)/Emotional IQ first came out? People loved it because (1) EQ was more important than IQ when it came to succeeding in life and, (2) better still, you could improve your EQ through training - unlike IQ which some people think is "predetermined" at birth. Those who didn't qualify for Mensa were relieved to know that they potentially had an attribute which was a better predictor of success than raw brain power.

What is intelligence? According to this WSJ article (subscription may be required):

"Intelligence has many meanings, but what scientists call general cognitive ability seems to reflect memory skills, verbal and spatial abilities, and abstract reasoning. Usually, if you're good at one, you're good at the others. Although that correlation may reflect not "brain quality" alone but something nonphysiological, such as differences in motivation, it has inspired a search for genes that make better brains.

By isolating these smart genes (if they exist), might one genetically engineer a supersmart person? Not so fast, there are some caveats:

• What the WSJ calls a "chopsticks effect" (love that term):

"Just because a genetic variant shows up more often in people adept at using chopsticks doesn't mean it causes manual dexterity: It may simply be more prevalent in Asian populations. Similarly, purported IQ genes may cluster, by chance, in groups whose culture values education, yet not actually make a brain smarter.

• The other problem is that "Neuroscientists can't find any fundamental brain processes that distinguish Einstein from the rest of us -- not speed of neuronal transmission, not the ability to form synapses, not the quantity and quality of neurons... That makes it less likely that genes for those basic characteristics (even if scientists find them) have a significant effect on intelligence."

At the end of the day, nurture may be more important than nature.

Glad to see that Microsoft is using their mighty forces to combat evil. They have filed 15 lawsuits against alleged e-mail spammers. Here's a Slashdot discussion thread on the topic where I first read about this.

Several cynical Slashdot readers question Microsoft's motives for doing so, but as SpotBug pointed out, fights don't have to be Good vs. Evil, "Fights can be Evil vs. Evil, too." And on that subject, I must copy Noryungi's hilarious post here:

DEATH STAR (AP) 2003/06/18 --

Darth Vader, Lord of Sith and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, has announced today his intention to sue Sauron of Mordor, the official "Dark Lord" of Middle Earth, for violating his Intellectual Property (IP).

Darth Vader spokesdroid K4VC5 briefly commented to the intergalactic press: "Darth Vader is, most certainly, the original Dark Lord, and we feel that Sauron of Mordor, no matter how creative and evil, has no right to call himself the 'Dark Lord' of Middle Earth". He added that Darth Vader legal team would pursue damages worth "several billions" of Galactic Credits.

Sauron, Dark Lord of Middle Earth, was unavailable to comment, but well-informed sources close to Mordor report that "his evilness" promised to rain death and destruction on the first legal storm trooper to ever set foot on Middle Earth.

Darth Vader spokesdroid also confirmed that Lucifer, the star attorney of Mephistopheles, Baal, Satan & Associates Law Firm (LLC) has been retained to defend a case which promises to be one of the toughest legal fight in the history of Evil(tm).

Lucifer first (and best known) legal battle involved the semitic God YHWH (pronounced: "Yahweh") for the control of the "Garden of Eden" real-estate property. That case was widely considered a draw, and was settled out of court.

Dr Evil, widely considered as an authority on Evil(tm) only commented: "Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!", and declined to elaborate any further.

That's all for business news. Film at 11.

My friend Julie-Ann took a course at Harvard that was taught by Spike Lee. She noted that American culture is all about "heroes" while Canadian culture is about "survivors". As I reflected upon all the depressing Canadian literature I've read over the years, I agree.

I like the idea of superheroes. Hubby is quite knowledgeable on the subject, and directed me to Superhero Hype for news on which characters are being brought to life on TV or the big screen.

There's a MetaFilter discussion thread on the new movie "The Hulk" and all the merchandising/advertising that's associated with it. Another superhero movie, LXG (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" is also coming out this year. It stars Sean Connery, which is one of the few reasons I'm tempted to see it. With this backdrop, my favorite quote from this MetaFilter thread is by a poster named linux who writes, "...Where Ang Lee turns a big Marvel comic book into an introspective drama, LXG is a critically acclaimed comic book turned into a really bad action flick." Well, at least I know what to expect from each.

Much hoopla surrounding George W. Bush's failed attempt at negotiating a Segway, leading to a discussion thread on MetaFilter. I thought I'd combine this story with one that appeared on Slashdot. It links to an exerpt from the book "Code Name Ginger", written by Steve Kemper. Apparently, he was "...given complete behind-the-scenes access to Dean Kamen and the Segway design team during development of the much-hyped 'human transporter.' "

Not sure I'll spend the time/money/effort to read the BOOK, but the EXCERPT is worth a read, especially since it contains quotes from a brainstorming meeting among technology visionaries including John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins), Steve Jobs (Apple) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon).

WSJ article (subscription may be required) about everything you wanted to know (and more!) about deodorant and body odor. This is why we smell:

"Sweat itself is nearly odorless, but a particular type of sweat gland -- known as the apocrine gland -- found in hairy regions also secretes a milky fluid laden with protein. Bacteria catalyze an enzymatic reaction to break these secretions into food. Among the byproducts of this reaction are odorous compounds that cling so strongly to undershirts that they can survive a wash-and-dry cycle."

Yuck. This is how deodorants work so that we don't smell:

"All deodorants and antiperspirants combat odor in much the same way: There's an agent that kills the odor-causing bacteria that thrive in the warm, hospitable climes of the underarms, and a fragrance that covers up whatever odor sneaks out. To block sweat, antiperspirants contain aluminum salts that plug up sweat glands and reduce the flow of moisture. (In the U.S., about two-thirds of men prefer antiperspirants to deodorants. Nearly all women opt for antiperspirants.)"

Here's a fun fact, "emotional stress is an extremely important determinant of odor -- more so in many people than heat or exercise". Meaning that you may sweat more at the prospect of being laid off than working out at the gym.

I had an encounter today with the Queen of Sheba (QOS). You know the type - typical yuppy focused on clothes, money and gossip. Bitch. So why do I deal with her? Let's just say it's not by choice. I started to get annoyed with her and then I thought of this quote, "How did I ever drown in someone so shallow?". I love that line. One of my favorites. It's from a Brad Fraser play I saw in Toronto back in 1995 or thereabouts called "Poor Super Man". I should remember it whenever I deal with superficial flakes like QOS. Provides a calming effect.

Remember the Rubik's cube? Here's a MetaFilter post and discussion thread about an implementation a 4D Rubik's cube. Instead of downloading the executable, you can try the applet version instead (I think it's the same thing).

Slashdot discussion today regarding continuing research by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) supporting the premise that "mobile telephone transmissions made by airline passengers can interfere with aircraft equipment". The article indicates that by using your mobile phones can "adversely affect navigation and communication functions, producing significant errors on instrument displays and background noise on audio outputs."

So turn your mobile devices off when you're flying folks - better safe than sorry.

Saw on Zeldman.com that A List Apart is being updated with new content again. They are debuting with an exclusive story about TypePad, a paid and hosted version of the famous (and free) Movable Type weblogging tool.

This post is dedicated to my husband, who can chug a beer in less than 2 seconds. In fact, he's the Harvard Business School Unofficial Beer Chugging Champion, Class of 1999. I am a teetotaler, so we make a fantastic couple. [Note: quotes in this blog are from a WSJ article (subscription may be required), but I first read about this beverage in an issue of Maxim magazine several months ago. Go Maxim!]

Extreme sports you've probably heard of, but extreme beer? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, extreme beer is made with "...wine grapes and chili peppers. It is aged for years in barrels and put away in cellars. Blended in the tradition of Scotch whisky, it's collected and resold for profit, like fine wine." Ken Wells, co-author of the aforementioned WSJ article, provides another definition here (subscription may be required):

"Extreme beer isn't so much a technical term as it is a catchword that has sprung up to identify breweries dabbling in beer styles (aged beer, ultrastrong beer, beer made with exotic ingredients) that are far from the everyday lagers like Budweiser, Miller and Coors that make up 90% of U.S. beer consumption."

Since extreme beer is often compared to cognac and wine, you'd think it's expensive. Well, you thought correctly! How expensive is it, you ask?

Alan Newman, co-founder of Magic Hat in South Burlington, VT, whose aged bottles of Humdinger Series of Magical Elixirs (11% alcohol by volume) sell for more than $20, says extreme beer makers are working hard to "dispel the American myth that all beer should be $1 a bottle".

Of course, Mr. Newman is the same guy who said, "Beer is liquid food."

Cheers!

One of the (few) benefits of studying for the CFA Level I exam is that I can follow WSJ articles like this (subscription may be required). It discusses types of investments you should consider depending in inflationary vs. deflationary environments. I'll summarize the recommendations here:

Deflation:

• GOOD INVESTMENTS
  • Zero-coupon bonds: interest goes down, price goes up. However, you'll have to pay annual income taxes on interest even though you're not being paid a cash coupon.
  • Foreign bonds: USD weakens in deflationary periods.
• POOR INVESTMENTS
  • Corporate bonds: consumers will defer purchases to wait for lower prices putting pressure on a company's sales/earnings, thus increasing the probability of a default.
  • Real estate: prices will drop. End of story.

Inflation:

• GOOD INVESTMENTS
  • Hard assets, e.g., real estate, gold.
  • TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities): the name says it all
• POOR INVESTMENTS
  • Bonds: price is inversely related to interest rates.

I'm feeling especially patriotic after reading this surprisingly pro-Canada article on The Spectator website. My homeland is not perfect, but it's nice to be reminded of some of the great things it offers. You can also check out the discussion about said article on MetaFilter.com.

Hubby's website has gained recognition from all sorts of random people including a representative of the National Building Museum in Washington, DC who wanted to use his photograph of the escalators in Hong Kong for an exhibit (true story, I swear).

He's now started a blog, Daddy Liu's BLIUs (pronounced "blues" for the phonetically challenged), containing witty one-liners. It's similar to, but much funnier than, Jack Handy's "Deep Thoughts".

Things that make you go hmm....

Zeldman recently wrote about converting Word documents to HTML. He recommended a free online tool called Textism's Word HTML Cleaner for this very purpose. I tried it out on my CFA Level I exam notes, and it did a pretty good job, except for footnotes. I hope to clean it up further and post them on my website at some point to benefit future hapless CFA Level I test takers.

Textism's author is Dean Allen. Dean has one of the funniest "About" pages I have ever read. He says he lives with Gail Armstrong, a Canadian freelance translator.

*SPOILER WARNING* Don't follow the links here if you haven't already seen "Matrix Reloaded" (and intend to). Otherwise, here's a funny and well-written article about the philosophy behind The Matrix that I found posted on Slashdot.