Think Before You Protest

Photo courtesy of Frank Noz

Unless you've been hiding under a rock this past year, you'd know that the debate on U.S. Immigration Reform is the ubiquitous topic du'jour of pundits everywhere. To make a long story short, the U.S. congress is essentially trying to figure out to do with the illegal immigrant "problem". Should we kick them all out, should we grant them general amnesty, or is the answer somewhere in the middle? Being an immigrant myself, I can certainly relate to this topic, but I find myself having mixed feelings about the subject (my thoughts on this debate are are wide and varied and shall be reserved for another post entirely). Regardless of what side of the debate you find yourself on, I believe that this is first and foremost an issue of economics. A battle of the haves and have nots. Simply put, if in your current environment you find yourself not able to feed yourself or your family, then common sense dictates that you will remove yourself from that situation and migrate to an environment that affords you with better opportunities. Simple no? Anyone can relate to that. Yet I digress ... the above was meant to give you, the reader, some context to the topic at hand: my thoughts on the recent spate of student led demonstration/walk-outs hitting the nation as a direct reaction to said illegal immigration debate.

As I drove to work this morning, I saw a sight reminiscent of my high school days during the Prop 187 demonstrations we had at my high school. Though this occured over 10 years ago (kind of goes to show you that we haven't progressed much on this subject), the scene was the same: a handful of high school students, 10 or 20 at most, marching down the street in what at first seems like an exercise in civil disobedience. Now, I'm all about being proud of your heritage ... Lord knows that I'm the first to espouse Mabuhay Ang Pilipinas (Long Live the Philippines), but please, please, PLEASE, understand what you're protesting for before you protest! Remember that the Man is just waiting to use your ignorance against you. That being said, let's examine what I feel this protest is definitely not about:

First, it is definitely not about protesting against going to school for the day. If this is the case, you are just a punk ditcher who needs any excuse to skip class for the day. Think about it. Walking out of school just to ditch and act a fool on Channel 5 is actually contrary to one of the main reasons that many immigrants come to this country in the first place -- to provide for an education for their children. Yea I'm talking to you the dood giving shout outz to everyone in da' hood.

Second, this is not a protest in support of the advancement of [insert your country of choice here]. While I do support the proclimation of one's heritage, remember that immigrants come to the U.S. for the unique opportunities that only it can give and are in fact, leaving their homeland to do so. Flag-waving for the sake of flag-waving only gives the fascists fodder for their anti-immigrant rhetoric. "If they love their country so much, they should just go back!" Don't get caught in this trap.

I can go on, but do yourself a favor. Educate Yourself. Here is a great link from NPR to get you started --> Q&A: Inside the Immigration Debate.

I don't claim to be an expert on this topic, nor am I trying to persuade you towards one side or the other. If anything, I hope that this post will at least spur an open-discussion with you, my readers. Lastly, I know that many of you high-school kids really do know what you're protesting about, and I stand in solidarity right there with you, just like I did in '94 -- defiant with a clenched fist in the air.

Stop the ignorance!

Eph's Random Reflection Vol. 1 - Can't Truss' It

The following is the first in my series of random reflections about things I find interesting, amusing, upsetting or just plain weird in this wonderful world. An admonition to you the reader: many of the random musings contained therein were born during drunken debauchery with da' homiez. That being said, many of these things are probably more profound after a beer or two (or five), so feel free to take necessary action to properly prepare yourself *_~

Random Reflection #1

While the GF and I were on vacation in Vegas recently, we were at a restaurant waiting for our dinner to be served. The waiter, my steaming asparagus and crab soup in hand, proceeded to place the the dish in front of me with the dire warning, "Sir, please be careful, the dish is VERY, VERY, VERY hotttt!" What's the first thing I do? Touch it of course! What did I find out? It was hottt -- what a revelation! Question: Why do we as humans always question what someone is telling us? I call this the Can't Truss' It syndrome.

The Can't Truss' It syndrome seems to manifest itself in other situations as well:

Jurex: "Dang, this gazelle placenta stew tastes like I opened up my mouth and the farm came in."
Darren: "Wow really, let me taste!"

Can't Truss' It!

Jurex: "(After stepping out of the bathroom) Whew, that Indian food just didn't agree with me. I wouldn't go in there if I was you ..."
Darren: "Pish posh, let me investigate!"

Can't Truss' It!

Did Darren think that gazelle placenta might taste like vanilla ice cream? Probably not. Did Darren think that the bathroom would smell like a bouquet of roses? Probably not. Why can't we just, for lack of a better term, truss it????

Well, after pondering this for some time, I've come to the conclusion that human beings just have inherent trust issues with each other. It's not that Darren doesn't think that the gazelle placenta is going to taste great, he just doesn't trust that Jurex is telling the truth. Further, it's not that I didn't think that the plate wasn't hot, I just didn't trust the waiter's judgement on what he thought I thought might be hot. After all, who's he to tell me what's hot and what's not? I have a Ph.D. in hottness after all! Ahh you see, here is yet another reason why we Can't Truss' It: superiority. As human beings, we just think we're better than everyone else, and any opinion contrary to ours is just plain jib-jab. "Yea Eph, but what in the world does this all mean?" Hmm, there are larger issues at play here.

I challenge you to find a conflict, large or small, that doesn't deal with issues of trust. Whether it be the Middle-East conflict, your boyfriend chastising you for going out with your girls, or your buddy not letting you borrow money, it all comes down to one thing: T-R-U-S-T. So, to my Pilipino-American bretheren out there, here is a little something that you can do to make your little dent in resolving all world conflict. At your next family gathering, when Auntie Baby tells your Anglo-American friend that the Dinuguan over there is "chocolate meat", just tell your buddy to truss' her.

Till next time!

p.s. download Can't Truss It by Public Enemy. It's a great song.

Eph on the Go

Ever hear of a Moblog? You might think this is another Filipino fancy name mashup, bit it is something a bit more techie in nature. Moblogging is essentially the ability to post something to your blog via a mobile device (in this case my Sony Ericsson s710a camera phone). Most blogging applications have moblogging functionality built in as is the case with my current blogging system Blogger (a.k.a Blogger Mobile). This allows me to create whole blog posts straight from the my cellie. So, in addition to eating and talking on the phone, I can now also add blogging to my list of driving distractions!

What I've wanted to do for the longest time on my old site was to have a photo moblog. Being that I am in the computer programming profession, it was my nature to want to create a custom application to do just that, but alas, my trusted "spidey-sense" a.k.a laziness, kicked in. "Why code this myself, when someone's prolly already gone through all the trouble to do it for me?" As luck would have it, I was able to integrate Flickr (Yahoo's photo's storage service), which also has moblogging built in, with my blog. It was pretty easy to setup and I was up and running in about 20 minutes.

If you look to the right of my blog, you should see a group of pictures entitled "Eph on the Go". This is my brand spanking new photo moblog! I currently have it configured to show the last 5 pictures I've taken on my camera phone, so my apologies if the pictures are kinda mundane as I'm trying to make sure that everything works.

Well, you now have full access to see a day in my life represented through snapshots from my camera phone. Enjoy stalkers!

What an Eph'ed up name

Ephraim
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: "Very Fruitful" (greeeeaaaatttt)
Rating: (according to babynamesworld.com): 2 out of 5 stars -- 62% say "I don't like it"

Filipinos take the responsibility of naming their kids very seriously. Names such as Dave, Bill or Doug just don't cut it where I'm from. To illustrate, let's take a sampling of some of my FilAm friends' names: Novette, Jesom, Jurex, Ulysses, Carlene, Romar, Aldrich ... the list goes on and on. Let's take a look at two typical Filipino naming conventions.

The first entails taking two names and smushing them together to output a new super duper name! Let's see this in action ...

• Robert + Mary = Romar
• Jose + Ricardo = Jurex
• Carlos + Marian = Marlo
• Horace + Mona = Homo (this one isn't true but it's funny haha)

Another commonality in the taxonomy of Filipino naming schemes includes the infamous "what my Mom calls me" name or pet name. Let's look into at this further ...

• Romar = Bimbo (sorry bro)
• Jesom = Som som boy
• Daniel (my bro) = Maruchan (japanese name for cup o' noodles)
• Me = Rai-Rai (so obviously because my Dad's name is Rey, and there's a permutation of his name in my name (rai) my pet name has to be Rai-Rai!)
• Other typical pet names include Bong, Charito, Baby, and the always reliable Jun-Jun.

The origins of this behavior are a mystery to me, though I have a feeling it partially has roots in the Spanish colonization of the Islands back in the day. I hypothesize that because of an inferiority complex, coupled with the advent of Catholicism, many native Pilipinos of the time sought to rid themselves of their 'native-ness' by adopting Christian and Spanish names. Also, in general, Filipinos have an affluence for all things dramatic and extravagant, a trait especially exhibited in the naming of children. My parents were no different.

My name was a sore topic when I was younger. My parents tried to shield me from my real name until my first day of school. I remember getting up being so excited to start my academic career and suddenly, my Mom turned my world upside down.

"Rai-rai, listen to me carefully. Your name is Ephraim."
"Mom, it sounds funny -- I don't even know how to pronounce it!!!! The kids are going to hate me!"

Welp, the kids didn't hate me per se. They liked me, but they liked making fun of my name even more. I've heard it all from "how's it going Mushroom" to, "what's up Afro" and my personal favorite -- "wuts up man/bro/dood/come again" (said with a puzzled look). The hidden shame of my childhood days rears it's ugly head from time to time, especially at places where you're required to give your name. Case in point, at Starbucks, when my name is called out for my Soy Vanilla Latte, Eric is what you'll hear.

In the end, I've grown to truly appreciate my name. I've come to terms with the fact that my name is what makes me, me. Heck, my name even has it's very own MySpace group (and to think I was all alone in this world)? I guess it could've been worse ... I could've had a girls name (Janel - sorry bro!) or have it rhyme with a condom brand (sorry Jurex)!

Battle of the Weathermen!

Hungry for another post you say! Lucky for you, the nap in my previous post has made me not sleepy. Ok, commence postage:

Earlier, eager to find out when this rainy spell would leave us, I tuned into KCAL9 to see, or better yet, experience, resident weather person Jackie Johnson do the weather forecast. Is it just me, or is Jackie Johnson's bust like halfway into Nevada when she does the weather? C'mon broseph, let's get real. We all know that Jackie didn't get hired for her Weather forecasting skillz, she got hired for her "shake what yo Mama gave you" skillz. Now before I get heckled for being a sexist, according to her bio, Jackie does indeed have the journalistic credentials to be on the news, but unlike her ABC7 archrival Dallas Raines, Jackie isn't even AMS (American Meteorological Society) certified. Travesty I say! Then again, in LA, how hard is it really to point to predict the Weather? I bet you anyone (including me) could do it -- I'd say that there's a 90% chance of it being sunny with a scant chance of clouds (on a typical day in LA at least).

So if the sole criterion for being a weatherman (woman) is Grecian good looks, who would you rather see do the weather: Jackie, Dallas, or me?

I think the forecast calls for -- keepin' it Gangsta! LOL -- KCAL9, I'll be awaiting your call >:-)

Rain, Rain Go Away ...

With the advent of an unseasonably cold Alaskan storm making its way through normally sunny SoCal, the GF and decided to make it a Blockbuster night at her house. Headlining tonight's festivities was Keira Knightley in the action-packed Pride & Prejudice. Lucky for me and true to form, a yummy nap ensued. Thankfully, by the time I woke up it was time for me to go home.

I arrived at home and as I started walking down the familiar pathway to my condo, I passed by a bunch of young folks hangin out in the patio a few condos a way from mine, creating a racous racket and having consumed copious amounts of adult beverages no doubt! "Perhaps a nice call to my homeowners association should quiet them up", I thought. Damn. Since when did I become the old cranky guy on the corner who killjoys the party before midnight?! I should prolly walk back there and ask them for a brew just to redeem myself, but then again I think my arthritis is acting up :)

Post #1

Dammit Eph, why don't you ever update your Website? I can't bare to live without it!

Don't fret young ones, explanations are forthcoming:

Wow ... it just seems like yesterday when I started www.ephmaniago.com (6 years to be exact), and in those 6 years, I believe I updated the site a whopping 6 times. The initial purpose of the site in 2000 was really just to practice my Web development skills in an effort to entice potential employers. Well right in the middle of getting the site off the ground, I became gainfully employed as a Web Developer at the second largest investor-owned electric utility in California (more on this later). Excellent! I tricked someone into giving me a job doing what I loved to do! What I came to realize however, is that doing something as a job, becomes just that -- a job. So understandably, coming home after doing Webdev all day, why in the world would I want to do it on my precious free time? It's like the trashman coming home, only to take out the trash along with all his neighbors trash. You wouldn't want to do that to Mr. Trashman now would you? But I digress....

Now that I've been a Web developer for a while now and having talked to many experts in the field, I've found that the best Websites aren't necessarily the best looking (ex. www.digg.com, www.craigslist.org, etc.), but rather, are the ones with the most captivating content. Through this epiphany I've come to realize that I was trying too hard to make a "cool" Website, and neglecting the reason why people came here in the first place - to find out about all things Eph! Surprisingly, the original site logged over 10,000 hits (thanks mom!!!), so I suppose people are indeed curious about what I'm up to. Soooo - to make a long story even longer, in an effort to quench you eph-a-maniacs out there, I've opted to go with an off-the-shelf blogging system which will hopefully allow me to update more often.

Lastly, it's fitting that this post is entitled "Post #1" as it is posted during a time of many firsts (and lasts) in my life. From the butt-breaking (my first time roller-skating), to the sappy romantic (my first real love -- wut thugz need hugz too), to the heart-breaking (my first time without my Dad around), I'll try and chronicle them all here. It is my sincere hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them ...

- eph