Hung Truong: The Blog!

Fly Me To The Mars

I had a dream last night that me and my Mom won a trip to Mars. I think we won a contest that allowed us to take a tourist flight to Mars, kind of like how people are paying big bucks to fly into orbit right now. When we got onto the shuttle (which seemed kind of small and had a random tour guide driving, like it was a bus), I realized that it’d probably take a while to get there. Like, more than 24 hours. I think that was a low estimate…

At this point I really wish I had done more preparation for the trip, like maybe getting some audiobooks loaded up or at least bringing a book to read. I kinda just showed up (my Mom might’ve caused us to be late; this happens in real life). During our trip I kept feeling kind of dreadful. Like, what if we don’t come back (it was the first ever tourist trip to Mars)? And what if our pilot bus driver guy gets killed?

Our bus driver/guide said that once we get to Mars, it’ll be really small, so we all have to keep our eyes peeled for it. I thought this was a load of crap, because it’s actually a pretty big planet! I think this also meant that we wouldn’t actually go onto Mars; we’d just fly over and look at it, and then go home.

I guess we didn’t go directly to Mars; we stopped at a space station or something first. In the space station we had to form a huge line, for some reason. I remember reading some really specific headlines when glancing at a newspaper. One was about how the space library was charging really huge fees for interlibrary loan. Makes sense if your library is in space, I guess.

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything – Book Review

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about work, passion, fulfillment, etc. Maybe I spoke too soon when I wrote about not having a Quarterlife Crisis!

So I picked up this book, “The Element,” about discovering your passion. Ken Robinson argues that many people who are bad or disinterested in what they do just haven’t figured out what they’re good/passionate about, or have given up on pursuing the things they “should” be doing. Once people find that special something, they find a positive feedback loop. They like doing it so they do it more, and they get better at it. They probably also get external positive feedback, etc. With this virtuous cycle, they can achieve super awesome things.

That’s the book in a nutshell. And I really didn’t have to read the whole book to see all the many permutations of this idea over and over again. I think this book really could’ve been a magazine article (maybe it started as one), rather than an entire book. I feel as though Robinson was scraping the bottom of the barrel at some points trying to fill the thing up. The writing is a bit simplistic (probably to cater to the lowest common denominator demographic), and in some parts it’s just plain bad. Here are some instances that I noticed.

Upon describing a woman who dropped out of college when she had her kids, then went back to college, graduated and was offered a big job:

By then, she was having trouble in her marriage, and she filed for divorce. This was a difficult time for Susan.

Really, Ken? No shit! Another completely non-sequitur to start a paragraph in a section about a crisis in human resources:

At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, there was hardly anyone around.

It really sounds like you could’ve pulled this quote from a third-grade World History essay. On top of the patronizing language, the author seems to go off on tangents that have barely anything to do with the subject matter.

Overall, I do agree with the basic message of the book. I just wish it was more focused and concise. Four stars for concept; two stars for content.

Cheesy Potato Cheddar Soup: Huge Success!

I had some vegetable broth left over in the fridge because I made some green chile cheese enchiladas (which kind of turned out badly). I was trying to think of a way to salvage the rest of the broth and I decided to try to make some soup.

Back in Highschool, my friend Kate used to bring potato cheese soup and she’d let me try some. I really liked it and she even wrote the recipe in the back of my yearbook, but I hadn’t tried to make it until now. It was way overdue.

I looked online for some recipes. There were quite a few variations. I read through a bunch and came up with a plan. I went to Trader Joe’s and got a few Russet Potatoes (I think a lot of people say to use Yukon Gold), an onion, and a small block of sharp cheddar cheese. It was like $6 in all or something.

I put the broth (there was about 2 or 3 cups left) into a big pot and started boiling it. I chopped up the potatoes into cubes and half the onion onto little pieces. Then I threw them in the pot and let them boil for a while. The recipes say 20 minutes or so but I think I did less, maybe 15? Then I separated the potato from the broth, and placed the pieces onto a plate. I smashed them with a fork. It was surprisingly easy to smash them. I mixed them back in with the broth and let it simmer while I grated the cheddar cheese. I added about .5 lbs (the package said .67 lbs of cheese and I used about 3/4 of it. Maybe I should’ve used less. Or maybe more?

Anyway, the cheese melted well with the soup and it turned out really good. I think maybe there was a bit too much broth, so the soup was a bit soupier than i would’ve liked. But overall it was a huge success and I’ll now be eating leftover potato cheese soup for a few days.

Bloggers: Get a Free Advance Copy of “Delivering Happiness” To Review!

I had a conversation with someone about how I still have a blog, and that it’s totally old school to write one. I mean, everyone’s microblogging, etc now, right? Well I guess I’ll have the last laugh because bloggers can get a free advance copy of “Delivering Happiness,” that Zappos guy’s book. Just go over here and tell them you blog like an old man.

A lot of the stuff from Tony Hsieh’s talk from SXSW is still permeating my brain. Like company culture, building a product that matters, etc. So I’m looking forward to reading this book, either if I get it for blogging, or if I buy it when it eventually comes out. I already have it on my to-read list on GoodReads.

Worth At Least 45 Seconds of Your Time…

Let’s see, how long has it been since I started a new blog? Probably too long ago if I can’t remember.

My mom sends me insane attachments in emails. They’re usually collections of strange pictures and drug recall warnings. I have a theory that Asian ladies communicate primarily by sending Powerpoint presentations to each other.

These emails are way too awesome to keep to myself, so I started a blog to document them. I called it “Worth 45 Seconds” because one it was included in the subject heading of one of my favorite emails. You can see that one on Worth 45 Seconds. I’ll be adding more periodically as I sift through my backlog and as my mom keeps sending me new email forwards.