memoryloot

I was featured in this month’s APAF newsletter.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Johnny Lam (Project Manager, IT B2B Systems, Media Works, NBC Universal), immigrated to the United States at the young age of three and always knew he wanted to help bridge cultures to help others. Growing up in Alhambra, California, the eldest of two (younger sister is a second-grade teacher), the Chinese-American has taken on his own special project of helping the Asian Pacific Women’s Center (APWC).

Johnny was first introduced to APWC through the External Focus Committee. What interested him initially was APWC’s need for someone to help with their website. It made sense for Johnny, given his professional and educational background. And in doing so, he would help APWC focus more on helping victims of domestic violence. Thus, began Johnny’s relationship with APWC —his first objective, organizing the Center’s donation room. Johnny spearheaded the first APAF volunteer event where volunteers spent a Saturday morning and helped clean, recycle and organize that room. From there, Johnny’s relationship with APWC grew and he was asked to consult with their website plans. With a degree in Information and Computer Science (University of California, Irvine), this was an easy task and Johnny moved the entire APWC email system to a more robust hosting provider. In addition, the hosting company Johnny located provides their service free of charge for non-profit organizations which resulted in savings for APWC. The new email service has enabled APWC to send and receive specific emails from particular groups. Prior to this change some companies were not able to send to the domain and therefore, unable to communicate with this deserving organization. From this first endeavor, Johnny’s initative and drive has led him to working with a small group of volunteers to make additional adjustments to APWC’s website, which will improve the ease of use for APWC.

Johnny is one of the SoCal Hub’s newest members but isn’t new to NBC Universal. He started at Universal Pictures in 2003 as a Web Developer. From there, Johnny pursued a position as a Business Analyst and was recently promoted in April 2007 to Project Manager of the IT B2B Systems of Media Works for NBC Universal. When asked what his goals for APAF were, Johnny said, “To be able to give back to society in a positive way through volunteering. I’ve been so fortunate to be able to do what I’m doing at NBC Universal while there are others out there that may need some help.” Johnny is proof that one person can make a difference and SCOOP is proud to honor him as one of our own role models! When Johnny isn’t busy with his volunteer efforts, you can find him riding his motorcycle, playing poker and watching sports. Congratulations, Johnny!

Famous words from my childhood friend Shon. I’d have to say he’s the luckiest son-a-va-bitch that I personally know. On Friday night I received the following email explaining why this is the case:

THE CAR:

It’s Thurs. morning about half past midnight when my cell phone rings. I think to myself, “What MF would call me at this time of night.” I pick up and it’s my dad screaming frantically.

He’s barely coherent, but I heard English phrases, such as “$25,000?!?.... is it that or the car?!”

My first thought was that my parents were having car problems. My second thought (a selfish one) was, “Oh, great, now I hafta drive out to Vegas to help them figure this out?”

Then, he finally started making some sense. He excitedly uttered, “Your mom was playing slots and won a Z4! She needs you to come down to pick it up!” WOW…. I mean, WOW!

So, next thing I know, I’m booking the one-way 6:30 AM flight to Vegas…. VEGAS, Baby! I had to get to the airport by 6 AM. So needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep. But, the moment was filled with excitement. I landed around 8 AM, grabbed the first shuttle to Circus Circus, and was in my parents’ hotel room by 8:30 AM. I was barely awake, but fortunately, we didn’t have to meet up with the Circus Circus rep. until 11 AM. So, I grabbed 2 hours of shut eye.

I awoke to my mom’s big grin as I felt her shaking me awake. It was 10:30 AM. While we were walking downstairs, she described how it happened.

“I was playing penny slots and lost. But, I had ordered a bottle of water from the drink lady, so I decided to wait for it. The slots for the Z4 were next to the penny ones, so I decided to put in $20. Around the 12th dollar, I saw the first “Car” symbol roll down the barrel, then the second. Before the third barrel stopped spinning, your father retorted ‘Darn, you’re gonna miss it by one… I just know it.’ But, the third barrel stopped and there it was, the third “Car” symbol!”

She won a $39,000 car with $12!

We met up with the Circus Circus rep. who then had my mom fill out some simple paper work. He then introduced us to George Duncan, the car dealer from BMW. He drove us to the Beamer lot, signed some papers, and within an hour, I was driving off the lot in a black convertible Z4.

As we were driving, my mom was trying to figure out how to sell it since everyone in the family already drives a car, and thus, she didn’t see any reason to keep it. I really wanted it, but it wasn’t my decision to make and so, I stayed silent on the subject.

POK-AR:

We arrived back at Circus Circus and I really was dead tired. I wanted to go to sleep since I figured I had a long drive ahead of me. But, just as I was about to go up to the hotel room to catch a couple of hours of sleep, my brother called. He generously offered to go feed our dog and offered to let me stay in Vegas for the night so that I didn’t have to rush home. I figured with a night to spare, I can now play poker.

Circus Circus had a lousy poker room. There was only one table being played at the moment and it was a 3/6 limit game. I disdain limit games, as you all know. But, since it was the “only game in town,” I figured why not. But, the darnest thing happened, I played with the “Oh hell, I’ll call since I’m already in the pot” mentality, and the next thing you know, I’m up $100 after an hour. I continue playing it like it was no-limit ( i.e. check raising, playing the draws, etc.) and with no possibility of being bullied out by a huge raise since this was limit, my aggressive tactics and lucky draws worked. Four hours pass and somehow I’m up $458 in winnings!

I’m dead tired and can barely stay awake. In fact, for the last three or so hours, I’ve been running on a cocktail of alcohol and coffee. I would leave, but this table is filled with loose callers and bad players. To leave would be committing financial suicide. So, I grind it out. But, needless to say, when you have been awake for 36 hours straight (but for the 2 hour nap), your calculating abilities are off. I go on a slow losing streak in the next hour and lose $68. I’m down to $390. I decided that it was still a good haul, so I call it quits. Funny thing is that I still didn’t get any respect for my abilities from my fellow players. Rather, every chump I took at that table started fighting for my seat because they all thought what I did was based on the luck of that position. Go figure.

THE BAR:

As I was driving the Z4 home the next morning, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Then it hits me: the bar results come out tonight at 6 PM. With all the excitement, I had buried away this thing that I had been dreading for the last 3 months. Through the entire 3 hour drive, I felt the attacks of anxiety; my stomach was cramping and in general just churning away like a grain mill.

The moment of truth was upon me. It was 6 PM. I logged on, typed in my information, and saw the words “This person’s name shows up on the pass list!” I screamed “THAT”S RIGHT MUTHAFUCKA…. WHAT’S MY NAME!???” Upon hearing this, my sister ran into the room with a grin and a high-five. After four attempts and a burdening huge amount of failure, I’d finally beaten that test.

I called my parents to tell them the good news. They were able to match my good news. My father said, “Congratulations. That car will be your congratulatory gift. We won’t sell it. It’s yours.”

It was 6:30 PM. Exactly 42 hours from when I first received that fated phone call from my father. What an exciting 42 hours, eh?

Congrats to him for his hard work in passing the bar and getting a new whip!

Last month I decided to bump my 401K contribution up to 30%. This change took place in my last pay check 2 weeks ago. And you know what? It wasn’t so bad. Getting promoted certainly help since my bump in my salary may have eased the pain a bit. This was good timing since I fully funded my emergency fund at the time of my promotion and I was going to contribute this amount regardless if I was getting promoted or not. In reality, a savings of 30% a pay check translated to only a decrease of $300 of my initial take home from last month. This will also decrease my taxable income for next tax season so I don’t give the government more than they deserve of my hard-earned money. Unfortunately, they cap the total amount of pretax dollars you can put in your 401K to $15K per year. I’m guessing they will stop me from my 30% savings by time Christmas roles around. This would be great timing since I’ll have extra cash for presents! It’ll be like a bonus every holiday season. I’m also not strapped for cash these days. I actually have a good amount of pocket change that is more than enough for a typical week’s miscellaneous expenditures.

Next step, buy investment properties…

I noticed recently I’ve been drinking more and more. Let’s take this past week for example. It started on Thursday when my co-workers went out for a drink at the Saddle Ranch. I was enjoying way too much alcohol while watching Golden State Warriors end the Dallas Mavericks’ season. The bartender gave us a couple of shots and I had about 8 drinks total. I felt good but not overboard. Then came Saturday, Howard’s bachelor party. I had probably about 12-15 drinks that night. This included a 1/2 yard of beer at the Yardhouse, couple of shots, a six pack of beers, and a couple of mixed drinks. The results? Me puking my brains out in the bathroom for a couple of hours, in the morning, and was on my back the entire Sunday. I’m going to go out and say I won’t be drink for awhile. At least not that much.

My friend Johnny documented Saturday on his site. Here’s the video for your convenience here: