From http://livejournal.com/community/thefridayfive/

1. What is your opinion on karma?
I definitely believe in karma and karmic retribution. The old adage that “what goes around comes around” has proven true many times and I truly believe in it. I mean, look at this bitch, a dickhead CEO of a dot-com company forced to move back to his mom’s house in his forties. That’s karma, baby!

2. If anything, do you think attitude makes any difference? If you believe the world and life are good, will good things radiate toward you? If you believe otherwise, will it all be a self fulfilling prophecy?
I believe that self-deprecation and pessimism breeds bad energy. Have you ever noticed that people that complain about illnesses always seem to be sick? Some people foster bad energy around them and it affects their health, psyche, and overall well-being.

3. How has luck/chance/facts-of-life/God/karma/nature treated you so far?
I really try to create foster good energy by having a good outlook on life, I am an optimist. I also have a strong work ethic. These things combined have allowed me to go from growing up in a single-parent welfare household to making over six figures and being a homeowner in San Francisco. All in all, karma has treated me very well.

4. What is your opinion of the concept of destinies?
Everyone has an opportunity to “change their stars” like in that movie, “A Knight’s Tale.” Life is too complex and there are too many variables for things to be preordained. People make their own choices, moment-by-moment, which shape their lives.

5. Are both bad and good things needed in order to truly live life? Can you have the bad without the good? The good without the bad?
I think that people who inherit money have less respect for it. Those that are self-made remember what it is like to be poor and strive never to go back. Is it ambition or fear? Either way it’s a helluva motivator. Economics aside though, I think that it would be very hard to appreciate happiness without feeling sadness.

From http://livejournal.com/community/thefridayfive/

1. What is your favorite summer activity?
Just walking around the city of San Francisco on a sunny day is pretty nice. Now that we live in SOMA we can walk to Union Square, Nob Hill, North Beach, Fisherman’s Wharf, and our favorite place, Yerba Buena Gardens.

2. What was one great thing you did this summer?
I finished my degree at the University of San Francisco. We also planned a vacation to Europe. We’ll be going to Germany for my friend Otto’s wedding and then we’ll go to Spain to hang out at the beach in Denia, on the Costa Blanca this October.

3. When you were a child, what was your favorite summer activity?
Going to the beach, anywhere, but mostly in Puerto Rico. Also, just walking through the streets of my hometown of Dorado in summer was awesome. In Southern California, I loved going to Redondo Beach.

4. What has been your favorite summer vacation?
Last summer we went to the Big Island of Hawaii and had a blast. We did a lot of scuba diving. You can check out the pictures here.

5. Summer goes well into September, but when do you feel like it is over?
Living in San Francisco the warmest months are September and October. Summer really doesn’t start until August, since June and July tend to be a little foggy. It is rare that it stays warm through November, but we had great weather into Thanksgiving last year. So for the most part, I would say that the first week of November is the end of summer for us.

From Fridayfive.org.

1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?
A conference call that I had with the ex-CEO of iMind, Mark A. Popp. He’s suing me because I maintain this site–please consider contributing to my legal defense fund.

2. What one person touched your life this week?
My wife touches me pretty much all over on a regular basis–it’s pretty sweet ;) I forgot to blog about the fact that she interviewed Sean Penn last week for the SFSU magazine–kick ass!

3. How have you helped someone this week?
I have helped my lawyer add a new wing to his house–my legal bills are getting really expensive.

4. What one thing do you need to get done by this time next week?
Work, work, and more work. I have to finish reviewing interface and conversions design documents for GMS Projects 3/4 at Gap, Inc. Like my homey Chad says, “I need this weekend now more than ever.”

5. What one thing will you do over the next seven days to make your world a better place?
I will do the school work that will help me complete my degree that will allow me to become a CIO of a large multinational corporation that will cure cancer someday–really!

From Fridayfive.org.

1. Do you like talking on the phone? Why or why not?
Not really. I tend to use the phone to setup meeting times to have face-to-face discussions with colleagues or friends.

2. Who is the last person you talked to on the phone?
My wife.

3. About how many telephones do you have at home?
Two. One cordless and one conference phone.

4. Have you encountered anyone who has really bad phone manners? What happened?
Anyone who 1) has the ringer on their cell phone turned up to 130 decibels as if the whole world must hear the ring and 2) talks loudly into their cell phone in a public area, especially on the N-Judah train during the morning or afternoon commute. You know who you are–there’s no need to yell, and have you ever heard of vibrate?

5. Would you rather pick up the phone and call someone or write them an e-mail or a letter? Why or why not?
It depends on the urgency of the message. I tend to reserve phone calls for more urgent matters.

From Fridayfive.org.

1. What was the last song you heard?
1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins.

2. What were the last two movies you saw?
The Recruit & Star Trek Nemesis.

3. What were the last three things you purchased?
Two boxes of Magic: The Gathering playing cards, Streets is Watching: The Movie by Jay-Z, a bunch of clothes at The Gap sample sale.

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
Sleep, eat, drink, and be merry.

5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
Mama Miller Gonzalez, my wife, Carmen Leung, co-worker, Jamie Draper, co-worker, Linh Nguyen, co-worker, and Steve Thompson, my friend and ex-coworker.

From Fridayfive.org.

1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
I am definitely a periodicals kind of person–specialized magazines pertaining to my favorite interests. Fortune, Wired, Business Week, and Entertainment Weekly are all regulars for me.

2. What is your favorite novel?
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
No, I don’t have a favorite poem, but I do have a favorite rap song. I’ll share the first verse of Hard Knock Life by Jay-Z. For those that are not rap connoisseurs, this is the song with the Annie musical chorus. You may have heard it:

From standin’ on the corners boppin’
To drivin’ some of the hottest cars New York has ever seen
To droppin’ some of the hottest verse that rap has ever heard
From the dope spot, with the smoked Glock fleein’ the murder scene
You know me well, from nightmares of a lonely cell, my only hell
But since when y’all niggaz know me to fail? Fuck naw
We all my niggaz with the rubber grips, for shots
And if you with me mah I’m rubbin’ your tits, and what-not
I’m from the school of the hard knocks, we must not
Let outsiders violate our blocks, and my plot
Let’s stick up the world and split it fifty-fifty, uh-huh
Let’s get the dough and stay real jiggy, uh-huh
And sip the Cris’ and get pissy-pissy
Flow infinitely like the memory of my nigga Biggie, Bay-beh!
You know it’s hell when I come through
The life and times of Shawn Carter nigga Volume 2

4. What is one thing you’ve always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
I don’t think I get to read enough interface and conversions functional design documents (inside joke). Really though, I wish I had time to finish reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I am half way done through The Two Towers and want to finish the Trilogy someday soon.

5. What are you currently reading?
Interface and conversions functional design documents and control matrices–lots of them.

From Firdayfive.org.

1. What is your most prized material possession?
Other than my car, my bike and computer are the most expensive things I own. However, my most prized possession would have to be my camera. Oh, and the Tivo. Ok, it’s a three-way tie between my laptop, my camera, and the Tivo. That’s my final answer.

2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest?
I have a couple of books that I’ve had for over ten years. Also, I have a collection of all of the Wired magazine issues for the first five years.

3. Are you a packrat?
No. Other than a few books, the magazine collection, and lots of pictures, I don’t like to keep a lot of things. Mama is the packrat of the household. She still has a doll she had when she was a little kid in the closet.

4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum?
I like clean, but now that I am married I can live with a little clutter. I think I may just be getting lazier in my old age.

5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there?
Yeah, the theme is “shelves everywhere.” Seriously, living in San Francisco doesn’t allow for apartments or homes with a lot of space. As such, our apartment has a lot of shelving and organizing systems to make the best of the space.

From Fridayfive.org.

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn’t have breakfast, why not?
Nothing. I hardly ever eat breakfast and when I do it’s an apple a banana or cereal.

2. What’s your favorite cereal?
Cheerios.

3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change?
Every day for lunch and almost every day for dinner. Apart from the opbvious expense, eating out is excellent. Eating out in San Francisco is a very satisfying experience–there are a lot of great restaurants. If we become rich someday, we’ll have a chef come over and cook for us :) Other than that I wouldn’t change a thing.

4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that?
Japanese food: chicken teriyaki and gyoza (potstickers) dinner. The recipe for this is simple: 1) Call the restaurant down the street and order. 2) Wait ten minutes in high heat (we like to keep the apartment warm). 3) Walk to restaurant. 4) Return. 5) Eat.

5. What’s your favorite restaurant? Why?
It’s between Jardiniere and Indigo. They are both excellent.

1. Where are you right now?
Sitting in my living room.

2. What time is it?
11:48PM.

3. What are you wearing?
Gray t-shirt and underwear.

4. Any people or animals around you? Describe them.
Mama is sleeping in the bedroom, and my cat is sleeping there too. I am alone in this room.

5. What are your plans for the weekend?
I’ll try and forget about these lame ass questions–this has to be the worst Friday Five ever. I have school tomorrow and tomorrow night we are going out for Steve Thompson’s birthday.

Friday Five from Smattering.org.

1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
I was raised Roman Catholic.

2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
No, I am not a practicing Catholic. I don’t believe in any organized religion–they all essentially strive for “goodness.” I want my “goodness” without the guilt, restrictions, and threats of eternal damnation. Besides, the evangelistic mantras pit the religions against each other. More people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason–the Crusades were a bad idea. Karl Marx said, “religion is the opiate of the masses” and I tend to agree. However, I have actually gotten into Buddhism recently because it’s an introspective philosophy more than a religion persay–it implies a certain personal pragmatism. But, who knows? Maybe South Park is right; the correct answer for “salvation” is the Mormons.

3. What do you think happens after death?
The people you leave behind throw a big party with your money.

4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
Picking up a Grande Latte at Starbucks in the morning.

5. Do you believe people are basically good?
I do believe that everyone has the capacity to be good, but all the mofos I’ve come across in my lifetime were not all good. If you try and live a life that you can be proud of then you will be rewarded someway somehow. I am a firm believer in karmic retribution.

Friday Five from Smattering.org.

1. How many TVs do you have in your home?
One.

2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week?
About 16 to 20 hours a week.

3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children?
“Whatchu talkin’ ’bout Willis?” I was raised by Television. I was a latch key kid through the early eighties and I turned out okay. Besides, all the pop culture trivia you get from TV really comes in handy when playing NTN at bars.

4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you’re heartbroken?
I have a Tivo, so I just don’t miss any of my shows. My favorite shows are the HBO Original Series: The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, and Curb Your Enthusiam. Other shows I watch regularly are Saturday Night Live, The West Wing, ER, Scrubs, Will & Grace, Friends, Alias, The Amazing Race, Survivor, Enterprise, and Farscape.

5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like?
I think that HBO has created some great thought provoking original shows and would create more networks like it. Also, I have to give props to the Sci-Fi channel for creating Farscape, even if they did cancel it.

Also, check out Larry O’Brien’s answers.

‘Every friday, the friday five website asks bloggers to answer five questions in their blogs–here it goes.

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
I am 100% Puerto Rican. My mom is a Puerto Rican mestizo and is mostly of Spanish (Spain) and Taino (Natives of Puerto Rico) descent. My father is a Puerto Rican mulatto of African descent and could possibly trace his roots back to the Mandingo tribes that came from what is modern day Liberia.

2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
Since I’ve already been to Puerto Rico (I was born there), I would have to say Spain.

3. Which would you least like to visit? Why?
Liberia. Like nearby Sierra Leone, Liberia is filled with civil unrest that would make a visit a bit dangerous.

4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage?
Not really.

5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)?
My mother.