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Eric Lai Online last updated 2 November 2008 |
airlai.com ericlai.com |
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Résumé UCSF PhD '10 UCLA MPH '05 Stanford B.A. '03 Laguna Hills High '99 Email me email (at) airlai (dot) com |
7-13 October 2008 Five-Year Reunion  For just one short weekend, the Class of 2003 converged upon Stanford for an epic five-year reunion. It was great to see so many familiar faces on and around campus, and to hear old friends recounting their invariably impressive travels and accomplishments. Their stories were reminders of how special a group we had -- rarely does one have the opportunity to grow among such esteemed company. Amidst all the Stanford festivities, I squeezed in some time to celebrate Steph's bday, check out the new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, and discover a couple new restaurants in San Francisco (as well as revisit some old favorites). Connell, Ishaan, Srini, Erik, and I also put in an afternoon on the basketball court, which was especially welcome since I rarely get to play at all these days, let alone with my old crew. The weekend in the Bay was over all too quickly. It's a shame that these reunions only happen for a couple days every five years, because the only thing missing was more time to spend catching up with everyone. The brevity of our time together certainly does not do justice to my friends' lasting impact, both on myself and in their respective careers. I return to DC feeling happy about the great times we've shared -- both this weekend and throughout college -- and, at the same time, a little sad that they've come and gone so suddenly. I anticipate I won't be dwelling on this for long, however. In three weeks, one of the biggest elections of our lifetime awaits. The consequences for our country are profound. There will always be time to reminisce, but right now there is much work to be done. Let's make it happen. 8-10 August 2008 Baltimore  With Vin in town for a conference, Victoria and I had a great excuse to spend the weekend fooding it up in Baltimore. It all started Friday evening at Vaccaro's in Little Italy, where we enjoyed amaretto tiramisu, limoncello, and an assortment of Italian cookies. We followed this up a HUGE Saturday: back-to-back lunches AND back-to-back dinners (possibly the most meals I've ever had in one day, and definitely the most in recent memory). The first lunch was the buffet at India Rasoi; half an hour later, we were at J. Paul's in Inner Harbor, downing crabcake sliders and amber ale. A few hours later, it was dinnertime: we first hit up Thai Landing on Charles St. for some tom yum talay, veggie fried rice, and rice pudding; immediately after, we walked down the street to Mughal Garden, where I had the best North Indian food I've tried in my entire life. The salmon tandoori was impeccably spiced, and the strawberry lassi came out literally freshly made. Even the chutney was so good, I didn't let the waiter take it away until I'd downed all of it. Victoria's kheer and kulfi were amazingly tasty as well. The meal was so delicious, we ended up returning to Mughal Garden Sunday for their brunch buffet. By Sunday's end, we had added drinks at Tir Na Nog and a return trip to Vaccaro's to our weekend food tour. We may have had a lot of food, but it was well worth the weight. 10-15 July 2008 Puerto Vallarta  Flying in from opposite coasts, Stephanie and I met up in Puerto Vallarta for a five-day visit to the coastal towns of the Bahía de Banderas. Our hotel was centrally located next to both the Malecon and the Río Cuale, giving us easy access to Old Town Vallarta and the gorgeous hilltop vantage points overlooking the city. On top of wandering around town, we took bus trips down to Boca de Tomatlán, a quaint fishing village, and up to Marina Vallarta, with its cluster of fancy hotels. On the penultimate day of the trip, I took a day cruise on the Princesa Serape, which dropped us off for snorkeling at Los Arcos and a waterfall hike at Quimixto. And, of course, we ate food -- lots of it. I enjoyed a range of Mexican specialties and seafood, including a delicious whole red snapper, fish tacos, and garlic mahi mahi; Stephanie had old American classics -- like ribs, pancakes, and waffles -- as well as carne asada and an octopus burrito. All in all, we had a great time in Puerto Vallarta (even if my stomach doesn't think so now!). The trip will certainly tide me over until the next big excursion: Puerto Rico. 20-24 June 2008 Charlotte  Over the weekend, Victoria and I flew down to Charlotte, NC to celebrate Connell's birthday. The QC certainly did not disappoint (though the daily thunderstorms tried their hardest to quash the festivities). In keeping with our tradition of travel eating, we helped ourselves to a variety of local culinary offerings, including Vietnamese, South Indian, Italian, Thai, and the obligatory late-night Waffle House meal. In downtown Charlotte, we hit the dance floor at the recently opened Epicenter, enjoyed delicious martinis at Therapy Lounge, and went to happy hour with Connell and a few of his coworkers. We also toured StudentFirst Academy -- the school C's mom founded in 2006. It was a quality weekend in the QC -- for Victoria, a great first visit, and for Connell, an epic birthday extravaganza. We headed back to DC tired, but very pleased. 29-30 April 2008 The Daily Show and Colbert Report One of the benefits of living on the East Coast is that the only thing separating me from New York is a $1 bus ride. So, when I lucked into free tickets for tapings of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, I didn't hesitate to hop on one of those $1 buses and see the shows live for the first time. My first stop was The Daily Show's studio on 11th Avenue. I waited in line for two hours before finally getting inside the building, going through the security check, and getting seated. Before beginning the show, Jon Stewart took questions from the audience, including one from a soldier who had just returned from a tour of duty in Djibouti (his wife gave a Djibouti hat to Stewart, who responded, "This will go nicely with the rest of my hats from the Horn of Africa"). Once the taping began, we quickly learned that Stewart incorporates the audience Q&A into the actual show; as you'll see in the video above, the first line of the night was a joke about (what else?) Djibouti. The audience thundered its approval. The taping went very smoothly. I was impressed to find that Stewart and his team of correspondents nail every segment of the show on their very first take. In fact, the time it took to tape the show was actually less than the length of the show when it airs on television, mainly because the crew only took about a minute to prepare between each segment (much less than the three or four minutes it takes for commercials). The guest for the evening was Newt Gingrich, who debated with Stewart regarding the impact of Jeremiah Wright on Barack Obama's candidacy. After the taping, an audience member asked Stewart if Wright had been asked to appear on the show. The answer: "Yes, we did ask him. He said no, in a very entertaining way." The following day, I headed down to The Colbert Report's studio, just a couple blocks away from The Daily Show offices. The Report's studio is older than its counterpart's, but it is also smaller, which puts the audience much closer to Colbert's desk. First, Colbert came out to film the "toss" -- the short satellite-video segment with Jon Stewart that transitions between the end of The Daily Show and the beginning of The Colbert Report. Next, he -- like Stewart -- took questions from the audience. While he answered these out of character, the questions were nonetheless targeted at recent events on the show, such as Colbert's mission to topple Rain on TIME's list of Most Influential People.
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