Good Evening, as Eddie said for those of you who don’t know me my name is Xin and I am the best man.  For those of you who do know me all I have to say is, I’m sorry.  I’d like to start out with my favorite story about Rocky.  This will you give you an idea of what type of man Rocky is.  Rocky may have a different version of this story though.  This story goes back to when we were in high school before he met Lucy.  It was the summer and I found out that Rocky didn’t know how to ride a bike.  I was thinking to myself what kind of Chinese person doesn’t know how to ride a bike but then I found put that Hong Kong has this fancy thing called a great public transportation system.  Well after a couple of hours he was getting the hang of riding the bike.  Everything was going pretty good until a dog came along.  All of a sudden I see Rocky pick up the bike and start running away.  I was a bit surprised by this so I just stood there and watch him run away with the bike.  Afterwards I found out Rocky was afraid of dogs back then that’s why he was running.   The first thing I asked him was, ”Rocky why didn’t you get on the bike and ride away?  It’s a lot faster then running and carrying the bike.  I guess that’s what happens when you panic.  I tell you this story because it’s one of the few memories I have of Rocky before he met Lucy.  Ever since he’s met Lucy he’s more of a laid back and chill kind of dude.  To me Lucy gives him this quiet confidence.  After he has met Lucy I’ve never seen him panic as such again.

As best man I figured I should also try to give you some advice about marriage.  I don’t have experience in that area so I will tell you a profound piece of advice about marriage I have received from my dad.  He told me, “Son when you get married you need to get a maid.”  At first this sounds absurd but it makes all kind of sense if you think about it.  Most domestic arguments are about chores around the house.  If you get a maid you’ll eliminate those arguments all together.  Makes sense right?  Sorry that’s the best I got.  If you know Rocky and Lucy like I do, you’ll know that they are best friends.  They do everything together.  So much so I don’t even recognize them when they are apart.  Spending all that time together leads to the occasional argument though.  I noticed whenever Lucy gets really mad at Rocky she always calls him “stupid”.  That always makes me laugh.  To me that’s just absurd.  I call Rocky a lot of names but I never would call him stupid.  He’s one of the most brilliant men I’ve met in my life.  Just remember next time when you two get into an argument how absurd you look to an outsider and have a good laugh about it.    

I’ve known these two since they’ve started dating and it’s been quite an adventure watching these two mature into the couple that they are today.  We all practically grew up together.  I have many fond memories of these two but I’m not sure why these are stuck in my head.  I just want to quickly share them with you.  One winter we were all in Toronto on vacation.  We were having breakfast in the morning and I politely asked Lucy if she slept well last night.  She replied, “It was ok but Rocky’s stomach kept poking me.”   Rocky quickly interjected, “Trust me it’s wasn’t my stomach that was poking you.”  It’s always these inappropriate comments from Rocky that make me laugh.  A joke like that definitely deserves a terrorist fist jab from me.  I can’t forget Lucy about either.  She’s the best female gamer I know.  I know I’m playing against Lucy when I have a pack of battle cruisers sitting outside my base and I just go, “awe crap”.   Lucy you need a new strategy.  Bigger guns doesn’t always help you win you know.  Whatever the case, these two always find a way to make me laugh.  

As I was trying to finish writing my speech yesterday, I stumbled onto a great song that reminded me of Rocky and Lucy. To quote the Beatles, “You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead”, and that’s definitely true here.  It reminded me of you two because both of you have been together for almost half of your lives.  You two are the longest lasting couple that I know off around my age.  Your long lasting relationship is a great testament to friendship and love.  What more can I say? Rocky and Lucy are perfect together.  They are best friends, but to me they are also my best friends.  Rocky is like the older brother I never had and Lucy is the little sister that I never wanted.  Let’s raise our glasses and give a toast these two.  Cheers!  And one more thing, now here’s the slide show.  Trust me its 5X’s more entertaining than my speech.   

-I was a bit disappointed that the slide show was chopped from all sides during the reception due to issues with the projector resolution.  I checked it three times in the afternoon and it worked fine but the one time I ran it without verifying the resolution, it did not work out right.  As Pete said that just Murphy's Law.  Well this is what it is suppose to look like. 

-In an attempt to increase the amount of sleep I get each night I ran an experiment for the past few months. Actually I just wanted to hit the snooze button one more time before I really got up. This is what I tried:

1. Stop wearing contacts
2. Stop shaving
3. Switch from separate bottles of shampoo and body wash to one bottle of Dial For Men Hair+Body Hydrating Wash

Here's a few things I learned by doing the above tasks. Wearing glasses is annoying for work since I often have to wear safety glasses. Maintaining a beard is actually harder than the clean shaven look unless you just let it grow wild. Dial Hair+Body Wash is the best thing since sliced bread. The guy who thought of putting everything in one bottle is a genius! All in all, I estimated that I saved approximately 5 minutes a day by conducting those three steps. Five minutes a day might not be that much but that's an extra 2.5 hrs of sleep per month.

I think I was successful in getting more sleep but inadvertently I think I also ran a social experiment. Although I didn't think I looked too different than normal, people treat you differently with a beard. For one, Sal didn't even recognize me with a beard. Ten plus years of friendship and he doesn't recognize me! It's not like I got plastic surgery. Then my dad asks me, "Did you draw some of that on your face?" "Yes, dad I drew that on my face. What kind of loser do you think I am?" He says, "But no one in our family can grow a beard like that." "Well I don't know dad but you may want to talk to mom about that." Others have called me Abraham Lincoln or Ichiro with the beard. Some say I look evil. Some say I look like a badass. What do you guys think?

Shall I...

A. Shave it off! I've seen billy goats that look better than you.
B. Keep the beard. Abe's got nothing on you!
C. Dude, you seriously need to get a life.

-On another note, I biked 35 miles in 2.5 hours on Saturday for Pedal for Wishes. That's a new record for distance and time for me.