Dream State January 29, 2010

When I feel like life sucks and it’s boring or when it just suck, being in a single in the middle of the lake is my dream state.

I sit relaxed, hands on oars, resting on the water. The single and I float with the wakes on the surface of the lake. The wind is still. The sky is clear. It’s bright but no hot, direct sunlight. There’s nobody else on the lake. I feel like leaning back, lying on my back onto the boat.

I close my eyes and enjoy the silence, peace, and the gentle cradle of the lake.

[ok. It's not really feasible to lie down on a shell because you still need to hand on to the oars which have handles high in the air because they are attached to the boat on the oar locks. But bear with my dream state.]

Excited for the Weather January 20, 2010

It was even better earlier this morning when I checked. Seattle is SUNNY! It still is. So exciting Hong Kong had pretty similar temperature with Seattle (and Vegas) the past week. But today they’re at 23 degree Celsius! How exciting!!

Good Weekend January 11, 2010

Had a pretty good weekend. We started with Korean BBQ @ Old Village, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. But, o well, as least we have tried it and figured out what the hype is all about. Here’s my yelp review.

Finally back to rowing after a month of holidays/ bad weather/ being sick. Weather was terrific. Much warmer than earlier in December. Water was calm and glassy, and it didn’t rain. So glad that the rain waited till Monday. It’s pouring really hard today.

Felt like I wasn’t really getting what I needed from the class any more, and found out that Greenlake would be a good place to start sweeping. Need to check with Ellen on recommendations for a specific class, nonetheless. Meanwhile, also trying to be more diligent about studying for GMAT.

We visited Carolyn and Tristan and saw little Lillian for the first time. She’s still very tiny (5lb 1oz) but seems very healthy. Their short-term home in Greenlake is very cozy.

finally got tickets to go home in April for 2 weeks. It will be the first time that I’m visiting during a non-holiday season. Should be pretty different…. By then I would have completed my GMAT.

Movie Review: Avatar January 5, 2010

Went to the IMAX theater in Pacific Science Center last night to watch Avatar. I enjoyed it very much. The graphics are beautiful and the 3D special effects made the movie extra lively. I heard feedback about bad story lines but I don’t agree. It may be a bit predictable and standard, but overall it’s action-packed and adventure-filled, plenty of surprises and climaxes. The story, graphics, and creative details are amazing.

Freezing Cold Seattle December 7, 2009

We had a pretty darn cold week last week. While it didn’t rain (i.e. no clouds, i.e. COLD!!), it was just really cold.

When I noticed that the weather forecast says -5 degree Celcius on my iGoogle homepage, I went ‘Holy Crap!’ and it looks like it’s not getting any better tomorrow and staying mostly in the negative Celcius for the rest of the week.

Wish I could work from home and not have to brave the cold outside until we leave for the airport to warmer land.

Atlas Institute Engagement Mapping December 1, 2009

Watched this slide show accompanied by the youtube audio presentation by Esco Strong on Engagement Mapping. It’s fascinating how Engagement Mapping points out the lack of an all encompassing look at various Sales & Marketing effort that go into closing a sale transaction, and how it can help Marketers optimize, not just in what search key words to use, but more importantly, when to approach prospects with which media and at what frequency (would work nicely with the Recency-Frequency-Monetary model presented in the Strategic Database Marketing book I was reading earlier.)

Enjoy!
Slideshow: Esco Strong / IAB Conecta2009

Super Cute Surprised Kitty November 30, 2009

“Awwwwww……”

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) November 24, 2009

What is interesting about MBTI is not the type it results in, but the realization of how you identify with questions/ statements as presented.

I just did a few different free versions of the test (http://www.personalitytest.net, http://similarminds.com, http://www.humanmetrics.com). Seemingly I show consistent preference as ‘S’ (sensing) and ‘J’ (judging), while less consistence amonst extroversion and feeling/ thinking. More detailed description about the test and interpretation of types can be found on wikipedia.

From answering some of the questions in these tests, I can recall situations where I am more extroverted (when hosting a social event, or leading activities), and vice versa (sometimes taking more of a listener’s role in meetings, or meeting new people), i.e. my personality adapts to situations and needs.

Specifically Similar Minds provided a breakdown:

ISTJ – “Trustee”. Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

and description of personality type:

ISTJ – “Trustee”. Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

Personality Test gives quite a surprising description, which sounds very good but I can’t exactly agree it’s 100% accurate:
ESFJ: “Seller”. Most sociable of all types. Outstanding host or hostesses. They may be dependent, first on parents and later on spouses. They excel in service occupations involving personal contact. 13% of the total population.

Had an Awesome Birthday November 15, 2009

Happy birthday to me! Yesterday was awesome (despite a bit of angst in between, but what’s high in life if there’s no low?). Got up to row in the morning. Weather was (relatively) nice, sun was out (a bit) and it wasn’t raining. We had 2 quads and a double out, rowed through the cut and back. I stroked for my quad yesterday, quite rare as I typically bow and cox in quads (come to think of it, even more rare is for me to be in 2 or 3 seat). Felt pretty good to lead overall.

Digits were a little frozen after rowing so we went to Le Fournil’s with our rowing buddies/ classmates for a Mocha to get warmed up. Gossiped a bit about somebody who got blacklisted from a class. It’s a very strange scene, since people are typically very nice and friendly in the rowing world.

We then went over to OP’s for brunch. She made pancakes and waffles with fruits and we brought over bacon and sausages and eggs and made some omelets. Invited Adriana too. OP also made parfait but we were pretty stuffed after numerous pancakes and waffles and eggs, so I just had one Spent the rest of the afternoon getting the remaining accommodations for Puerto Rico and Florida booked, while watching Battle of the Wedding Planners on TLC and mimicking their evil laughs. Then we went to Target so Ani can do his returns and we picked out a couple of games (Funglish and Madgab) for the night. Rushed home got changed vaccummed up broken bulb and dashed over to Kingfish Cafe for dinner. We had drinks and chatted during the 1.5 – 2 hour wait (they don’t take reservations). Food was DELICIOSO and portions are good enough to feed 4. Mac and Cheese hmmmmmmm Thank you kutti for ordering a side. Even though it’s supposed to have onions and peppers (gagh) I only got bites of cheeeeeessseee and macaroni. yuums! and My gumbo was super tasty and gigantic. Barely took a tip of the iceberg.

Hula and Nanna got me gift cert. to JL Racing

We went to Susan’s for cake and Funglish afterwards. Cake was chocolate with custard filling super tastttty and Funglish was hilarious. We had a good time.

Woke up this morning thinking it was Monday and dreading a bit about what to wear to work and why I didn’t set my usual 6:30 am alarm. Then my 7:00am alarm came on and I suddenly remember that’s the alarm for rowing, i.e. IT’S SUNDAY! yaaaaaaay. Thank god for Sunday.

Had a good row this morning. We had 3 singles in the class, rowed out to Lake Union all the way through Fremont Bridge and down the channel. Water is sooooo calm once we passed Gasworks park and just glassy after the Fremont bridge. It was beautiful. We got some really good practice in. My hands didn’t freeze today, probably also because I was busy rowing around It started drizzling when we were heading back from Fremont, but overall it’s a nice morning.

Dream A Little Dream For Me October 16, 2009

In my dream job, I would travel, maybe 30% of the time.
In my dream job, I would be doing something new every day, not mundane day-to-day tasks.
I look forward to intelligently stimulating work.
I would work in a productively competitive environment, where people I work with are smart and well educated.
I want to work on something that people can see the results of, something high visibility, preferably something that people would benefit from.

Meanwhile, it would be interesting to do something creative, like create a pretty website, on the side, for fun. I know creativity and artsiness are not my strengths so maybe this would remain a dream.