I haven’t been watching The Apprentice as religiously as I did the first season, but this season sure got my attention. Tarek - who has an uncanny resemblance to Orlando Bloom, as long as he stops with the forehead wrinkles and chagrin he puts on when he doesn’t get his way. Just smile, SMILE. You look enough like Orlando that I’ll keep watching. Just don’t do something stupid and get yourself fired, like you almost did today.
During the first day of orientation, the President came to welcome us. He ended the talk with a “God Bless”. Now coming from a public school background all of my life, this was a huge shocker. I looked around, to see if anyone else was affected by this religious statement. Oh, right, I thought. I *am* at a Christian university afterall.
As with most b-schools there’s an emphasis on business ethics, especially after the accounting hype of Enron, Global Crossing, Waste Management….. but I’ve enjoyed attending a school that has such physical beauty, which has helped me forget the harshness of the real world, surrounding me with a safe bubble of teachers, classmates, and never-ending toilet seat covers.
An evening a few weeks ago, leaving an after-class event I had a lower-campus student (which means undergrad) hit me on my way out of campus. It was later at night which means the place is practically deserted and dark. To make a long story short, we exchanged information for about 15 minutes and we both left the scene. Luckily I had my digital camera with me to take photos of her car, my car and took photos of the scene the very next morning (it was too dark at night to get good photos). These were all sent directly to my insurance company to sort things out. However, it seems as though none of it matters. Why? Because there seems to be not one, but TWO mystery witnesses that came out of the woodwork after my departure.
Now, anyone with any common sense would wonder, why would two witnesses wait to come out with their information almost 20 minutes after the accident (they claimed to have come forward 5 minutes after my departure)? I can’t seem to make much sense of this, especially because I didn’t see anyone there at the scene of the crime. Based on these two mystery eye-witnesses, my insurance company is taking liability, without even considering the damage to the cars (which can tell a lot to a professional).
Had I not been born with any morals or ethics towards the world, I would have witnesses too. Heck, I could make them up. Given the other girl had attended Christian schools most of her life, she should be ashamed of herself. Her and the two other witnesses that must have been hiding in the bushes. I believe the ninth commandment reads: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. (Exodus 20:16)
I usually only “kind of” look forward to this time of year. However this year I got in the mail something that said Hope Lifecredit for education or what not. Whatever. Well, I also underestimated with the fact that I only worked 8 months last year. That’s a chunk out of my already low annual salary and thus, voila. A big fat bonus in the form of a tax return.
Let’s just say that I’ve finished my taxes this year, a little earlier than usual.
I have a Type A personality. Especially when it comes to certain things, I can get pretty darn anal (my apartment is not one of them, if you could see it now). One of those is my schoolwork, which has replaced my previous work-work. I like to start projects early (sometimes they don’t get done early) and I like team members who contribute. Not only contribute but those that are smarter, better, faster than me - cause then I can actually learn from them, which I think is the point of all of these damn group projects.
I’m on a team now for one of the most difficult projects in one of the most difficult classes of my life. I am rarely impressed with my own work but between myself and my two other braintrust friends, we have completed an economic profit analysis for one of the largest multi-national beverage companies in the world. Not only do we have numbers and analyses to prove our theory on what drives this company’s profits, we were able to get a former executive to confirm our theory. Nice.
For many of my projects including this one, I typically send it on to Kinkos for color printing and binding. It isn’t cheap - a 41 page paper costs me almost $50 which on a student budget is about 3 Happy Hours. I love the fact they are open 24 hours - I’ve made many overnight dashes out to the Marina Del Rey Kinkos in the past. I was ecstatic when they started to offer the “send your print jobs directly” option on their website. But there’s one problem - what the customer wants with this type of technology is instant gratification. Like ordering stuff from Best Buy online, I want to be able to order it, then run over and pick it up. No waiting, no fuss. However this isn’t so - for either scenario. On the software you install from Kinkos, it automatically wants you to give it 4 hours leadtime on your order. This does not take into consideration how large your request is (whether it be 2 pages or 100) nor does it take into consideration how backed up that specific Kinkos is on their work orders. What proceeds to happen is that I place my order, expecting to pick it up 4 hours later (since that is what I put as my “due time”) but its actually not ready for another 8. That can certainly put a dent in someone’s schedule who is on their way out the door for an important meeting, or class. Good thing for us we’re a few days early on the paper - but still, this is an annoyance.
Now this may seem silly, but in this day in age of supply chain management and automation, can’t they at least have some indicator which will give you a more realistic idea when your request can be fulfilled - based on the size of your order and their current work orders? Especially since Kinkos is FedEx, you would think they have the SCM stuff under control — oh sorry, that was UPS who first mastered that area.
If Kinkos marketing had any thoughts of qualitative analysis on their services, reading blogs with rants and raves would be a good place to start. But that’s only if they’re being sensitive to their consumer needs. Which they should be, since I can certainly afford a cheap laser color from Dell for all of the printing I’ve done so far. As Friedman said in The World Is Flat, as the playing field becomes flattened and competition increases, you must be able to find a way to differentiate yourself. Differentiation can come from things such as customer service. To provide great customer service, you have to KNOW your customer. So listen up Kinkos, I’m pissed that my online print jobs are consistently 8 hours late.
1994. That was the year I began to follow her career. I was still in high school then, but an asian ice princess gave hope to many of us who were not so graceful or athletic. She eventually came to UCLA, the same time I was an undergrad. I lived in Rieber Hall the same summer she was there. I was trying to pickup my new 19″ monitor that had arrived at the front desk, she was dressed in her outfit waiting to be picked up for practice. I would see her in the dining room, and she would sit alone - I was too scared to say hello. Many things in my life has changed since 12 years ago, but her respect, grace and dignity for the sport and to herself has never changed.
I am saddend by her decision not to compete.
One thing hasn’t changed for me - I saw her at Souplantation in Marina Del Rey a few weeks ago, but was too scared to say hello 
My first half marathon! Although the run didn’t start until 7 AM, we still had to leave by 5 AM to get to Huntington Beach at a relatively early hour. Parking was a nightmare, and the fog was pretty thick. The Leggers had a booth where I met a running buddy, and by start time, the fog had cleared. We were trying to work our way to our pace group when the announcer started talking “…and 2 years ago I met…and ran my first half marathon…and I want this to be my last as a single man….” and he proposed over the loudspeakers!!!
Anyhow, we were off to a great start - a little more humid than what I’m used to, but was at a great pace. It got hot during the race, but the course by the ocean really helped. Overall it was flat, with a few hills. I could tell I was physically tired after getting only a few hours sleep the night before which began to take a toll (damn, its that thing called school that keeps getting in the way). I ended up trying GU for the first time and almost choked on the consistency. Good thing I ran this one, since the full LA marathon is only a few weeks away. 1:05:27 at the 10K mark, and 2:16:11 at the finish line, averaging a 10:24 mile.
Your results:
You are Green Lantern
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Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.  |
I have a story to share.
The year was 1972. He had been in the U.S. for a few months now, flying into the country with a one-way ticket, because that is all he can afford. This had been his dream since he was young. To come to the United States of America, the land of plenty. The country which gave its military chocolate and coca-cola. The immigration rules were lax then, there was no high speed data transmissions nor were there any terrorist lists. He had a visa that allowed him in for a few months, where he stayed with a family friend and waited tables at night. He was taking english classes at the adult school in San Pedro where the teachers didn’t turn away extra heads in the classroom. Money was tight, he lived off of the small wage he earned plus tips and the owner was cheap. Him and the others were fed on the evening shift, where they worked 2 blocks from the beach.
Eventually the family friend asked him to leave and he went to look for his own place. His friend took him to look at a trailer, one that cost $75 a month but the toilet was next to the bed. He eventually found a fully furnished apartment for $125. He had to buy a car, and bought a mustang convertible that was grass green, with a hippie sticker on the back bumper that said something about saving the horses… eventually though, he had to get a permanent visa to stay in the U.S. He considered going to Vietnam, although that would have given him the first ticket out of the country rather than staying.
He consulted one of the customers where he worked, who was an accountant at a large firm in the city. He was very wealthy and was single. In the end, he could not help legally and instead recommended for what was available at that time - if the family of the immigrant could prove that they had enough finances to cover for this person as they would not be a burden on the country, then a visa can be issued. He realized he had to go back to his home country to get this necessary paperwork.
He planned a 3 week trip back home, bought a round-trip ticket. The day after he arrived, the rain was coming down hard. It was monsoon, or perhaps a little before and the rain was coming down hard but he decided to go to the bank anyway, as he only had 3 weeks. He got in the special line at the bank, the one where you go to for special requests.
That’s when he saw her.
He had never thought about marriage or long term relationships before. He had been through a few relationships, but nothing all that serious. He was only 27, and that seemed like a lifetime away. But when he saw her, he couldn’t help but to think, “would a beautiful person like that go out with me?”
There was only one way to find out. After his transaction was finished, he went back outside into the rain. He ran to the first phone booth and called the bank. He asked for her. She answered. He introduced himself. Apologized for being so forward, and for sounding crazy but he would like to take her out. He would be gone for the next week but as soon as he returned, he would like to take her to dinner. She agreed.
A week later he called her again to setup a time and a place. She came. They drank coffee and chatted. Then he took her to a special place, with steak dinners (which weren’t available in that country at the time). She barely touched her food.
Two weeks later he had to return to the U.S. He asked her to marry him.
She said yes.
The story doesn’t end there. In hindsight, she also remembers thinking “is this the man I will marry?” that day as he got into the cab. She had also never thought about marriage or long term relationships before. She had been asked out by many men from work, family friends and neighbors but had not been interested in any of them. But on that day, the day she agreed to cover someone else’s lunch shift, fate happened.
Do you believe in fate?
1. Jenn posted the link to my favorite taco place. They’ve updated their old Frontpage-looking thing to one complete with music. Turn up the music and shake your booty.
update: OMG this website is serious. They have the commercial, the game, the song, the pictures of their tacos…. I’ll bet this will increase the number of poseurs that start showing up wanting chicken tacos.
2. Argentina’s been booked. Total 17 hr flight each way (w/an addt’l layover in Atlanta), 2 and a half weeks. I feel like I’m going on the amazing race. I’m a bit concerned about my Spanish skills. They go as far as ordering at #1. And with the awesome new books courtesy of Hiroko and Guy, we’re all good to go on planning the details, and eating like locals. Thanks you guys!!
3. Almost done with The World Is Flat and although there are many interesting tid bits throughout the book, my favorite quote came yesterday, “in China, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In the US, Britney Spears is Britney Spears. That’s the problem.”
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