Cats don’t understand “uncomfortable”

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , , ,
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I’ve gotten to spend more time with my cats lately, since I’m working from home.  One thing that has really proven itself time and time again is the fact that they don’t seem to think any position is uncomfortable.  In fact, they often seem to prefer the most uncomfortable-looking positions… scrunched up in a tiny space, in a twisted position, or on top of hard objects (usually with sharp edges).

collage of all the crazy positions that some cats sleep in

Check out some of the wacky positions I’ve found my cats sleeping in!

(click the picture to zoom in on some of those hilarious shots)

Take Missy for example – she climbs right on top of me and plops down, without a care in the world that my arm is pinned under her so her spine gets bent all weird.  Or, of all the soft, comfortable, cozy sleeping spots I set up for her, she goes for the one place I didn’t prepare – bare, firm, and cold.  She also loves to sprawl right on my laptop keyboard (meanwhile Molly prefers to sit right on it).  Maybe it’s the heat?  Oh, and don’t forget the times when it looks like they’re doing some sort of contortionist move.

It also doesn’t seem to matter if the position is tight and condensed, or more stretched out.  You’ll find Missy curled up in a ball just as much as she’s belly-up, with her arms and legs outstretched.  Temperature usually isn’t an issue either; one of her favorite spots is under the covers where she’s practically suffocating.  Whether I sleep on my side or with my legs up, knees bent, she’ll mosey her way in if I lift the blanket, then settle in to a warm, dark corner.

Right now, Missy is laying half on me, half on the bed (she slid off me partly).  Her feet are stretched out above her head and her paws are intertwined with her feet.  Sometimes she’ll tuck her nose into that mess of limbs, and sometimes she’ll twist her neck so her chin is facing the ceiling.

Squirrels love dessert too

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , ,
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Based on how eagerly this squirrel was devouring what was left on the spoon, I’d venture to say it enjoys frozen yogurt.

squirrel licking spoon from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Ostriches & earthquakes

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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What do they have in common? Find out for yourself at the California Academy of Sciences Earthquake Exhibit!

i happily stand by the fence as baby ostriches eat in the background at the california academy of sciences

I totally went to the CA Academy of Sciences just to see these baby ostriches. So cute!!

lady feeds baby ostriches at the california academy of sciences

A lady walked around and fed the chicks. (Are baby ostriches called chicks?)

baby ostrich steps in food bowl at the california academy of sciences

One of the babies was a klutz and kept knocking over the food bowl!

both these baby ostriches managed to claim a bowl to themselves at the california academy of sciences

This is what I call “parallel eating” – maybe “parallel parked eating” is more appropriate?

baby ostriches all run from one end of the enclosure to the other at the california academy of sciences

For some reason it seemed they had to run from one end to the other – walking was not an option!

cluster of baby ostriches right against the fence at the california academy of sciences

They got up so close to the fence but I couldn’t touch them! Sad. 🙁

Customer disregard

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , ,
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guy with face in palms looking down in frustrated pose

photo credit: zachklein


You know what really irks me?  Companies that don’t care about being good.  This usually exhibits itself in two main ways: poor/non-existent customer service and dishonest (or not-so-honest) sales/marketing.  Unfortunately I came across both in one day, and found myself quite perturbed at the state that businesses are in.  Why is it the case that those providing outstanding service, great value, and by all accounts “do things right” are so few and far between?  Why is it that as a consumer and customer, I tend to expect that my voice won’t get heard?  I guess that’s why I love small businesses and start-ups, since they do tend to listen and care who I am and what I want.

It started when I came across an issue with Yahoo Mail and wanted to contact their customer service to request a feature be added.  After sending me on a wild goose chase of automated answers and browsing through their community forum, I reached a dead end that didn’t even allow me to email their service department (if they even have one!).  That’s like spending half an hour on the phone going through a tedious menu with robot voices only to get hung up on in the end.  Why waste my time?! Ugh, I was so completely disappointed in Yahoo at that point and almost didn’t even care if I could contact them anymore.  Here I am trying to help them make their service better and I feel like I’m yelling into an abyss with nobody within miles.

yahoo help dead end - only option go to community forum

The only option?! What about a contact form for YOU, Yahoo?!

Then a couple hours later, I got a phone call from a guy who started talking about setting up a consulting appointment for me.  Excuse me – what??  First of all, what consulting?  I never asked for any sort of consulting service and I certainly don’t have money to spend on that.  Second of all, who are you to offer me consulting?  Then when I asked him what this was about he answered: “Your website” to which I asked, “Which one?”  There was a pause of confusion before he was able to look it up I guess – terrible service.  You’re calling me about my business and you don’t even know the name of it?  Great.  Maybe you should get to know me before you assume you know what I want/need.  So anyway, I hated how he went ahead and assumed I had already agreed to this and just needed to set up a time to discuss details with a consultant.  That sort of sales tactic is too pushy and frankly, dishonest.

I then requested to be removed from whatever list they had me on and the guy basically ignored me, talking on about some other part of his sales pitch or something.  When I repeated myself, he told me there was no need to be testy.  Oh boy!  He hadn’t seen testy yet!  I retorted that I wasn’t being testy YET and made sure he confirmed that he’d take me out of their database before ending the call.  It was so frustrating to deal with him and his annoying assumptions that he could just bulldoze over me and get me to set up an appointment when I knew nothing about his company AND didn’t even want to change my site anyway.

Whew, so now that that’s off my chest, I vow to always strive to provide value, excellent customer service, and honest marketing.  I want my business dealings to engage customers, not drive them away.  I’d rather stay a smaller operation that really takes care of it customers than expand into a multi-national conglomerate that forgets about the little people.  And I hope that I never forget to listen to the customers, pay attention to what they’re telling me, and ensure that they are being taken care of as responsibly as possible.  Nobody should ever feel voiceless against my business.  In fact, I’d love it if we built a community around us, where we’re all like family and everybody contributes to the whole experience.  That’s my dream for my own companies.

Intense weather

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , ,
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What’s been going on lately? Between scorching heat waves and really heavy storms, we’ve experienced some really extreme weather patterns.

pouring rain from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

The rain was coming down so hard that we pulled over to wait it out.

crazy storm from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Robot romance

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set of girl and boy robot charms on chains

So cute! His and hers robots.

How to: Link Social Media Accounts

laelene Posted in how to guides,Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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With the ventures I’ve been working on, much of my time and effort have been spent figuring out the nuances of social media.  I think these issues are pertinent to many people, particularly business owners, so I’ve decided to put together some of the lessons I’ve learned and tips for how to improve your experience and avoid pitfalls.  These will be filed under the “social media lessons” category, so you can filter by category to sort by relevant posts.  Hopefully you’ll find these things useful in optimizing your own social media strategy!

social media icon buttons: facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram, vimeo, etsy

Icons courtesy Brandi Girl

Today I’ll cover how to link your social media accounts to offer consistency across social media platforms.  It can be quite time-consuming to post content across platforms, so why not link them and get more bang for your buck?  Most sites will allow you to connect with Facebook and/or Twitter to post your activity and updates; just check the settings and look for something like “Sharing Settings” or “Connect Accounts.”

First, you can interlink your Facebook Page and Twitter accounts.  That way, any post on Facebook gets updated to Twitter, and any update on Twitter gets updated to Facebook (except @replies and direct messages).

Link Twitter to your Facebook Page

  • You will be prompted to use Facebook as yourself (instead of as your Facebook Page) if you aren’t already.
  • Your personal Facebook account and any Facebook Pages that you are an admin of will be listed.
  • On the right side, click “Link to Twitter” for the account you want to link.
  • On the next page, make sure you’re logged in to the correct Twitter account and click “Authorize app.”
  • You will be returned to the previous page, where you can choose what to share (Status Updates, Photos, Video, Links, Notes, & Events). By default, they will all be checked so all updates will be shared on Twitter as well.

 
Link Facebook Page to your Twitter account

  • Scroll down to the Facebook section and click “Sign in to Facebook and connect your accounts.”
  • There will be a pop-up prompting you to allow Twitter access to your personal Facebook account. Allow it.
  • Now your account is connected to Facebook and you can choose to allow Twitter to post to your personal profile page, or one of the Facebook Pages that you are an admin of.

 

For all the rest, make sure you are signed in to the correct Facebook and Twitter accounts first.

Link Facebook* & Twitter to your Pinterest account

  • Scroll down to the Facebook section and click “Login with Facebook.”
  • There will be a pop-up prompting you to allow Pinterest access to your Facebook account.  Allow it.
  • Now “Login with Facebook” will be ON and you can choose to also turn “Publish activity to Facebook Timeline” to ON. If you do, another pop-up will prompt you to allow that type of access to your Facebook account.  Allow it if you want Pinterest updates to show up in a box on the right side of your timeline.
  • In the Twitter section, click “Login with Twitter” and authorize the app.

 
Link Facebook, Twitter, & more to your Instagram (instructions for iPhone app – Androids may vary)

  • Open up the Instagram app on your device and click on the icon that shows you your profile (bottom right).
  • Tap on the settings icon in the top right corner.
  • Scroll down to “Sharing settings” under the Account header.
  • Tap on that and choose the accounts you want to link. You’ll be prompted to log in and allow access.
  • For Facebook, your personal profile will be connected by default, but you can change it to a page by clicking on “Facebook,” then “Post to.” This will take you to a page in the FB app. Allow access here to then be able to connect Instagram to one of the Facebook Pages that you are an admin of.

 

  • Click “Connect” next to the account you want to link.
  • You will be prompted to allow access. When you accept, your account will be linked.
  • For Facebook, you will automatically be connected as yourself, but you can choose to link to a Facebook Page that you are an admin of instead by clicking on the dropdown.
  • Note that Vimeo will only send updates when you ‘like’ a video. When you upload a new video, you will need to manually choose “Share” in the top right corner of that video.

 
Link Facebook* & Twitter to your Etsy account

  • Click on “Connect with Facebook” and/or “Connect with Twitter” under the Connected Accounts section
  • You will get a pop-up prompting you to allow permission. When you do, your accounts will be linked.
  • For Facebook, you have the option of sharing your Favorites from Etsy on Facebook. Check the box if you’d like to, otherwise leave it alone.

 

*Pinterest and Etsy don’t appear to allow you to link your account to a Facebook page – right now you can only post updates to your personal timeline.

 

Is there another social media platform you’d like to see here?  Did I miss a step anywhere?  I’d love to hear some feedback.  Let me know if it worked for you (or what happened if it didn’t).

When you got an itch…

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , ,
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Well, you just gotta scratch it!

itching goat from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Hollywood sunset

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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view of sunset from griffith observatory with hollywood sign just visible on the right

From Griffith Observatory, you get a great view of sunset. On the right you can just make out the Hollywood sign.

Yuzen: my first subscription box!

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions,Tags: , , , , ,
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I’m beyond thrilled that I finally got a package today!  Exactly one month ago, I first got into this whole subscription craze and ordered the anniversary special from blissmobox.  Unfortunately, that meant that I’d have to wait until early to mid-August to get my first shipment (and I have been waiting rather impatiently).  Luckily, a few days ago I came across Yuzen when I was checking up on one of the blogs I follow.  Everything about this brand appealed to me – the name, the aesthetics, the eco-friendliness of their choices, even their messaging!  I tried really hard to resist, but honestly I couldn’t.  When I caved, I decided that I wanted this to be a special gift from my boyfriend (haha :-P).  So, I brought it up to him and spent some time convincing him.  I’m an extremely persuasive person, so of course I got my way and he put in the order to get this box indefinitely – yippee!

I feel really fortunate that they still had July boxes available and the very next day, my package was sent out!  Now it’s a mere three days later and I got a wonderful surprise at my front door.  🙂  It’s a good thing that a thunderstorm came rolling by, since I only discovered the package when I went to bring in the chairs from outside.  Either the post lady didn’t ring the doorbell, or all three of us in the house missed it.  Anyway, I’ll stop babbling so much and share some pictures, which I was very obsessive about taking.  I meticulously documented just about every single move I made.  Another day I’ll go into why I instantly loved Yuzen so much.  Today it’s all about joy and happiness and fulfillment and excitement and… ok ok, on with it:

collage of yuzen july box from arrival on doorstep to opening of box

They make it so beautiful! The experience of opening the box is worth savoring.

Upon opening the box, a fantastic scent wafted up – I nearly rushed through the opening process to get to it, but I took a deep breath instead.  After all, this is all about bringing a little zen (and happiness) to my day, so why not take it slowly and truly appreciate every little thing?  The inside card includes a lovely message from founders Jen & Ted about the wonders of summer, which inspired July’s theme of “bringing joy, discovery and a celebration for the senses.”  They sure did accomplish that!  I also got a wonderful surprise when I saw the note from Panda (the boyfriend): “This is for my Panda Bear: a monthly commitment to a happy relationship.”  Yay!  <3

collage of yuzen july box including ribbon, yuzen paper, and info card

I can’t wait to re-purpose the decorations, especially the Yuzen paper (which I will turn into origami jewelry to be sold at Panda Loves)!  When you open up the card, there’s information on each of the brands included in the box, as well as why they chose it.  I definitely appreciate this information and soaked it all in.

collage of yuzen july box taken apart layer by layer until all products visible

I carefully took the products out item by item until I found them all.  There are Lotus Wei flower essence mists to help you connect with your inner beauty, a Primavera facial scrub to renew your skin, some Himala Salt for a pure addition to your meals, Teatulia teas to enjoy an organic & healthy beverage, a People Towels hand towel to save the world from paper towels, and Kopali Organics mulberries as a superfood snack.  I absolutely love these products; what a great selection from Yuzen!  I’ll reserve my opinions on the products for some other posts before this one gets too long.  Excuse me while I go try them all!  🙂

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