A day of fools

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
01 April 2010
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Today was a fun, playful day as Starbucks introduced its new sizes – Plenta and Micra, and Google decided to give props to one of my former hometowns by changing their name to Topeka.  I’m sure there were plenty of other fun pranks out there from similar high-profile companies, but these are the two I happened across today.

Some of my coworkers actually believed the Starbucks one and I’m sure many people wished the Plenta was for real.  After all, that’s about how much coffee they could power through in a day.  I really enjoyed the quirky uses they suggested for both sizes after you’re done with your drink and that picture of the two guys is brilliantly hilarious.  How could anyone take that seriously?  Lol.

The Google one taught me something I didn’t know about (which isn’t surprising, since Google – excuse me, Topeka is always coming up with crazy new products).  Their concept of that sort of ultra-fast internet connection could propel us even further into developing cool new technologies and ways of virtual interaction.  I’m imagining something straight out of Star Wars here, with holographic 3D images.  Can’t help it.

Oh, and a random unrelated thought – all 5 of my iPhone app updates today were iPad related.  Not like that does me any use!

Seed paper

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
31 March 2010
2

postcards with seeds embedded in the paperOne of the newest trends in eco-friendly products are these fun cards made from recycled paper pressed with seeds.  I’d assume they’re printed with vegetable-based inks.  So you get it, read it, enjoy it, then plant it!  Cool, huh?  There are a variety of wildflower seeds embedded into the sheets, so you never know what you’ll get.  It’s a nice way of disposing of paper products, letting them biodegrade as they give life to plants.

My favorite gas station is the BP Helios House on Robertson & Olympic in Beverly Hills.  Why?  Because it’s futuristic and as eco-friendly as a gas station could really be.  A bit of a conundrum, I guess, but it fascinates me with its energy-efficient lighting and environmental tips.  One of the things they have is a panel of postcards, each with a tip for greening your life.  When I was there not long after its opening, I grabbed a few of these.  Years later, I am finally putting them to use.

paper embedded with seeds grows sprouts

This image inspired me to try skipping the soil and see how it comes to life.

I’ve begun the planting process for one of the cards, so I thought I’d do some research on how to take care of them and get them to grow.  As I was doing that, I came across these pictures that got me excited for when the seeds blossom!  I’m also going to try soaking a sheet just in water until it sprouts.  Hope that works… good thing I have eight sheets to play around with.

plentiful sprouts covering seed paper

A forest of sprouts! (Photograph used by permission from Botanical PaperWorks Inc. http://www.botanicalpaperworks.com)

The hard thing is that my office is so shaded from sunlight that I can’t keep them indoors, yet it’s been very windy outside and there aren’t really any places to put it.  I tried keeping it out by the plants today, but the wind kept drying it out.  I brought it inside at the end of day and hopefully tomorrow will be a milder day.  Unfortunately, rain is in the forecast this week, so we’ll see how that pans out. I’ll post a photo blog on it in a few weeks to show the progress!

Good Vibrations

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
28 March 2010
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Panda and I went to a performance by the West Los Angeles Symphony at Royce Hall tonight (called Good Vibrations).  I enjoyed their unusual lineup with solos by a harpist and marimba-ist (is that what they’re called?).  These two instruments don’t get the limelight enough, so it was refreshing to hear them in their glory.  Yet, what I noticed most was the fact that the two ladies playing these instruments got to wear beautiful evening gowns whereas the rest of the orchestra wore black, as is traditional.  Is it the fact that they had solo acts or is it because of the unusual nature of their instruments?  Either way, it was a great way for them to stand out even more and truly perform to us the audience.

I also noticed that I enjoyed the energy level of certain performers, whereas the more reserved ones decreased my enjoyment of the music.  In particular there were a few who really moved with the music, so I liked to watch them most.  But occasionally, my eyes were drawn to the one lady who barely moved at all, even when the music was loud and energetic.  Everyone else around her moved with forcefulness, but she was completely stiff, letting as little of her body do the work as possible.  It was really strange and really awkward to see.  I tried to avoid looking at her, but sometimes her lack of passion really stuck out like a sore thumb.

Also entertaining was the first celloist, who was a lady with a fun outfit on of black laced with gold in a full pantsuit type attire.  She looked a lot like one of my old high school friends, who I showed Panda on Facebook and he agreed.  They had the same short brown hair with thin bangs that fell in a stringy sort of manner.  And of course, my friend also played a stringed instrument, not like that was much of a coincidence.  I was greatly entertained by that resemblance though.  I could totally see my friend being just like that lady in the future, performing in an orchestra.

Rounding off the night were the comments from Panda, saying he liked the hair of this and that guy (one with crazy gray curls that reminded me of a doll my mom used to have – except that doll’s hair was blonde – and one with white hair pulled back in a ponytail).  Certainly not the hair styles I would expect him to aspire to.  He also started to point out the couple of men he thought had day jobs as engineers because they “looked smart.”  -___-  As if only engineers can be smart.  I do wonder if the West Los Angeles Symphony is composed of professional musicians or more of hobbyists.  Perhaps I should do some research.

It was a fun night and loved that it was completely free!  We had a nice stroll/speed walk there and a refreshing jog back.  I need to get more active again!

Closing time

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
25 March 2010
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Yesterday my friend and I tried to go eat at a restaurant half an hour before its closing time, only to be turned away because they close the kitchen an hour early.  What?!?!  That is ridiculous.  Most meals only last about 40 minutes or so.  I absolutely hate when restaurants stop serving food way before closing time.  I once ran down to a place I wanted to eat at and made it 20 minutes before they were supposed to close, only to have the doors pretty much shut in my face.  And here I thought restaurants would want to maximize the amount of customers they serve, but I guess going home is far more important.

What really bothers me about this is that it’s so misleading.  Do I always have to plan on showing up at least an hour before the listed closing time, even if I only plan on a quick meal?  In last night’s case, we even called at 10:15 and asked when they close that night – they told us 11.  Why didn’t they bother to tell us that, oh by the way, the kitchen is closed?!  It’s not like we were asking when they usually close.  We asked when they were closing that night.  Hint, hint, we wanted to eat there TONIGHT.  Those hours of operation are unreliable.

I think there should be legislation that forces restaurants to list their opening hours as when they stop serving new customers (and listing when they actually kick the customers out of their shop would be optional).  After all, we’re going there to eat, don’t we have a right to know at what time we won’t be able to do so anymore?  Restaurants should not get away with tricking people into thinking they’re open far more than they actually are.  It’s like this one boba place that I’ve heard doesn’t even serve boba until at least half an hour after opening.  They should have to note that on the door with their opening times!  After all, much of the draw of their store is the boba.  People don’t just go to get any old drink; they could do that somewhere else that’s probably open earlier anyway.

So if you ever open a restaurant, please take it upon yourself to do the responsible thing and let people know if your food isn’t served until half an hour after your doors open or if it is no longer served an hour before your doors close.  It’s vital information that’s typically far more relevant than when those doors lock and unlock.  Thanks.

Lonely

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
23 March 2010
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I’ve gotten so used to having Panda around that it’s been really weird this week without him around.  He’s at home on spring break and now I struggle to find things to do with my time at night.  Funny, it’s not like when he was around we were hanging out, but just his presence calms me.  Now, I am on my own and the games I distract myself with aren’t as engaging, TV shows aren’t as interesting, and I don’t have the patience to waste my time online.  I just want to be able to know that he will be here at the end of my work day.  In fact, there’s really no motivation for me to leave work earlier rather than later, now that he’s away.  Coincidentally, my boss is out of town as well, which means I’m not as busy with work either.

The good thing is that I’ve got a friend who’s around and we met up for dinner last night.  We happened to run into a mutual friend, so the three of us can grab dinner together tomorrow night!  That will keep me occupied until things pick up again.  Still, I’m a little lost without Panda here to talk to and share my time with.  I am looking forward to next week, when he finally returns.  This will be the longest I don’t get to see him since I returned from Singapore!  I’ve found that my pattern on my own is different from when he is around.  Both are nice in their own ways, but I much prefer having him around than not.  I’ve been excessively tired these couple of days, perhaps because I haven’t been taking care of myself as much.  Even my train of thought writing this is all over the place… I suppose it’s time to call it a night and get some rest.

Themed blogs

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: ,
20 March 2010
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I find that most of the successful blogs out there seem to adhere to some sort of theme.  People brand themselves as an expert in a subject, or at least stick to writing about a specific topic, and those interested in that particular area come and read about their opinions, thoughts, ideas, etc.  For me, however, something like that doesn’t quite work.  I’ve got too many interests to just focus in one area (and not enough time to create separate blogs for each!).  I’ve always liked my theme to just be me.  All my interests, all the experiences in my life, all the random things that go through my mind.  I guess it’s a good thing I’m not out to be a professional blogger!

Technomary

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , ,
18 March 2010
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When I was up in Ojai for a lovely weekend away, my boss from the internship with Opportunity Green called me “Technolo-Mary” during dinner, which struck something in me.  He had been referring to how I seem to know all the newest gadgets and services out there.  It made me realize that I really am a great resource for many new technologies that have come about in the past couple of years.  I liked that someone as techy as he (he got a degree in engineering and is awesome at all things related to building and maintaining websites) found my knowledge useful enough to consider me a valuable go-to person.

I do like to stay on top of things, whether it’s things like Google Voice, Dropbox, and reQall or more of things like new social media forums, mobile technologies, and many more.  I’ve always loved to learn more about technology, so anything new captures my attention and I like to spend time learning more about it.  If I like what I see, I’ll usually go on to become an adopter and even spread the word.  That’s what I’ve been doing with CauseWorld, which is a great app for your smartphone that allows you to choose where sponsors’ money is donated.

I really enjoy troubleshooting (for the most part) and solving problems through logic and trial and error.  Also, it’s rewarding to discover the best technical solutions for everyday issues, like streamlining processes.  Whether it’s organization, documentation, or retrieval, there’s probably a better way to do it than the one you’re doing now.  I’m all about efficiency and effectiveness, which is probably also why technology fascinates me so much – it solves a lot of our problems and saves us a lot of time and effort!

Perhaps I should start a help line called “Technomary” – not “techno Mary,” but “tech-nom-ary.”  A play on technology and Mary AND -ary as a suffix that means “having to do with.”  It’d be a fun name for a tech blog, if I were to ever write one.  It could be a cool place to get answers for your “Dear Abby” type tech questions like how to convert a scanned JPEG into a PDF or what type of free phone services there are.  Hmm, now there’s a thought…

How long can you hold on?

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
15 March 2010
0

It’s been awhile since I’ve read some of the blogs I used to follow loosely, so today I took a look at my Google Reader.  One of the ones I’d stumbled upon had written its last and final post at 999 or 1000, over the course of five years.  So often, people start a blog fresh and excited, then it wanes into a duty before it fizzles out after a few weeks, months, or years.  Blogging hasn’t really been around for people to do it for decades, but I doubt many would ever make it that far anyway.  What is it about maintaining writing that is so difficult?  Many a time I’ve been told by people that they once kept a journal or diary, only to have it fade away after awhile.  (This is after I told them I had been keeping a daily journal since 4th grade.)

Even I haven’t lasted forever and 13 years into writing those journal entries, I have stopped to take a breather (nearly 50 volumes in!).  It is always in my heart to go back and fill in those missing days, but as the days go on, the feasibility goes down.  Nevertheless, I still faithfully document my life in one way or another – via photos, blog posts, e-mails, tweets, and random memos to myself.  It’s a habit I don’t intend to kick, this need to have a record of my life, my past.  I guess it’s easier for me because I took it when I was young and made it a habit, a need.  Even now, not having a written journal keeping track of my life doesn’t sit well with me.

People go through a lot of changes in their lives and it only makes sense that this is one of those fluid things that comes and goes.  For me, the need to remember details of my life remain, but the medium through which I do that depends on how I develop as a person.  Makes me wonder how long this will last…

Honkers

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
13 March 2010
0

You know, I never understood people who honk.  Other than the occasional toot to let someone know you’re there when they look like they’re about to merge into you, I don’t see much of a reason to use that feature.  Yet, I see people who hold down their horn like madmen just because they’re driven crazy with road rage.  I see people who honk at you to get out of their way when sometimes it’s impossible and other times you weren’t going in their way anyway.  It seems that they need an outlet for their anger, which is all too easily incited.

Perhaps horns should be designed to be loud enough to make the same impact they do now, but somehow sound friendlier.  The blaring ones these days are annoying enough to make anyone hearing it grumpy.  Why do they need to sound so upset?  Sure they’re meant to be a warning, but warnings can be a loud enough volume without having to sound like someone’s yelling or screaming at you in a bad way.  I wish drivers weren’t so “trigger-happy” when using their horns.  It puts everyone in a foul mood and makes for worse driving.  Certainly not setting the right tone there.

Maybe it’s just because of the drivers in LA.  You’ve gotta be pretty aggressive to get around in this city, so perhaps that has put everyone in a poor mood, stressing them out.  Whatever the case, the driving experience would be a whole lot better if drivers refrained from using their horns so much.  That’s like walking around with a megaphone, blaring it at someone whenever they do something that ticks you off the slightest.  I feel that horns should be used sparingly, if at all, and better driving would be a better way of preventing the need to use it.  Save it for the time you actually need it for your safety, and not for whenever you feel like it.

Negative spin

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
10 March 2010
0

I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials lately that take hits at the competitors of the advertisers.  It’s a bit annoying and really turns me off to these people/organizations – after all, shouldn’t the focus be on what makes you good rather than what makes them bad?  Since when did bashing the opposition become the trend du jour?  I don’t like that approach and lose a lot of respect for those who choose that way of promoting themselves.

Have you seen those commercials?  I’m thinking of the Audi one during the Olympics where they talk about how for every friendly competition, there is a second best, the ones who don’t quite get the honor and are overshadowed.  Then they say that their “friends” at BMW know exactly how that feels.  Why couldn’t they just stick with their message of superior engineering?  There’s also the Verizon ones that make fun of AT&T’s supposed sparse coverage map (the speed skater themed one where the guy with Verizon coverage gets an edge over the guy with AT&T’s coverage and the sports one where the guy with a Verizon map blocks the view of the TV, but the guy with a AT&T map doesn’t interfere with game-watching).  Then there’s the Meg Whitman vs. Steve Poizner series, of which I found the attacks against Poizner, but couldn’t track down the ones against Whitman.  There’s also the Time Warner Cable one where the guy is sitting on his porch and his satellite signal goes out.  I think that’s directed towards DirectTV.

In any case, you can see that there is no shortage of commercials on the air now that bash away at one company while promoting another.  I believe that there are better ways to do it.  I’m personally not a fan of such actions, so I think I’ll avoid Audis, Verizon, Meg or Steve, and Time Warner as much as possible.  If they’re good enough in other aspects, I may not ignore them completely, but if there aren’t that great to begin with… forget about gaining a loyal customer!  Those commercials just rubbed me the wrong way.

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