Posts Tagged ‘opinion’

Web presence

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
11 April 2011
0

Recently I’ve noticed how important it is to me to have a web presence.  Actually, correction: how important is it to me for companies to have a web presence.  I mean, it’s great that I have one and all, but it’s really really useful when a business I’m interested in has one (and a good one at that).

I guess this all came about because of my new obsession with Yelp.  Most listings don’t have business hours, from what I’ve seen, which seems to be a crucial piece to the puzzle.  After all, there’s nothing more disappointing and frustrating than looking forward to going somewhere only to show up and find it’s closed that day or during that time period that you arrive.  It’s been a personal mission of mine to add in operating hours to as many Yelp listings as I can, but it has been slow going.  Businesses either don’t have them on their website, or they don’t even have a website!

Sometimes I wish more of the world was as tech-savvy as our youth.  Then perhaps business owners would take note of the importance of having some sort of web presence, even if it’s just a listing on another site and not even your own web page.  The great thing about listings is that you can take control of or at least edit most of them, so you can add in the information about your business without ever having to put any effort into creating a site.

Seriously, people.  Get with the program already.

Yelp

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
05 April 2011
2

My latest obsession is Yelp (see my profile).  A few weeks ago, I decided that I want to become Yelp Elite.  To do so, I began to draft a bunch of reviews and started to take note of every place I went.  Soon enough, it became more fun to check in, upload pictures, and add new businesses than it was to write out dozens of reviews, so I got sidetracked.  My reviews are still slowly coming along and after I’ve done this for awhile and racked up some cred, I will apply and hopefully be part of the Elite ’11 crowd.

More recently I discovered the joy of reviewing the places I’ve been to while abroad!  The first thing I did was review the Eiffel Tower.  🙂  Interestingly, I’ve been to every country that Yelp is in currently: the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Ireland, and the Netherlands.  Sooo it is now my goal to figure out the names of the places I went to and review at least one place in each of those countries!  I’ve managed to do 5 of the 8 thus far and with some more detective work, I’m sure I’ll figure out at least one establishment in the remaining three countries.

I’ve been checking in to every place I go to now, and eagerly adding ones that are not already on the site.  My first addiction within the Yelping experience was being the first to review.  There’s something about getting that stamp of recognition that makes me happy!  However, after awhile, I discovered the fun in contributing to Yelp’s database of businesses.  Nowadays I am always on the lookout for a place that is not yet listed, such as the Sony Store that just opened up in the Century City mall.  Unfortunately, you don’t get recognition for adding a business, but if they did, I’d probably get a badge!  As a consolation, I made myself a list to keep track of them.

I still love to be first to review and I regret not being the first to review the Sony Store after I added it.  Granted, it had not yet open, but I was going to put up a placeholder about how excited I was to check out the new store.  You can always update your review, but once that coveted first spot is taken, there’s no getting it back.  Pity!  That’s ok though, between adding the business, putting up photos, and checking in there frequently, I get enough satisfaction.  After all, I’m officially the Duchess of the Sony Store (because I have the most check-ins).  I can be easily ousted since I’ve only gone three times, but hopefully I’ll swing by enough to keep my crown.  😛

I guess I enjoy Yelp because it’s a sort of game, with many ways to “win,” whether it be getting a badge, being crowned Duchess, or ultimately becoming Elite!  Real life is so much more fun when it feels like you’re in a game.

The hunt for a new laptop

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
30 March 2011
0

I recently decided that it’s time.   Time to replace my current laptop, which has served me well in the past three years, but has been having difficulty performing up to par more and more.  The battery barely holds a 3-minute charge, the fan whirs loudly within minutes of use, and the whole thing heats up even with proper ventilation.  I’ve wanted to replace this laptop for a year now, but it just didn’t seem justified.  However, I think it’s been long enough that it’s worth replacing now.  Besides, when I stop using a computer, it gets passed on to someone else to make use of for more years to come.  So at least it’s not being wasted.

Yesterday I stopped by my local Best Buy to get a feel for what is out there.  I had thought of a Sony VAIO (which I passed up last time I was looking at computers in favor of an HP Pavilion) or an ASUS.  I wanted to try something new, plus I was told that HPs tend to get hot faster and since that was one of my criteria to select against, it was quickly ruled out.  About a year and a half ago, I found out about an ASUS that incorporated bamboo into its design.  Being that I was quickly becoming a green aficionado, I was intrigued and interested in a more sustainable design.  And so there I was, basically down to two brands, trying to understand the features of each.

Ultimately, I came across the VAIO F model and loved it.  It’s got a beautiful large screen (one of the most important features for me), all the right technical specs, and even a back-lit keyboard for typing in dim lighting!  Initially I had been impressed by the aesthetics and color choices of the EA model, but the screen is small and I’d rather have functionality than have a cool color.  I’ve also heard the Z model can be quite nice, so I’d like to check that one out as well.  I’ve decided against ASUS because the new bamboo model features a dark wood color that doesn’t even resemble bamboo.  I liked their original model with the light color that actually looks like bamboo.  Plus, it seems to be more fancy, so I can always wait until my next upgrade to consider them.

This weekend I’ll try to stop by a Sony Style store so I can explore the computers more in-depth.  It’s really important for me to have a pleasant typing experience, so that’s something I’ll want to try out.  I don’t mind if it’s heavier since I don’t plan on using it outside of my home.  I’ll take a bigger screen and better memory, thank you very much!  I’m excited to go figure out exactly what I want so I can start to hunt down the best deal.  Look for an update when I get my new laptop!  🙂

Fame

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
27 March 2011
0

Practically speaking, I’ve never wanted to be famous.  Not in the Hollywood starlet kind of way anyway.  Of course I’ve fantasized about it from time to time, but when it comes down to it, it’s just not something I’m interested in.  I don’t want paparazzi following me around taking pictures/videos of of me whenever I try to go about my daily business.  I don’t want to have to have body guards or publicists.  And I certainly don’t want to feel like I need to “look good” every time I step out of the house.  It’s just too much upkeep!

I’m mostly talking about the kind of celebrities who get their fame from being in entertainment.  They’re the ones surrounded by glitz and glamor (and always having to keep up with the demands of that lifestyle).  People judge them on their looks and follow their every move.  They are judged on every aspect of their lives, from their relationships to their physiques to their actions.  It feel like almost every instant, eyes are on them, watching, recording, judging.

Why is it that we obsess over these people?  Who cares if they went grocery shopping, played with their kids, or went for a run?  It’s insane and I’m glad I’m not a part of it.  With this sort of attention comes the constant pressure to look presentable whenever you leave your house, never argue with people, and basically be a vision of perfection.  Every single day.  Why the general population seems to expect that celebrities must be wonderful all the time baffles me.  We’re all human and we can’t get things right all the time.

The famous lifestyle is a sort of lifestyle that just doesn’t work for me.  I am perfectly happy to dress down and be comfy when I’m out and about.  I wear light makeup about twice a year and I can’t imagine going through a whole routine every morning.  I work out whenever I get around to it and I don’t really notice my fluctuation in weight.  I don’t care about brand names and can’t recall the maker for any given item I own.  I lose my temper, I get annoyed with people, and I argue when things really strike a chord with me.  Sometimes I sleep in and get to things late.  I spill liquids, stain my clothes, and get crumbs everywhere.  Back in college there were times when I didn’t make it to class.

If I was famous, I’d get judged for every single one of those “mishaps,” which to me are really the normal course of life.  I’d much rather be known by name and not by face, for that kind of fame usually comes with a more meaningful contribution to society (not that performers can’t have meaningful contributions).  Contributions to literature, science, academia, business… these are the types of things you get recognized for in a paper or on a building, not on TV.  And that’s the kind of thing I want to be known for some day.

Cat house

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , ,
21 March 2011
0

My mom told me about some older cats at a shelter that had to be adopted ASAP or be put down.  We’d love to adopt them, but my mom travels frequently and I can’t exactly have three cats in my apartment for months at a time.  This got me thinking.  I’d really like to start up a charity cat house where volunteers could help take care of cats and share the space with them in exchange for a place to stay and some food.  I’ve never really believed in the shelter scenario where these cats don’t get to roam around as their curious natures would usually dictate.  But having a house full of cats can get a bit crazy, so I wouldn’t want my household to be that chaotic.  Yet, I feel that cats do so much better with people living with them and not just being allowed free reign of a place when the humans go back to their homes at night.  Plus, some cats quite enjoy cuddling with a person at night!

And so I have conceived of this new idea where a normal house with pretty standard furnishings could be slightly altered to create a shelter for people and felines.  I’d add in some more beds than you’d normally get in an American household and invite homeless people to come live there while they straighten out their lives.  In exchange for a bed and daily meals, they’d spend part of their days helping with the chores of maintaining pets (including just playing with and petting them!).  I’d also want to get career guidance for them and get them the education they need to make something of themselves.  They could learn from each other how to cook, or if none of them have that skill, other volunteers could come in to teach them how to shop within a budget and cook decent meals, avoiding junk.

So this house could be a sanctuary for cats and humans alike, with the humans taking care of the cats and the cats providing companionship and a sense of purpose to the humans.  I think pets can be really therapeutic, but I prefer cats because they generally don’t make a fuss and can care for themselves in many areas.  We’d get cats from shelters that were going to put the poor creatures down and probably have a bunch of older ones.  If anyone wanted, there could also be the option of adopting these cats out, so it would, in a sense, be a halfway house for them too.  I guess I just want to bring in people and cats facing bleak futures and give them an environment to recover and move on to a better stage of their lives, whether getting a job and becoming independent or getting adopted to a caring family.

This is just an initial concept, but I really hope I can go somewhere with this one day.  I’ve learned recently that I’m a dreamer, thinking of all those wonderful “what ifs” while conveniently forgetting about how to fund those dreams.  So, I’m taking a step back before I get too caught up in the idea and thinking very practically about how this could work (which will take some time).  Still, it’s a nice dream to have and something to develop into a real plan when the time comes.

Taxes

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
12 March 2011
0

This year is the first time I’m filing taxes with a real job, complete with W-2, credits, deductions, and all that jazz.  I’ve been avoiding it, like most of the country probably is, but my mom sat down with me to go over it step by step in TurboTax and though it was a bit tedious, thankfully my taxes are still very simple.  Ultimately it turned out great though, since I’m getting some tax returns!

Watching the amount for my federal and state tax returns go up and down depending on certain items I added in was kind of cool.  It’s like watching slot machine 7s fall into place.  I like how that effect almost turned doing my taxes into a game.  Certainly everything’s better as a game!  But then again, it turns out to be so much better that this isn’t a game, since the money I get back will be real and not some virtual currency.

It can get kind of stressful though, since I worry that I missed something that will really affect my return.  This early on it doesn’t really matter since I just qualify for a standard federal deduction amount, but later on when things are itemized, every bit counts…  For now I will just rejoice in the fact that filing my returns this year will be quite quick and painless.  Soon enough I’ll have my returns and I can revel in the pleasure of getting money back from Uncle Sam.

Not your average

laelene Posted in relationships，Tags: , ,
09 March 2011
1

Well, Panda and I have been going through some tough times so I wanted to take some time to celebrate what makes our relationship beautiful.  We’re not your average couple…  He is not afraid of domestic work and I am not afraid of manual labor (or bugs :-P).  I do not expect him to be the bread winner and he does not expect me to raise the kids mostly on my own.  We are not afraid to show emotions to each other and cry.  We are also completely comfortable with each other’s bodily functions, though we may tease each other about them at times.  I don’t see a reason to conform to society’s standards and censor myself with him.

Then again, I guess a lot of that is sort of the traditional sexist type of relationship.  Many modern relationships are not restricted quite like that, but still I find myself grateful for what we have when I hear about others’ views.  When the guys at work talk about their girlfriends/wives spending $400 on a purse, I gawk like they’re all insane (which they are).  I can’t fathom ever spending that kind of money on a purse, or shoes, or clothes.  Then there’s the engagement ring of $10k+.  What?!  At first the ones I liked were a few hundred.  Then I started to look at nicer ones in the $2000-5000 range and that’s where I’m at.  Why spend more?  It’s a waste.  Panda will never have to worry about saving up crazy amounts of money so I can spend it all away.

Another thing that struck me was when the guys were talking about going to events without their significant other and being able to enjoy themselves more that way.  I can’t think of a single event I don’t want Panda to come with me to.  In fact, many a time I’ve opted out because he didn’t want to come or was unable to.  The first thing I think about is how much fun I’d have if he could come.  Not how much fun I could have if he didn’t come.  That concept was foreign to me and the events I do go to alone, I am missing Panda the entire time.  Of course, I still do what I can to enjoy myself, but it would be infinitely better with him there to share the experience.

We are also perfectly honest with each other.  Cheating, abusing, breaking up – these are all things we’ve discussed before.  We will do everything in our powers to prevent these atrocities, but we recognize we’re human, we’re not perfect, and it’s possible it could happen.  Our open line of communication might sometimes be too open and feelings get hurt, people get offended.  Nevertheless, we accept what is the truth and work with it.  Things aren’t always peachy, but we aren’t giving up.

Perhaps the problem is actually that our type of relationship is NOT the standard.  I sure think it would help lower the divorce rate since you either wouldn’t get married in the first place, or work through your problems and stay together for it.  People can do with a lot more trying and a lot less giving up.

Lunch talk

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
27 February 2011
0

I was sitting at lunch on Friday with my coworkers when it suddenly dawned on me: I don’t relate to people like much of the population.  There they were, talking about this and that movie or show or whatever and I, like usual, had pulled out my phone to play a game.  One of them asked me why I was zoning out and I said that they always talked about things I don’t know much about and don’t really care about.  So, they asked me what I wanted to talk about and I said something not related to entertainment.  There was a pause in conversation as they quietly thought of what else to discuss and soon enough, the conversation was back up again, once again about entertainment.

Yup, they can’t go a single conversation without making a movie or pop culture reference it seems.

I went back to my game and the next time I started to listen to the conversation again, they were on to religion; another topic I don’t know about or really care about.  Most of them were brought up Catholic and they talked about how they weren’t practicing Catholic, but considered themselves so just because they grew up with it.  I don’t believe I’ve ever been to a Catholic service before, so I had no clue what they were talking about.  Then one of them talked about raising kids as Catholics so they’d have some sort of moral guideline.  Kind of ironic since all of them have delved in less than savory behavior, whereas I’ve stayed away from such things without any religious upbringing.  So, once again I did not relate to the conversation and zoned out until the food arrived.

Now don’t get me wrong, I get along with these people quite well.  I enjoy working with them and have plenty of good conversation with them.  But, I’ve noticed that when we get together as a group (usually over lunch) and they get to talking, it’s almost always about things I don’t know about.  I don’t really watch movies or follow famous people, I’m not religious, and I don’t drink or indulge in other substances.  That covers about 90% of the shared experiences they talk about.  So in a group, I’m left to just sit and listen, or stop paying attention.

When it comes to talking one-on-one though, I get a lot better conversation going.  Things I do share with the majority of people is a love for food, travel, and updating each other on our lives.  More specific interests that fewer people share with me include business, entrepreneurship, reading and learning, UCLA, animals, photography, exercise, yoga, cultures, and philosophy.  There’s still plenty to talk about, but what I like is just not the topic of choice in larger groups at my office.  It’s too bad, since I love going out to lunch with these people!  It’d be nice if I could join in on the conversation more.

LoveSac PillowSac

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , ,
14 February 2011
0

examples of various pillowsac usesThis weekend I finally got the LoveSac PillowSac!  I mentioned back in May 2009 that I’ve wanted this thing for ages (about 8 and a half years by now) and now it’s here.  Originally I had wanted a SuperSac, the 6-foot diameter LoveSac, but after my friend lent me his indefinitely, I started to focus more on the PillowSac, which is cool because it is quite versatile.  I like that you can get the Rocker and set it up to be a rocking couch, or lay it out flat to be the size of a full mattress.  In addition, there are the fun shapes like fortune cookie and pea pod.  🙂

I’ve been following the Deals section of the LoveSac site, where they had an entire Fushia Berry Chenille set for $499 (more recently discounted to $399 for Valentine’s Day specials).  I liked this set because it came with the PillowSac and cover, a Rocker, and two throw pillows.  Purple’s my favorite color and I thought this unique pattern would be fun.  However, it’s absolutely tacky and impossible to match with anything, so I held off, not sure about that pattern.  Then, about three weeks ago, the Red Herringsuede one showed up for Valentine’s Day, also at $399, but without the throw pillows.  Now I couldn’t decide between the two.  The purple set had a better deal, but the red set is far easier to put in a room.

Click to see the deals:

fushia berry pillowsac set on sale

red herringsuede pillowsac set on sale

So, that’s how I ended up at the LoveSac store with Panda this weekend.  I figured I could take a look at the materials and decide once and for all which one made more sense.  Thank goodness I did too!  I had thought that the Herringsuede is a type of faux suede, but instead it’s actually a herringbone pattern renamed.  After seeing that, I would have rather had another more exciting texture.  Luckily enough, the store had a black Velvish PillowSac cover that it was selling for a discount because this cover was discontinued and it was their last one.  Even more fortunate was that they had an open PillowSac selling for a discount because it was not completely brand new and in the packaging.  The reason for that was it was used in a L’Oreal commercial that Beyoncé shot recently.  Pretty cool, huh?

So when I heard the price of the PillowSac and cover, I was pretty sold, but I wanted the entire set I’d seen online, Rocker and throw pillows too.  I asked the saleslady about that and she was able to offer slight discounts for both.  She had a couple of throw pillows to choose from and I thought the Red Herringsuede would actually be a great contrast on the black.  Having pillows that don’t match the PillowSac itself made things much more lively and exciting, otherwise those pillows sort of blend right in.  In the end, I’d be paying about $27 more at the store for a much more customized set with a cool back story.  And so that is how I ultimately got my new PillowSac set!

Internet woes

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
11 February 2011
0

I haven’t wanted to spend the money to get internet service at the apartment, so I’ve been using whatever signal I can get.  Unfortunately, this results in a lot of disconnecting and extremely slow loading.  It’s getting to the point where I need to use an alternative solution, or just give up using the internet extensively while in the apartment.  My first hope is to find a nice neighbor with enough bandwidth to share their network password with me in exchange for a portion of their monthly cost.

I don’t want to have to deal with a setup cost for internet I’ll only have for a year, so I’d rather split the cost with someone who has already set it up anyway.  I just hope I have some nice neighbors who’d be willing to do this.  Roomie refuses to go ask, so I wonder if it’s an American culture thing for each unit to stay separate and not share amongst each other.  I really hope I can avoid incurring a cost that isn’t wholly necessary by making a new friend with the neighbors!  We’ll see how that goes.

It’ll be nice to finally go on Skype, watch a video, and do other things that haven’t been working for me lately.  The frustration of getting kicked off AIM just might have to be avoided by paying up, sadly.  That’s a good $200 each* if Roomie and I split a service – quite a hefty sum at the end of it all.

*clarification: for the year we’re at the apt, not per month!

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