I went on vacation and learned that the phrase, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” does not apply to flu-like symptoms. BTW, those flu-like symptoms have since been confirmed to be the actual flu. While quarantining myself for the past few days, I am often asked, “is it swine flu?” Well, to be honest, I don’t know. My doctor says that he wouldn’t be able to tell without a test, but that it didn’t matter since the treatment (Tamiflu) works for both (which was later prescribed to me). So I guess I’m covered for this flu season at least.
Tamiflu, Sold Out? The first Walgreens I went to couldn’t fill my prescription because they were out of Tamiflu. Since I didn’t want to wait until they got their next shipment, I had to go home and look up two other locations to call and see who had it in stock. Once that was taken care of and the prescription was transferred over, I headed over to pick it up. Too bad I got the two addresses mixed up and went to the wrong Walgreens at first. Doh!
Fever, What Fever? It never fails. Every time I’m sick with a fever, my fever mysteriously goes away the minute a nurse or doctor takes my temperature. It’s like the freaking Michigan J. Frog (aka, the WB frog mascot that only sings when there isn’t an audience). At the same time, it really makes me question whether there’s something wrong with my thermometer since it claimed that my temperature was ranging between 100.8 and 103.8, ’cause I sure didn’t feel that hot.
Theraflu’s Motto Should Be: “Sweat Out The Flu In You” I must have drunk at least six packs of Theraflu over the last 3 days. Each dose was like taking a trip to a sauna ’cause I would start to sweat like a menopausal woman with a hot flash (more so in my sleep than during any other time). But hey, it did work, so no complaints here.
Cats Can Get Swine Flu Now this last one is just plain un-be-liv-a-ble! While I may not know for sure which flu I have, I was disturbed to learn today that a cat in Iowa was reported to have contracted swine flu. That means that my little Dolby is at high risk since he’s been hanging out with me in sick bay for the past four days. I’ll have to keep an eye out for any suspicious symptoms. Dangnabbit!
This post is dedicated to my dear Dimmy. She passed away suddenly on October 9, 2009. We don’t know the cause of death, but we suspect that it was a heart attack. She was only four years old, so it was very shocking to lose her and also very sad. We gave her a country burial that weekend. DL, Dolby (my other cat) and I miss her a lot. I hope she rests in peace.
What I miss the most is this: Every night, when I was ready to go to bed (e.g., computer and lights off), she would hop onto the bed and curl up next to me. While it would appear that she wanted to sleep next to me, she was actually getting into position to ask for a massage. I’d humor her for a few minutes and then hide my hands under the blankets to tell her, “No more, I’m going to bed!”
When I graduated from college, I decide to become a lifetime member of my alma mater’s alumni association. I figured that paying $250 upfront at the recent grad rate would eventually pay for itself (since an annual membership would cost about $10-25 a year). In hindsight, I am not so sure if this was the smartest financial decision that I’ve ever made.
Subnote:What I paid was is a bargain compared to the current price of membership, which is $500 for a lifetime membership while an annual membership is now $20-$50 per year.
You see, the only “benefits” that I’ve taken advantage of since graduating three years ago was getting discount at the student store for campus swag and the receiving the alumni magazine. T_T
After re-discovering of the member’s discount and services page this week, I’ve decided that I need to pay more attention and put my alumni status to better financial use. My first order of business will be to reinstating my library card. FYI, this was my original reason for buying the membership, but in all honesty, I haven’t stepped foot in that building since I left….but that’s gonna change!
In Life, Wedding on September 25, 2009 at 12:26 am
I’ve known for a long time that I want to have a more traditional Chinese wedding and would also love to incorporate those cool/detailed/quirky personal touches that are in vogue today. Problem is, the wedding blogs that provide the best tips and tricks for those cool/detailed/quirky personal touches are rather lacking in content for ethnic weddings.
Sure, there’s the occasional “real wedding” recap of a Chinese or Chinese hybrid wedding…but there’s not really a whole lot of nifty ideas floating around. You could count the fancy Chinese to-go boxes, fortune cookies, paper lanterns and decorative chopsticks, but here’s the problem — Chinese to-go boxes and fortune cookies are about as Chinese as Kentucky Fried Chicken (read Jennifer 8. Lee’s book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, if you’ve missed that memo). Plus, most of those paper lanterns and decorative chopsticks are more Japanese in style…which is kind of a no-no if you’re going for a more traditional Chinese wedding. I mean come on, just because we’re all Asian doesn’t mean that our stuff is all the same.
For now I’ll just have to do my own research and experiments while reading my cousin’s blog, which is documenting the making of her wedding ceremony (wedding #1) and the Chinese banquet that her parents/in-laws are planning (wedding#2). Fun times.
If you’re planning a big fat Chinese wedding or know of another blogger who is, please do let me know – I’d love to add it to my RSS feed *wink*wink*
So sometime last week, I lost my headphones/hands-free for my iPhone. It wasn’t in my room and it wasn’t at work. I thought for sure that I had left them behind at someone’s house. Little did I know, there really were in my room…..hidden in the pocket of my white sweatshirt.
Of course, knowing me, I didn’t realize this until I opened the door to my washer after doing my whites. There they were — all neatly coiled up on top of all my clothes. I tell ya, if an inanimate object could grin and laugh at you for being stupid — then this would be that moment.
Here’s the good (and borderline miraculous) news — they still work and they’re clean. I don’t understand how – ’cause it certainly doesn’t say that they’re waterproof on the box. Plus, I doubt that waterproof means that they’ll survive going in with my whites (i.e., this means they were washed in hot water with color-safe bleach, detergent and softener). If anything, here’s one point for Apple.
Side-note: I’m a Mac and my brother’s a PC. In recent months, the PC has been out doing the Mac (but that’s another story)….finally, my electronics have proven their worth.
So there was an unexpected surprise in my mailbox today. No, it was not a stork-delivered baby. What I got was the latest issue of Marie Claire. Now this wouldn’t be so strange and surprising, IF I had a subscription….but since I don’t, this is weird.
Why is Hearst Corporation sending me a magazine that I didn’t buy? Based on my calculations and intuitive deductions, there are four possibilities:
Possibility #1: My mom got it for me because she had a coupon code from Amazon.com – it’s not that far fetched when you consider the fact that she’s done it before. This is evident from the large stack of bridal magazines in my room.
Possibility #2: I unknowingly bought the subscription myself one day by being trigger happy with my mouse.
Possibility #3: Hearst is trying to bolster its readership by giving away its magazines in a last ditch effort to drum up advertising dollars.
Possibility #4: A friend of mine had a BOGO promotion for Hearst’s magazines and gave me a free subscription without telling me.
After doing some detective work, some of these possibilities have cleared while others remain a possibility of interest. Check it out:
Well, after talking to my mom, possibility #1 is no longer a suspect.
I won’t know about possibility #2 until I get bill – so let’s rule that our since it’s unlikely that I got drunk one day and starting buying stuff online.
Possibility #3 is unlikely since the only other magazines that come to my house belong to Condé Nast and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. I’m pretty sure that they won’t gift subscribers with a competitor’s magazine.
It’s likely, but I have no idea who that would be…re: possibility #4
Since this mystery will likely become a cold case, I’m going to give it a rest and read the October issue.
I originally wrote this blog post during my lunch period today, but the blogging gods were not shinning on me and I lost my whole post – boo!
This past weekend marked the end of wedding season 2009 for me – in total, I attended 3 weddings and 1 Chinese banquet. It would have been 2 Chinese banquets, but I couldn’t attend banquet #2 because it was the same night as wedding #3. It was my understanding that June is the most popular month for weddings – but I don’t see it, it’s September for my friends and family. As one cousin put it, “we’re cheap” (i.e., we prefer to save money by booking a not as popular month for our weddings).
Anyhow, long story short – I’ve gained weight, burned a small hole in my pocketbook and upset my stomach with too much alcohol (though my capacity for the “good stuff” is significantly lower than most bloaks, so it’s not that much of a stretch). But…on the up side, I did get a new dress and eat my fill of cake, shaved ice and ice cream…so no complaints there.
As of today, I’ve reached a new milestone – I have officially been employed for over a year by a single company. Since joining the workforce three/four years ago, I have jumped around like you would not believe….most of the time, the “jumping” was not by choice. Let’s recap, shall we?
Company 1 (6 months): After starting my first full time job after college, my employer (one of the little guys) decided to merge with a big company (that’s part of an international conglomerate of companies).
Company 2 (12 months): Since I had only six months of full-time work experience under my belt, I decided to stick with my new employer (the big company that bought company 1) and give it a try.
Company 3 (7 months): After a year, I decided that the big company was not for me and so I found a new employer. Little did I know, I boarded a sinking ship and was laid off a few months later.
Company 4 (12 months and counting): After three months of unemployment, I landed my current gig and have been happily employed since. No complaints here – let’s just hope that it stays this way and that I didn’t just horribly jinx myself with this post.
While I was unemployed, I felt like my resume sure looked spotty with all of these employers. I felt it made me look like I couldn’t hold a job or something, which I didn’t like. So my career goal for now is to stay put and bolster my experience and expertise in every way possible. I don’t know about you, but I think that I’ve switched things up enough for the last three years and that some consistency will do me some good.
A year ago, I got my first smartphone – a red BlackBerry Pearl – and started a new job at The Agency. These two events marked the end of my unemployment and my run as a fairly decent blogger. It also signaled a new era of being a Facebook addict and being able to look up an address and/or get directions while in transit from point A to point B (i.e., never lost and a little less late). To sum it up, my life hasn’t been the same since.
However, contrary to popular belief, owning a BB did not seamlessly synchronize my work and personal life together. Instead, I “enjoyed” a lovely game of back-and-forth between two separate calendars, email accounts and address books. You see, shortly after joining The Agency, I soon learned that IT did not support BB phones. This was largely due to the fact that 90 percent of all Agency members already owned or will be buying an iPhone. While I accepted my black sheep phone, I couldn’t help be feel like a fish out of water, especially when all of your clients seem to own iPhones as well.
So cut to today – after a year as a kinda/sorta crackberry addict – I caved to unspoken social/industry peer pressure and joined the iPhone club. It’s just been a few days and first big improvement is the return of music to my life. (FYI, I haven’t owned an MP3 player since my iPhone died something in 2006 and was never replaced). As for the infamous apps, I am very excited about creating faux Asian sticker pics via Puri! and talking to my friends in China on the QQ app. Let’s just see if this WordPress app does anything to improve my blogging responsibilities.
Guess I can check this off now – just finished writing my inital life list of things that I want to do. There’s only 100 things on the list and some of them are things that I have already done (for record keeping purposes), but hopefully, this list will continue to grow over time.
So back in January, I set my goals for 2009.….basically a laundry list of resolutions. Now that June is almost over, I think it’s about time to check in and see how well I am doing.
Create a life list – In Progress; This is not a good sign considering that I am almost one year closer to hitting 30. Though I will say, that I was quite impressed by the list created by Ben Huh (i.e., the Asian guy behind I Can Has Cheezburger? and FAIL Blog among others). Maybe this will inspire me to get this together.
Become a better blogger – In Progress; If I don’t turn this around, I just might fail at this one. Blogger is a commitment that I am definitely struggling with right now.
Stay employed – Met; Things are going well at The Agency. Let’s keep it that way for the next six months.
Live long and thrive – In Progress; Paid for a two-year membership to 24 Hour Fitness via Costco. Only cost me $300 bucks and with my $150 health insurance reimbursement, this means that I’m only paying $6.25 a month. W00T! As for the actual exercise part, I am trying to go at least once a week (sometimes once a month). Other fitness efforts include taking stairs and walking home (as opposed to having someone pick me up from the bus stop. This will continue to be a work in progress, no doubt about that. As for food, I need to kick this fried food habit….but what can I say, when the world’s got me down, nothing is more satisfying then french fries and chicken mcnuggets.
A pirate’s life for me – On Hold; I just ain’t got no time and no taste to figure out what to download these days. So far, my musical tastes have been inspired by commercials, namely the Bacardi and Apple commercials.
Budget like a rock star – On Hold; Not exactly something that I want or should be putting on hold, but to be really honest, I really am not counting my pennies as strictly as I should. No good, Daisy. No good. This needs to turn around fast.
Find a hobby or a social group – In Progress; While I don’t exactly want to count knitting during my commute as a hobby, there has got be a better way to become social. I will say that I have been going to more networking events lately, but there’s only so much alcohol that I can drink (no joke, this would be one glass of wine or one bottle of beer per night).
Become an early riser - In Progress; I woke up at 5 a.m. once and went to the gym. It messed me up for the rest of the week and I could not wake up before 6:30 a.m. again. While early, it’s not early enough. I just need to stop going to bed at 1 a.m. like I am doing tonight. Hurry up Daisy and go to bed!
Organize - In Progress; Okay, so I have confession….I have an obsession for home decor, clean up and organization shows a la HGTV. Before and after shots are like eye candy to me….just too bad that I have such a hard time transferring what I see on TV to real life. I just don’t have the time or energy to be a maker in the truest sense.
My 25th year is almost at an end. All in all, my quarter life crisis has been crazy, maddening and tiring……just a bit too overwhelming to relive by writing about it. That said, it should come as no surprise that this blog has become stagnant. While many things worth blogging about have happened in the last three months or so, I have been just too overwhelmed — predominately because of work — to write a single word.
Now, just to be clear, I have no intention of abandoning this blog; however, changes need to be made to the format, the style and the topics in order for me to feel more compelled to write at night. As you may recall, I’ve been back at The Agency for almost a year now…..agency life is just not conducive to blogging. Even if your agency is known for being social media savvy…..there’s something about staring at a computer screen all day while writing emails, press releases, pitches, etc. that just sucks all the writing energy you have available in a single day. Now while I brainstorm on how to shorten the writing style, increase my posts and determine definitive topic, enjoy this song by Matt and Kim. FYI, it’s the one from the Bacardi commercial. It’s called “Daylight” and it’s great!
My cousin is a big fan of the site (so am I but it’s not on my RSS feed or nothing). After an hour of reading through all the postcards and envelopes, I must say that I felt rather depressed. Most of the ones on display are the really, really, REALLY sad ones…..
Still, I recommend everyone to go see this exhibit if it comes to your town. It’s very thought-provoking and touching.
I was surprised though that they didn’t have the coffee table books for sale, but I guess it’s because it was the last day of the exhibit. I sure do wish that I had known about it earlier so that I could have seen Frank Warren speak. Oh wells…
Will the contagious individual who infected me with strep throat please stand up? I’ve narrowed it down to a couple possibilities, but since both are work-related, I’m going to keep my mouth shut.
For those of you who haven’t figured it out, I have strep throat, which for most of this week, I thought it was weather related symptoms. On Monday and Tuesday, it was 90 degrees and humid. On Wednesday, it was 50 degrees and misty. So in my foolishness, I figured that my headache must be because of the heat, my sore throat must have been because of all the water I drank because of the heat, and my chills must have been because I didn’t dress warmly enough on Wednesday (but who can blame me, I figured it should have been in the 90s or 80s). Little did I know, I was actually sick. Didn’t really realize it until I took my temperature and saw that it was 101 degrees. wOOt!
Since my temperature didn’t go down by much the next morning, I took a sick day – oh yipee (not really)!
Ever since I got a cool book on knitting for beginners from my former roommate three Christmases ago, I have been trying to teach myself to knit. I commandeered my mom’s stash of needles, yarns and other miscellaneous knitting tools and started project after project, many of which remain incomplete. Why? Knitting is a hard craft to learn when you’ve been trained to crochet for most of your life. I won’t go into all the nitty-gritty details, but basically, I had such a hard time trying to maneuver two needles and made many mistakes along the way that I would give up, try again, give up and try again.
This week, I decided to try again. I am disassembling a crochet sweater that I tried to make for DL (see below for the back story on that fiasco), and am making a knit, sleeveless sweater for myself. This has become my commuter project. So far, so good. The right side of my brain is overjoyed that it’s being put to use, while the left side is enjoying the break. We’ll see how long this lasts…
Back-story on DL’s Sweater:
So last year, I decided to make a sweater for my boyfriend. It sounds sweet, but it was more of a sweat and tears project, if you ask me. After spending a few days on deciding whether to knit or crochet it (no doubt, knitting works much better for clothing; however, I just work faster with a crochet needle), I took the easy way out and choose crochet. This was the first of many critical mistakes in making this doomed project. Long story short, the almost-finished sweater weighs about 20lbs and the sleeves extend four inches form DL’s fingertips. After he tried it on the first time, I quickly came to terms with the fact that it looked horrible and that he would never wear it. So for about a year, it sat in my unfinished project pile. This is what I learned and what I hope to avoid this time around:
Even if you find a pattern, don’t crochet sweaters. The finished product usually looks weird.
Always check your gauge!
Don’t knit during a heat wave. Your project will feel like blanket and you will be miserable.
Measure as you go, not when the project is almost done!
So I attended the Twestival in San Francisco this evening with @flackette and @tommyktse. In case you didn’t get the memo, this even was a worldwide fundraiser for charity:water. There were about 175 participating cities, in which the Twitter communities in each community would host a party. Proceeds from the entry fees are to be donated to a nonprofit dedicated to providing clean water to developing countries. Here’s a short blurb about the Twestivals on CNET’s Webware blog.
While I thought the event was a very worthwhile cause, I couldn’t help but leave Twestival SF with some thoughts on the pros and cons of the event.
Let’s start with the pros. I am glad that the Twestival organizers chose a real charity with a cause worth raising awareness for rather than something fluffy. The free t-shirt and reusable bag were great quality swag. The cupcakes by teeny cake were delicious and pretty! Props to the sponsors who made that happen.
….and in terms of the cons, I felt that the organizers were not as prepared as they should have been. I got to Paradise Lounge around 6:30pm. The event was suppose to start at 6:00pm, but I stood out in the cold for a while since “they weren’t ready yet.” Lame. In terms of the setup, I thought that there should have been more focus on the charity (e.g. provide materials, run slide shows, etc.). It just seemed like a regular networking event than anything else, though nothing wrong with that. Also, maybe it was just me, but I thought that there wasn’t a whole lot of mingling at this event. Most of the Tweeters kept to themselves and the groups that they came with. Though, it wasn’t a total loss, since I did meet some cool people this evening.
I saw Coraline on Saturday with my little brother and was amazed! Not only was the story pretty unique, the movie was so intricate and beautiful to look at. It was even more exciting to see my old elementary/middle/high school friend’s name in the credits.
The following day, I went to the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco to look at the special Art of Coraline exhibit. Here’s a couple of interesting factoids about the movie:
The gray sweater that Coraline wears (the one covered in glow in the dark stars) was hand knitted using tiny needles, that looked like they were the size of sewing needles.
The cherry blossoms in the magic garden were made of popcorn.
If you haven’t seen this movie, you should. Just be advised, this is not a movie for young children, especially if they are easily frighten…..
Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you. (To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)
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Tragic, true story: I decided to jump on the 25 random things bandwagon on Facebook this past Wednesday. As I had just finished random factoid #15, I hit something on my computer and everything just disappeared. If I loose this version too, I am just not going to do it at all.
1. I’ve raised a lot pets. Right now, I have two cats (Dimmy and Dolby) and a dog (Wolfy, who lives with my mom and dad now). Before them, I had two ducks (Donald and Dorothy Jane), four rabbits (Swifty, Ruby, Blackie and Chuby) and a countless number of goldfish.
2. I joined my high school’s diving team because it was the only sport that didn’t require me to run or try out. There, on the 1-meter springboard, I learned my true tolerance for pain – thanks to the many flops it took to learn my prerequisite six dives for competition. The greatest divers in the world are Chinese, but I most certainly am not one of them.
3. My focus of study in college was rather unique to UC Berkeley. I graduated with a degree in Development Studies (i.e. the study of developing countries and why they are the way they are) and Environmental Economics and Policy (i.e. how to calculate the best time to cut down a tree that will maximize the ROI for its wood).
4. There is a two-day (or three-day, if you consider the 16 hour time difference between China and the U.S.) age difference between me and my boyfriend. What can I say, older men creep me out and younger guys make me think of my little brother.
5. All through college, I practiced and performed Chinese dance. Contrary to popular belief, there is more to it than ribbons and handkerchiefs. China has 56 ethnic groups, with the majority being the Han and the minority including Miao, Uighur, Mongolian and Dai.
6. My Chinese dance teacher was a former instructor at the Beijing Dance Academy where he taught Zhang Ziyi (the girl from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) before she pursued film. As his student, she won 1st place in a national competition.
7. Rather than selling cookies with the girl scouts, I decided to be a 4H-er where I learned how to be a farmer. However, I showed ducks and rabbits at the county fair, because you don’t have to sell them for meat afterwards like you do with pigs, lambs or cows.
8. I once defeated my gamer brother at Street Fighter on the Super Nintendo three times in a row as Chung Li. It was a sweet victory that I will never let him live down, especially when you consider the fact that I was just button mashing.
9. I taught my brother how to play chess when he was maybe 5 or 6 years old. After defeating him during the tutorial game, I was never able to win another game against him again until last year. Clearly, I have no talent in the art of war.
10. One day, I would like to travel across China and ride on the train from Beijing to Tibet.
11. I was once cast in a local production of Flower Drum Song. As part of the ensemble, I played one of six school children. There is no doubt in my mind that I was made to play this part because of my height and youthful looks. The other five school children were ages 8-11 while I was 16 at the time.
12. I have a pen pal who lives in China. We have been writing to each other since 1998 beginning with letters, then email and now IM. I met and spoke with him in person for the first time this past January.
13. My favorite type of salad dressing is honey mustard. In my personal opinion, I think that MacDonald makes the best honey mustard and that it is most delicious when eaten with Chicken McNuggets and/or french fries!
14. I love to learn new languages. I just don’t have any talent for becoming fluent. So far, I have been most successful with Mandarin as opposed to French, Korean and Japanese, but even then I still really suck at it. One day, I hope to be able to understand Shanghainese.
15. I love the flying trapeze! If I could choose an alternative career, I would like to try my hand at the circus.
16. Whenever I am forced to watch horror movies, I prefer to watch them in the dark and without my glasses. If I can’t make myself fall asleep, the curiosity in me will ask a million questions about what just happened since I can see too clearly.
17. I inherited the no-tolerance-for-alcohol gene from the Kong-side of the family. Case in point: One new year’s eve, a single shot of liquor completely shut downed my body where I became blind, unable to walk, vomited and could barely stand up. Five years later, I am proud to say that I can drink one bottle of beer by myself over several hours.
18. The only downside of having a name like “Daisy” is the fact that it is a popular name for pets such as dogs, cats and cows. My high school friend’s dog was named Daisy and apparently my cousin’s cat is named Daisy.
19. In a former life (when I had unlimited free time), I was a crafter. I could sew, crochet and work a glue gun like no body’s business. Sometimes, in my darkest moments of work related stress, I reminisce about using the left side of my brain to make something cool.
20. My daycare center growing up was a zoo. As one of the kids that loved animals, I got the “privilege” of cleaning cages and feeding the mice, rats, hamster, rabbit, chinchilla, chickens, ducks, pot-belly pig, parakeets, guinea pig and goldfish.
21. As a fundraiser, my elementary school made me sell the “world’s finest chocolates” to my family, friends and neighbors. At the age of 11, I quickly realized that I was no longer cute enough to be an effective salesperson. Being a clever kid, I sent my brother, who was 8 at the time, to work. Within an hour, all the chocolates were sold.
22. Having attended a Catholic elementary, middle and high school where uniforms were required (that would be 13 years of my life), I sometimes miss wearing a uniform. Getting ready in the morning was so much simpler.
23. I am actually very knowledgeable about the video game industry despite the fact that I am not much of a gamer. For example, I actually get some of the jokes on Penny Arcade and know what a RROD is. This is thanks to the company that I keep.
24. For my 13th birthday, my dad bought me a 10-speed bike (i.e. an adult bike). It was a little too tall for me at the time (i.e. I couldn’t put my feet down when I sat on the bike. I was only able to scrap the floor with the tips of my toes). My dad figured that I would grow into it. Little did we both know, I stopped growing that year.
25. At one point, I was a closet Twilighter, though most fan girls would stone me for heresy. I read everything about Twilight on Wikipedia first, then watched the movie, then read book one and then re-read the plot summaries for the rest of the books.
As some of you may know, I’ll just got back from a two week vacation in Hong Kong and China. Yes, if you are wondering, it was a great trip. I’ll write more on that later, but first to the matter at hand.
I have been working on this New Year’s post for about a month now. Originally, I wanted to set my personal goals before crossing the pacific and saying goodbye to 2008. Needless to say, that did not happen. But with Obama taking office this week and Chinese New Year around the corner, it seems appropriate that I finish writing my resolutions now. Here they are:
Create a life list (aka a list of things to do before I get married and have kids) – After reading the suggested list on Marc and Angel, I decided to create my own life list (more like a 5 year plan to get myself through the quarter life crisis I am having).
Become a better blogger – True to form, after returning to agency life, I have become less and less inclined to blog. This is largely due to the fact that after spending 8-10 hours in front of a computer screen writing something, the last thing that I want to do when I go home is look at a laptop screen and blog. With the month(s) long gaps between posts, blogging has obviously taken a back seat to TV, the gym, dinner and my cats. There must be a middle ground, where I can blog and have better work-life balance, and I aim to find it.
Stay employed – 2006 and 2007 was the years of jumping ship and mass layoffs, respectively. My goal is to be happy with my working situation, excel & grow and stay employed for the whole year. Let’s just hope that fate doesn’t throw another curve ball my way, but if it does, c’est la vie.
Live long and thrive – This doesn’t have anything to do with Kaiser Permanente, but it is related to my health and well being. It’s no secret that since graduation (2 years ago), I have adopted a very sedentary lifestyle and effects have slowly taken its toll. I did the unthinkable last month and joined a gym to counteract my downward spiral. Now comes the hard part – keep on going to the gym regularly and staying there long enough to actually get a work out.
A pirate’s life for me – If I do nothing else this year, I sure hope that I put some effort in rebuilding my music collection. It’s been a two years since my last computer failure (which wiped out my entire C drive and everything near and dear to me on it). I think it’s time for me to start listening to my own music.
Budget like a rock star – I used to work with a girl who used to work as an accountant for The Killers and other bands. While that would seem exciting, I should put some effort into managing my own personal fianances. Not that I am in debt or anything, but I should learn to be proactive about this stuff.
Find a hobby or a social group – What I miss most about college is the social activities and clubs. I’ve been shopping for a professional group to join, but really, does everything have to be so work focused? It sure would be nice to find some thing else to do that I can commit to doing.
Become an early riser - I have traditionally thrived and have done my best work at night. It’s not that I am just skilled at burning the midnight oil, I just prefer the silent and calmer environment. However, this lifestyle is not possible when you are a member of the 9am-5pm workforce. I am not 16 anymore and can’t operate with 5-6 hours of sleep, 5 out 7 days a week. Plus, the extra long naps on the weekends are just depleting my free time away from work. So to rectify all of this, I am hoping that this is the year that I turn myself into an early bird.
Organize - While I don’t consider myself to be entirely disheveled and continually confused, I do think that I could do better at organizing my calendar, contacts, to-do lists and priorities. Maybe the processes from work are seeping into my personal life or maybe I am just nostalgic for better, more structured days.
You could call it writer’s block, or just plain laziness. Either way, I am finding it increasingly difficult to write a full sentence anytime after my 8-5pm shift at work. Today is an exception as I have an observation to point out about myself.
In an effort to undo the damage caused by agency life, I did the unthinkable last week…..I joined a gym. While I would much rather rejoin my kickboxing class (the real fighting stuff, not that cardio crap), I’ve finally accepted the fact that it is pretty much impossible for me to ever get back home in time to make it to class now that I commute again.
In other news, my “professional” blog which carries my namesake has suffered tremendously in the last two months. I guess in that sense, unemployment has its perks. I am beginning to realize that it very difficult to be a niche blogger when you are not a die-hard enthusiast. It would really be more appropriate for me to start a fan blog dedicated to House M.D. since I watch it almost religiously, but its been done (well) already. There really isn’t much for me to add at this point.
Other then my on-going rants on Twitter during my daily commute, I don’t have much to say these days. I think I have re-winded myself back to the beginning (of this blog) when I was basically trying to rehab myself out of The Agency. But in all fairness, despite the stress and the busy days, it’s still much better then what I had anticipated.
Just finished watching Obama’s acceptance speech about a couple of hours ago. Not much to add to that discussion other than the typical, “WOW! I just was history in the making – We, as in all of America, elected a black president for the first time ever!.”
While I wasn’t brought to tears like so many of the faces watching Obama’s speech in Chicago (guess I would have had to have been there), I did feel a sense of amazement. My government teacher in high school once said that historically (back in 2001), almost every American president was and probably would continue to be a WASP man (i.e. a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant man. Fortunately for the rest of us, that is even further from the truth now.
I will forever remember today as one of those poignant moments in history as well as the day that I got my first cavity (which is depressing considering how much time and care I have dedicated in the last 25 years to not getting a cavity). To commemorate this moment, I am going to buy a copy of the newspaper in the morning, perhaps The New York Times, and save it. As for my decaying tooth, I’ll be going in for a filling next week.
For the first time since 2006, I went to a concert where I made a startling discovery. While it has yet to be scientifically proven, I have it on a very high authority (i.e. my nose) that I am allergic to a questionable herb. For 6 plus hours, my nose ran like an open faucet. As such, I needed a constant supply of tissue and napkins that has since sandpapered off a few layers of skin from under my nose. You would hope that at an outdoor concert that one would be able to breathe some fresh air, but instead it has become a community drag.
As for the music, I think that I enjoyed the performance by Norah Jones and Death Cab for Cutie; however, I couldn’t help but feel that Josh Gorban really should not have been apart of the lineup. Clearly, this is the wrong audience for him, yet no one bothered to check on how well the line would mess together before signing him up for this gig.
Let’s just say that, if this week has turned me into a lemon, then this is how I will be making lemonade if things don’t start shaping up (see image below).
Seven days after the beginning of the worst week ever, it got worse. It’s so bad, I have opted to not blog about it in any detail. But with the way things have been going, I will say that I am at least grateful that nothing horribly tragic has happened….I am still alive and healthy with all my body parts still attached.
This picture says it all, so I won’t go into details – It was just the perfect way to end a nice weekend and a horrible beginning of what just may be, “The Worst Week Ever!”
I come home. I cook dinner. I might clean up or delegate the work. I watch my shows till I need to get ready for bed and then I sleep. I wake up and I go to work. Then it all begins again.
Needless to say, I have become a neglectful blogger. My bad.
It certainly is a strange and twisted world, when you come home after a long commute on a bus to find your car infested with ants. Yes, you heard right….ANTS!
It was as if I coated the outside of my car with sugar and the ants came to celebrate carnival. Bizarre? Yes. Random? Yes. Unheard of? I should say so.
My only lucky charm during this whole situation was the fact that they did not go inside my car……..at least to the best of my knowledge. It was also fortune it that most of them “flew” away as I drove from the park ‘n’ ride back home. It was even more fortunate that the rest of drown in a soapy death as I wiped down the surface of my car with a squeegee. Either way, until I am for certain that the car is ant-free, I am parking outside so that the little buggers don’t try to move in to my house.
The lesson? If you’re car is sticky because of some mysterious tree sap that is coating everything in its path with stickiness, then beware of ants. Trust me, it’s not pleasant
Just recently rediscovered my first blog (circa 2002), which I had long believed to be obsolete as the blogging platform no longer exists. But it goes to show that whatever you post on the Internet will stay there forever, especially if you were a fool and signed up blog with a “we do not allow you to delete or edit anything” policy.
What surprised me the most is that I have only been blogging since 2003 (fyi: I started the account in 2002 but didn’t actually write anything until 2003). I could have sworn that I started earlier…..but I suppose that I am mixing up my blogging history with that simpleton Web site building phase in my life (i.e. Homestead, anyone?). I suppose then, if you count that former obsession, then I’ve been trying to build a Web presence for awhile.
So why all the thoughts on my online footprint? Well, I just finished a free e-book called, “Personal Branding for Business Professionals” by Chris Brogan. It’s has some pretty good suggestions on how to develop your “brand” online through blogs, social networks, twitter, etc. It got me thinking about my own personal brand before I made a conscious effort to build one and after. Thankfully, those two identities are very unlikely to ever be matched together, which means that I am still empowered to control who I am online. And with only 15 pages, its a quick and simple read. I would recommend this for anyone trying to get a job related to the internet or Web 2.0 in some way shape or form. I myself liked it so much that I just might be applying some of these tips to my professional online persona.
It all began on last Thursday evening. After helping my cousin unload the stuff from my car to his car, I went back into my house to find a mysterious itchy spot on my hand. Nothing but a typical mosquito/spider/”fill in the blank” blood sucker’s bite, I foolishly thought to myself. So I ate a benedryl and dabbed some hydrocortisone ointment on it as the doctor had instructed me a few weeks ago when a similar situation took place.
The next day, a large lump had formed on my hand but I was still not alarmed. I guess having had welts from previous allergic reactions to bug bites (especially from bugs east of San Francisco…..this includes Hawaii, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong), I figured that thats just my typical reaction. Throughout the day, I slathered my hand with hydrocortisone and iced it. While it was quite obvious that this lump was growing (which I suspect was, in part, aggravated by the ice and the hydrocortisone, I remained in denial that anything was wrong.
Cut to the next morning at 6:30am…I wake up with the most insufferable itching sensation in my hand, which pretty much looked liked a balloon at this point. The swelling had consumed my hand to the point where I had no knuckles and I could not make a fist. To top it off, the swelling was slowly making its way up my fingers and down my wrist. At this point, I said to myself, “Gee wiz, golly, gosh, gosh, I think its time to seek medical assistance.”
Now here’s the tragic part of this tale. It’s 6:30am on a Saturday morning. All of my “housemates” and usual emergency contacts are either an hour plus drive away (i.e. Sacramento, Newport Beach and Salinas) or they were very likely sleeping like a rock. I resolved to take myself to the ER, even if I would need to drive with one hand. Then after about 15 minutes of trying to locate a hospital online through my new health insurance plan, I said, “Fuck it!” My GPS will sooner find the emergency room than this useless Web site. And off I went in search of a doctor.
The amazing part of this story is the fact that when I arrived at the emergency room around 7:30am, there was absolutely no body there. It was the most beautiful site that I had ever laid my eyes on (okay, maybe not but you get the picture).
Long story short, I was diagnosed with both an allergic reaction to whatever bit me and cellulitis (a bacterial skin infection that causes swelling, redness and warmth). Now I am currently on a diet of antibiotics (4 pills every day for 7 days), cortisone (2 a day for 3 days) and antihistamine (4-6 pills a day depending on the allergic reaction for about 3 days.
When I saw my brother later that night and showed him my hand, this is what he had to say: “Jeezes, what’s wrong with you. Haven’t you built any immunity to these bug bites by now?”
Three days later, I am happy to report that I can now make a fist even though my knuckles are still a little puffy.
I am officially twenty-five years old today. Shit. Suddenly, my birthday is not that exciting anymore, minus all the delicious cake that I have been able to eat. Oh yea, another bonus is that my birthday wish came true….
FLASH BACK: About three weeks ago, my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year. I said, “a job,” rather sarcastically. Who would have know that lady luck would finally cut me a break.
So what’s my birthday plan? Well, seeing how my actual date of birth is in the middle of the week, not much. I had a party last Friday and I will party again this weekend. Here’s to more cake and a slightly re-modeled blog, in honor of my birthday and birthday gift, in case you haven’t noticed! (See prologue for the long story about the blog update)
Today, I make my fatefully, yet strangely ironic, return to agency life. Ready or not, here I come!
What this also means, boys and girls is that I will be renaming my blog. Obviously, “Life After The Agency ” is just a tad bit inappropriate now. Don’t worry, this will not be some ridiculously long overhaul of the site, just a new name and updated layout. Thanks for baring with me.
Since I will be returning to the working world tomorrow, I’ve decided to pre-write this post as I plan to sleep-in this lovely Monday morning. It’s my last day to get 10 plus hours of uninterrupted sleep on a non-weekend day and I intend to enjoy it.
Goodbye 2.5 months of unplanned “vacation”; Hello gainful employment!
So for the past few days, I have been without Internet and time to update. But in case you have not heard already, I have decided to return to agency life and accept the offer (after some negotiations, of course).
While I initially had a lot of hesitations about agencies in general when I first began my job hunt, I feel very good about this agency, the people that I will be working with and the work that I will be doing. So I’m going to trust my gut on this one and go for it.
It will be nice to get my life and career back on track. Unemployment, while great for getting more sleep, has been slowly but surely reverting my sleeping schedule back to the 11am to 3am lifestyle of my college years.
In the next few days, I will be preparing myself for war (i.e. work). To quote my quotable friend, YYC, “I’m off to fight the good fight.”
Of course, I can’t help but hold on to some sinking feeling (like anyone who has ever been laid off) that maybe, just maybe, this all might be too good to be true. JHG calls it job security anxiety and it may be a while before I’ll feel secure enough to take my job for granted again.
It is true. I got a job offer this morning (and yes, from the company that interviewed me for 5 hours and gave me a take home writing test). Right now I am waiting on the formal written letter to review before I formally accept. More on my tips of offer reviews later…..
What a great morning it is today! No more cover letters and no more resumes and no more interviews….I can’t wait to just enjoy the rest of my “vacation” without a worry in the world.
……however, this company is a public relations agency ( a good one that I might add, but more on that later), which means that it might be a good idea to rename my blog……I’ll need to sit on that one…..
In other unrelated news, some stupid wanna-be vampire of a bug bit me on the neck a couple of days ago. This bug left me a little red mark on (which I originally thought was a zit) that later swelled into an ugly bump. In case you need a visual, it looked like I had an Adam’s apple. If it got any bigger, you just might think that I was a transvestite.
I put a topical benadryl cream on it one night and it got worse. The following day, I talked to a nurse who told me that topical benadryl is useless. Super. However, instead she suggested that I eat the Benedryl anti-histamine pill and use 1% hydrocortesone cream instead.
Cut to this morning — The swelling has indeed gone down. By golly, it’s a miracle!
Personal PR Campaign Media Alert: Attention all spiders, mosquitoes and ticks! I don’t care which one of you critters did it, either way, none of you are welcomed within a 20 foot radius of me. Also, my dog and cats are off limits too!
In the past two days, I jumped through some major hoops in what must have been THE LONGEST JOB INTERVIEW EVER!
How long could it be, you ask? I was there from 1pm to sometime after 5:30pm. Not only did I meet with like seven different people, I also had to complete a writing test (part 1) and fill out a job application. After I left the building, I scurried on home to work on writing test (part 2), which was due the next day. On top of that, I had 7 thank you e-mails to write as well.
Needless to say, I went to bed last night very, very tired.
I suspect that once they review my tests and speak to my professional reference(s), I just might hear back on next steps if all goes well. And after what was practically a 24 hour interview (I finished and turned in writing test 2 at 1pm the following day), I sure hope that I will level-up on the interview process for this company.
Special Thanks to TT, CK, MT and BL for helping me catch all my grammar, punctuation and spelling errors on my second writing test. I owe you all lunch. Please contact me directly to collect. :p
On another note, for those of you newbies who have never applied to a public relations job before, be prepare to either (1) provide writing samples or (2) take a writing test. These writing tests usually consists of reviewing a document for obvious grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes and/or writing a PR document like a media pitch or press release. Why you ask? You can’t be a communications person if you can’t communicate properly, so you better drop those bad habits, you l33t sp34k people.
This morning at 9AM sharp, I arrived at the local unemployment office where I was “invited” for a scheduled appointment with an unnamed person who would help me find a job (or else I would risk losing my unemployment insurance benefits). So as instructed, I arrived on-time with a completed work search history worksheet filled out (they sent this to me) and had my social security card and driver’s license ready.
To be honest, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. In my mind, I imagined a one-on-one meeting with a social worker who would take me back to her cubicle and grill me my job search and why I hadn’t been hired already after so many different interviews.
But in reality…..this appointment was more like a group seminar about how unemployment insurance works and how to make sure that you still get your check. Despite the late start, extra paperwork, random interruptions and irrelevant ramblings…..there were two good take-aways that people should be aware about:
1) CalJobs: I was aware that in order to receive my unemployment insurance, I needed to sign up for CalJobs and post my resume. What I didn’t know is that I need to frequently log-on and look for jobs on this site; otherwise, EDD will assume that I am no longer looking for work (i.e. stop sending me money). Too bad, EDD can’t just team up with Craig’s List or Yahoo HotJobs.
2) Unemployment Benefit Continued Claim Form: So in order to receive unemployment benefits, I must submit the continued claim form every two weeks to indicate that I have been actively looking for work. According to our “speaker” we do not need to list all the employeers that we have solicited on the back of this form. While not filling that section out would save me a lot of time, I will continue to do so. Personally, I am not entirely convinced on this suggestion and so just for the record, I will keep on listing my prospective employers.
Alleluia! My highly anticipated 2008 economic stimulus payment (i.e. check from the U.S. Treasury, courtesy of President Bush) has arrived. Woo-hoo!
For a while, I thought that someone had robbed my mail box (which actually can happen in my neighborhood) since almost everyone I knew had already received theirs. Of course, those fears subsided after I received a notice a week ago reassuring me that my check would be arriving by July 5th…..it’s actually a little late, but that’s alright. Now all I have to do is figure out what to stimulate with my new-found wealth. Any ideas?
A few weeks ago, I made a trip up to Santa Rosa with my cousin and my little brother as part of my unemployment travel program (i.e. being able to travel around locally on weekdays since I don’t need to go to work). Being a life-long fan of the Peanuts comic strip, I decided to make my first visit to the Charles M. Schultz Museum and Research Center.
UPDATE:So when I originally started to write this post, I was simultaneously watching “Meet The Spartans” (…don’t Ask….) and so I was a bit distracted….then 4th July and the eating fest that rivaled Thankgiving happened…so let’s just say that I am only now starting to catch up on my blogging. So to finish up this post, here’s what I also intended to include:
The Great Hall
Once you go inside the museum, the first room that you enter is “The Great Hall.” Directly facing you, is an enormousmural of the Charlie Brown and Lucy with a football, as shown above. This 17×22 feet mural was created by Yoshiteru Otani, who pieced together a LOT of 2×8 inch ceramic tiles (3,588 tiles to be exact) with classic Peanuts comic strips imprinted on them. On one interesting note, Otani was also the Peanuts fan who designed the Snoopy Town theme park in Osaka along with a number of Snoopy Town shops around Japan.
The Kite-Eating Tree In addition to some unique artwork based on the Peanuts characters along with memorabilia from Charles M. Shultz’s life and work, the museum also featured a rare kite-eating tree the the small garden outside the museum.
Pictures with Snoopy and Woodstock Kindly note that when you visit the Charles M. Shultz Museum that photographs are not permitted except in the Great Hall and outside. Hence, all of our images were taken in the Great Hall and with the Peanuts statues outside.
Oh how lovely – now that the numbers are officially in, I can now say that I am part of that 0.6 percent blip in the state’s unemployment rate. What a wonderful day to start round #3 of my job hunt. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that’s right, I am now in my third round of resumes and applications.
My round #1 and round #2 prospects are (a) not looking exceptionally bright (meaning I have yet to get an offer/interview or final response) or (b) have rejected me with a nice note/call. As such, I decided to kick-off my third round of resumes this morning. I hope you are happy lady luck….she’s probably having a great big haha at my expense.
At least I am able to receive an unemployment check (even it its just a little bit of money), ’cause this job hunt has become quite the full time job. The employment gap in my resume is growing, which means it will only get harder and harder to find a job as time goes on……my unemployment saga continues……..
My first unemployment insurance check came in the mail this week. I am officially on welfare…..and it’s not that exciting (especially when you look at the number on the check).
To do some quick math, I was laid off on May 15th and I filed for unemployment on May 22nd (my last day at work). I filled out that form to show that I am actively looking for work for the first two weeks and mailed it back on June 8th. I got my first check on June 14th for only one week’s worth of job hunting. Apparently, the first week is a filing period and does not count as a pay period. So exactly one month of on-going paper work to the State of California’s Employment Development Department (EDD), I am officially in the system.
What this means is that if you were living paycheck-to-paycheck before you were laid off, you are royally screwed.
PR Notes: I bring this up because a rather misleading “idea” has been spread by word of mouth either by people’s own ignorance about the system or their hope to provide you with a false sense of security. I was told that I could sign up for unemployment insurance before I was no longer with the company so that I could start receiving the checks right away. Some people have suggested that it is better to be laid off so that you could collect your unemployment insurance.
This was just bad advice. A paycheck is much better than an unemployment check. (Unless, of course, that paycheck is worth less than the unemployment check. In that case, you need to find a better paying job.)
Here’s the truth……
You may only sign up for unemployment insurance when you are no longer working.
You will not receive your unemployment check until you have filled out the “continued claim” to show that you are working. You should note that you can not turn this in until after your first two weeks of unemployment. You should also note that you’ll be filling this form out ever two weeks until you (A) get a job or (B) run out of time and are no longer eligible.
You will not receive a check for the first week of unemployment because this is a filing period.
My personal recommendation is that EDD needs a proper PR campaign to educate HR managers and employers about the unemployment system. ‘Cause there is some bad information being circulated to shattered people who have just had the rug pulled out from under them. It’s just not right. But I doubt that this department actually has the funds to support such a campaign. All of their funds are probably being directed to processing unemployment claims and mailing checks to the unemployed, like myself.
A few weeks ago, my neighbor let me in on a secret, which happened to be the San Francisco Bay Area commuter’s best kept secret. It’s such a secret that its just so obvious….The Bus (i.e. AC Transit) is the cheapest and easiest way to get to San Francisco (from where we live at least).
During my time at The Agency, my commute to work at its shortest was 1 hour and 2 hours at its worst. My daily trek to the city involved three modes of transportation, beginning with 15-45 minutes by car (this includes parking and waiting on the platform), then the 30 minutes by BART, then 15-20 minutes by foot.
But not anymore, even if I need to work in the city (once I find a new job).
I am going to take the bus, which apparently stops a 15 minute walk away from my house and goes directly to San Francisco in about 30 minutes. I did a little experiment today to try out the bus system and timed it. I was impressed, especially on the way back. I took the 12:00pm bus from SF and got back in 15 minutes, which until now as unheard of (by me at least). The special bus lanes (designed) so that the buses don’t have to worry about traffic jams to get on and off the bridge, are just fabulous.
So after two weeks of unemployment, I am coming to terms with the fact that economic conditions are encouraging me to reconsider life in an agency. However, should I go back, I know that I must choose my next PR agency with the utmost care and caution. My life and well-being are dependent on it.
Good agencies are out there. You just need to spend the time and effort to find them. Part of the process is screening each agency that you consider. Agencies should be put to the test by potential employees. It is hazardous to treat the application and interview process like a one way street.
To help PR agency hopefuls with their agency selection process, I have decided to write down my mental list of screening techniques and and agency red flags. Kindly note that this list is purely based on my own personal observations having been on the PR job market one too many times.
Screening Suggestions
Ask Around – PR agency executives and Web sites will only give you the official message about their reputation. This reputation will undoubtedly be exceptional and outstanding. The best way to get around this is if you have friends who are already working in PR agencies. If so, then I highly recommend that you ask them for their most candid thoughts about the agencies that they have worked for, interviewed with or encountered vicariously though their other PR friends and colleagues. This will give you a more honest idea about an agency’s reputation. Are they sweatshops? Are the employees “happy employees” or are they clamouring to get out? If more than one person gives you the same answer about any one agency, then heed their words and avoid that agency.
Internet Scan - PR agencies are very meticulous and careful about their online reputations as it effects their business and employee prospects. However, if an agency is a bad apple, then it just might be possible that their true colors will be revealed online. You just have to do a thorough search for dirty laundry being aired by extremely disgruntle employees and clients. As such, its worth taking a look to see what Google might pull up along with specific blog search engines like Google Blog Search, Technorati and Ice Rocket. But agencies being agencies, know that there is no guarantee that you’ll find anything.
Red Flags
Fatigue - Does your interviewer show any indication that they are exhausted after a long day or are they still in high spirits and enthusiastic at 3:30pm? While it might be understandable that people will be tired at the end of the day….you may become that fatigued person one day. Besides, if you are making the effort to be up beat, then why shouldn’t they also do the same.
Time Management - Are you interviewing with the people that you are scheduled to meet? Or are people so busy that they rearrange the interview schedule on you on the spot. Or worse, they scramble to find someone for you to talk to? Not only is this rude, but its also a bad indication that this group is way too overworked. If they treat you poorly during the interview, it makes you wonder how they’ll treat you when you are a paid employee.
Office Energy - Is there a buzz and magnetic vibe in the office? Or is it dead silent because people are too busy and stressed with their own work? Also, look and see if there is actual life – empty cubicles are an indication that this office might be short-staffed and desperate to hire. Don’t be fooled by offices with a lot of toys (i.e. Wii, a Rock Band set, Pool table). Just because its there doesn’t mean that people are actually able to enjoy them.
Team Work – Are you interviewing with a cross-sectional representation of the team? (i.e. are you meeting with both senior and junior level people). If you are, then that’s a good sign that that agency values everyone’s opinion in the hiring process. It also means that that agency wants to hire people that click with their employees. If you don’t meet with everyone, then that’s a possible sign that that office has a very top-down structure and culture. Also, it could be a sign that the junior people are way too over worked/billable that they can not spare even a few minutes to say hello. Careful, that may be you one day.
Specifics – Is your interviewer (i.e. the person who would be your direct supervisor) able to tell you specifically what type of clients, number of clients, team size, hours will be, if you are hired? It is perfectly legitimate to know what are the interviewer’s expectations and why they are hiring for that position. If they are replacing, then there could be high turnover. If its a new position, then they are growing. If they can’t give you a straight answer on they number and type of clients that you’ll be working on, then take it as a bad sign. It means that if hired, you will be assigned ad-hoc to any number of clients. It also means that this agency works on a lot of projects as opposed to retainer work, hence they really don’t know. If you don’t know already, projects suck—its a rush job with high expectations. Also, the average number of clients per person is also very important piece of information. A good number is 3. Remember that!
Quality of Life - The only way to really determine an agency employee’s quality of life is to ask someone already in the position that you are applying for. This is difficult however because you may not have a chance to meet with such a person and you cannot ask this question directly. Just know that anyone senior will not know what they are talking about or they may be inadvertently leading you astray.
Receptionist - Do they have one? If not, it means that they also do not have an on-site office manager/administrative assistant to take care of the office. This means that you or another account person needs to fill that role in addition to client work. Don’t be fooled by the account person sitting in what looks like a receptionist’s position. This is easy to determine if they are on the phone pitching journalists or working on a media list/pitch in plain site on their computers.
That’s all I have right now and I hope it helps you sort your thoughts about an agency after the interview. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment to offer any additional thoughts or insights.
Today, I made a small step to become a “power user” of online social networking sites, namely Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Jobster. In the past, I have been a bit of a causal user, adding friends and colleagues as I find them. But today, I went a bit overboard.
LinkedIn – My profile is officially 100% complete, including photo and recommendations (big thanks to everyone who wrote something for me). I also went through my whole Rolodex to add every contact that I have ever had in the past three years. Not an incredible number, but its the most activity that I have ever had on LinkedIn since I opened the account in 2004.
Jobster – My profile is also 100% complete. Thanks Cousin V for giving me the heads up about Jobster. On one interesting note, I found one prospect through this site though it has yet to be determined whether it will be a good or bad prospect.
Twitter- Okay, so this one is probably going to be longest process ever since nobody (immediate to me) is on Twitter. Most have never even heard of Twitter. But I did add two new people that I will be following, a far cry from the thousands that I need to become a real power user. On a “budget” note, I probably will not be enabling my phone to receive “tweets” via text message…..I just can’t afford it right now.
Facebook – Nothing too unusual, but I did track down some old, old high school friends that have until now seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
But despite my “accomplishments” today, I still have a long road ahead of me before I would even be considered a power user of any of these Web applications.
The first time I went (i.e. last year), I was a bit surprised at all the animals that they had on site. It was more entertaining than a zoo. I especially liked the many Toyota vehicles “subtly” parked as if they were another wildlife creature on display. This time around (i.e. this past weekend), Toyota decided to switch back to go ol’ traditional bill boards.
Toyota FJ Cruiser, originally uploaded by Lovelady57
In addition to the rides and way over-priced mall food court food, the animal shows are always entertaining. Though on one note, they seem to be getting shorter and shorter each time. I, along with DL and company, watched Shouka the killer whale and a very cheesy bird show.
PR Notes: Discovery Kingdom recently opened Tony Hawk’s Big Spin, a new roller coaster that looked like a lot of fun. Full Disclosure: I didn’t ride it since the line looked rather long.
From what I can tell, their big media promotion was through radio–A pay-for-play opportunity with the SF Bay Area’s Alice 97.2’s morning show. The show’s hosts, Sarah and No Name, did a live show on-site during the day of the ride’s grand opening. At the time, I was still employed so I wondered how many people were actually able to go since the show took place on a Friday morning….
Today, I took full advantage of the fact that I have no job and watched one of the first showing of the Sex and the City movie this afternoon for a very nice matinee price. I am admittedly, a latecomer to the SATC craze – I finished watching the whole series only a few months ago on DVD after being first introduced to the series via TBS reruns – But I thought it was a pretty good movie. If its any indication, DL (who was maybe the only straight guy in the theater) did not fall asleep once.
The theater was surprisingly not full, but that’s because all of die hard fans (the young, cosmopolitan working women) were at work, working hard for their ticket money. But unfortunately for them, they would soon face a mass fight for tickets (unless they Fandago it). From what I hear, the movie is completely sold out in all of the San Francisco theaters today (opening day). So good luck to all of you SATC fans who are trying to catch the movie.
Word of advice for the novice blockbuster movie go-er: Buy your tickets ahead of time and show up at least an hour early to wait in line. It just sucks to pay full price for a movie, only to be forced to watch it from the first row and leave with permanent neck problems. Heed this warning….I speak from weeks of experience having watched Iron Man, Speed Racer, Narnia, Indiana Jones on their opening weekends.
PR Notes: These past few weeks, the SATC foursome have been on road, promoting the film in full force. I can’t say for sure, but it seems as if they are using a divide-and-conquer strategy, with each of the four starlets taking media interviews separately to promote the movie to more outlets. This has certainly helped add to the buzz surrounding the movie these past few days.
Last week, as I was facing eminent unemployment, it dawned on me that it just might be a good idea to start a “resume blog” where I could post my resume and supplement my one-page resume with a showcase my “knowledge” on consumer trends, PR, marketing, etc.
And so, in the ultimate act of shameless self-promotion, I bought my own dot com with my namesake. Its still very much a work in progress, but I have a few posts up if you are interested in reading. Special thanks to my dear cousin (and professional graphic designer) for the design and layout advice and to CK for all of the great examples and suggestions.
I think once I workout all the kinks, I will be able to add an “expertise” in SEO and SEM to my resume…..(i.e. expert in driving traffic to a web site).
Other Resume Blogs:
Just know that this wasn’t entirely on a whim, I did a bit of research to see who in my industry would do such a thing. What I found is that there are a number of PR pros who do have their own blogs where they are able to showcase their knowledge of social media tools and industry knowledge, though these blogs are not necessarily named after the author. It should be noted that most “resume blogs” are used by web developers, graphic designers, artists and photographers (which makes sense).
LATA vs. My Dot Com
So what’s the difference between Life After The Agency (LATA) and my dot com? Just as an FYI, LATA will be more about me (not too personal though) and a little less about public relations (though I’ll keep the intrigue and gossip stories here), while my dot com will be a little more topic focused specifically on consumer trends in Asian and Asian Americans.
I was pleasantly surprised this morning to learn that I was quoted in local Texas newspaper story about “Bubble Tea” as an “expert in Chinese desserts.” How fitting.
It’s interesting to note, that I am the only person that was quoted in the article. Clearly, none of the major corporate bubble tea/boba chains (i.e. Quickly or Tapioca Express) have a PR person or PR agency with a subscription to ProfNet. PR note to corporate boba marketing teams….it might be a good idea.
“Bubble Tea: Ever Drink A Pearl?”
By Miriam Ramirez, The Monitor
Thursday, May 22, 2008
To view the full article onine, click here.
One interesting find from this article was www.bobafind.com, a site that is surprisingly very accurate in locating the nearest bubble tea/boba shop near you.
So that’s it. As of Thursday, May 22, 2008, I am jobless.
I packed up my desk, said my goodbyes, applied for unemployment and picked up my check. To my fellow colleagues who were laid off, “see you in the job market” and too my still-employed colleagues, “good luck.”
One thing though that I want to add….which only adds to the irony was that two weeks before I was laid off, I moved into my boss’ office (i.e. I was sharing an office with her, not taking over her office). This was after a six-month overdue promise to move me that began when I first started. Anyhow, it was nice while it lasted. Being the sentimental dork that I am, I couldn’t help be take a picture.
Either Lady Luck is smiling upon me once again or she’s cruelly setting me up for a really good laugh. But cross your fingers everyone, I just may have found my big break…..so hopefully I don’t jinx myself by mentioning it in code.
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Call me superstitious, but I believe that life is continual cycle of good luck and bad luck. Thus, I believe that ever since my license plate was stolen, I have been in one hell of a personal recession. Now all I have to do is ride it out….one bad week at a time. May this new week be a happier week.
Over the weekend, I have spent a good chunk of lamenting (okay, more like obsessing while making multiple public announcements) about my coming unemployment this Thursday. It’s a rather dreary feeling, but what can you do, but vent and get it out of your system and get over it.
To help me “get over it,” I have devised a plan of action in true Daisy fashion (in case you didn’t know, I like to make plans…..following through all the time is a different story…heh.)
STEP 1: Update Resume (this includes my paper resume and LinkedIn profile)
STEP 2: Look for jobs to apply for and send out resume
STEP 3: Build a new, more “professional” web/blog profile to support resume (I have been researching this all weekend and I think the Web 2.0 thing to do in this market is to provide a professional Google-able presence on-line)
STEP 4: Social Networking (Ask my dear former colleague to say nice things about me on LinkedIn
Other non-job search items on my list include:
Reconnect with old friends: Have lunch with people that I haven’t seen or heard from in 3 plus years
Stop by and say “hello” to some old professors: Let’s just say that after “walking” two years ago, I have never walked back on campus
Local Sightseeing: After living in the Bay Area for so long, it’s time I actually enjoyed my scenery a bit
I can’t go to work right now, even if I wanted to…..the bridge to work has been closed due to a multiple vehicle accident. In hindsight, it was a very fortunate decision to not leave on time. Special thanks to TT for giving me the heads up before I walked out the door.
So while I am at home, preparing for my new state of gainful unemployment, Life After The Agency 2.0 is now being launched bit-by-bit with my new tag line being “Chronicles Of An Unemployed, Free Agent of Public Relations.” I thought that “Chronicles Of An Unemployed Flack” was a bit catchier but not quite the connotation that I wanted to give myself. Accordingly, I have updated my prologue to document the changes.
Last night, I kicked off my unemployment with sushi and sake. With the unbearably sunny weather and almost 100 degree temperatures, cold raw fish was an ideal dinner. My evening was later followed by some time dedicated to trying to update my resume yet again while scanning the job market on Craigslist.com and Monster.com. No comment at this time on my prospects.
This morning, I made my second attempt (the phone line was busy in my first attempt to file yesterday) for unemployment insurance, but was temporarily rejected. Contrary to what I was told by HR yesterday, I cannot file in advance. Since I will be staying until next Thursday as I was given a full week’s notice, I am technically not qualified. Guess I’ll be calling back, this time next week.
Looking at the headlines of all the leading and local daily newspapers, it’s not secret that the economy isn’t doing very well these day. Real estate, manufacturing and retail are some of the heavily hit areas (I’m sure that there are others on the list, but that’s just what comes to mind right now.)
Well, it all hit home today as I’ll be soon unemployed and back on the job market.
Since this “breaking news” is just merely an hour hold, I really can’t say that I have much of a plan of action in place. But perhaps, this maybe an appropriate moment for me to become a full time blogger.
Just remember, boys and girls, shit can happen anywhere and at anytime. It’s just rather ironic that I should be laid off not too long after finding a job that’s been a dream up until now. Nevertheless, I still have no regrets about leaving The Agency and going in-house. It has been an eye-opening experience to see how the rest of the world works.
But I am optimistic and (strangely enough) am rather curious what its like to be unemployed……it’s like I am finally getting my “break” between graduation and working that I never had.
Even after my horrible, horrible experience with Flickr, I have finally conceded to sign back on and upload away…even though the process is still slower than molasses (2-3 minutes per photo, if not longer…..this sucks if you have a lot of photos).
BACK STORY: Last November, I forgot my Flickr account password and it took customer service two days to manually reset it. Apparently the merge with Yahoo/SBC Global prevented me from resetting my password via e-mail because of the confusion over whose jurisdiction it was to help me. After making multiple customer service phone calls and e-mails to all three parties, I got an apology and a link to reset. However, after that annoying ordeal, I angrily blogged about my dissatisfaction on my discontinued Xanga (entry is titled “Fuck You Flickr!”) and vowed to never sign on to Flickr again.
REALITY: Unfortunately, when so many people that you know have a flickr account that they update and engage daily, it is really hard to be the odd ball and use something else. So for a trial period, I am going to take Flickr back, but if you piss me off again, so help me………just don’t expect me to purchase a Pro account anytime soon!
So what crazy PR/Marketing campaign brought on this sudden interest in becoming a picture person? Thanks to my photo-taking and design-savvy friends and family who sent me links via IM to two cool new web-base applications and services (see below), I now want in on all the fun.
Blurb- Scrapbooking for people who hate scrapbooking. Basically, it’s a publishing service that lets you design and print you photos into nicely bound soft/hard cover books with dust jackets. I am currently working on my first book, but it might take me a while to finish as my artistic gene is a bit under developed (the result of a liberal arts education and two years at The Agency).
Photoshop Express - Photoshop for people who can’t justify buying the real thing. This is a very cool web-based version of Photoshop that’s free and allows you to edit your pictures with Photoshop tools that have been simplified for people like me. Now I too can adjust lighting and clean up a pimply face.
Now for all you newbies and oldies to marketing who are still scratching their heads at how to run a proper WOMM campaign on-line….the IM technique is how it has been done, but for a more cutting-edge way to do it, I suggest that you look into Twitter and master it. So on that note, please stop with the direct mailing pieces and get with the program.
Today is my blog’s two month anniversary and I am happy to report that as of today, over 5,000 visitors have came to my site. For sure, this would not have been possible without Edison Chen –So to really highlight his impact on my site, I’d like to share some interesting statistics
Bare with me as I think out loud — I reached my first milestone of 1,000 visitors in only a week and a half after starting my blog. But after reaching this rapid “peak” my per day visitor count has dropped significantly. As predicted, Edison and company has decreased as a popular search term to draw people to my blog. Likewise, Jeff Ma and Robert Irvine have not had nearly the same kind of impact. This just goes to show that sex and scandals sell very well.
While it seems that people have taken a liking to my “public relations notes” on life and news/gossip, my first post about Edison Chen continues to be a very tough act to follow, though my second post about Edison Chen is equally popular. So this leads me to conclude that I either need to follow Edison Chen’s every move until I am bored out of my mind or to seek out the next big thing on the Asian tabloids and write my P.R. heart out……any thoughts?
But seriously, I think that this just means that I need to refine my blog and focus its content and themes. If I learned anything at the BlogHER Business Conference, its that the most successful blogs are not personal blogs (unless you are really ready to bare your soul to the world without any misgivings like Heather B. Armstrong of www.dooce.com). Instead they have a consistent theme and a community around them. So stay tuned as I do some spring cleaning.
While you might thing that this is a strange “thing to do” as a NY tourist, it was definitely one of the top highlights of my trip. A special thanks to the wonderful lady who help me capture my experience on video!
Video #1: Here’s a video of my second try on the flying trapeze where I swing and hang upside down. (My first attempt wasn’t captured on film unfortunately).
Video #2: Here’s a video of my first successful back flip after swinging and hanging upside down.
Video #3: Here’s a video of my first catch, which I did on the first try! Woo-hoo!!
PR Notes: The Trapeze School New York is a perfect example of successful public relations. Not only do they have a long list of media placements, but they also have some rather unique and very strategic placements that lead me to sign up for my first class.
I first saw the school in action on an episode of Sex in the City, where Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw is taking a class at the school for research for an article that she’s working on. My first reaction was “OMG, they have a trapeze school in the middle of New York City! I want to do that.” Shortly afterwards, I forgot about it. Then a few weeks ago, I find the school listed on a tourist guidebook I bought and the light bulb flashed in my head and I said to myself, “I have to try this out when I go to NY!” Soon after, I signed up for their Saturday morning class and the rest is on YouTube.
So, I am finally home and it is 7:33am PT / 10:33am ET. I realize that I have not blogged since I left the airport going to NYC, but that’s partially due to a rather poor a Wi-Fi connection at the conference (especially for Mac users) along with a rather costly in-room Internet connection via Ethernet cable (I’d only consider paying if I could at least go online from bed rather than be strapped down to a desk).
The other reason is that I kinda wanted to spend my free time before/in-between/after the BlogHER conference exploring the city, eating new foods or sleeping.
But now that I am back, here’s what you will look forward to reading once I finish unpacking and re-cooping:
At the current time, pacific standard time is 10:06pm. I should be aboard my flight to New York City right now. But no, no, my plane has been delayed and I have been stuck at the Oakland Airport for almost two hours and will continue to be stuck for another hour or so…..about a three hour delay total.
Although this does not even compare to the beginning of my business trip to Chicago two months ago where I woke up from bed exactly one hour before my flight was scheduled to leave—in rushing to the airport and making a mad dash to the gate, I left my glasses at home and left my laptop o the security conveyor belt, –it’s nevertheless yet another bad start.
In my desperation and boredom, I decided to purchase the airport’s internet access so that I can blog and play Facebook’s Block Star. Earlier, I decided to play with my MacBook’s photo booth feature to capture these very long moments the airport:
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Photo Caption: In the black space to my right is where my plane should be in view from the window behind me. Instead, there is nothing by the darkness.
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Photo Caption: To my left is the airport terminal where I wait and wait and wait……looks pretty empty doesn’t it.
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PR Notes: Let’s hope that my plane is only three hours delayed or else JetBlue might face another crisis communications situation regarding flight delays as they did on stormy Valentine’s Day in 2007. Though to be fair, I’ve so far enjoyed all of my flights on JetBlue and I love the fact that they have live television rather than random movies…..it let’s me catch on VH1 reruns that I have missed.
UPDATE: Since writing this original post, a police report has been filed (beware you no good license plate thieves) and the DMV has issued me a new license plate. Alleluia!
I have been robbed!! Some no good thief in Emeryville stole my car’s front license plate.
Before I left to visit friends on Friday night, I had a front license plate. The following morning, after driving to my Saturday kick-boxing class, I discovered that it was missing. After careful inspection of the remaining license plate holder, the tears and scratch marks made it very clear that the plate did not just merely fall off as some have suggested. No, no, it was taken by force.
Now the real question is —Why the hell would anyone want my front license plate. It would make more sense if this no good thief had stolen my registration sticker or my back license plate as indicated by the two news articles that I found below.
ABC News: This article indicates that in areas where you pay for gas after you pump, people are stealing back license plates so that they can steal gas without getting into trouble. Basically, the thieves will attach the stolen license plate to their cars, go to a gas station, fill up the tank then drive off without paying. I suppose this “strategy” insures that if a video tape or camera captures their license plate number, the no good thief will not be caught since they are using a stolen plate. However, since I live in the state of California where every gas station that I have ever patronized has been a prepay pump, this surely can not be the reason why I was robbed.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat: A few days a go, a man accused of stealing car registration stickers in Sonoma County (which is a part of the San Francisco Bay Area) was caught. In this case, the man stuck the stolen sticker on his own car. Unfortunately for him, a local police officer was quite diligent when he looked up his license plate and found that the car’s registration was last updated in 2006 despite the 2008 sticker. Lucky for me, I still have my 2008 registration sticker. However, this still does not explain why my front license plate was stolen.
So what’s the benefit of stealing a front license plate? Clearly, it is worthless without the registration sticker (Any cop that notices a missing registration sticker or an out of date sticker will quickly pull you over for that offense, especially since they have their ticket quotas to meet.) Whatever the thief’s intentions, my poor front license plate is now probably an unwilling accessory to crime.
Or another hypothesis that I have is that some stupid artsy kid decided steal my front license plate to make a map of the U.S.A with stolen plates or some other worthless art project.
Public Relations Notes: In publicizing this crime that has been committed against me, I am hoping to find other victims so that we can all rally together and find this SOB, beat him and leave him covered in tar and feathers in the town square……or not. No really PR notes on this, I am just complaining.
So after days of being sick (mixed with being tired and laziness), I quickly had to switch gears into study mode for some power studying. You see, for the past few weeks, I have been taking a Japanese class at Soko Gakuen (which by the way is a great place to learn Japanese if your not in college and live in the San Francisco Bay Area) and I had a final. Eleven weeks worth of material in three days for a three hour final.
Now that that’s done, I can get back to blogging. Stay tuned, while we return to our regularly scheduled program.
Just in case anyone was wondering why I have yet to write anything on former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer and Tang Wei (or anything for that matter), I have been in denial of my cold until today. I called in sick and have been sleeping for 14 plus hours. After this post, I’ll be off to sleep some more once the TheraFlu kicks in.
On another note, the big question that my cold raises though is how is it possible to fall ill when the weather has been just lovely (very sunny and bright) and the office plague has long since passed!?!?
Additionally, the only contact that I have had with sick people has been through the Internet. So unless a report comes out that human viruses can be transmitted virtually, I’ll just remain at a loss of words (literally….I have a horrible sore throat).
As a cautionary note: Stock up on real Vitamin C and not AirBorne or Emergen C. So far, nothing has been reported about Emergen C having had mislead the public through false advertisement, but having noticed that people at The Agency who believed in these two miracles the most were the ones with the most compromised immune systems. Still ain’t no cure for the common cold yet, no matter what they say on the box.
It has been confirmed. I’ll be heading to New York City in early April on official company business to attend the BlogHer Business 2008 Conference.
Wow. I really feel lucky to be paid to travel, learn more about blogging & social media for businesses and meet fellow bloggers. FYI: BlogHer is a very large and influential network of women bloggers. Since 2005, this organization has hosted an annual blogging conference. This is the first year that they will be hosting a conference especially for companies looking to learn more about applying blogging and social media to their businesses.
While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this is how it is when you work in-house (it really depends on your company and their PR budget and initiatives), it does dispel any myths that “you don’t have any opportunities to learn anything new” because you are supposedly doing the same thing everyday.
That being said, I’ll be blogging about the conference in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
On the subject of fun on-line games, I recently discovered FreeRice (www.freerice.com) and I maybe one of the last people on Earth to have heard about it. See below.
Me: btw, here’s a game that i think you’ll like www.freerice.com Cousin: ahh i love that site, i got addicted to it a few months ago Me: haha, am i really the last person to jump on the bandwagon? Me (in my head): damn.
But for anyone who yet to hear about this site, allow me to make the introductions.
About: FreeRice is charity site aiming to eliminate world hunger and improve English vocabularies everywhere. Launched on October 7, 2007 by John Breen, a computer programmer from Indiana, FreeRice is the sister site to thehungersite.com, therainforestsite.com and Poverty.com.
The Game: Upon entering FreeRice, visitors are presented with an English word (usually a very sophisticated and rare word often found in old novels or in SAT books). The user must then decipher the word’s meaning and pick from four options presented. If correct, twenty grains of rice will be donated through the United Nations’ World Food Programme. If you keep playing until you reach a donation of 100,000 grains of rice, you will be presented with the following message: “You have donated 100,000 grains of rice, may you have a lifetime of happiness…..”Afterwards, your donation reverts back to 0 grains of rice.
Who pays for all this rice? Advertisers, whose banners are located at the bottom of the site. When I read this detail, I thought that FreeRice is truly ingenious to have created a viral marketing campaign for world hunger awareness and on-line advertising opportunities that then successfully provides an actual charitable donation. More companies that engages in cause marketing and PR agencies with specialties in on-line outreach should take note and start brainstorming.
Possible Scam: For the skeptics and cynics out there that might be inclined to think that this site is a scam, please read the verdict by Snopes.com (an Urban Legend myth buster site).
Additionally, for anyone wanting to know how to gauge the success of a viral marketing/on-line PR campaign/blogger engagement program, I would say that generating coverage in top-tier print, broadcast and radio is a good sign that you’re doing something right. As the team behind FreeRice can attest, they have been pretty successful so far:
Special thanks to my former colleague from The Agency for introducing me to FreeRice and to everyone else whose been offering me story ideas and feedback. It’s nice to be on the receiving side of the pitch for once.
About a week and half after starting my blog last, last Friday (2/15), I have now reached my first significant milestone as a blogger. My blog has been viewed over 1,000 times!!
Thank you for reading and a big thank you to Edison Chen. I couldn’t have done it without you. Because of your sex photo scandal and the many intrigued and possibly perverted individuals looking for up-to-the-minute gossip and the actually photos, my blog jumped from about 2-3 total views to an impressive 210 views in only 8 hours after I posted my second entry about the Edison Chen scandal (which, by the way, is very impressive by my standards, though rather very insignificant compared to more established blogs). Incidentally, my number of views again jumped today after I did a follow up on Edison for my eight entry.
Thanks again everyone, please come back and read even after Edison is not hot news anymore. Also, please leave me a comment. I would be most grateful, if you would weigh in on any of my random rants and raves.
Note: My excitement stems from the fact that all my previous blogs (Xanga and Blogspot) probably did not amount to more than 100 views total. I’ve had the Xanga blog since about 2002 or 2003, but I would post about 2 a year.
To start off, let me introduce myself. Hello, My name is Daisy and this is my blog. Growing up, it was unusual for me to find any other kids named “Daisy”….not that this was a bad thing. Though interestingly enough, I did find that many of my classmates’ families (even one family member) would name their pets –dogs, cats and cows, “Daisy”.
My online alias is dayseye, which was based on my name’s definition (see below). I have used this name for as long as I have blogged, which first began sometime before blogs were called “blogs.” That blog has long since been abandon (plus the blog server/platform no longer exists either) along with its other not very successful reincarnations. Hope this new venture will stand the test of times.
Daisy \da(i)-sy\ — Old English origin, and its meaning is “day’s eye”. A name for a flower with white petals and yellow disc at the center, much like the sun.
On another interesting but unrelated note, the name “Daisy” is on the rise among parents of new babies. As you can see from chart 1, “Daisy” has slowly been gaining traction since my birth, but hopefully more so among humans than pets.
Chart 1: Popularity of the name “Daisy” from 1880 – 2000
Other notable Daisy(s):
Princess Daisy: Character from Nintendo’s Super Mario Brother Series
Daisy Duck: Long-time girlfriend of Disney’s Donald Duck
It has been confirmed. I’ll be heading to New York City in early April on official company business to attend the 
