Scribbles

I’d like the notion of moving towards a cashless society. Unfortunately the credit card companies aren’t willing to price their fees accurately to reflect true risks. As a result, we all suffer. But right now I don’t want to talk about credit card companies. I found an idea to for small businesses to cope with them.
 
Small businesses often put restrictions for customers who pay with credit card. Most of the time, they tack on an extra fee, not a large fee, somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 cents. Other times, they put a minimum spending limit. They do so to protect their margins; each transaction costs approximately .30 + 3% of the total amount. For the small shops that conduct many small transactions, say a burrito joint selling $7 burrito meals, 50 cents represents about 7% of the total transaction, making it unbearable (note, my small business also has to deal with the credit card fees). As a customer, I don’t like paying the extra fee, but I get it, so I grumble to myself, pay cash and get on with life.
 
But the other day, I encountered an ingenious workaround. This dessert tea shop, Cha for Tea, offered a 5% discount from my total bill if I paid cash. Absolutely brilliant. I felt great about paying cash under the illusion of saving money, as opposed to silently griping about forced to pay cash. Of course this is all psychological. But I felt great and empowered. And the tea shop managed to avoid its margins on a $5 drink getting chipped away by greedy financial oligarchs.
 
So if you’re a small business where credit card fees chip away your margins, adjust the prices to make this option equivalent to the 50 cents surcharge for paying with plastic. Shift your customers’ mindset so they feel smart for paying cash. And for the customers who want convenience and earn Starwood points, they won’t feel bad. It’s win win win. Yes, Mad Burrito and all the taxi drivers out there, this is for you.
 

Time keeps flying. It’s been more than half a year since moving to the west coast and settling into downtown Los Angeles. Whenever people ask about it, I tell them that not only has it way exceeded dreadful expectations, I really enjoy it. Aside from the obvious benefits like work, being closer to loved ones, and the weather, how has my LA experience been so far? Being in NYC right now presents the perfect time and space to reflect on that million dollar question.
 
I didn’t hold any false notions of replicating my previous NYC lifestyle, one requiring a density of people and happenings. Different cities have their own character so it doesn’t make sense to clone an existing lifestyle (that is not completely suburban) from one geography to another. The important thing is getting a feel of LA life and figuring if it could grow on me.
 
I started with the food scene since I enjoy it so much and also am quite picky about what I eat. I began with a simple strategy – follow Yelp recommendations. But soon I found the reviews requiring too much sifting through and the accusations of extortion made me uncomfortable. So I moved on to leveraging social media in full, sweaty embrace. With the indispensable Google Reader, I follow numerous foodie blogs whose authors share similar tastes with, as well as the latest from the LA Times food section. I also access specific news for downtown LA through several excellent local sources. And yes, Twitter has also been a fantastic resource. Who can ignore it, especially after all the attention on the roving, twittering Kogi BBQ trucks that have been all the craze in LA?
 
Back on the topic of my eating habits, I suffer from what the Accordion Guy calls a “socially acceptable eating disorder”, namely a vegan diet. The history of that traces back to about 5 years ago, when I attended a motivational seminar that challenged me to change my diet, with the intent of attaining higher energy to accomplish all of my personal goals. Impossible as it seemed, being the irredeemably hardcore carnivore that I was, I went vegetarian for a while and realized its benefits. The difference in how I felt was night and day. It’s hard to deny the truth once you know it and I couldn’t go back. Still, it was difficult. But since then, through much exploration, my options from a taste perspective have vastly improved, no more bland and nutritionally empty foods. Also the amount of new literature out there supporting this eating philosophy has contributed to further improved health benefits. At the end, the main motivation is to feel better and have more energy for things like reading that book everyone recommends or writing this blog post, things that we never have time for. And it works for me. I will gladly share more on this topic in the future.
 
While I strive to eat healthy, I don’t always; cultural and social obligations often get in the way. And I find that acceptable, since it’s not a religion and I’m not part of PETA. Sometimes there are dishes so wonderful that I simply have to have every so often. As a result, when I do break the routine, I won’t settle for mediocre, run-of-the-mill stuff. That said, access to healthy food choices in LA has been comparable to NY. Not like moving to Dallas or anything like that.
 
It’s reached the point to expand my activities in southern California beyond the food scene towards more social and local events. I still miss tremendously my incredible group of friends in NY. Yet I accept the need to building a new network of friends, through reconnecting with old ones in the area, and putting on that out-going persona to befriend new ones. Expanding my geographic coverage requires venturing out of downtown into the other neighborhoods. And while my curiosity of LA’s myriad pockets has often been tempered by my aversion to driving and parking, my past efforts to get out of the comfort zone have usually paid off. And then there are always more foodie trips.
 

Came across this idea while reading through blogs and thought I’d share it with you. It’s simple, pick 3 independently owned stores that you really like and are local, and spend $50 there every month. Like a pyramid scheme, but without the deceit, by executing the simple plan and getting others to follow, we can all help our local economies. It’s not a lot of money, and it keeps those businesses we love stay afloat. What an elegantly effective idea. Go check out the site and spread the word, the 3/50 project.
 

The following is a snapshot of my FB feed after I complained. (Note I don’t mean to single out Steph and her cute family).
 

 

My family keeps complaining to me that my 10-day detox is too long. They keep cautioning me to be careful. I keep reassuring them that I had done the Master Cleanse just a few months ago, and there’s nothing to worry about. To review on what the duration is supposed to accomplish, I re-read the book today. It opened up at a chapter titled, “Can I do 5 days instead?” The answer was clearly no, and the reason is that it really takes time for one’s system to get rid of all the toxins and heal.
 
Today, the 5th day, I woke up feeling like my system in full detox state. My tongue has turned a fuzzy white that many people experience while detoxing. And my expulsions resembled what they were during the latter part of the previous cleanse. Luckily this time around, I didn’t feel any sort of tiredness or irritability. However, my workout today felt a bit tiring, most likely due to a lack of caloric intake, caused by my growing wariness to the lemon-syrup-cayenne pepper concoction. Weight-wise, I’ve dropped about 8.5 pounds, which I feel neutral about since it’s not a goal for my and knowing that I’d gain it back quickly.
 
The real nagging thing about the cleanse is that I’m bored. The novelty of it wore off last time, so now it feels like work. Getting up, drinking the salt water flush, making lemonade throughout the day, all that combined with the hit on my social life, has been somewhat trying. But I’m almost halfway through, feeling fine, and looking forward to the promised land of mental clarity and invigorated health. Until then, more lemonade.
 

Today I’m starting another 10-day master cleanse. I promised to do another one within 6-months, so what better day than the first day of spring right? What really bums me out is shutting down the social activities for the next two weeks. However, that leaves me without much excuse to be unproductive or unfocused. I definitely won’t make the same mistake of day-dreaming about food. Time to get a lot of work and reading done while my body expels bad stuff, and by bad stuff, I mean crap.
 

I’m still kicking myself for waiting this long to read Crypto. Not that I ever doubted Neal Stephenson‘s genius, as I have read much of his other work. But as somebody with such a fascination with WWII and computer science and hacker culture, I’m way behind the curve. Better late than never, but sure could’ve been sooner.
 
The extant reviews and acclaim more than describe its content. As to how I got into it is where this post comes in. After years of reading non-fiction, I decided to switch back to some fiction for a break. In picking a book, I went through my long list of “must-reads” and stumbled across this massive novel. Wanting to put my eReader to work, this tome was perfect for saving trees, not to mention being on sale. Besides, does it get any more appropriate than reading a geeky book on a digital reader?
 

Reading Stephenson on my eReader
 
Does the device displaying the book seem rather unfamiliar, especially compared to the iPod-esque Kindle? It’s actually a Sony PRS-500, one of the first reading devices using electronic paper. A wonderful hand-me-down from my gadget friendly uncle, this svelte toy has been the perfect companion on the plane, subway, and coffee shops. While I still drool over the Kindle 2, like when I saw it on the subway the other day, I don’t feel so bad after learning about Amazon’s draconian methods for restricting where one can get books from. Regardless, you’ll find me in the camp of happy eReader owners.
 
Over the past couple weeks, Crypto managed to entertain on many a late nights, and tickled my inner geek with ingenious hacker stories and reviving some great times in my past. I’m certain that non-geeks would still enjoy this book tremendously. So don’t procrastinate like I did and give yourself a treat.
 

Last summer, after a series of unpleasant events that involved deceit and disrespect, I had a huge falling out with my troubled cousin. So angry at the time, I de-friended him on Facebook. Half a year later, I login this morning to find a message in my FB inbox titled “Really!?!” In it, said cousin makes a one-sided rehashing of past events, most of it accusatory, and concludes that other families have put up with worse and we should put things behind us, all with a lack of contrition or acceptance of blame. Pretty heavy stuff for breakfast.
 
Well, forgiveness/absolution issues aside, FB has become a medium for me where I share my thoughts and social life with, um, friends. Like many people who get friend requests from their mothers or colleagues, I have a reluctance to share many of the things about me that are on this social network. So it would seem perfectly reasonable for me to not want this part of my life to be an open book with somebody I have nothing in common with other than some DNA sequences. For once the adage, “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family” gets turned around for the good – I can choose my friends, including those online.
 
So it took him half a year to discover this act of Internet dissing. Looking back on that post about him, the very first post of this blog no less, I realize that back then I overlooked his clueless-ness, attributing it mostly to youth. But four years have passed already. Some things never change.
 

There’s a reason behind the lack of activity on this blog lately – February is one of those months. Cold, rainy, and mostly dreary, the month puts me in a hibernating mood. Alas I can’t shut down completely. So outside of a few small gatherings, I’ve been working hard, as part of my career-focused new year. I’ve got several projects happening, mostly boring ones. For instance, I’ve been filing endless tax forms for my the last few days. (I swear I’m going to hire an accountant next year.) On the other hand, we’re interviewing several software teams to for a major project. While the balance of fun and tedious work has been acceptable, but it’s still work and utterly un-blog-worthy.
 
That said, I’ve adventured a bit more into the LA food scene, trying different restos and enjoying the special course at one of my favorite‘s (yes, I will have to dedicate a full posting about Shojin soon). It’s unfortunate that the recession has hit local restaurants quite hard. Everything from restaurant traffic to gratuity percentages has taken a plunge. They even extended the special Dine LA week for the entire month, which I plan on taking advantage of at least once more.
 
The great thing about Feb is that it’s short. And to end it with a bang, I’ve got this weekend lined up with events before heading out to NYC for a conference. Until then, you can find me in front of my monitor.
 

Been in a huge slump this past week, in blogging and most matters of life. I have quite a few topics to write about but couldn’t find the enthusiasm or energy to put them into words. Not sure why the past week was such a meh week, not exactly the best way to begin Chinese New Year. Wish me luck in getting my act together and being productive again.

The boys invented this concoction in Lima – Inca Cola and vodka. Tastes like bubble-gum and and sneaks up behind to knock the lights out. Ironically the locals never mix Inca Cola with any alcohol…

Gringo Cocktail

I survived! Despite two bouts of food poisoning, sun burn, and altitude sickness, I am back home and couldn’t be happier about the trip. More details to follow about Peru, Gino’s wedding and parties, and of course the Inca Trail.

Kiss from Lima

Gino‘s getting married!  In 3 days I’ll be on a plane to Peru for the wedding, so now would be best for some closing thoughts for the year.

A quick mental review of the year leaves me amazed at the major events in the 2008: career transition, cross-country migration, relationship, the introduction to Salsa dancing. Not the typical year. I suspect the slowdown in business in the last few months have lulled me into a false sense of “lack of activity” which brings upon my surprise when I really think about what’s happened in 2008.

Between my last months in NY and about 4 months in LA, I made the effort to learn the neighborhoods and try things out.  In that, I feel pretty lucky to experience two major metropolitan cities.  While I traveled a lot during b-school and even attended class in some amazing places, there was never any time to slow down and learn about the locale.  And while doing consulting, I spent so much time on the road that every weekend was filled with social activities that left little time for getting to know NYC.  I took advantage of my good fortune to do the local things, such as the sushi lunch special in midtown, or read the Sunday LA Times over fresh orange juice and french press coffee at the Farmer’s Market.

Career-wise, I took the leap from working for large corporations all my professional life to becoming an entrepreneur.  The contrast between being a peg in a the corporate machinery of tens or hundreds of thousands of employees and being the one decision maker running business development, IT, and accounting could not be more striking.  And as if that wasn’t enough, I came on board for FitFiend in hopes of propelling it to become a meaningful social site in its niche.

Since my blog is not designed to attract as many readers as possible, I tend to avoid discussion of my dating and relationship status.  (So much advice out there about juicy sexy dating postings for attracting traffic) I’m not keeping any big secrets, I’m just not blogging about it.  What I will disclose is that my current situation is different than what I’ve experienced in the past.  I’ll leave it at that on this public forum.  If you want more, you’ll have to buy me a beer in person.

With all the changes, I won’t complain about the challenges.  My biggest take-away this year has been how conscious I have become of trade-offs in life, be it money versus freedom, location versus rent, and on and on.  I realize that being aware of them and making the clear decisions, more appropriately, having the option to make the decisions, has made life harder and more rewarding.  These trade-offs became salient in the process of my career transition.  In my old job, most of the goals were clear and the tasks to accomplish them are defined in the role.  Now, I can take the afternoon off to watch a movie, or I can tackle some completely random project that may or may not help the business.  But it’s not limited to business decisions.  I’ve taken that lesson and applied it to all aspects of my life, striving to identify the trade-offs.  I don’t make any judgment on which is better, more or less choice in relation to uncertainty.  For me, the increased degrees of freedom seems appropriate at this stage of my life.

In closing, allow me to predict that 2009 will be more career focused.  Not foreseeing any geographical moves, I should have more energy to develop my start-ups and explore LA.  While the former may be harder with the slowing economy, the latter seems promising as I make new friends and reunite with old ones.  So as I sign off for 2008, I wish you a fun and safe holidays.  Thank you for your support all year long, and please remember that you certainly have mine.

Some of you may have noticed the Twitter feed I added to the sidebar here, as part of my experimentation with micro-blogging.  In the two-three month period that I’ve used Twitter, FriendFeed, and Facebook status extensively, it’s clear that I won’t be abandoning them any time soon.  The down side of it, is the encroachment of those mini-posts into this blog.

Less blogging on my beloved WordPress platform aside, I find the new set of tools truly interactive and rewarding.  It’s amusing that I had done this way back ago, completely quit, and now immerse myself in this new generation.  It all started back in college, when the IM du jour was ICQ.  Then after college, I paid for a full version of Trillian so I could post whatever came to mind on my status updates in every IM medium conceivable.  The only problem back then was that it was great one-on-one interaction, but for one-to-many, I was in a constant state of reaction: I hear the IM sound, see the pop-up, and feel obligated to respond instantly.

It got to be too much during  the intense year of b-school, so I quit altogether.  The time zones didn’t work for me to interact live and this blog was the perfect medium to broadcast my whereabouts and happenings to people who cared.  I could post at my leisure and never feel the pressure of replying to IM.  There’s no instant in blogging.

Oh, but the brave new world snuck up on me so sneakily.  Blogging is still rewarding and the comment system works fine in that interactivity.  But then came Facebook and their implementation of status updates.  And then they allow us to comment on others’ updates, publicly.  The next thing you knew, the Facebook feed became a reverse blog, streaming in all your friends’ tidbids into that interesting mosaic of news, jokes, jibes,  break-ups, and job search.  It even comes with pictures!  I think it’s great.  There are some people using it as their blog without ever realizing they were blogging.  It’s just so much easier than setting up a blog.

And it’s that ease that makes it more powerful than blogging.  I meet a new acquaintance, we connect on Facebook. Whenever he logs in, he can see the updates of all his friends, including mine.  That’s a lot easier than subscribing to my blog.  I can login to FB or my FriendFeed and see all the happenings of hundreds of people in one place, but it’s highly unlikely that I would check 300 different blogs, even with a great RSS reader.

But that same ease of use also induces neglecting this blog.  Status updates and tweets are a lot shorter.  And unlike 5 years ago, I can post them directly from my phone instead of when I get back to the cube.  So instead of taking the effort to blog, the seductive nature of taking short-cuts has led to silly notions of my friends piecing together the last 10 postings and figuring out what I’ve been up to.  The ego!  So for my new year resolution, I promise, once again, to humble myself and to share more fleshed out thoughts and stories.  “Eating in lil Tokyo, again” on Twitter won’t cut it.  Sure, the short feeds will still be around, but as a compliment to what happens here.

Maybe it’s the onslaught of rain in sunny California that’s drained all contrast out of the city and transformed it into a uniform concrete gray, maybe it’s the recession that’s dulled the consumerist exuberance out of holiday shopping; whatever it is, it has afflicted me with a steady, dull ache of boredom, nay, dearth of spirit or whatever one describes the essence of life (beyond its physiological functions).

However that feeling may be internal, I’m convinced that the current set of external events differ much from previous years.  The Facebook chatter has noticeably slowed down.  News of friends, more than one of them, being laid off is a new experience for me.  Business has been slow.  The crap economy and holiday slow-down has bastarded this lackadaisical fog of dread.

If I only knew what to dread.