i've moved...

again. http://regress.tumblr.com/

shoe geeks

those who know me know that i love shoes. what a coincidence that my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, is, to my knowledge, the first university to create a class dedicated to shoes.

Sneakerology 101: http://www.hypebeast.com/2008/03/carnegie-mellon-university-sneakerology-101

Although the symbolic educational term 101 has been thrown around liberally in sneaker circles, Pittsburgh Pensylvania's Carnegie Mellon University has legitimized the term with its official sneaker based class, Sneakerology 101. Yes that's right, a university level course dealing with sneaker culture on the whole. ... Evaluations include a mid-term project pertaining to the design of a sneaker, incorporating elements acquired along the way. Interested parties can sign up for the class' next session set for Spring of 2009.

- hypebeast, 03.12.08

while this is rather interesting, i do admit that it is a little weak. in fact, this pretty much strips out everything that is intriguing about shoe culture and makes it un-urban and un-cultured, not to mention geeky. but then again, it is Carnegie Mellon. I should expect nothing less.


image of sneakerology 101 taken from hypebeast.com

goodbye, alfred

i've finally moved. boxes are everywhere, but the basics are set up. this place is close to perfect, but like any place has its issues, namely bigfoot who lives upstairs (jk, bigfoot, you guys are really nice people, just heavy footed around the house)

fortunately, the stomping doesn't happen that frequently, a few times during the week, but like any normal human being i tend to focus on the times the stomping does take place and am unable to focus on anything at the time. gotta love human nature.

and as part of being a new homeowner, i bought my first power drill and am going to have my first house warming party. fun.

but other than that, i'm happy to be moved in and excited at the prospect of clearing the boxes this weekend. i feel like life was on hold as i packed and changed addresses; i can finally get on with 08.

my old apartment - 1014 1/2 alfred street -- had lots of "character". street parking with neighbors that bump your car while parking, uninsulated & freezing, creaky floors, explanation to various accounts as to what the 1/2 was -- all of it will (truly) be missed.

late to the new year party

Happy New Year to all my fans out there (Jen). Yes, that's right -- I have fallen off the blogging horse once again and not even the new year was able to get me back on it. But I'm here, with an update.

Work has been hectic (how many times have we heard that before) but good. I wrapped up a very successful innovation project, and I have been assigned the lead role for managing Coffee-mate liquid. It should be a pretty brutal yet exciting next few months. I have no idea how I managed to achieve success in innovation, so I am really walking into this blind. Either way, I am blessed to find myself in this position.

In other news, Gloria and I also welcomed the new year by buying our very first home! We got a pretty good deal on it, and we're pretty stoked. After purchasing the place, my current apartment's flaws really became more apparent. No insulated walls, minuscule washer/dryer, creaky floors. Needless to say, we can't wait to move in. We are currently in escrow and if all goes well, we'll have the keys on Feb 8th!

Here are some pics of the living room, dining room and kitchen, with the model furniture. It is a 3-bedroom condo, and is pretty spacious. The only thing that I would wish for is more kitchen cabinets so it's off to buy a buffet table.

sticky

I'm a visual person so it's ground-breaking news anytime I pick up a book. Ironically, I learn so much when I do read that it's a wonder why I don't do it more often.

I've started to read "Made to Stick" by Chip & Dan Heath. As the title suggests, it's about what makes messages stick and why some messages, both true and false, are more easily remembered than others.
The book starts by presenting some facts that seem like common knowledge:
- Coca-Cola rots your bones
- The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object that is visible from space
- Strangers tamper with Halloween candy by putting razors in candy baskets

These all sound like very realistic facts but believe it or not, they are absolutely false.

Let's look at the Halloween fact. At one point, sociologists went back and researched every reported Halloween incident since 1958 and found no instances where children had been harmed due to strangers tampering with candy. Yet, this story caused parents to worry and even drove California and New Jersey to pass laws against candy-tampering. Totally false, and it looks like a total waste of legislation and tax dollars! (not mine -- I'm Canadian)

Ah, but the Great Wall fact is true, you're thinking to yourself. Well, as the brothers Heath point out, "The Wall is really long, but not wide. If the wall were (truly) visible, then any interstate highway would also be visible, and maybe a few Wal-Mart superstores as well". Yes, that's right -- FALSE! And of course, we now have Google Maps to prove that this is indeed false.

My wife, Gloria, did not find as much amusement in these facts as I did. In fact, she insisted that Coca-Cola does rot bones. Her 2nd grade teacher even put actual teeth in a cup of Coke and they eventually dissipated. She saw it with her own eyes, she claims!

And I think that is the point of the book -- Gloria's 2nd grade teacher delivered his message in a very relevant manner. Chances are, teeth that are connected to a body are constantly nourished, which prevent them from rotting. But by delivering the message with "dead" teeth, the teacher altered the message slightly to make it stickier and have a lasting impression on the kids.

I find this fascinating. I mean, it pretty much means that if you truly understand what is important to your audience, you can craft your messages to make them meaningful and stickier. Imagine how hour-long presentations and retardedly-long emails would be enhanced! I'd probably pay attention and remember half the stuff.

i tried, adidas

i went to foot locker with the intention of getting some adidas shoes. for years, i've always bought nikes but after attending UCLA (an adidas school) i was down with the 3 stripes. i mean, i have a bunch of UCLA/Adidas gear and if i'm rocking ucla/adidas shorts and nike shoes, i've been told that i'm cross-dressing -- can't have that.

so there i stood, ready to buy some adidas shoes when it hit me: adidas shoes at foot locker are freakin' ugly. nevermind that footlocker is nike-biased (huge nike display at front of store, "house of hoops" joint-venture between FL and nike), but before this weekend i thought adidas was up and coming; with a selection like this, i stand corrected.

in any case, i got some air max 360's that glo pointed out to be the best looking shoes in the store (yea, who cares about technology). and of course, since she pointed them out, she had to get a pair too! now we'll be totally retarded and rock identical shoes at the gym. holla!

P.S. can you believe this is glo's first pair of nike shoes ... ever?! as a runner she hates nike shoes but i guess living with me for 2 months has gotten her to see the fashionable side of sport. ha!

a walk down macromedia lane

i decided to start building my linked in contact list, and in doing so, revived a ton of memories. some of my best years were spent working on Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flex Builder, where I met some incredible individuals.

Dexter, from the previous post, was one of the first with whom I actually exchanged more than a standard template greeting, and look at how fun that was. Another ex-coworker was Mark Anders, a former VP of my group. He was in charge of building ASP.NET and has some true passion for building RIAs (which prompted his move to Macromedia). Mark started on Flex/Flex Builder and he has moved on to yet another exiting endeavor: Thermo.

Reading some of my old coworker's blogs and watching the video of MAX made me really miss working on cool technologies with some really passionate folks. If anyone from Flex Builder 1.0 is reading this -- what's up!

Mark's Blog

Preview of Thermo at MAX