earthquake!

the earthquake hit just as we were preparing for negotiations. elaine freaked out because it was the first large earthquake she ever felt since she is from seattle. it lasted a little longer than i thought it would, but i generally find earthquakes kinda fun and exciting as long as nobody gets hurt and nothing breaks.

we met up for negotiation at 8:30. at first we were nervous about the friend she brought because we didn't know her. it turned out that we were very glad she was there because she kept the conversation focused and she was very fair. in the end we talked from 8:30 until 12:30 and all the papers are signed! so now the clock starts ticking with all the paperwork that needs to happen, but after the agreement was signed yesterday, everything should be ok unless something weird pops up. yay!!! B2 will be here soon.

fun weekend

had a really fun weekend hanging out with JF.PC and DL. now i'm tired. haha. luckily we had the forethought to get ourselves on good guest lists and didn't have to wait in lines at all. that was definitely a great perk of the weekend. however i think the best part was all the talking we did while eating, waiting, etc. listening to girl crazy boys is always entertaining. haha. now i need to go gymming today to make up for not gymming all weekend. blah...chubby!

closing the deal

today after going back and forth and involving a lawyer - we are meeting to try to sign final papers and close the deal...again. i hope it goes much better than last time. i'm both excited and anxious. negotiations can be tough - have to be prepared to be super nice or super tough. it's especially complicated since it seems the opposite party has quite a lot of emotion involved.

Founder's Table

Being one of the organizers for STIRR, in addition to helping with the mixers i also started organizing dinners for Founder's Table. It's an invite only dinner for founders to share war stories - funding, problematic issues, workflow fixes, technology, etc. One of last week's attendees - Loic Le Meur - recorded a video to post on the event. He's a serial entrepreneur and you have probably heard of his company six apart - they did Vox.com. he has done many others including RapidSite, B2L and most recently is the CTO of Seesmic.

check out the clip. it totally encompasses how life feels like in silly valley. he even rides into work on a bike. :D he discusses his experience at founder's table and shows sanford - one of the founders and someone i talk with all the time for organizing - as he explains what founder's table is about. later in the video he also talks about linking conversations with media - something my bro ryan has done with dropshots and something related which i want to do for B1.

socal is on fire!

View Larger Map

crazy! i've never seen so many fires in so many cities. i called my bro and it turned out they had to evacuate - but the fire passed their area and now they are ok. auntie anna, uncle mike and the cousins are ok also. scary!

*edit* i just found out Jyan's parents house is in the burn area. or right on the border of it on the map. hopefully it was one of the houses saved. send their family your good thoughts...

*edit again* Jyan's parents house was saved! i think all your good thoughts helped! thanks!!

go bruins!

to all the cal fans.

neener neener neener. ahaha. bruins rule!

ah that was satisfying.

bodyworlds

this weekend hunny took me to go see the bodyworlds exhibit in downtown SJ. i had wanted to see this exhibit but didn't know it was in town! they didn't allow us to take pictures of course so you will have to go search online for pics. we had met up with hunny's friends allen and lisa to first at the museum. when hunny first told me we were going to the museum, i didn't believe him since he doesn't like going to museums that much. he goes with me because i like them but he gets bored after a while. so i thought when he said we were going to a museum that it was some sort of new restaurant or something. haha. but then he said we were going there at 4 and then dinner afterwards. i didn't find out it was bodyworlds until we were walking up to the museum.

i had some hesitation in seeing the exhibit at first because i have a very active imagination and i often get nightmares at night from things i've seen because my brain just goes crazy with images. even if those things weren't initially that scary, but my mind turns them into scary things. because the art exhibit displays real human bodies, i knew i would feel both interest in looking at all the nerves, muscles, etc as well as feel a slight fear i would get nightmares. the exhibit was amazing. it was really cool to see how he displayed movement in inanimate objects so well. also the displays pushed my visual limits and allowed me to see something beautiful in what some people could argue was possibly grotesque. i saw a lot of parents brought their kids, so the kids could get a good biology and anatomy lesson. quite a few of the bodies had gray lungs from smoking, with one display focusing only on the difference between healthy lungs, smoker's lungs, and coal miner lungs. as i was standing there, a dad was showing the lungs to his son - "see, that's what happens to your lungs if you smoke" i thought it was pretty cool that the displays were so educational. we saw everything from the nervous system, circulatory system, renal system to the reproductive system. i'm always in amazement at all the complex emotions art can draw from you. i highly recommend you go see this exhibit before it leaves the bay area.

i tried to get my parents to go but they are afraid of seeing dead people. you just have to get over that part...it's really beautiful and a one-of-a-kind experience.

chocolate

i've been looking for this song for a while and didn't know the title or artist. i randomly stumbled upon it on youtube. :)

i'm yours

love this song by jason mraz. i'm also a sucker for clark and lana. maybe it's the whole he had feelings for her and she had feelings for him but they kept it secret because they thought it wouldn't make sense. similar to joey and dawson on dawson's creek. anyways, here's a video that combined the song i like with clips from smallville. i'm such an adolescent...i know. i would post the video here but the embedding function is disabled. i even tried to just manually embed the video and the clip shows as unavailable. i suppose youtube is getting better at preventing videos to be posted without consent. anyways...here it is.

CLICK ME

wolverine healing powers

yesterday i went spinning for the first time after the run. i actually didn't really feel any muscle fatigue or soreness at all as i was pedaling! i was surprised because i was expecting to have to take it easy for a week after the run. instead i pretty much woke up without any soreness at all yesterday.

sunday - blisters and barely hobbling around after the run. long ass walk to the parking lot afterwards.
monday - woke up really sore, but could still walk. stretched a lot and popped 5 advil throughout the day.
tuesday - still a little sore, stretched some more and did a lot of walking around that day.
wednesday - all good! blisters are 99% gone. although i think i'm going to end up losing a nail on my right foot due to a blister forming right under the nail. :( i hate having unpretty feet. luckily it's not my big toe.

next time i run, i need to get better socks to wick away moisture and lock lace my shoes. hopefully that will solve my problems and no more unpretty feet!

if you're publicly posting something business related, learn to spell!

i'm reading through business listings as backup deals for B2. Sheesh, why are so many Realtors so stupid? I see stupid spelling mistakes galore. granted i'm sure my spelling and grammar on this blog are not always perfect, but then again, this blog is not really meant to be anything formal and business related.

examples:

"your" instead of you're
"Located A Few Steps Above Street Level At The Base Of A Large Loft Complex, This Well Designed Restaurant/Cafe Serves Breakfast, Lunch And Dinner. The Location Is Literally Surrounded By Plenty Of Existing And Upcoming Residential Condo/Loft Units. High Ceilings With Patio Seating. Compact, Yet Fully Equipped Kitchen. It Is One Of The Most Neighborly Spots In The Immediate Area. It Feels Like A Place For People Who Live There. It Has A Solid Amount Of Repeat Clientèle. The Restaurant Is Not Open During The Evenings, But Can Be. The Location May Have Potential As A Wine Bar As Well." - because every word needs to be capitalized...really.
"The Kitchen Is A Must, Must, Must See With 6 Foot Hood, Doe Mixers, Pizza Oven, Big Preparation Area, Etc." - i think they mean dough mixers...because who likes mixed female deer?

and the list could go on but i won't bore you. i also read patrick.net and there are whole threads dedicated on how stupid bay area real estate agents can be. all because real estate is an industry that requires very little talent and education to be lucrative. what gets me most is also these people are sometimes completely ignorant to their stupidity. for example i've told some people in real estate that i think the market still has room to go down. you know the response? "well my company released a paper to the employees saying it was all media hype and there is no slow down in real estate".....right.

mind you, i also know many smart and very able minded real estate agents. however i have to say, it's not the majority.

ok stupid, pointless rant is over. i'm obviously pmsing today since i'm getting so annoyed with stupid things. gimme some chocolate!

rock n roll running

i ran the san jose rock n roll half marathon on sunday thanks to my friend john convincing me to run with no training. "oh it's easy, you'll have no problem running it". turned out i was really glad i ran! the night before i was really anxious however. i went to bed at 10:30 but couldn't get to sleep until about 12:30. even when i was sleeping, i had stressful dreams which didn't let me have a good sleep. i didn't even need my second alarm to wake me up at 5:45AM. it was extremely cold to be in work out clothes also. i was shivering even after i put on a light fleece and a heavier fleece. the longest i've ever run would probably be around 7-8 miles so i had about a 20% feeling that i wouldn't finish. i was definitely regretting my decision to run when i was sitting in my car waiting for john to arrive with my bib and watching all these really intense looking runner types walk past me. the guy parked in front of me had a team in training license plate and was putting on this water bottle belt. very hard core...

however once i got in place next to runners and the sun was shining, things felt better. i was getting warmed up and starting to get excited with all the people next to me. i remember what cindy told me and tried to start out slow so that i made sure to have enough energy for the whole race. in retrospect i think i was a little too conservative and could have gone faster in the beginning. the pain hit me around mile 10 or 11. the blisters on my toes were really getting uncomfortable and my legs felt like huge logs i was dragging along with me. but the funny thing was it hurt more to stop and start than it did to just keep on running. so i kept on running. with all the mommies and daddies and grandmas. haha. it was seriously a hit to the pride to see a grandma running right next to me. i don't think my joints would be able to move very well at that age. of course she was a very fit grandma, but still. i felt both admiration for her ability to run and distain for myself that i'm not much better than a grandma. still, i'm very glad i completed the race, it was really a rush to run that last mile and sprint the last 200 straightaway. i felt very proud to take a picture holding up my medal - i just need to find where i can get that picture. =P john was right, it was a great first race to do. the sun was shining and plenty of people were cheering which really did lift my spirits and pushed me on when i wanted to stop. afterwards john, his gf rainbow and i pigged out on dimsum which was a great reward also. yay hawgow! i was disappointed to learn i didn't break 2:30. next time i will...

my total running info:
Place Overall: 6269 out of 8787
Women: 2876 out of 4802
FINISH: 2:34:50 pace: 11:49
5k: 32:57 pace: 10:37
10K: 1:08:06 pace: 10:58
10Mile: 1:54:29 pace: 11:27
Chip Time: 2:34:50
Gun Time: 2:39:21

soul food

friday was a cook at home day and chill. i tried out making fried chicken and cheese and macaroni. here's what i did.

fried chicken:
i first marinated the chicken in salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper. then, just before frying, i covered the chicken with flour which was seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. i then fried the chicken in light olive oil until brown and then stuck the chicken in the oven which was already preheated at 400 degrees - baked chicken for 35 min.

for the macaroni and cheese:
i used sharp white cheddar instead of regular cheddar
boiled the macaroni elbows until al dente
melted butter in a pot and then mixed in a little flour until slightly thick
add in salt, pepper and dijon mustard
mix in the boiled macaroni and cheese
mix until all the cheese is melted
place the melty mixture in a pyrex pan, sprinkle the top with a little extra cheese, (mozzarella and sharp white cheddar)
bake in a pan for 20min, broil on high for 3-4 minutes to get that nice brown crust on top.

everything turned out pretty well, the chicken was tasty and juicy. although i wish i had added less salt to the macaroni since the cheese was pretty tasty already.

we ate everything with a whole bunch of spinach salad. i liked the macaroni a lot since i don't like the american kraft style where it's all mushy. i like it better with a crust of good cheese and not super creamy.

we also watched knocked up finally - really funny movie but not as funny as 40 year old virgin. still though it was funny and i found it interesting that i was so disgusted by the "dad" in the first part of the movie but i grew to like him in the second part of the movie. his man boobs were still gross though...

starbuck

bsg's starbuck is on bionic woman. coooooollllll.......

lifecasting

so when i first met justin kan at a stirr event and he showed me his idea for a new company, i must admit, i was not sold. i thought his idea was totally going to flop. not that he wasn't a possibly interesting guy i would want to watch, maybe i was just turned off by his extremely bad breath (seriously, halitosis!), but i also doubted anyone would want to carry around a backpack battery pack and wear a camera on their heads 24/7. it's really cumbersome and as soon as he told me that i was being broadcasted, i instantly moved to his side so i couldn't easily be seen online. i figured, if that's my gut reaction - to move away from the camera - can't be a good thing because viewers will have nothing interesting to see.

however the company has done an interesting job and is starting to become popular. kind of like youtube but a little better. it takes commenting to a new level because it's real time and you can see the subject you are viewing interacting with others online. i'm especially interested in online commenting interactions due to B1 - i want to implement a similar idea to a niche market. however my initial evaluation for B1 is that live commenting is not really necessary for what i want to do. u know how the saying goes - keep it simple stupid.

i digress...

back to justin.tv. it's seemed to have taken off since it opened up to allow other broadcasters. i like that you can post events live, and i like that anyone with a webcam can start broadcasting. it is addictive - similar to how so many are addicted to reality tv, myself included.

if i were allowed to add to the feature list, this is what i would add.
1) for the archived video clips - i have a tendency to peruse those first before i try to watch the subject live to see if i would be interested in watching a live feed. it would be nice if the chats were recorded and displayed concurrently with archived clips.
2) it would also be nice if users could be visually identified with more than just an icon. for example - if some user's comments were mostly perverted, i want a flag to tell me there is a perv present. because i'd rather block those people immediately. that way it keeps the conversation a lot more interesting that just "show me your boobs" over and over and over. 3) also, they should try to think of other ways of monetizing other than sponsors who are willing to pay individual lifecasters. perhaps there is a way to do an adsense for videos? with some of the things riya.com is doing with sensing text on videos, i'm sure it's quite possible eventually to have an audio filter pick up on spoken words and then display ads in response. for example, you hear someone say -" let's go grab a beer!" then you see a link to heineken pop up on the side bar. ads remain there for a minute. you heard it here first! i will expect my check in the mail when this becomes popular. hah

that's all i have for now, i'm sure i'll think of more later.

btw i'm totally over what happened yesterday, meaning i'm not mad anymore. however doesn't mean i'm letting him get away with it.

rollercoaster day

having a rollercoaster of a day. we trusted you, you were dishonest. everything went south from there. this is business, not preschool. your conduct was absolutely THE worst i have ever seen from a human being.

we don't get mad - we get even.

dishonest people people need to be taught a lesson.

craigslist hilarity

Craigslist Meets WallStreet…Classic
What a classic answer…..

from an NYC 25 year old attractive girl:

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy.
I’m not from New York . I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won’t get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms

-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won’t hurt my feelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really ‘plain jane’ boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What’s the story there?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults - I’m putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 432279810

THE ANSWER
Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.
Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity…in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold…hence the rub…marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful”
as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way.
Classic “pump and dump.”
I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

entrepreneurial spirit

so many people i know are starting their own things nowadays. it's exciting to have so many people to relate to! it also adds a sense of urgency. i need to get things going NOW!!! i'm very impatient when it comes to having my visions come into reality. i need to learn to filter that impatience. although i do have action plans, they never happen as quickly as I imagine them to.

medium to do list:
complete research on CMS systems and start designing the web page
complete market research
fine tune marketing plan
complete formulations for B2 by end of Oct.
complete formulations for B1 first set by mid Nov.

As competition is coming in, i am thankful for certain things to have worked out the way they have. we have a nice barrier of entry for others. however the deal is not official yet and i am trying to push for it.

short to do list:
get supplier straightened
agree finally on a name for B2
negotiate C-items (use other suppliers as a comparison)
purchase more raw materials for testing
meet with doc again
finish marketing reading materials
kick the chemist

crystal ball

i predict there will be a touchpad iphone the size of the nano.