jump rope

so everyone has things that they never learned to do and wished they had learned. jump rope is one of those things for. now to be fair to me, when i was a kid, i used to jump rope when the rope operation was done by two people at each end of the jump rope, like when we were in the school playground. i could even do the kind when they had two jump ropes... since all that was really needed was the ability to jump and a decent sense of timing.

but apparently i don't have enough brain power to time, jump and twirl a jump rope simultaneously. i've definitely tried from time to time over the last couple decades. and the general conclusion is that it is now entirely too shameful to continue to "practice" at a gym. so instead i'll just have to buy a jump rope and be humiliate by something little school girls can do, in the comfort of my own home.

M did give me some sound advice. she said that the light plastic ropes are harder to use because it's difficult to get a sense of timing with them. instead she suggested i use the harder plastic type we used back in elementary school since the extra weight helps build your sense of timing.

my idea was to buy a leather one because it had a bit more weight. but wasn't so cheezy as getting the plastic one.

the whole reason jump ropes came up were because i wanted to think of ways to stay in shape on the road as a consulatant. since jump rope is a great cardio exercise and a jump rope takes almost no space in your bag, it's a great option for working out... along with a heavy duty stretch band which i already use for trips.

but i've got to learn how to use a jump rope first, so we'll see how it goes. i'll report back later.

camera equipment is a drug addiction

sorry for the absence in posting, these days i seems just slightly behind on things, which is weird... but i'm back on the ball. i think it's cause i'm sleeping more than i probably normally do and the incremental hour of sleep comes at the cost of my blogging time. but we're back on track with plenty of content ready to go!

so there are a couple things in life that i love and at the same time consider to be a complete addiction. they are golf and camera equipment. while i've never had a lust of the newest golf gear (my friends back in LA definitely did, we'd go to the store to check out the newest and often biggest club and see if it was worth the markup) i've always been pretty happy with the hand me down clubs i've gotten from my dad. to be fair though, he did buy me a quality driver and a nice wedge.

but camera equipment gets me all crazy. like look that this new camera - the d5000... doesn't it look perfect for travelling around the world with a compact but powerful enough dSLR? so i can take amazing photos of all the cool things i'm going to see? and it's less than $800 new - that's a steal!

except this is just silly really - i have at least $5k worth of gear here not to mention what i have back in LA, but i never use it. my main dSLR is perfectly usable and should still be for probably another 12-18 months, before a real upgrade makes sense for personal use. but still i just use my $400 G7 and my refurbished $120 SD1000 more than i use my two dSLRs.

so while i drool over new gear, i always have to stop myself and stare at my bag of gear and remember that i need to use that more... or else i can't buy shiny new cameras. damnit.

devon street hole in the wall

tonight M and i went out to a little hole in the wall on devon street for some quality indian food. i got a tip for H that this was a good and cheap place to have a simple dinner. it definitely was both of those things.

i ordered the combo 3, which was chilli chicken and lamb kabob with rice and a small salad for $11. which was a great value considering i got a cup of soup and flat bread for free! so that was amazing.

the atmosphere definitely wasn't the best in the world, but it was one of those places where they worry about the quality of the food and not so much about how it looks. i'm not sure how they turn a profit with prices like that, but i'm not one to complain both good food at a great price.

M got the tikka chicken - not sure how much that was, but she seemed to enjoy it. i'll definitely need to ask H for more recommendations before school ends.


JK Kabab
6412 N Rockwell St
Chicago, IL 60645
(773) 761-6089

razor sharp knives are hot

so the first lesson you learn about using a kitchen knife is that a sharp knife is better than a dull knife. dull knives leading to slippage and the a lot more cuts and accidents. i've had my fair share of cuts over the years because the knives in my mother's kitchen are almost all dull (except the one decent knife i had professionally sharpened so i could have something decent to use).

but now that i have my shun chef's knife... i wanted to make sure i could keep it super super sharp. i got it over winter break (a christmas present to myself) along with a honing stick to help maintain its edge. but i didn't get a sharpening stone - since it would be a while before the knife would lose its edge enough that it'd need one.

fast forward 3.5 months and the the knife is still sharp, but not as sharp as it was when i first got it. so i got a 1000/6000 grit waterstone. it's made in japan and the 1000 grit side (think sandpaper but more like clay than a coarse grit like sand) is used to get it reasonably sharp and the 6000 side gives it a mirror like finish and super sharpness.

after soaking the stone in water for 10 minutes (that's why it's called a waterstone), it took less than 10 minutes to get the knife sharp enough to cut through a piece of paper with ease. i think i could get it a little sharper with some practice, but still i think once a month of sharpening will keep my knives sharp. and sharp knives are hot.

going back to college

i'm back in w-town for an alumni career panel for asian american heritage month. the panel was pretty large and had a diverse group of alums from class of 84 to 02 (that would be me). people were from all different backgrounds and overall it was a pretty interesting dialogue.

what's almost more important was that this was my first time back to the school since i graduated seven years ago.

i got in friday night and went out to dinner in n. adams... on the drive over the entire way i read all the signs and a flood of memories of school came back to me.

super stop and shop
friendly's
mt. greylock bowling
mass moca
dunkin donuts
mcdonalds

it was weird to be back i have to say... a lot has changed, new buildings everywhere and some old ones are gone. baxter hall - the student center i was in when i saw what happened on the morning of 9/11 is gone. is till remember exactly where i was when i realized what had happen. but now i'm near that place in the new student center (which is stunning) thinking about old times gone by. and coming here so far from home (be it LA, korea or chicago) still this place feels like home. i've missed not working about locking your door, not eating fast food (cause there is none), not buying anything because the five stores in the town all close at 5pm (makes e-town look like NYC btw).

but most of all i miss the stars. there are almost no lights in w-town at night. and if you go for a walk down to cole field - which i used to do all the time, you can see so many stars. the only place i remember having a more beautiful night sky was in patagonia - but it wasn't fair because it was the southern sky, so the newness of the stars and their position caught me off guard.

it may be a little too cold to go for a night walk out to cole field, but it's nice to know that some things never change.

in a barbie world, there are still real women

elle europe has released a new cover with a series of famous women with no makeup or photoshop in response to popular response that many of today's covers present an unrealistic image of women. sophia coppola and monica bellucci were two of the women brave enough to participate.

i 'm sure many of you have seen dove's commercial on beauty and how most firms photoshop the hell out of an image to create an idealized beauty that no one can reach. (this is also true for men - i remember andy roddick being very upset that his arms were photoshopped to look bigger than they are on the cover of men's health a few weeks ago.)

i'm glad that this is happening - i know that everyone loves idealized beauty and i have to admit that i've done more than my fair share of photoshopping my images for fashion work. but at the end of the day... few things are more beautiful than a woman's raw beauty.

what would you be if you were a car?

a long time ago - i think maybe in college - i was doing some team building exercise and everyone was asked to write down what each person would be if they were a car. the general consensus for what kind of car i would be was a vintage gray porsche, like the one below. at the time, i didn't really appreciate being associated with something old (i didn't think much of vintage things). i think now i look back and see their opinion as quite a complement.

i had completely forgotten about this memory until i stumbled across a post about vintage racing posters from porsche. they're super cool in their own right with great design and styling for poster. i feel like these days everything is geared towards overstimulation to grab your attention for the few milli-seconds. i love the retro colors and clean layout.

[via vintage porsche posters]

q 2.0 is complete

i received the completed books from the printer after returning from spring break. it took me a while to distribute them, but the majority of them all out now. i still have a few copies left for those who i may have forgotten in the first pass. i took a quick snap of the nine copies (less one i had already given out). if you have one - let me know what you think. i haven't even had time to look at it myself. i've been busy working on photography things and reading new quotes in order to start the next edition (version 3.0?), but my guess is that that one won't be for a long while.

if you'd like one - please ask, i love to give out the remaining copies.

going out for some korean food

.
side dishes

t
spicy pork tofu stew (what i had)

spicy fish soup (what v had)

bibimbap (rice with meat and vegs) (v's second dish)

my college friend, V, who now attends bschool with me was craving korean food pretty bad at the end of last quarter, so we decided to hit up some local k-food and catch up. even though we go school together - we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like.

funny thing is that our conversations always drift back to the same things we used to talk about 10 years ago. crazy to think that we started college almost 11 years ago...

on the plus side, i finally figured out exactly what V did for a living before coming to bschool - for some reason i was always very confused about it before so it's funny that i finally got it figure out six years later. my friends say i'm slow - apparently they are quite right.

it had been a long time since i had soon doo bu (the spicy tofu stew), the last time i had it was actually the same place - i came with N and we had a small feast - as usual.

overall it was great to catch up and have some korean food (although it did make me miss home).


Arirang

741 Civic Center Dr
Niles, IL 60714

(847) 966-7072‎

this is what happens to lost luggage??

so i came across this interesting website, where this guy buys permanently lost luggage from the airlines and then takes all the clothes out and photographs them. at first it seems almost like a public service he's doing... until you realize that none is looking for this stuff... it's all been written off as lost somewhere while i was coming back from my crazy weekend in miami and i'm moving on with my life.

probably the airlines had to pay the people for the stuff they had lost. so they're just happy that someone is taking the luggage off their hands and giving them a bit of cash.

and then i thought - i like this as a photographic endeavor... it's like cataloging butterflies or some other kind of animal. placing them out on a white surface and taking photos of everything in the same way in order to create these very ordered and structured images.

now i know that this might seem boring to most people, but the process of doing this seems like a bit of adventure to me (clearly it doesn't take much for me to get excited about something if taking photos of clothes in the exact same manner repeatedly gets me excited).

and finally the voyeurism of the whole process hit me. first it's just trying to understand who these people might have been and looking at what they brought on their trips.

but then you start asking yourself some funny questions... like why did this guy bring more pairs of underwear than socks... wouldn't you think that the number of underwear and socks should be the same? or maybe they were in another bag that didn't get lost.

and girl who brought this small black bag... what awesome trip was she on that she needed a slutty nurse outfit. maybe it was around halloween? or maybe it was just a normal wednesday for this person. her other clothes seem pretty normal - she even brought a raincoat hoodie. but she also brought a bikini - so hoping for sunny weather but prepared for rain? and most importantly where is the underwear... there doesn't seem to be any. maybe she goes commando - maybe the guy who took the photo thought it better to omit it from the image... who knows...

then i think about color patterns and outfits that these people probably wore like how the guy below has a good balance of colors in his bag, but the girl seems to be leaning towards the reds and yellows a bit more (maybe not surprisingly she had a red suitcase).

so clearly i have no life, but i think this is amusing and spent a good ten minutes wondering about these people's lives and another five minutes wondering what people would think if they saw the contents of my travel bag. still it was a great little distraction from my reading. i hope you enjoy it.

[via isthisyourlostluggage.com]

the closet of my dreams

so i'm not sure if it's a sad reality that i've thought a lot about what my perfect closet would look like. but if you've seen my closet, you'd already know that i'm really organized with my clothes. people have different reasons to be organized... they like to be tidy, they like to have structure to a large space, they are obsessive compulsive... or like in my case, they are extreme utilitarians.

i like my closet organized - simply because i like to be able to find a specific item in the least amount of time possible. i guess i should admit that - this isn't the only reason why i like my closet organized. i do enjoy - how clean it looks when things are all in order.

(for a long time - i actually removed clean clothes from the dry cleaners and put them back on my own hangers - they looked better without the plastic covers and the thin white hangers) - i think i realized after a while that this was a bit too much - although i am tempted from time to time to take ten minutes to do it.

anyway - i saw an article online about this guy's designs for a closet, and i have to say, it's awesome. i love the exposed layout and the lighting for the closet. the only closet that i've seen that was cooler than this one is in the korean movie, old boy. the closest is pretty much a black cube that splits into four smaller columns and each column is a mini closet. so you want into the opening cube to get your clothes and change and then walk out and close the cube back into it's original shape. sure it's not practical, but damn it - it's awesome.

sadly - i don't think i can get the old boy closet, but this closet may be possible. (they cheated a little because all the clothes are white, black or gray - so it looks so clean), but in reality, it wouldn't look as nice. then again most of my stuff is blue, gray and black, so i guess i don't have too much to say.

[via rimadesio]

clean lines, futuristic look, simple colors

there is something to be said for interesting art. i guess this would count as illustration more specifically, but i love the mix of some comic book styling with figure art work in these images. i love the neutral colors with the blue ink accents. for some reason i've always been fond of blue ink in work. almost all of the pens i own use blue ink. i have at least two fountain pens with blue ink. i love architecture drawings because they often do their initial sketches with blue pencil. i'm not sure how this became a post about blue ink, but i have to say... it has so much more character for me.

in any case enjoy the art. i think i need to start putting things on my wall when i move into my new place.

[via Jason Thielke]

on a mission for the perfect weekender's duffle bag

so much like my friend N who managed to find a bag he really liked (a diesel, double duty bag with a fashion forward urban look of black and silver paint). i am searching for a perfect weekend bag.

something that's:

• car and airplane (carry-on) friendly
• simple, but modular (inside pockets would be nice)
• high quality and long lasting
• moderate in price ($200-400)
• not leather
• fashionable enough for the next five years

right now the front runner is monocle's porter boston bag. it has almost everything i want, but is a bit pricey. its in the $420 range. it has the porter brand behind it. porter is a strong bag brand in japan, know for smart design and durability. i think the monocle premium attached to the bag is what's pushing the price up, but then again it may be exactly what i'm looking for. so we'll see if i can't find something in $300 range, which would be awesome, but if not... i may end up getting this in the summer.

the evolution of advertising....

i guess it sucks the most to be an ACD... not sure what that is... my guess is assistant creative director?

[via iamprettysure]

nude self portraits with a healthy dash of steampunk

there was a time when i was really into urban landscapes and within that period, i was briefly interested in urban "decay". i abandoned it because it was too time consuming to find these locations (most of which are exactly safe places to be in the middle of the night).

but i came across this photographer/artist who takes nude self portraits in abandoned urban locations. the photos show a pretty stark contrast from the rusted metal to the color of her skin. i'm not sure how she managed to set up all these shots, i can't imagine it was easy by any means. not to mention it must be cold.

[via mirukim.com]

damn teens - with their awesome science projects

so take four spanish teens (18-19 years old) and you give them a hundred bucks and what do they do? no they don't get smashingly drunk on a friday night. instead they buy a weather balloon and strap a digital camera and send it to space to take some awesome photos.

while i write as if i'm bitter about this (which i am a little - i wish i had done this - it's an awesome idea) i'm encouraged by the stuff that people are doing. i don't think it would have ever crossed my mind to try to do something like this when i was a senior in high school. of course google earth and digital cameras weren't around at the time, but that only dates me as having gone to secondary school in a "pre-digital" age. which my sister thinks is hilarious. she's never known a world with cellphones, digital cameras and google.

this is the sort of thing that i find inspiring, if a bunch of kids can do this... i need to get my act together and start doing some amazing stuff too.

[via the telegraph]

monocle's recipe for a better retail experience

20% - a passion to constantly innovate
15% - service-minded, smartly dressed, enthusiastic staff
15% - obsessive attention to detail
15% - a unique, original product mix
5% - a memorable, welcoming scent
5% - good music in the background
5% - flattering lighting
5% - treats with all purchases
5% - impeccable packaging
5% - an inviting facade
0% - attitude

while i haven't written about monocle yet, it is probably my current favorite periodical. and while that post has been held by esquire for sometime, i think that this new magazines covers more of what i'm looking for than esquire (it does lack on the lifestyle things a bit but i'll live with that).

the cover story on their current issue talks about the current state of global B2C and specifically retail. they've dedicated a large section of the magazine review different retail operations around the world and analyze why its been successful. they draw out some interesting conclusions about the differences in levels of service (and consumers' expectations of service as well) both are much higher in asia than they are in the western world.

i think some of the things are somewhat obvious, but i think the concept of treats with all purchases makes a lot of sense, from the times that i've received a little parting thank you gift for being a customer, i've always feel better about the brand.

another big section was devoted to store design and stores they thought did a good job understand the balance between maximizing the customer experience and communicating the brand/concept of the store. some stores hold their concept steady across regions (e.g. uniqlo) and other change more to meet local customer shopping preferences.

i guess the summary for me is that there two things to doing retail well: outstanding service and attention to detail. Personally i think this is true for most consumer facing businesses, but even more so in retail.

[via monocle.com]

confessions of a bad cook

beetle battle armor

i saw this post a while ago - i think over spring break actually, but haven't had a chance to blog about it. it's pretty amazing, flipping through the slides to think about the evolutionary process that these beetles must have gone through to develop the armor and the horns that they have.

just look at this... that is a massive weapon - it's got to be a quarter of the size of the rest of its body length. and it just doesn't look like something that would be pleasant to deal with. it kinda reminds me of the jaws of life actually, but in reverse.

i really hope that those pincers don't come together, that just can't be right. i guess it could be used to pick up things and move them along (and not only for crushing other insects, but considering how big the insect is... those aren't small pincers by any means).

for some reason this reminds me a a dump truck if it was designed by people who were tripping on something. obviously the color is just out of this world. add to that the odd dump truck like shape and the giant horn (maybe for mating prowess) and finally the fur. that's just a funny mix of characteristics.

btw i like how i didn't really bother to read the information about the beetles, instead just made up my own conclusions based on silly observations. i guess this is what it would be like trying to teach a little kid about science. they just fill in all the details with their imagination. good times.

[via nyt science]

if i made quilts, they'd look like this

so i'm not a big quilt person. i think our family had one, but it was more of a blanket with a quilt styled cover. but anyway - if i made quilts, i would want them to look like this. well maybe not this particular guy's face on it, but something bold like it. i love the strong colors and the tie-dye effect he uses. the break from the typical pattern effect helps the face jump out at you. and while i probably wouldn't want a giant face on a quilt draped over my sofa, still the concept is great. great design needn't be limited. quilts are awesome too.

[via lukehaynes]

east and west chicken soup

this version had pasta in it, instead of rice

i haven't made soup in a while and i definitely haven't made stock from scratch. so today is a good a day as every to decide to make some.

i started with a roasting hen and a bunch of vegs. vegs included onions, celery, carrots, ginger, and garlic. first i prepped the chicken by cutting it up into pieces (breasts, legs, thighs, and wings) i removed the excess fat and then browned all the pieces in two batches in a large pot with olive oil. after browning the chicken i removed it and tossed in all the vegs which filled up the pot a good 3/4 of the way. i sauted the vegs for a good 10 minutes to really breakdown the fibers before adding the chicken back in and enough water to cover. the vegs had broken down a lot by now so they weren't taking up nearly as much space.

after boiling everything for 20 minutes. i removed the meat and left in the chicken bones to simmer for another 40 minutes. i drained the liquid into a tuperware and discarded all the vegs and bones.

i had to cool the stock overnight to let the fat settle at the top and remove it. the stock wasn't as clarified as i wanted it to be so i strained it through some paper towels to catch the smaller fat globules. what was left was an tasty but bland chicken stock. i used very little salt thus far in the liquid. the meat and vegs were both seasoned before they were browned/sauted. overall the stock had a very rich taste due to all the vegs but had a clean finish due to the removal of the fat (and lack of salt).

thus far i was say this was a very standard western approach to chicken stock. in order to make it more asian. i used riced instead of pasta and added asian mushrooms, more garlic, daikon radish, red chiles, winter onions, extra firm tofu, and soy sauce (instead of salt). the only non-asian ingredient i added was some shallots.

the dish had a very clean finish - mostly due to the red chiles which had a bit of heat at the end of the palate. the biggest asian flavor was definitely the daikon which pretty quickly imparted its flavor on the soup. the cooked chicken from earlier was shredded and added in the last moments so it wouldn't get too tough from over cooking.

the remaining stock was frozen in an ice cube tray so it can be used in the future with dishes requiring some stock.

now a bb storm user

so my future employer doesn't support the iphone, so i'm not back to the bb after an unfortunate accident with my iphone in amsterdam. so now i'm with the storm - no idea how to use it and not sure how to get it all connected to everything but i'll have to read the manual tomorrow and get it all sorted over the next couple weeks.

iTunes DJ - Crowd style

so i'm no longer an iphone user which sucks, but this is a pretty cool new feature for iphone partiers. the iTunes DJ feature now allows for crowd selection of music - so if you had an iphone at a party run on itunes (or a club that runs this feature with its music) you could vote on what should be the next song and even suggest stuff on your own. which is pretty sweet. welcome to the world of crowd-sourcing.

someone test this out and tell me if they like it. i can't do it...

[via wired]