SF to NY to LA to SF

My first "real" vacation since I started working 2.3 years ago was a trip to NY and LA last week.

friend: "you're taking a long vacay to visit places you've frequently been to?"

me: "si"

Vacations don't necessarily need to be some big planned trip to an exciting and/or exotic destination. It doesn't always involve getting lost and going to famous places. Sometimes you don't need a buddy or need to plan it over a week in advance or have it cost you an arm and a leg. Sometimes you don't need to take one single picture. Not a single one.

When you return to cities you've been to a hundred times, you can skip all that (plus have free housing). Central Park in the fall-- it's beautiful, but I've got my pictures of it last year. The world famous Rockefeller tree lighting-- what a zoo, no thank you! Beverly Hills, Hollywood-- eh, been there done that. What I loved more was shopping in SoHo at 10am on a Monday morning, discovering a Whole Foods the size of Costco, browsing 1200 flavors of soda pop, and walking back and forth across a street of food trucks just to see the menus. It was a true luxury not having a plan and having so many aimless moments in the week when I was looking to just kill time. Such a change from the 12+ hour days at work + 2+ hour commute.

More important than relaxing, this trip was chance to say, "Hey remember me?" to (almost all) the people that are important in my life that I hadn't seen in 6 months to a year. The phrases I expected: "It's so good to see you", "Thank you for letting me crash", "Don't you dare pay for this meal". Some phrases were a bit more unexpected: "Congratulations!", "OMG you're WHAT?!" (engaged, going to grad school, pregnant...).

Friends of NY and LA, THANK YOU again for eating, catching up, listening, talking, recommending, advising, housing, entertaining, wandering, and walking (and driving) with me.

Who I saw and what I ate, because you know traveling is all about the food:

Sat: lunch with V at the Meatball Shop, coffee at Joes, shopping, dessert at Christine's with her hilarious friends, drinks at Raine's Law

Sun: brunch with V and Grace at Keste, coffee at Joes (again), shopping (again), Redeemer Church, dinner with V at Malatesa

Mon: Coffee and pastries at Balthazar Bakery, Shopping (for real this time), lunch with Jen at Totto Ramen (it's no Ippudo c'mon now), dinner with Jonna at Momofuku Noodle Bar and deserts at Milk Bar

Tue: Lunch with Parilee at the Green Table, feeding my banana cocaine addiction with Richard at Magnolias, coffee/wine/cheese at Eataly, church small group, dinner with Gabby at Blue Smoke

Wed: Coffee at Joes (yes again because it's the best in the universe), lunch with old team at the office, cupcake at Billys, catchup with Wilken, manipedi, dinner with Donna/Aneesh/V at Shake Shake in Midtown

Thu: Breakfast with HyunJin at Clinton St. Bakery, flight, LA traffic, dinner with Eunice at Din something in Chinese (soup dumpling place)

Fri: Coffee at the Starbucks in LA Live (don't know what the hype was about...it's just a Starbucks), lunch with Tim at Daikokasomething, Scoop, random driving, more LA traffic, dinner with Dima at Manchego

Sat: Breakfast at Alli's, wedding dress shopping and lunch with Mel/Julie/Alli at the Hat, LA traffic, Santa Monica mall, a little more LA traffic, flight

Next time:

• Tater tots and bacon wrapped hot dog in E Village
• Somewhere schmancy, Michelin-y
• IPPUDO
• Eataly (for the pasta)
• Mozza

LET'S GO GI-ANTS!

I'm may not the biggest Giants fan, but I sure do love them. Don't really care about any other team. The 2002 series makes me sad every time I think about it, and have been going to at least a few games every season since I was a kid. Wouldn't deny being a bandwagoner, but I've have been a lifelong fan.

So how did I spend the 2010 champion year?

This year I only got to go to one pre-season game. I watched the entire post-season on gameday on my computer (which is not actually streaming, just a delayed play-by-play). One of the few games I watched on TV, the cable box went out as Uribe hit a clutch homer. Didn't go to a single bar. Watched only one game with my buddies, and they lost that one. I did get to watch Game 4 with roommies, but was doing work at the same time. Got back to the city after 10pm every weeknight. Didn't have a single hat or shirt to wear proudly. Not to mention how I spent the final game. Missed the games, after-parties, jumping in the streets, the parade, and all the championship hugs and high fives.

But it doesn't matter because the Giants won the World Series. Don't need to be a part of it to feel the city buzzing. It's in the air :)

GO GIANTS!

camping

here are a list of some awesome things:

• my dad telling me we're going to leave at 6:30am, but letting me sleep in until 7:30 (that never happens)
• my mom giving me the $16 she found in my pants when doing my laundry
• using that money to buy ice cream bars for everyone
• figuring out how to assemble a 9x17 ft tent
• sleeping in a 9x17 tent
• on battery-powered aero beds that my dad bought because he thinks he's too old to be sleeping on rocks and sticks
• camping in yosemite on a warm, orange-tinted october day, even though my toes fell off when it went below 30 degrees at night
• wearing the same clothes for 40 hours
• not wearing makeup
• getting a site close to the bathrooms, even though my mom didn't see where I was pointing and instead, walked .25 miles up the hill to the next bathroom
• throwing rocks at random things while gathering firewood
• building a campfire without lighter fluid
• watching my dad try to add a log that is literally bigger than me in our fire pit
• eating spicy korean ramen for lunch, dinner, and breakfast
• eating 4 s'mores (yes 4)
• waking up, walking out of the tent, and seeing a BEAR in the next campsite
• climbing rocks to a waterfall, even though I slipped and got my shoe wet
• my mom having like 12,000 korean wetnaps
• my bro not paying attention while driving down a steep and windy road because we finally got reception to KNBR 680 and were listening to the Giants game
• the Giants going from a 1-2 score at the top of the 9th with one man on, 2 outs and a 2-2 count to scoring 2 more and wining the game
• checking the Cal game score (35-7)
• my bro saying he'll drive until we need to fill up again, which never happened. sucka!

cheers choi family!

puzzles are frustrating

i hate planning vacations. i used to like it... but now i hate it. it's like putting together a 1000 puzzle piece together that only has 2 colors. it's really rewarding if you finish it, but otherwise it's easier to just give up.

"They're not even TRYING!"

When you go to Disneyland for the first time with different people you learn a lot. This weekend I learned that there are two types of people in this world:

1. The ones that go to Disneyland from park open (8am) to park close (midnight), creating a FastPass strategy to ride every ride at least once, literally running to CA Adventure to make the Aladdin show, efficiently planning bathroom breaks and when to buy the turkey legs, limping because your back hurts and you have shin splints but still ride on one more ride before crawling back to the car where everyone falls asleep and the driver has to belt BBMak out of tune to stay awake but he's not mad because it was SO WORTH IT.
2. And then there are the ones that eat lunch in Downtown Disney, show up at the park at 12:30pm, have a relaxing quota of 4 or 5 rides, make other people to buy them the pineapple floats, and don't even care about World of Color because they want to leave at 8:30pm.

I'm not hating, I'm just saying there are two types...

In all seriousness, the trip was mega fun even with nubs from category B. Not without it's points of stress. At one point Jon/Liz need to pee and Jer/Steve were falling behind, but Clay/Marg/Helen are literally running with Marg yelling, "They're not even TRYING!"

I ended up pausing, then yelling, "Just leave them we have 2 minutes before the show starts GOGOGO!" The last thing I saw was Steve's face looking at us like we were lunatics. But the Aladdin show was crazy awesome.

I was sorry to leave you guys :( Really was sorry...

That's my boss('s boss)!

http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=461233863

"It changed my life."

From time to time, I say this phrase. But you should know, there are certain criteria for something to truly merit this statment:

1. Can't be obvious like moving into a new apartment, getting a smart phone, or believing in Jesus.
   
2. Must be either uncommon OR not revered by the common. Sex would never apply. Neither would homemade chocolate chip cookies, because who doesn't like homemade chocolate chip cookies? Only aliens and crazy people.
   
3. Must change the way you think, live, eat, breathe, move, feel, or do. Not necessarily all of the above, at least one of them.
   
4. Every time someone mentions it you think, "Oh ya, that totally changed my life."

Now, the top 10 things that have changed my life (so far):

1. Gourmet mac & cheese -- I have always loved mac & cheese. I'd rather never eat any dessert ever again than give up mac & cheese. I was, and still am, a big fan of Kraft, both the stove-top box and microwave packet varieties. But having "grown-up" mac & cheese makes me fall onto the floor. We're talking smoked gouda and bacon, buffalo chicken mac & cheese, 4-cheese (goat, colby, cheddar, and parmesan) with herbed bread crumbs...
2. How I Met Your Mother -- one of the few shows that makes me laugh so out loud I need to clap my hand over my mouth because otherwise I sound like a crazy person because I'm by myself.
   
3. Skinny belt around the waist over a long cardigan -- ~2x per week
   
4. Expensive haircuts -- Nothing crazy, like $50-70. I used to loathe my hair, but now realize that it was just because I refused to spend more than $10 on a haircut. I'm not a boy.
5. Inductive Bible study -- I've been reading the Bible my entire life, but it wasn't until I did this form of intensive, scholarly, be-confused-then-figure-it-out type of study that I finally understood the wisdom behind the words. Mark Study made me understand why we use words like "glory" and "lamb" when looking the life of Jesus.
   
6. Eyebrow pencils -- If you look at pictures from college and before, I have no eyebrows.
   
7. Wicked the musical -- Changed my life because I still break out in song or listen to the entire soundtrack at least once per month.
8. Business as Missions track at Urbana '06 -- Set my foundation and belief that the the purpose of business and the economy is for social change, not profit.
9. Not looking at the clock before I go to bed -- Finally stopped calculating how many hours of sleep I would get and then having trouble falling asleep because I would be thinking, "I'm only gonna get X hours of sleep." I got this trick from Dani. I've been waking up more well-rested ever since.
10. Interval training on a treadmill -- I hate running. Hate it. It's uncomfortable and boring and tiring. But interval training gives it some pizazz. I can now run 3-4 times a week without wanting to hurl my body off the treadmill.

Mondays

Oh my goodness, what a long day! But no, not because of work.

After work, hit the gym and stayed on the treadmill an extra 7 minutes (yes it makes a difference!). Then instead of running to catch the shuttle, I stayed a little longer and sat to eat dinner. One hour commute, got home, showered, cleaned up a bit, then finally settled down with my computer to watch some useless TV and see the latest in my inbox. But oh no, not such a calm night. You know what happens when the entire bottom part of my Gmail screen fills with chat windows and I can't read the bottom of the email threads? I actually turn off my TV because I need to concentrate (and if you know me, you know my TV is always on).

VIDEOCHAT SEATTLE BABIES TAHOE SWINGDANCING APRIL MAY JUNE JULY VEGAS PISMO SAN DIEGO CALENDAR BIRTHDAYS CALENDAR FINDMEABOYFRIEND MINNACOMEHERE CALENDAR LUNCH CALENDAR TAHOE WOOT!

No wonder I don't have a hobby. But if the rest of my days and nights are filled corralling friends and debating trip options while making lunch plans, chatting with friends, and typing "lol" a lot more than I have recently*...well then, my life is full and I'm a lucky gal :)

*To be explained another, non-Monday day

How much would you pay for this meal?

Giant steak, glazed baby bok choy, and a healthy portion of mac and cheese. How much would you pay for this meal? Cuz I paid less than $5, and it took less than 30 minutes to make. From Whole Foods no less.

Take that Rachael Ray!

Girl Advice

Ladies, take notes. A hilarious and wise post from Taylor E.

Excerpts from an article by Tim Keller

Up until now, my faith has been driven by "what makes sense and is right for me". I've often encouraged others to figure out "what God means and how He speaks to you". While I still believe God is immensely personal and does speak to each person in their own way, this article exposes the fine line between that, and convincing ourselves of what we want to be true. Individuality is subject to, well, selfishness and naivety. Why do we trust ourselves so much more than God? That's so silly. Read on...

(edited down with bold highlights by me)
AUTHORITY
BY TIM KELLER

... We are our own moral authority... [People] are always ready to change direction and abandon commitments and loyalties without qualms and to pursue, on a personal cost-benefit basis, the best opportunity available to them...

Sociologist Christian Smith has written a book called Souls in Transition which profiles the beliefs of young adults under the age of 25. He finds that most of them believe it is the choice of their beliefs that make them true, not their truth that leads to our choice of them. He notes how even young adults who go to conservative churches and identify as Christians often refuse to believe Christian prohibitions against premarital sex and other Biblical norms that conflict with their feelings and intuitions.

Smith relates how he often interviewed people and asked them if their moral convictions (some of which were very strong) were mainly subjective feelings or really true to reality. He found that most had difficulty even understanding what he was asking...

Many years ago as a young Christian my attention was arrested by an article on ‘Authority’ by John Stott. Stott asked, “Why should people believe that the Bible is God’s Word written, inspired by his Spirit and authoritative over their lives?” (The Authority of the Bible, IVP, 1974,p.6) This was a big question for me. I had decided that I believed in Jesus Christ, but I struggled with the idea that I had to believe everything in the Bible. Stott answered that we do not believe it simply because we want to be dogmatic and certain about our own beliefs, nor because the church has consistently taught this (though it has), nor because we just ‘feel’ the Bible is true as we read it. “No. The overriding reason for accepting the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture is plain loyalty to Jesus…Our understanding of everything is conditioned by what Jesus taught. And that includes his teaching about the Bible. We have no liberty to exclude anything from Jesus’ teaching and say, ‘I believe what he taught about this but not what he taught about that.’ What possible right do we have to be selective?” (p.7)

What did Jesus believe about the Bible? He said that not a ‘jot or tittle’ (i.e. not the smallest letter or even a part of a letter) would pass away from God’s Word until all was fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18 cf.John 10:35.) ... So, to Jesus, what Scripture says, God says. And Jesus did not simply believe the Bible, but he guided and regulated every step and detail of his life by it (cf. John 19:28.)

Stott’s question—‘what possible right do we have to be selective?’—is like a hammer blow to our contemporary way of life. We feel strongly that we have the right, even the obligation to select what parts of Jesus teaching we can accept and what parts we cannot. But that makes no sense. Why should you trust in him as Savior if you are wiser and smarter then he is? Either he is who he said he is, and his views judge our views, or he was lying or deluded about being the Son of God. So Jesus’ authority and the absolute authority of the Bible stand or fall together. If we believe he was who he said he was, then we must accept the entire Bible as God’s word.

New Song-of-the-Month

"Just Say Yes" by Snow Patrol. Click image to right to listen.

HIMYM

If you don't know what HIMYM stands for, this chat with Sharon won't make sense to you. Also, I feel sorry for you.

11:04 PM Sharon: im growing wiser each year u know?

11:05 PM me: each day

Sharon: hollerrrrr

me: in 55 more minutes...wait for it...

Sharon: lol

11:06 PM omg what do they say??

i forgot!

me: OMG

Sharon: in how i met ur mother!

me: you forgot THAT??

SHARONNN

Sharon: omg!!

i forgot itttt

me: that is crucial

Sharon: OMG

hint!

me: that's like not knowing "that's whay she said"

don't look it up

don't cheat

Sharon: im not

im thinkin

omg

omg

u are making me nervous

me: ok lactose intolerant

that is your hint

11:07 PM Sharon: huh

me: think it out

lactose intolerant

Sharon: something ...ary

me: what does lactose intolerant mean?

Sharon: u cant drink milk

11:08 PM u dont digest cuz u lack the enzymes lactate

me: ok smarty pants. milk is what kind of product?

Sharon: LEGENDARY!!!!!!!

Another day, another year

My mom's text messages from my birthday this year:

"HAPPY HAPPY YOUR 23th BIRTHDAY!!
I will you tomorrow,
You have a great day.
I love you!"

2 hours later...

"I am missing something. I will SEE you tomorrow."

10 minutes after that...

"Also, 23rd birthday, not 23th.
Sorry."

----------------------------------------------

When I was 21, I posted a list of the 9 things I must do before I'm 25. 2 years left, so it's time to start assigning. Here's my progress:

1. Visit Thailand (2010)
   
2. Learn Spanish (2010-2011)
3. Do something, anything! in microfinance or non-profit (2011)
4. Fully and regularly donate 10% of my net income (2010 and onward!)
   
5. Take the GMAT (2011)
6. Be a size 4 again (pbbbtttt I'm over this one. But let's try it anyway. 2010...December)
   
7. Commit to a church that I love (2010. City Church is looking promising!)
   
8. Live in a different city (NYC!!)
   
9. Go to the gyno. Not because I want to but because I should. (Ugh. 2011. December)
   

Work Work Work

At work, we're piloting a survey where you provide confidential feedback to your manager. I wrote up this glowing free response to my old manager in NY because she is fantastic. She's definitely a model for me if I ever become a manager in my career. So here are the notes of what a great manager is IMHO:

• Perf reviews: During our 1:1, she didn't just talk to me about what she thought as a manager, but took the time to also review what I and my peers wrote about my work.
• Removing roadblocks: During our regular 1:1s, she would explicitly ask me if I was having any issues with my work and what she could do to help. She was also very available to provide real-time feedback and solutions.
• Career development and personal well-being: More than anything, I appreciated that she was genuinely invested in my and the team's well-being. She would ask questions like "What are you doing that you like/dislike, so that we can have you do more/less of it?", "What else do you want to take on or explore?", "What are you thinking about longer term and how can we make that happen?" Throughout the year, several members on our team either took on more responsibilities, completely changed roles, and a couple even left the company. She was supportive on every end to see that they were doing what was right for them in their career.
  
• Guidance: Though most of the work was not glamourous, she was keen on acknowledging accomplishments to make it seem less painful. I don't know how she knew when to give me space to be creative versus being in the weeds of the work; but she somehow balanced it appropriately. As the most junior member of the team, I also never felt that she was just shuffling off grunt work, which I have experienced on other teams and seen with other managers. There was a clear difference between doing the work that needed to be done and doing work that was interesting to me, and she openly appreciated both.
• Constructive criticism: I'll be honest, I don't take criticism well. But she would deliver it in a way that would actually motivate me to fix it and improve. I think it's because she never made criticism seem like a heavy top-down reprimand, but rather an acknowledgment that I'm trying my best and this is what I can do to be even better. She is humble about her own challenges as well, which makes me respect her and value her feedback so much more.

On another note, it's been exactly one month since I joined my new team. This team is basically a point person for all People Ops communications, and so sometimes I feel like all I'm doing is going from meeting to meeting to meeting. Here's the proof:

Last 13 weeks:
Avg time in meetings: 14.69 hrs/wk (32.6%)
Avg productive time (4+ hours with no meetings): 19.38 (43.1%)

Last 4 weeks:
Avg time in meetings: 20.69 hrs/wk (46%)
Avg productive time (4+ hours with no meetings): 2 (4.4%)

Yeesh, no wonder I'm always finishing up on the shuttle!

Grow Up!

Sharon recently whined to me that she doesn't want to grow up. Here were my tips:

• take a trip to toys r us!
• go down a slide!
• run around in sprinklers!
• roll down a hill!
• swing on a swing!
• spin in a circle until you fall over!

Oh to be a kid again...

Google Voice

I recommend Google Voice for everyone. Not because it's an amazing tool that helps you keep track of all of your voicemails, or because it sends you text messages and emails if you aren't able to pick up the phone, or even because it has an endless archive like Gmail. But use Google Voice because it attempts to transcribe everything, which is pretty funny.

Usually, it's pretty accurate (actual words in red):
Helen Vo
1/17/10 9:08 PM
Hey Sarah. It's Colin [Helen], I was just wanted to let you know that we decided not to do. Roy is [Roy's] for Dine about town because they have a prefix menu all year round, so anything about doing lose. [Ruth] Chris is [Chris's] steakhouse.[?] Instead, 3 [we] changed, it's a Thursday night at 7:15 so let me know if you could make it or not the best. The reservation that I'm gonna make instead. So don't go to voicemail [Roy's]. Because we're not gonna be there. Okay. Feel free to call me tomorrow or tonight whenever. Okay bye.

Sometimes it can't figure out that someone just simply forgot to hang up the phone after the beep:
Ara Cho
1/10/10 7:52 AM
Hello hello hello hello hello.

Sometimes it's a bit inaccurate:
Helen Vo
1/29/10 6:32 PM
Hey at. Intellion. I'm just sitting on the gym, so if you can't Vegas a home that would be. Sorry it to you later to you later. Let me know. Hey. Yeah, call me back or Yeah. Okay bye.

But there are those times my mother leaves a message in Konglish (Korean+English):
Home
1/17/10 11:43 PM
On then I'll Monday 68. All my got people coming out and put something and goodbye.

Best when they are longer:
Mom
1/16/10 2:27 PM

Hey and I, and I don't know if I just wanted to give me a message and I'd love to read Diane's let me know. Idiot. So give me a call at the V. P of okay if not all night. Hey. Okay okay. Give me a call. Bye.

Dialogue

SC: Most aesthetic things are unnecessary.
CN: I'm beautiful but I'm not unnecessary.