neverland

warehouse sales

2007-11-06T08:54:00.001-08:00

i went to the SFERRA outlet/warehouse sale today. it was insane. i got there at 7.30am (it opened at 7am) - and it was a zoo. apparently, ppl are swarming at the entrance half an hour before opening time, waiting for this event all year. but i have to say it was worth it. i bought two new sheet sets, duvet cover, sheets, and two towel sets all for the price of say, one duvet cover, normal price. let me tell you, there is no reason to buy anything at full price. there's a Malo sale today in the city. it may be cold in nyc, but boy, the sample sales are good.

i just wish they had the same thing for tableware. i've got great sheets, great towels and great furniture. now i just need new dishes!

oh, and lights too. i need some better lighting, bc man does it get dark early.

fall is here...

2007-10-29T09:54:00.001-07:00

and may not last for very long. it was 39degrees outside this morning when i woke up. at least it's not raining. sunny, but cold. makes me want one of these. Like now. my dad's got a gas fireplace at his place. it's pretty sweet.

in california ppl have fireplaces but never use them. i used to wonder why they were in houses in LA at all. but now if i could have one, i would. it makes the air smell good, and more importantly the house warm. but central heating works pretty well too.

what a boring post. i've got to come up with a more entertaining way about this.

i'm back!!!!

2007-10-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

i've moved to new jersey. my hair is no longer curly. i live by myself. wow, life has changed a lot. and i'm about to brace for the winter.

now why have i come back to the blogsphere? that's the real question. my answer? because i love home & garden. if you know what i'm doing these days, then that makes sense. if you don't, well, don't think i'm a sweet homemaker looking to be the perfect housewife for the perfect husband. not me.

but i do like kitchen sinks. i like kitchen sinks a lot. and kitchens, yeah, kitchens too.

on the money

2006-12-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

from Guy Kawasaki's blog: I could not agree more.

If you want additional proof that we’re in a bubble, here it is: young people are trying to get into the venture capital business again. I get several emails a week along these lines:

I’m about to graduate from college where I majored in economics. I’ve always been interested [what does “always” mean for a twenty-something year old, but I digress...] in business and entrepreneurship and ran my school’s entrepreneurship club. I’ve been working as an analyst for Goldman, Sachs, and now I’d like to get into the venture capital business to further my understanding of entrepreneurship and to help startups achieve success by tapping into my knowledge base. I am adept with PowerPoint, Excel, and PhotoShop.

They see a wonderful job: going to cocktail parties and networking events, flying in private jets, and getting sucked up to by entrepreneurs while pulling down a base salary of $500,000/year plus a piece of the upside of selling a YouTube for $1.6 billion. Who wouldn’t want such a job? (Frankly, I would too.)

First, a rare moment of Guy-Kawasaki humility: I am by no means “proven” as a venture capitalist. I’ve been in this game for about ten years, but I don’t have the mega-hit that “makes” a fund. Thus, I may not be a source of good advice about getting into this business, but when has the lack of knowledge stopped a blogger?

Regardless, here’s my advice to all the Biffs, Sebastians, Brooks, and Tiffanys who want to be kingmakers:

Venture capital is something to do at the end of your career, not the beginning. It should be your last job, not your first.

My theory is that when you’re young, you should work eighty hours a week to create a product or service that changes the world. You should not sit in board meetings listening to an entrepreneur explaining why she missed her numbers while you read email on a Blackberry and intermittently spew forth gems like, “You should partner with MySpace; I can also introduce you to a few of the losers in our portfolio.”

Furthermore, entrepreneurs should view any young person who opted for venture capital over “real world” experience with contempt. Why would you want advice from someone whose background consists of working in a college bookstore or cranking spreadsheets at an investment bank? Financial models are almost totally irrelevant because there’s no financial wizardry involved in making a good product and selling the heck out of it.

hear hear

2006-11-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

From an article i read today in informationweek.com magazine:
(okay, so maybe i'm a geek, a little bit)

"One of the biggest challenges of Web2.0 is how to define and improve the user experience. The challenge is to amaze and delight users, give them what they want, and surprise them with stuff they didn't know they wanted."

So please, stop starting new photosharing communities!

just for me

2006-11-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

my alarm is going off, omg, what is that noise?? i roll over, grab blindly for my blackberry and push a button, any button. it's 5:52am. i never set my alarm clock at a multiple of five, it gives me more time to snooze. slowly, my senses start to wake up, i moan and turn and curl up, no, don't ring yet, be silent, stay dark, let me sleep - "do-do-do-do-do-do-do bzzbzzbzzbzz" - damn the vibrate and ring mode. ten minutes have passed already. but it's 6:02 now isn't it? ha, i have four more minutes until 6:05. i am a genius.

but for two weeks now, i've been doing it - Monday through Friday. (i know that's not very long, but hey, i can barely do anything everyday for two whole weeks!) it's still dark outside, i stumble into the bathroom, brush my teeth, change, throw my work clothes in my bag, and don't forget the shoes so i'm not wearing flip flops with workclothes... and off i go. and you know what? i love it. driving to work after practice at 8am, i have plenty of time, i stop in at il fornaio for a 2% latte, one shot - just enough for the health benefits, but not so much that it'll shoot me to the moon. i shower at work and i'm at my desk by quarter to nine. perfect.

but most importantly? it's just for me. this insane routine of waking up before the sun has, getting in a room with 25+ other ppl much more dedicated and much more advanced than i am, completely shutting off my brain, shutting off the outside world, and focusing only on my body and my breath. (do i sound like a junkie yet? ;)

i spend much of my life doing things for other people, consciously or subconsciously. and don't get me wrong, i like most all the things i do, but rarely is it just for me. stanford - best decision of my life - but clearly not just for me. church, religion, piano, music - all building blocks of my life who make me who i am today, but much moreso for my mother. banking, venture, my career, my future - are these for me? perhaps, but i'm not so sure. where i will live, who i will share my life with, choices and more choices - all of those must take into account different people. losing weight, eating, i could go on and on. and like i said, there are parts of everything that i do enjoy and do for myself, but not just for myself. so i have always found little things to fill my life with, to in part create a hodgepodge of twinklings that are simply and sweetly to my fancy.

and yoga every morning? it is just that. two hours of my very own time, in which i'm focused, working, disciplined, and silent. and the reprieve, rush and accomplishment i feel afterwards. it's like buying an expensive handbag, finding a brilliant pair of shoes, exploring the streets of London, baking chocolate bread pudding and spiced cream from scratch, gingerbread lattes and pumpkin pie - but with none of the guilt, and so much more productivity and some pretty good health benefits. so let's see if it lasts. i really hope it does. but damn, am i tired by 10pm.

highway robbery

2006-11-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

WARNING: THE ABOVE PRODUCT IS DECEPTIVELY EXPENSIVE. VIEW PRICE TAG BEFORE PURCHASE.

Or you will fall into the same mistake I did: going home with a $20.00 jar of fancy peanut butter, aka almond butter. Fine it tastes a lot better, and it's better for you, but not $15 better. I mean, hell, organic peanut butter is already damn expensive.

And let me tell you, I will savor every lick of it. And, no, I'm certainly not sharing.

;)

learning

2006-11-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

i haven't been very busy at work recently, so i've been voraciously reading about yoga. iyengar, ashtanga, mysore,desikachar, paris, you name it. it's fascinating.

something i read today: "...for him the practice was about being at the wall. If you take away the wall, or spend your time trying to figure out how to remove the wall, you have completely missed the point. Maybe, maybe hopefully, this is about your mind, and soul, and something a little deeper than how to get your fingers to touch.....And things are meant to happen here, not over days, but over months. That’s what makes them lived and experienced, not told or spoken."

there's something possessive about ashtanga. it's bizarre.

austin

2006-11-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

this post is a tribute to my baby brother. who is clearly no longer so little anymore. so i signed up for facebook, bc i was curious to see what the phenomenon really is. and the only person i really knew to invite, was, hmmm, my brother. so he accepts me and suddenly i have access to his profile. and his profile picture? look -->
i knew he'd been working out and taking all these weird protein supplements over the summer, but i didn't realize he was obsessed with his biceps. i mean, the guy is skinny. he has a leaner frame than i do, and is simply naturally thinner - he doesn't keep on weight, and muscle even less so. if only he studied as much as he worked out. but then again, if i studied as much as i did yoga these days, i'd probably get an 800.

now here is a picture of him from high school. note the backdrop - the ocean behind the cliffs, a palm tree in the front yard of his friend clay's house. he grew up with that, friends taking him to wailea every year, posh posh posh.... i only fell into that when i got older. it makes us a little different, in some ways. but he's the youngest, he's allowed to be spoiled and idealistic and clueless.
this last one is him and his best friend. he may look all grown up, but he's still the sweet little softy inside. just look at that smile.

faithfulness

2006-10-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

a character trait that i value very much: faithfulness. not so much specifically in the marriage, boy/girl relationship sense (which of course i do as well!), but more so in the religious use of the word, but used in the context of friends. that sounds highly confusing, i know - that's why i'm trying to write it down so i can figure out what i mean.

in dictionary.com, the word is defined as follows:
faith‧ful [feyth-fuhl] –adjective
1. strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker.
2. true to one's word, promises, vows, etc.
3. steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant: faithful friends.
4. reliable, trusted, or believed.
5. adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate: a faithful account; a faithful copy.
6. full of faith; believing.

and so i think my definition of faithful revolves mostly around (3) and (4). to me, being steady in affection and loyal to my close friends is extremely important. and vice versa. i look for reliable people, ppl i can depend on, ppl who will listen to and love me through the ridiculousness of life, and still believe (see def (6)) and know why we are friends. and i look to do the same.

but you know, human nature simply isn't like that, is it? we are too selfish, too judging to actually love and live like that. and so i think it's rare, rare and special just to find a few ppl who you can call faithful - faithful friends and faithful to you. and so i guess i strive for that, but can i ever succeed? those who are true, they will be there for you. but those who are not? in your times of ick, should you hurt their feelings, break their moral codes - *poof* - they go byebye. and those friends? they are not faithful. and in response, i have no desire to be in return. that makes me unfaithful too.

mysore

2006-10-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

i went to my first mysore yoga class in CA today. i've only been to two others - one during a yoga weekend in Surrey when i was still living in the UK, and one at the studio i used to go to in Notting Hill. so basically mysore is the ashtanga series (primary, secondary, tertiary etc by however advanced you are) at your own pace. so in essence, it's not even really a class. everyone is doing their own thing, one guy doing a headstand in the corner, another lying on the floor, some other chick trying to balance her legs on her arms. it's silent but for the unified noise of the breath and the occasional jump back and through. classes are meant to be held before dawn, and the instructors watch, modify and adjust your poses as you do them.

so it's very disciplined but totally unstructured at the same time - you have to wake up super early, and you're supposed to practice everyday. the teacher stops you in the series where he thinks you've had enough and you build upon your practice from thereon everyday. it's actually kind of ego bruising for some ppl...ehem, like me. but apparently you get addicted. so we'll see. i'll admit, i didn't love it, and i'm a little tired - but it feels good to work out in the mornings. there's actually only half a dozen or so studios in the entire bay area that offer this type of yoga (it's pretty hard to find yoga instructors who are willing to hold class 6 days a week for 2 hours at 6am), so i'm lucky to live so close to one.

but ultimately, i like it because:
(1) you get more personalized attention, and so i think you learn more. and when you learn more, you learn more quickly.
(2) you have to use your brain - led classes you simply listen to the voice of the teacher, here you forget the pose and you're left looking a bit stupid
(3) i like being touched. i realize that sounds kind of dirty ;P, but really, i'm an affectionate person. and i just really like the concept of having someone physically adjust you to the point where it pushes you outside your comfort zone

so let's see if i can go to bed earlier and wake up at the butt crack of dawn. i doubt it, but hey, stranger things have happened. it helps to set goals for yourself. so mine? i want to be able to do unassisted backbends and headstands without thinking i'm going to die. and then i want to go to india, here.

oh, and here's a picture of my favorite yoga teacher, a quirky french ex-investmt banker/trader turned IT web developer yoga guy. he teaches a super led primary series class on friday and sat mornings.

dry spell

2006-09-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

it's been almost two months since i last blogged. crazeee. i don't really have anything interesting to write about, i realized. but i like that. when i don't have anything interesting, it means my life is going nicely along it's nice boring little path. but then again, maybe not. my life is anything but boring. :)

so i went to two venture conferences this week. and i never cease to be amazed at how many white guys there are in this industry. white guys and nothing else. i mean, nothing against them, i actually like them very much myself ;P (that sounds funny) - but i wish i could have taken a picture when i was there. entire roomfuls of men wearing blue jackets, khakis and button down shirts, checking their crackberries and pretending to be real important. i like sticking out like a sore thumb, it makes me feel special. scary thing is, all the women who are there are just plan freaky looking. so what would you choose? to be a freaky woman or to be part of the old boys club???

emails from my mom

2006-08-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

classic. this one's from today:
---
Hi:
I was good seeing you over the weekend. Thanks for coming home to see Austin.
I remembered you went to a check up recently. How was the result? Is your blood sugar, cholesterol OK? My family has history of Diabetes. My cousin Sunny has been diagnosed with it after the diving accident. He has since lost about 20 pound to control it. I love you that is why I am bugging you to see a nutritionist. No matter what your size we will always love you. We want to see you happy and healthy. You are our super star and super girl and always in control and super discipline. It certainly does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how to balance your food intake to balance or reduce a little weight. Even Austin could figure that out. You should not deprive yourself of any particular food but just cut down in portion. If you are still hungry munch on things that are low in calories, like cucumber, carrot sticks, celery sticks. OK
Love, Mommy

strange facts about my life

2006-08-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

so my windshield wiper fluid is clearly some alcoholic soap concoction. but every time i use it to spray my windshield, i get this small burst windshield fluid smell in my car through the air vents. and you know what's really weird? to me, that smell to me is reminiscent of my father's breath when i was growing up as a kid. i think that's a telltale sign that my dad drinks too much. either that, or he drinks too much audi window wiping fluid.

second thing? i've been flying these cross country flights to nyc a lot recently. and during those trips i've realized that i like to watch movies with no sound. it let's you run your creative juices a little. you should all try it.

milk

2006-07-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

on my second glass of milk today. i've been trying to drink a glass of milk everyday. never grew up on it, come on, i'm chinese. we drink soy milk. but i've heard that you stop absorbing calcium in your bones once you hit 30. so, dude, i better get on it. the problem is, one cup of milk is only 35% of your daily calcium need. so somehow, i need to get the other 65% some other way. so i've been on one glass of milk, and one cup of yogurt (25% DV) everyday for a while now, but still that's only 60% of my daily need! it's really hard. so i've just had a brownie. and another glass of milk. and so today, for the first time ever, i'm 95% there. all i need to do is swallow a fish bone tonight, and i'm sure i'll be over 100% DV.

and for those of you who are thinking what i think you might be thinking? i can't take calcium pills. they screw up my tummy.

and on another milk note? i bought homemade soy milk this past weekend from a taiwanese drink store. i bought a gallon of it. and you know what it did over the w/e in our fridge? the entire thing curdled. like curdled into sour tofu, coagulated, gelatinous soy-chunk-solid. it was so fascinating. i almost wanted to eat it to see what it tasted like. it looked so much like sweet tofu - i really don't know how to say it in english - it really looked like dou fu fa. yum.

my first perm...

2006-07-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

block my histamines!

2006-07-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

so i had an allergic reaction to a sunscreen this weekend. at first i thought it was just my skin's normal over-reaction to too much sun, but as my face became more and more like an android's from star trek - i realized that it was the ultra expensive, supposedly posh sunscreen that was making me break out into hives that is making me look like a pre-pubescent pimply faced alien/teenager. and not only is it on my face, but all over my arms and leg and tummy - and you know where the only place i'm allergy free? my back. that's how i know it's the sunscreen. because i'm incapable of rubbing myself down, and don't have a hot guy to do it for me - but you know what? it's a good thing too! otherwise i would have had these hive-ies everywhere, and couldn't have pinned it down to the sunscreen.

so for those of you with sensitive skin? don't ever buy fresh's SPF 30 sunscreen. i'm going to spot test my skin after i get better to figure out exactly if that was what it was. and i'm also comparing all the active ingredients with the current sunscreens i have. heehee.

and on a totally random note, why are ppl who water office plants always complete weirdos? i guess i have a sample set of three, but all office-plant-water-guys i've ever come across are just really s-t-r-a-n-g-e. like the one at db in SF? he consistently had his hair in braids. and not only in braids, but pigtail braids. AND he SMELLED. like, really smelled. seriously, i don't think the guy showered for months. it was impressive. office-plant-water-guy in london, just a bizarre old english man who liked to talk to everyone. office-plant-water-guy in menlo park? he looks (and acts) like the hunchback of notre dame. but gay. can you imagine the hunchback of notre dame seeming gay and acting very interested in the growth of your household plants? it's bizarre, i tell you.

my unassisted video post

2006-07-06T01:12:00.000-07:00

so we took a roadtrip up to clearlake, ca this weekend. now that i think about it, the lake wasn't so clear, but it was so much fun nonetheless. i had several firsts, more than i've had in a while - fishing, grilling, setting off fireworks, swimming in a lake. i think that's it. and now this is my first unassisted videoegg post. i'm proud.

so to make a long story short, between the four of us, we caught one fish. we saw fish jumping out of the lake, we saw a six year old girl catch fish. two, actually. we saw old men catch around a dozen. but we caught one. at two in the morning, nonetheless. and then gutting it and cooking it. now that's another story altogether.

but this is our fish. our very own crappie.

I heart Barney(s)

2006-06-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

Barneys plans to dress up Union Square

Enough said.

Yay!

it's hot

2006-06-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

OMG. It's freaking 100 degrees out there. My car thermometer says it's 107 to be precise, but I think my car is like me - we overheat easily.

So as I was walking to my favorite PA boutique (god, how yuppy is that?) I stumbled upon this totally shishi gym VIVRE - it looked really nice and they have all these cool classes, like Funky Cardio Grooves, Abs&Arms, Pilates etc - so I let them take me on a tour so I could get free passes. And while I was checking out their posh bathroom, I saw a postcard for their florist. As I had walked into the gym, I thought to myself, "Wow, those flowers in the lobby are gorgeous" -- and as I picked up the postcard advertising wedding flowers and event planning, I realized that the florist was the same florist I'd worked for in college! Check it out. Now that is the life. This woman, her father funded her intial fower and wine shop in downtown menlo park. I worked there for about two years while I was still at Stanford, and a few years after I graduated, I wanted to see if it was still around. Turns out that Amanda had shut the store down to have babies - she didn't really need the money anyways. And now that she's had her kids, she's back at it - but this time from home, and only weddings and special events. There's no address on her postcard, just a P.O. Box - and her husband, I remember meeting him, clearly didn't care what she did with her time. What a life. She makes beautiful arrangements though, I tell you. Just the way I do. ;)

Another thing: the boutique I ended up at? They expanded upstairs. The upstairs room? An entire room of $50 t-shirts. Seriously, every t-shirt in there is at least $50. Super soft, but super ridiculous. That's California for you.

After I went shopping through the sale rack and found nothing to my liking, I decided to walk to Whole Foods and get a smoothie. Walking over there, I realized that I was literally mosying down the sidewalk. Funny thing is, when I first moved back from London, my roomie was telling me how fast I walked. And here I am, basking in the sun, window-shopping, mosying down the sidewalk to pick up a smoothie, blueberries and an acidophilus drink at Whole Foods during my lunch break. This is home, as I know it.

I'm wearing spectacular shoes today. Sergio Rossi ruby red patent leather platforms. That may sound trashy, but let me tell you, they're beautiful. I'm so glad I went against my mother's advice and bought them last Christmas.

Some pics of FunBuns and the Cho sisters when they visited Memorial Day.

schmilicon valley

2006-06-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

sometimes i hate the bay area. no, i take that back. sometimes i hate downtown palo alto. take lunch today, for example. i had lunch with the guy running DFJ's new late stage fund. at lunch, we run into his ex-boss, head of broadview investment banking. at the table around the corner, CEO of analog devices. table next to us? someone mouthing off about summit partners. i drive out of the parking lot, and who do i see in the bmw next to me on hamilton ave? an associate from NEA. and to top it all off? the plant watering guy for our offices is crossing the street to water the plants at some other venture firm.

welcome to the all incestuous white boys club.

back home

2006-06-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

So I've been gone for two weeks. Actually, more than two weeks - two weeks and a day. Back in Europe, some for work, most for pleasure. At first, it was a bit weird, walking around my neighborhood, seeing friends, going to the old office - but after day one, it's just as if i were living there all over again. Bizarre how adaptable your mind is, isn't it?

It was fab weather almost the whole time I was there. My goal? To run in Hyde Park. In my almost two years there, I never once even attempted to run anywhere, let alone Hyde Park. So this time around, staying at a hotel directly across the street from the park... success! I did a little jog one afternoon, wearing my Stanford butt-shorts and listening to Wicked. I feel so accomplished.

A few park pictures, one of them is from a park in Paris - can you tell which one? And by the way, all of these photos were taken from my cell phone. Amazing how advanced technology is. And apparently, we're invested in a company that makes camera module chips for cellphones. Like super high quality stuff. I want one of those.

So this picture is horrible, but on my way to the bathroom at Heathrow, I came across the multi-faith prayer room. It's great. In Europe, they're so liberal, everywhere. At the airport? Smoking room. Non-smoking room. Internet room. Multi-faith prayer room. Duty free whisky buying room. Bath room. It's awesome.

money money money

2006-06-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

Dude, there is a lot of money out there. And it's going to some freaking weird places. Look at NEA's most recent investment in China. Baihe.com. I want to be like that couple, so so much - don't you?

Now check this out. Tutorvista.com: a startup that screens Indian tutors and then offers their services online to Americans and Brits. Pricing? $19.99 per hour or $99.99 per month for unlimited tutor access. Sequoia invested in their Series A yesterday. So much for extra spending money from tutoring off Craigslist.

And now, one last gadget that got $7m of financing this week as well. An outdoor sink/garden house winder. The company has 88% market share of the US automatic hose rewinding market. Sweet.

Ohohoh! One more thing. I feel super Web1.0 for opting for Wine Spectator Online, when I found corkd today. Oh well. Now we can use both. Audrey is better at documenting our wines than I am anyhow. But their traffic? Corkd is outgrowing Wine Spectator by leaps and bounds.

No more talking shop for a while. Back to my typical ditzy girl stuff.
---

So I just went and browsed around corkd. They don't have nearly the database that WS has. So now I don't feel so bad for being suckered into paying my yearly subscription.

memorial day wkend

2006-05-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

haven't posted much recently... been busy, lots of ppl visiting, seeing friends, catching up on life. it's beautiful weather in calfornia, isn't it?

shopping

2006-05-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

i spend too much money. i used to have this automatic savings mechanism on my savings acct, and a few months ago i had to turn it off. and now, not only do i not save, i usually need to dip into my savings bc my credit card bills are too high.

bad. i need to learn fiscal responsibility.

i also found a new boutique in PA today. it's cute. i got a pair of black 'skinny' jeans. i think they're a bit 80s and fashion forward (or backwards) even for me ;) - but the salesgirl convinced me. you need a certain body type to wear skinny jeans, and i figure hey, i'm not going to have it forever, so i better take advantage of it now, while i can. so now i just have to wear them.

oh, and my dressing style? i've fully reverted back to california attire. i dressed up lots more when i was living in london, weekends were always my time to wear trendy, cute, funky, ridiculous clothing. but now, that stuff just doesn't fly. instead i buy $50 cotton tees and wear those. with skinny jeans. strange how much your environment affects you.