No Excuse No Regret - D-90 2011

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

2011-10-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

Fall Foliage Road Trip 01 - Holland, Michigan

2011-10-03T13:18:00.001-05:00

Famous big red lighthouse in Holland, MI.

Stopped by Windmill Restaurant for late lunch. The restaurant offers all-day breakfast and opens until 4 o'clock. It is called "the place to be for breakfast in Holland", according to many reviewed in Yelp. We are lucky since we got there about 3 p.m.

I was dying for homemade cinnamon roll, but it was already sold out. SB graciously let me have one of her four slices of homemade whole wheat brad instead. It was wonderful with thick but very soft texture with fresh baked smell. Their omelet is quite unique since they wrapped hashed potatoes and various ingredients - vegetables, ham, and cheese - with eggs, looking like a big egg pouch. It especially went wonderful with hot sauce, thanks to SB, who asked hot sauce. The waitress brought three different kinds of hot sauce with extra strong, strong, and moderately spicy flavor.

On the way back to home, we passed to Saugatuck and stopped by a small coffee house, called Uncommon Grounds cafe. It was very small but offers professionally brewed coffee. My cold brew coffee was excellent and much better than well-known coffee shop chains.

Without Steve Jobs...

2011-08-25T08:59:00.002-05:00

I thought I had a nightmare. Steve Jobs stepping down as CEO? Of course, I thought it would happen due to his illness but it was as sudden as any announcements for his new products. Obviously, I am not ready for Apple without him.

His life has inspires me especially with three great lessons.
- Find and do what you love (Don't settle)
- become an independent thinker
- Make an impact on the world (Otherwise why else even be here?)

Here is some of his words, I would like to live with.

“I think we’re having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we’re always trying to do better.”

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

“You know, we don’t grow most of the food we eat. We wear clothes other people make. We speak a language that other people developed. We use a mathematics that other people evolved… I mean, we’re constantly taking things. It’s a wonderful, ecstatic feeling to create something that puts it back in the pool of human experience and knowledge.”

“There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.”

“I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”

“I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Week of 8.15

2011-08-20T09:46:00.000-05:00

Week of 8/15/2011

I’d like to know 1) what issues will be included in the next sprint and 2) whether there is any concern for the coming production deploy (planned on 8/22). If you can let me know these issues via email (or phone) later today, I have no problem with canceling today’s 9 o’clock meeting. By the way, would you include VOB-1401 as 3 (the same priority with VOB-1138) to the suggested issues for the next sprint when you discuss with June regarding sprint 1.44 plan?

Happily ever after with your dream job...
SY always makes comments what would (or could) have happened if he did not go to the graduate school or we did not come to the US at all. I hate when he made such comments because they make me feel trapped in a small box, confined by the decisions, we already made. I would rather think what we can do or will do with the experiences and time we went through in the past. I like imagining what obstacles we will have and what we should do in order to prepare ourselves for the upcoming adventures. Some may say that I am just day-dreaming, but I do not want to wait for something unplanned happening out of the luck, just as time passes.
From that perspective, this article intrigues me since it tells the stories of average people, who challenge themselves by ditching their average jobs and pursuing their dreams. The story was realistic; the dream job is also a JOB, which demands hard work with steep learning curve. The emotional vulnerability from working alone is also quite sympathetic.

One of the exciting morning ritual would be picking up news paper. Browsing the headline news and the top page of news sections lets me feel connected to the world even if I am not a part of sany news, which I just checked. Sadly, this refreshing feeling has been dramatically changed. Every morning in the recent a couple of weeks, the headline article is only about gloomy, depressing economic situations all around the world. Starting with S&P’s degrading US credit rating from AAA to AA+, endless series of dark news dominates the cover day and day. What makes worse is the inability to understand the current circumstances and to comet up with a plan for the next step. Fed’s recent announcements that the interest rate will keep low till 2013, implies that the economic situations will not be getting better till 2013, at least. Some already suspect whether the world economy can get better even after 2013, predicting the long, painful recession. At this point, the drive to shift this notorious cycle is expected to come from emerging countries, such as India and China. Again, both countries, not only heavily rely upon the US situations, but also faces potential turmoils due to inequality, which was barely handled by the recent economic progress, and imbalance of currency rates. Despite the impacts on my personal life, I am kind of excited to see how these trends will turn out. The only wish is to be smart and knowledgeable enough to understand the upcoming historic decisions and events and to make my own decisions rather than being decided by somebody else.

One of big question for the youth is who I am and what I want to do. It was the question, which I asked since the middle school, and I am very sure that I was not the first one nor last one. It is like a annoying spider, which falls down from the ceiling unexpectedly. The time, when I feel stable and satisfied, the question suddenly or slowly came to me. Is that what you want? Are you sure this is you?
The time when I struggled with this question seems to come to the end. The realization that it is so natural to ask the same question over and over again because we are changed and the settings are changed and people surrounded me are changed. The true question is not who I am but what kind of person I want to become. I don’t really know what I wanted to do even at this time, but I know the person I want to become.
I suddenly feel very lucky!

A woman who I want to become

2011-08-18T09:28:00.005-05:00

1. My own master
I am my own master, the creator of my own destiny, the hero I am meant to be.
I would be one who control my destiny and decide what direction and how far to go
I am not selling myself short by stoking my accomplishments, creating small victories, and releasing guilt and shame

2. Never never never give up
I have simply learned the value of staying in the game until it is won.
When things are darkest, I refuse to give up because I know I am almost there.
Things often seem at their worst just before they get better.
The mountain is steepest at the summit but that's no reason to turn back.
The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

3. Challenger
Desire badly and continue to challenge until I get.
Do not stay. Jump. Run. Fight to get what you want.
I do something every day that scares me

4. Hard Working - God is in the detail -Focus
Practice, Practice Practice - Practice makes me perfect
My joy is my sorrow unmasked. the selfsame well from which my laughter rises is oftentimes filled with teas.
The deeper that sorrow carves into my being, the more joy I can contain.
Living the present with laser-focused concentration

5. Woman of her word
Determined to keep my word to myself
Keep my word to friends and family
No blank promises

God is in the detail + Alpha

2011-08-16T08:09:00.001-05:00

I felt mixed emotions whenever SC reviewed my works. I truly appreciate her spending time and efforts to go through my work and make it better. At the same time, I feel frustrated when she pointed or emphasized such small details as if I make such a big mistake. I was always the one who voluntarily asked her feedback but somehow her feedback made me feel I am being disciplined in a principle office at school. Then, I was hit. Yes, God is in the detail and there is no less important details in work just as there is no work honorable.

One thought.
Am I make myself vulnerable by asking SC's feedback? Didn't I unintentionally put my responsibility to others by asking them to review my work. By doing so, am I making myself subordinate of someone?

I may ask somebody's feedback not because I want to improve myself or I am being nice but because I do not want to be responsible and/or I want to be permitted or find someone to blame if it does not work.

I am my own master.
I would be one who control my destiny and decide what direction and how far to go.
I have a great choice about my own future and need to choose wisely.

After happily ever after with your dream job...

2011-08-16T07:48:00.003-05:00

SY always makes comments what would have happened if he did not go to the graduate school or what if we did not come to the US. I hate when he made such comments because they make me feel trapped in a small box, confined by the decisions, we have made. I would rather think what we can do or will do with the experiences and time we went through in the past. I'd imagine what obstacles we will have and what we'd do in order to prepare ourselves for the upcoming adventures. I do not want to wait for something unplanned happening out of the luck, just as time passes.

From that perspective, this article intrigues me since it tells the stories of average people, who challenge themselves by ditching their average jobs and pursuing their dreams. The story was realistic; the dream job is also a JOB, which demands hard work with steep learning curve. The emotional vulnerability from working alone is also quite sympathetic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/fashion/maybe-its-time-for-plan-c.html?ref=style&pagewanted=all#

Colin Powell's 13 Rules of leadership

2011-08-15T09:45:00.002-05:00

It does not seem a big deal to hold a senior position as being a minority these days. However, it WAS (and still is in many cases) when General Colin Power started his career and moved forward.

Colin Powell's 13 Rules of leadership

1. It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the moerning.
2. Get mad, then get over it.
3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
4. It can be done.
5. Be careful whom you choose
6: Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
7. You can't make someone else's decisions. You shouldn't let someone else make yours.
8. Check small things.
9. Share credit.
10. Remain calm. Be kind.
11. Have a vision. Be demanding.
12. Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13. perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

Improve the strategic thinking process with 15 minutes everyday

2010-11-18T08:21:00.003-06:00

http://www.forbes.com/2010/11/09/strategic-thinking-innovation-creativity-leadership-managing-rein.html?partner=executive_picks_newsletter

The article starts with the question "How do you improve your thought process?"

Constantly question your own opinion
On a regular basis question your own analysis to see if others' criticisms of your positions make sense
Surround yourself with people who look at the world differently
Recharge your brain and body regularly by putting yourself in different environments that will give you different perspectives and challenge your world view.

People/organization I need to read

World bank officials
Jim Rogers
Jim Chanos, the hedge fund short-seller
Paul Krugman
Martin Wolf
Andy Xie, China bears
Samuel Huntingon, the author of Clash of Civilizations

10 Best Technology Books

2010-10-12T19:26:00.002-05:00

http://it-jobs.fins.com/Articles/SB128578468557442139/Best-Technology-Books-to-Help-Your-Career?reflink=djm_emailfinshouse_oct12_djusop

No Air

2010-07-12T11:02:00.002-05:00

No Air
by Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown

Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air ?

If I should die before I wake
Its 'cause you took my breath away
Losing you is like living in a world with no air, oh

I'm here alone, didn't wanna leave
My heart won't move, it's incomplete
If there was a way that I could make you understand

But how do you expect me
to live along with just me?
'Cause my world revolves around you
It's so hard for me to breathe

Tell mo how I'm supposed to breathe with no air.
Can't live, can't breathe with no air
It's how I feel whenever you ain't there
There's no air, no air

Got me out here in the water so deep
Tell me how you gon' be without me?
If you ain't here I just can't breathe
There's no air, no air

I walk, I ran, I jump, I flew
Right off the ground to float to you
With no gravity to hold me down for real

But somehow I'm still alive inside
You took my breath but I survived
I don't how but I don't even care

So how do you expect me
to live along with just me?
'Cause my world revolves around you.
It's so hard for me to breateh.

Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air?
Can't live, can't breathe with no air
It's how I feel whenever you acin't there
There's no air, no air

Got me out here in the water so deep
Tell me how you gon' be without me?
If you ain't here I just can't breathe
There's no air, no air.

No more
baby
There's no air, no air

Tel me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air?
Can't live, can't breathe with no air
It's how I feel whenever you ain't there
There's no air, no air

Got me out here in the water so deep
Tell me how you gon' be without me?
If you ain't here I just can't breathe
There's no air, no air

Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air?
Can't live, can't breathe with no air
It's how I feel whenever you ain't there
There's no air, no air

Got me out here in the water so deep
Tell me how you gn' be without me?
It you ain't here I just can't breathe
There's no air, no air

Randy Pausch Lecture: Time Management

2010-07-01T15:35:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite materials in YouTube. I saw his time management lecture slides long before he wrote the book, the last lecture. His lecture always inspires me well enough to keep me moving forward. I wish I had a chance to learn from him even if I would've ended up wiping my tears with the tissue, handed by him. (You'll understand what I'm saying once you watch his clip.)

No Excuses, No Regrets: Booz Allen Hamilton Chairman &CEO, Raplph Shrader

2010-07-01T09:13:00.005-05:00

The life with no excuse and no regret sounds quite ambituos. Booz Allen Hamilton Chairman &CEO, Raplph Shrader provides three tips for no excuse snd no regret.

All work is honorable.

Wisdom knows no rank.

Time should be precious, but not anxious.

However, I found the lesson, which he learned from his first supervisor long time ago, more valuable.

I have a great choice about my own future and need to choose wise. I would be one who control my destiny and decide what direction and how far to go.

The clip is a short clip, worth watching.

After work, at Schaumburg library

2010-07-01T06:37:00.003-05:00

My current focus is to complete Six Sigma course on time. Considering that I would need at least two months for a Six Sigma project, I truly need to complete one or more units per week.

Friends, do not tempt me by calling or inviting me after work and during the weekend until September since I SHOULD be studying.

After you, leaving me...

2010-06-30T08:26:00.015-05:00

SY drove back to school a couple of days ago after he had stayed with me for about a month. When he was with me, I felt a bit stressful because I thought I need to do something different everyday since he is with me. I did enjoy the first couple of days since he went back to school. However, having no one to talk to around me at home makes me feel lonely, which I've never felt before. Looking back the recent a few weeks with him, I felt everything placed in the right place. Now, I feel something missing.

I do not expect to feel like this, and it makes me quite uncomfortable. I hadn't realized how much I relied upon him until he left me for school.

examplary site: New York Medical Dr.'s English Study

2010-06-28T11:22:00.002-05:00

Others:

How to Study English

좋은 책 하나 잡고 큰 소리로 소리내서 읽으세요. 수준에 따라서 영어 동화책도 좋고 리더스 다이제스트도 좋고 신문이나 소설도 좋습니다. 냉수 한 그릇 옆에 갖다 놓고 목을 축여 가면서 큰 소리로 읽고 또 읽는 겁니다. 책 한 권을 처음부터 끝까지 읽기보다는 한 페이지씩 읽으세요. 한 페이지당 최소 20-30번은 읽어야 하는데 100번 이상 읽어야 될 수도 있습니다. 다음 페이지로 넘어가는 기준은 하도 많이 읽어서 거의 외워져서 다음 문장이 뭐가 나오는지 예상이 될 정도가 되어야 합니다. 단 외우려고 노력하지는 마세요. 어떻게 영어 한 페이지를 다 외웁니까. 천재도 아니고. 그냥 읽는 겁니다. 기억은 입 근육과 혀 근육에 됩니다. 그냥 술술술 나오는 것이죠.

이것이 사실 어떻게 보면 인간의 두뇌를 속이는 겁니다. 죽어라고 뭔가를 암기하면 (기말고사 앞두고 벼락치기 공부하듯이 단어를 외우면) 이 저장된 용량은 해마회(hippocampus)라는 두뇌의 부위로 가는데 이 기억은 계속 재생시켜주지 않으면 얼마 지나지 않아 다 잊어버립니다. 이래서는 영어 공부를 할 수가 없습니다. 그런데 구구단을 외우던 기억을 해보세요. 그냥 말로 노래하듯이 떠들면서 외우는데 평생 외울 수 있죠. 자전거 타기는 어떻습니까. 어렸을 때 한 번 배우면 평생 가지 않습니까. 문장을 계속 읽다 보면 패턴이 저절로 파악이 되게 되고 이 패턴의 기억이 해마회에서 전두엽(특히 expressive language 영역인 Broca's area)과 두정엽(행동의 패턴을 기억하는 부위)으로 올라갑니다. 넥타이 매면서 여기를 이렇고 꼬고 여기를 잡아 올려야지 하고 생각하는 사람 아무도 없죠. 그냥 저절로 되는 겁니다. 영어도 저절로 되게 만들어야 합니다. 그런데 여기에는 중요한 전제 사항이 있습니다. 죄송하지만 오늘은 여기까지만 하겠습니다. 좀 쉬고 다음에 찾아 뵙겠습니다.

기본기를 기르는 진짜 영어공부의 첫 단계는 전에 말씀드린대로 영어책 읽기 입니다. 여기에는 중요한 전제 조건이 있습니다. 정확한 발음이 되어야 합니다. 정확한 발음을 위해서 첫째 공부하는 자기 자신이 어떤 게 정확한 발음인지 공부를 통해서 알고 있어야 합니다. 여기에는 3-10시간만 투자되면 기본 원리는 다 알 수 있다고 전에 말씀드렸습니다. 둘째로는 원어민이 어떻게 그 책을 읽으면서 발음하는지를 알아야 합니다. 어떻게 원어민이 영어로 책을 읽게 만들 수 있을까요. 그렇습니다. 처음부터 영어 테이프가 따라오는 책을 사면되지요. 일단 중고교 교과서용 테이프가 있을 테고 각종 영어 소설도 테이프가 따라 옵니다. 리더스 다이제스트도 영한 대역에 테이프가 따라오고 수많은 영어교재, 영화영어, 영어 잡지등도 테이프가 따라 오는 게 많습니다. 그러니까 처음부터 교재로서 이런 것을 골라주면 되지요.

공부하는 순서는 일단 테이프를 찬찬히 듣습니다. 여러 번 반복해 들어보고 어디서 안 들리는지 잘 기억합니다. 해석은 안 될 수도 있지만 음을 알아들어야 합니다. 음을 알아듣는다는 말은 받아쓰기를 할 수 있다는 말과 같습니다. 해석은 직독직해가 안 되어도 일단 받아쓰기가 가능하면 한결 낫지요. 하지만 받아쓸 수 있을 정도로 이해를 하면 좋다는 말이지 영어공부를 위해서 굳이 받아쓰지 않아도 된다고 봅니다. 일설에는 받아쓰기가 영어 청취능력을 향상시키는 최고의 방법이라고 하는데 저는 그냥 듣는 것하고 테이프를 앞으로 뒤로 감으면서 받아 적는 것이 얼마나 큰 차이가 있는지 모르겠습니다. 물론 받아쓰기하기가 안하기보다 우월할 것이라는 생각을 부정하는 것이 아니라 받아쓰기를 해본 분은 아시겠지만 시간이 너무 많이 걸립니다. 받아쓰기를 하면 기억에 더 오래 남을 것 같은데 제 경험으로는 특별히 그렇지도 않았습니다.

그래서 머릿속으로 그냥 들린다 안들린다 판단하고 지나가는 것이 차라리 더 많은 듣기 공부를 할 수 있다고 봅니다만 이 부분은 논쟁의 여지가 많으므로 독자의 판단에 맡기겠습니다. 그래서 영어 읽기를 잘하려면 듣기를 먼저하고 정확한 발음을 다시 한 번 숙지한 후에 마치 테이프에 있는 목소리를 성대모사라도 하듯이 똑같은 억양, 발음으로 읽는 겁니다. 테이프를 켜 놓고 함께 따라가면서 읽어도 되고 혼자만 읽어도 되지만 충분히 듣기를 해서 발음과 억양이 익숙해진 후에 읽기를 시작하세요. 그리고 큰 소리로 읽는 것 잊지 마시구요. 노력하는 사람에게 영어정복은 더 이상 신기루가 아닙니다. 반드시 얻어질 수밖에 없는 당위입니다. 아리스토텔레스가 한국 속담을 알았는지 이런 말을 했다고 합니다. “Well begun is half done."

http://filldream.tistory.com/entry/%EC%84%B1%EA%B3%B5%EC%A0%81%EC%9D%B8-%EB%8C%80%ED%95%99-%EA%B3%B5%EB%B6%80-%ED%95%99%EC%A0%90%EC%97%90-%EA%B4%80%ED%95%98%EC%97%AC

공부를 할 때에 성적이 잘 나오는 요령은 하나 밖에 없습니다.

도서관에 오래 앉아 있는 것입니다.

Belinha has more than good looks by betta design

어차피 대학 진학 할 정도의 지적 수준을 가지고 있으면 특출한 인재 아니고서는 지적 수준은 거의 비슷하다고 생각합니다. 그렇기 때문에 도서관에 오래 앉아 있는 사람들이 좋은 성적을 낼 확률이 높은 것 이지요. 좀 독하다! 라는 생각을 하실 수도 있지만 주중에도 도서관 문 닫을 때까지 공부하고 또 주말에도 도서관에 나가서 공부를 하는 습관을 들이면 성적은 좋아집니다. 혼자서 늦은 시간까지나 주말에 나가서 공부를 하는 것은 참 곤욕일수도 있고 외로울 수도 있습니다. 하지만 이때의 4년간 노력이 여러분의 인생을 좌우한다고 생각을 하면서 자신을 채찍질해야 나머지 인생 40년이 편해집니다.

이런 식으로 혹독하게 공부를 하더라도 토요일 같은 경우에는 꼭 오후 8시 정도에 공부를 마치고 친구들과 저녁식사도 하고 당구도 치고 소주도 한잔 씩 하면서 스트레스도 풀고 재충전 하는 것을 잊지 마시기 바랍니다. 시간이 안 되더라도 학교에 있는 체육관에서 주에 2 -3번 정도 운동을 하는 것도 빼먹지 마시고요.

그리고 하나 더 덧붙이고 싶은 것은 시험을 앞두고서 이정도면 됐다 는 생각이 들었을 때에 공부를 더 하는 것 입니다. 그러면 성적이 잘 나옵니다.

성적 올리기 참 쉽죠? 이 블로그에 들어오시는 분은 다들 공부를 잘 하시는 분 아니면 잘 하셨던 분이라는 생각이 드는 이유는 무엇일까요?

여러분께서 계속 듣기 연습을 열심히 하고 있다고 가정을 하며 (^^) 오늘은 회화 시에 가장 두각을 나타내는 phrasing 에 관해서 이야기 해보겠습니다. 언어학 적으로는 phrasing 이라는 표현을 많이 사용하지 않습니다. Phrasing 은 음악에서 주로 사용하는 단어입니다. 영문학에서 사용하는 Phrase 와는 다른 개념입니다. Phrase 는 단어를 모아논 incomplete sentence 이고 phrasing 은 대화시 자연스럽게 진행되는 대화를 풀어나가는 방법에 가깝습니다.

Phrasing 이 왜 중요하냐면 우선 기본 대화에서 가장 유창하게 말을 할 수 있는 골격을 만들어 주기 때문이고 또 고급 영어로 올라가려면 다 방면에 필요한 phrase를 만들고 사용할 수 있어야 하기 때문입니다.

우선 음악적 설명부터 하겠습니다. 위 악보를 보면 상단은 코드 (몇개의 음이 하나로 조합된 것) 로 구성이 되어 있고 하단은 멜로디로 되어있지요? Phrase 의 예를 들자면 원더걸스의 “텔미 텔미 테테테테테 텔미” 부분이 하나의 phrase 라고 할수 있으며 재즈나 블루스 음악에서는 lick 이라고도 하는데 이는 하나의 주된 아이디어를 두각 시키는 부분이라고 할 수가 있습니다, 예를 들자면 제 기타 동영상을 보면 배경 반주가 나오고 제가 그 위에 멜로디를 연주를 했지요? 그리고 자세히 들어보면 제가 연주하는 멜로디가 끊기기도 하고 또 다른 모티브로 가는 것을 들으실 수 있으실 것입니다. 음을 하나하나 연주하는 것이 아니라 한 3 - 4초 동안 한 block 으로 연주를 하는 것입니다.

언어도 마찬가지이지요. 단어를 하나하나 외우는 것도 좋지만 단어와 문법을 조화를 시켜서 하나의 정형화된 문장이나 phrase 로 외우는 것이 실전에는 훨씬 더 도움이 됩니다. 왜 냐면 실제로 말을 할 때에는 한 문장이나 phrase를 위주로 말을 하지 단어로 끊어서 말을 하지 않기 때문입니다. 그리고 하나의 phrase를 외워놓으면 상황에 따라서 단어를 한 두 개 만 바꾸어서 다른 경우에 적절하게 사용 할 수 있기 때문에 좋습니다.

예를 들자면 어린 아이 같은 경우에는 길을 물어볼 때 “아저씨. 자이 아파트가 어디예요?” 라고 물어볼 것입니다. 하지만 직장인 이라면 “ 실례합니다. 말씀 좀 여쭈겠습니다. 이 근방에 자이 아파트가 어디에 있는지 혹시 알려주실 수 있으시겠습니까” 라며 목적지를 물어 볼 것입니다. 같은 내용이지만 후자의 경우에는 더 공손하면서도 사회적으로 많이 사용하는 정형화된 표현을 합쳐서 사용하는 게 익숙해 졌기 때문에 아마 어떤 말을 해야지 라는 생각을 하지 않아도 저런 식으로 정형화된 표현을 할 것이라고 생각합니다.

어느 상황에서 어떻게 말을 해야 하나를 신속히 파악하고 그 파악된 phrase를 가지고 대화에 적용을 하면 효과적이며 세련된 대화가 되겠지요? Phrase는 주로 현지인들이 사용하는 정형화된 것을 위주로 그냥 외우는 것이 좋습니다. 어디서 배울 수 있을까요? 신문이나 책 아니면 영화에서도 많이 배울 수가 있습니다. 이때에 중요한 점은 무엇이 주어이며 동사인가를 따지지 말고 그냥 phrase 자체를 외워야 하는 것입니다.

Bookshelf@work by jurvetson

예를 들자면 회사에서 회의 중에 상관이 지시를 합니다. 다른 부서에 있는 John한테 연락을 해서 결산 서류를 가지고 이곳으로 와 달라고 전화로 부탁을 하라고 주문을 합니다. John한테 전화를 하는데 John 이 자리에 없어서 음성 사서함에 메시지를 남겨야 합니다. 주변에 있는 다른 사람들도 전화 내용을 듣고 있습니다. 이런 때에 어떤 phrase를 사용해야 하는지 알고 있으면 편하겠지요? 동료들이 듣고 있는데 버벅대면 안 좋겠지요?

예를 들자면
Example 1. "Hi John. This is Filldream. Hope things are well with you. I am reaching out to you to ask about that closing statement you were preparing. I am here in Michael Jackson's office. Could you contact me at his extension X 3333 when you get this message please?. 밑줄 친 부분이 하나의 phrase 중에 외워야 할 부분입니다.

처음 할 인사부터 나중에 연락을 해야 할 전화번호까지 알려주는 하나의 phrase를 배워서 외우면 세련되게 말을 할 수가 있는데다가 덜 버벅(?) 되겠지요? 처음 할 인사 따로 배우고 나는 누구입니다 따로 배우고 제가 전화를 하는 이유는 무엇입니다를 따로따로 외우면 실전에서는 smooth 하게 대화를 하기가 힘듭니다. 따로 따로 배우는 수준은 초급 수준에서는 괜찮지만 고급 레벨에서는 전체 phrase를 만들 수 있는 능력이 있어야 합니다.

평소 대화 시에도 마찬가지입니다. 예를 들자면, 회사에서 아침에 동료랑 이야기를 할 때에도
Example 2. “Hi John, how are you doing? I am well. Thanks. Hey, did you read that article about Goldman on NY Times? The SEC wants to play hardball now. I am not sure if I agree with what they are saying but I understand their motives".

위의 phrase를 변형을 시키면 다음과 같이 됩니다.
Example 2.A "Hi John, how are you doing? I am well. Thanks. Hey did you read that article about iphone taking over the world on NY Times? I am not sure if I agree with what they are saying but I understand that it could be possible".

중간에 들어 갈 단어만 바꾸면 아침 대화시 시사문제에 관해서 얘기할때 유용하겠지요? 이 phrase 를 외우시고 정형화된 것을 만드시던지 배우시면 됩니다.

다분야와 상황에 맞는 phrase 의 샘플은 다음 기회에 더 많이많이 남기겠습니다!

참고:
Phrasing 은 고급 레벨에서 주로 사용하기 때문에 초급인 분들은 어렵다고 느끼실 수도 있음을 미리 알려 드립니다. 고급레벨이 계신 분들은 약간 수월하겠지요? 글로벌 기업에서 볼수 있는 매니저나 이사들은 세련된 phrasing 을 기본 바탕으로 하여 밥벌이 하는 사람들이 많답니다.

드디어 듣기 연습 2 탄이 나왔습니다.

제가 한달 전 정도에 어떤 식으로 연습을 하시라고 포스팅을 한 적이 있는데 다시 잠깐 recap 을 해보자면:

선택한 노래의 가사를 인터넷에서 구합니다.

 - 이어폰을 이용하여 노래를 반복해서 들으면서 음이 올라감, 내려감, 떨림, 힘의 강/약, 쉼표, 숨을 들이마시는 부분을 체크를 합니다. 작은 부분 하나하나 까지 다 체크를 합니다. 이때에 중요한 포인트는 원곡을 부르는 가수와 “똑같이” 노래를 부를 수 있을 정도로 연습을 해야 합니다. 잘 듣는 게 중요 하겠지요?

 - 몇 번이고 원곡을 부르는 가수와 똑같이 할 수 있을 때에 본인의 노래를 녹음 합니다.요새 핸드폰이나 웹캠에는 녹음을 시킬 수 있는 기능이 있지요? 반주를 약간 작게 틀고 원곡을 부르는 가수와 똑같이 노래를 부르며 녹음을 합니다.

 - 원곡과 본인이 부른 곡을 같이 틀어서 원곡과 다른 점이 어디에 있나 다시 한 번 검토를 합니다.

다시 말씀 드리지만 이 연습은 듣기 연습입니다. 듣기 연습의 중요성은 꼭 영어가 아니라 한국말을 포함한 다른 나라 말도 마찬가지이고 평소 대화시나 노래를 부를때에도 중요합니다

한국 사람이나 일본 사람이 영어를 못 하는 가장 큰 이유는:

”영어를 영어같이 구사하지 않는 다는 것입니다”

영어를 영어같이 구사하지 않는다는 것은 쉽게 얘기하자면 현지인 같은 음의 높낮이, 끌기, 악센트 넣기, 쉽표 넣기를 안 한다는 것이지요. 발음의 성숙도 이전에 가장 먼저 해결 되어야 하는 것이 영어를 영어같이 들리게 하는가. 같이 말하는 게 중요합니다. 트로트를 부르려면 트로트 같이 부르는 연습을 해야하는 것 과 같습니다. 이 문제를 해결하려면 우선 듣기 훈련이 잘 되어야 합니다.

영문학 박사이건 미국에서 30년을 하루종일 영어만 사용하는 교포들이건 종로 2가에서 영어를 가르치는 사람이건 공통적이며 심각한 문제이지만 여태까지 제대로 지적을 받지 않은 부분입니다.

상대방이 말하는 것 (영화나 라디오 미드 모두 다 포함해서)을 제대로 들어보는 연습을 하지 않았으며 더 심각한 문제는 자기 자신이 영어를 할 때에 어떻게 들리는가를 잔인하게 평가를 해 본적이 없는 것 입니다.

(특히 교포분들은 이 잔인하고 critical 한 평가를 더 해야 하는것 같아요. 안좋은 버릇이 든 분들이 참 많더라구요. 그냥 듣고만 넘어가지 마시고 한 번 평가 해 보세요^^ 화이팅!!!)

그렇기 때문에 영어로 대화할때에 들어보면 우선 영어를 하는것 같이 들리지 않고 (물론 그렇기 때문에 무슨 소리인지 알아 듣지를 못하고) 둘째로는 어느정도는 회화가 가능하다고 해도 고급 수준에 이르지 못하는 것 입니다. 교포들 같은 경우에 문제는 약간 다른 각도에서 오는 문제인데 주로 필요없 (필요 이상이 더 적절한 표현인 것 같습니다) 이 발음을 꼬는 것 과 비음을 집어넣는 경우를 많이 봅니다. 게다가 중간에 "You know~~~~ You know~~ " 를 집어넣으면서 듣는 사람들을 짜증나게 하는 경우도 많습니다.

오바마나 스티브 잡스가 말하는 것을 들어보면 필요 이상으로 발음을 꼰다던지 비음을 넣지 않습니다.

그래서 제가 듣기 연습 I 과 II에서 노래를 틀어놓고 음이 올라가나 내려가나 숨을 어디에서 들이쉬나 떨림이 있나 없나 등을 유심히 관찰(?)한 후에 노트를 해 보시라고 권장을 한 것입니다. 여기까지는 듣기 연습이지요?

이 후에 녹음을 통해서 내가 말하는 것이나 노래하는것이 어떻게 들리는가를 오리지널과 비교를 해보시라고 한 것입니다. 아무리 잘 들었어도 귀에 들리는 데로 말을 못하면 말짱 헛 수고가 되니까요. 들리는데로 말하기 연습은 꼭 오리지널과 비교를 하면서 내가 부르는 노래가 어떻게 들리는가를 집중해서 들어봐야지 가능한 것 입니다. 그렇기 때문에 여러분 목소리의 녹음은 필수 입니다. 여러분이 녹음된 자신의 목소리를 들었을때에 꽤 괜찮다라는 생각이 들을 때가 되면 발음/발성이 좋아진것 입니다. 영어가 영어 "비슷하게" 들리는 레벨에 오른것 이지요.

이 연습을 하면 상대가 말하는 것을 제대로 들을수 있고 또 본인의 영어와 비교를 할수 있기 때문에 발음과 발성 향상에 아주 큰 도움이 됩니다. 공짜로 오바마나 스티브잡스 같이 영어를 할수 있는 방법이지요. 어떤 식으로 회화 공부에 적용하는 법을 동영상을 통하여 포스팅으로 올려드리겠습니다.

다시 강조 하지만 교포들도 이 연습이 필요하고 영어를 처음 배우는 분도 이 연습이 필요합니다. 이 연습을 하지 않으면 필요없는 고생을 더 할수가 있습니다.

둘째는 고유 음계 파악이 안되는 문제입니다

이것도 듣기 문제인데 약간 지적이 필요해서 둘째 포인트로 알려 드립니다.

잘 들어보시면 로맨스 언어 (라틴에서 파생되어 나온 영어, 스페인어 ,이태리어, 불어 등등)와 한국어의 가장 큰 차이는 음계와 리듬의 차이입니다 (단어나 문법을 당연히 제외하고 말입니다). 로맨스 언어는 음절의 높낮이와 언어의 고유 리듬 파악이 단어외우기 보다 더 중요한 언어라는 것입니다. 이 차이를 인식을 하고 다른 나라 언어를 할 때에는 고유 음계와 리듬을 몸에 각인을 시켜야 제대로 대화를 구사 할 수 있으며 고급 영어를 구사 할 수 있는 것입니다.

~ Play with me... ~ by ViaMoi

이에 비해 한국어나 일어는 (거의 비슷한 언어라고 할 수 있지요) 음절의 높낮이가 일정하다는 것이 특징입니다. 그렇기 때문에 한국 사람들과 일본 사람들이 영어 듣기와 말하기가 잘 안 되는 것이지요. 투자하는 돈에 speaking 과 listening 의 대비는 한국이나 일본보다 경제 수준이 낮은 나라보다도 떨어지는 듯합니다. 언어의 뜻이 음의 높낮이의 차이로 바뀌는 중국어를 구사하는 사람들은 발음이 안 좋은 단점이 있지만 대화 시에는 이 높낮이와 리듬의 덕을 많이 보는 편입니다.

한국뉴 스나 방송을 들어보시면 잘 아시겠지요? 한국어는 거의 같은 음으로 가다가 가끔 마지막 자에서 음이 올라가거나 내려가며 마지막 자는 약간 끌어주는 음정을 가지고 있습니다. 아니면 한 소절에 한음이 오라가서 시작하고 다음 소절에는 한음이 내려가는 정도 입니다.

한국어나 일본어의 음정을 그림으로 그려보자면:(그림으로 그리면 거의 이런 식 이지요. (아직 음표 그리기 기능을 배우지 못했기에 이해를 부탁드립니다)

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♪♪ ♪ ♪♪♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

지금 출 근 중 입니다 아니면 지금 출근 중 이예요

이정도의 음은 변화가 있습니다.

반음이나 한음 정도가 변동이 있을 수가 있네요

영어는 그림으로 그리면 어떨까요? I am going to the office 라는 말을 할 경우에는 going 에서 음이 한 2도나 3도 정도 올라갔다가 to 에서 다시 내려 왔다가 Office 의 O 자에서 다시 올라 갔다가 내려오는 것 이지요.음이 올라갈 때에 한국어 같이 끊어지지가 않으면서 악보로 치자면 이음줄이 붙는 것 이지요.

         ♪                     ♪

          ♪
♪♪            ♪ ♪           ♪♪

I am going to the of   fice

이 차이점을 무시하고 영어를 할 때에 한국말 하듯이 일정한 음으로 말을 할 경우에 현지인들이 못 알아듣는 것 이지요. 높낮이의 변동을 정확하게 해주면 음정으로 뜻을 이해하기도 합니다.

The US firm KPMG LLP just announced that its current CEO, John B. Veihmeyer, 54, will become the chairman and chief executive of the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm for a five- year term, starting June 10, 2010 and going till June 9, 2015.

When John Veihmeyer accepted a position at an accounting firm after college, it was the beginning of a 33-year career there. He started as a public accountant and worked his way up the company to become it's chairman and chief executive. He attributes much of his success to mentors.

What do you think is the most common mistake people make in their careers?

One of the most common mistakes any professional for that matter, can make is to fail to identify a mentor early on in their career. A professional colleague, a boss, a teacher, a good friend in the business -- people who understand you and your profession -- can be an invaluable asset to you as you build your career. Mentoring provides a constant learning experience. You learn from your mentor, and your mentor learns from you. This relationship can help guide and shape many of the professional decisions that you may have to make and, in turn, allows you to share your expertise with others. The role of a mentor is critical to good business both in and out of the boardroom.

What is the best advice you've ever received from a mentor? How did it help advance you in your career?

One of the very best pieces of mentoring advice I ever received was to "view a challenge as an opportunity" and then "take it on and do it better than anybody else." I recall one specific moment, when KPMG's leadership asked me to consider accepting a particular position that, at the time, I thought would be something of a roadblock to achieving one of the goals I had set for my career in public accounting. I shared my concerns with a trusted colleague, who I have long considered to be my professional mentor, and his response has stayed with me over the course of my 33 years with KPMG. He said, "look at this challenge as an opportunity, accept it, and then do it better than anybody before you ever has." I took his advice, and he was right. In hindsight, the experience I gained in that role did more to prepare me for the rest of my career than anything else I could have done.

More often than not, the professional experience and finely honed perception that a mentor can provide allows a person to see things in their crystal ball a bit differently and, often, for the better.

2010 The Washington Post Company

“대화 시에 답변은 꼭 20초를 넘기지 말자“입니다.

(원래는 30초인데 20초를 넘기지 않는 연습을 하면 더 도움이 될 것 같아 20초라고 하였습니다.^^)

오늘부터 친구들이나 동료들과 대화를 나눌 때에 관찰을 한 번 해 보세요. 거의 모든 사람들이 말을 할 때 보면 (단 답을 요하는 질문을 제외하고) 거의 횡설수설로 말을 질질 끄는 것을 느끼실 수 있을 것입니다.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates by Joi

(잡스나 게이츠가 말 하는 것을 들어보세요. 다른 유수회사의 CEO들이나 오바마가 말 하는 것을 들어보세요. 아무리 어려운 개념이라도 쉽게 설명하지요. 물론 준비 된 면도 없지않아 있으나 이들이 달변가 임은 확실합니다)

믿기지 않는 다구요? 그렇다면 다음과 같은 질문을 본인이나 친구한테 던져보세요. 우선은 한국말로 답을 해 보시고 그 다음에는 영어로 해야 되겠지요? 30초의 시간을 드리겠습니다.

일반적인 질문:

● Describe your work and the specifics of your work

● Describe the last movie you saw

● Describe your colleagues and how close you are with them

전문적인 질문: (읽어보시고 관심 있는 분야에 한해서 답 해 보세요)

● Describe the mechanics of credit default swap

● Describe the impact of weakening Korean Won to the Korean balance of trade

● Describe how "that" application was developed

● Describe marketing strategy for this product

● Describe how you are going to motivate the people who report to you

30초 안에 제대로 답하기가 아주 쉽지는 않을 것입니다. 한국말로 30초 내에 답을 못하면 영어로는 더 어려울 것입니다. 30초를 넘기면 거의 횡설수설이 될 가능성이 높습니다.

효율적으로 영어공부를 하는 요령

영어 공부 초기에 반드시 자신의 발음을 되짚어 본다.
말할 수 있는 만큼만 들린다. 듣기와 말하기를 동시에 공부한다.
매일 꾸준히 한다.
가급적 영어를 쓰는 환경에 노출되도록 노력한다 .
영어 귀가 뚫리는 비결 없다.
그냥 영어 잘하는 비결이 있을 뿐이다.
지나치게 높은 영어공부의 목표설정은 좌절을 부른다.
적절한 목표설정이 필수적이다.
영어공부 초보일 때 발음을 정복해야 한다.
늦으면 더 고치기 힘들다.
말할 수 있는 만큼만 들린다.
잘 들으려면 잘 말할 줄 알아야 한다.
영어는 매일 공부한다.
하지만 슬럼프에 빠지면 과감하게 영어를 떠나 방학을 갖는다.
영어를 매일 듣고 읽으면서 사는 습관을 들인다.
책상에서만 영어를 접하면 시간이 부족하다.
머리가 나쁘거나 영어에 재능이 없는 사람은 남보다 더 연습하면 된다.
그러면 최소한 남들과 똑같이 아니면 더 낫게 된다.
돈이 너무 많이 드는 영어공부는 재벌들이나 하는 것.
공부는 내가 하는 것이다. 돈이 많이 들 이유가 없다.
속성으로 영어를 완성시켜준다는 방법을 믿지 말라.
원어민도 평생 하는 공부를 단 몇 달에 할 수 없다.
몇 번 들어서 안 들리는 것은 천 번을 들어도 들리지 않는다.
발음을 모르고 뜻을 모르기 때문이다. 그냥 대본(책)을 봐라.
영어를 늘리려면 영어책을 큰 소리로 반복해서 읽는 연습을 하라.
이 과정 없이 영어 잘하게 된 사람 별로 없다.
만약 토플, 토익 점수가 목표라면 그냥 토플, 토익책을 봐야 한다.
시험점수 올리는 데는 시험 준비 서적만한 것이 없다.
영문법을 알아야 한다.
하지만 따로 영문법만 공부하면 영문법을 영영 깨우치지 못한다.
원어민 강사는 영어를 가르쳐 주는 사람이 아니고 실습하는 파트너
내가 미리 준비해간 밑천이 없으면 얻는 것도 없다.
영어연수도 미리 공부해간 내용을 써먹는 기회로 활용하라.
외국가면 저절로 영어가 터지는 것이 아니다.
영어 공부 교재는 흥미를 가지고 오래 공부할 수 있는 분야로 고른다.
가다가 포기하면 아니감만 못하느니.
영어 공부할 책은 자신의 수준보다 약간 높은 것을 택한다.
걷기부터 배우고 뛰기를 배우자.
영어단어는 최대한 많이 알아야 하나, 단어만 공부하면 소용이 없다.
단어는 문장 속에서 익혀야 한다.
실생활에서 많이 쓰는 단어를 우선적으로 외운다.
단어는 잊어버리지 않도록 주기적으로 반복해서 공부해야 한다.
영화나 드라마는 최고의 공부교재이지만 수준이 맞지 않으면 시간낭비
내 수준에 맞는 교재를 찾아야 하는 것은 영화도 예외가 아니다.
알면서도 말을 하면서 발음과 표현에 실수가 많으면 더 연습해야 한다.
첫째도 연습, 둘째도 연습, 셋째도 연습.
자신감이 없으면 영어실력의 절반밖에 표현하지 못한다.
자신감이 없는 당신, 미국 배낭여행이라도 다녀오시길.
영어로 일기쓰기는 영어학습자들의 필수코스이다.
아직 시작하지 않았으면 오늘 시작하라.
교육방송 라디오의 영어학습 프로그램을 활용하라.
공짜지만 학원보다 낫다.
라디오 영어공부 시 가능하면 교재를 구입해야 한다.
나중에 복습할 때 필요하다.
영어 정복에 시간이 오래 걸리는 것을 인정해야 한다.
투자할 수 있는 시간이 다 다르지만 일반적으로 최소 3년은 잡아야.
학원만 다니고 복습을 하지 않으면 밥을 열심히 씹고 다시 뱉는 것.
아무리 씹어도 삼키지 않으면 배가 부르지도 살이 찌지도 않는다.
완벽한 발음에(원어민과 똑 같은 소리) 집착하지 말라.
대신 정확한 발음을(발음기호대로 내는 소리) 위해 노력하라.
누구나 영어 잘할 수 있다.
심지어는 난 아니라고 생각하는 당신도!!

[SHMC] Women's Pannel

2010-04-15T13:03:00.001-05:00

Presence & Credibility
- Practice power gesture
- Practice deeper and louder voice
- Be good at excel
- Be data analytic
- Be prepared
- Use the white board; make the white board your friend to control the dialogue
- Ask so-what question: What should we do with the knowledge?
==> What would we do differently with the knowledge is 1) A by Monday, 2) B by Tuesday, and 3) C by Wednesday.
- Ask the opinions: Tell me what's missing here. Tell me how I structure this. Tell me the process is right.

Challenges
- Manage rock stars
- Adapt different communication settings
- Exercise power

2-cents Advice
- Follow your heart
- Support the idea with data
- You are being a roll model of somebody
- Develop relationship
- Develop a piece of masculine interest

The Take-away
- To be honest & Do not compromise yourself
- Gran the data and provide a structure
- Develop & Network people. Find varied qualities from different people

Women's Panel

Anne Martinelli:
MBA: Stanford
Current position: General Manager/Director, International and Sears.com/español, Online Business Unit
Previous position: Director, Online Strategy and Multi-Channel initiatives; Customer Strategy team
Previous work experience: The Boston Consulting Group, Gap Inc., Tea Collection

Michele Khim:
- MBA: Kellogg
- Previous Work Experience: Best Buy, Dell, Ford
- Current SHC Position: Director, HA Merchandise Strategy
- Previous SHC Position: Customer Strategy

Chaneice Brown:
- MBA: Kellogg
- Previous Work Experience: McKinsey, Kelloggs, Booz Allen & Hamilton
- Current SHC Position: DVP, Format Renewal, mygofer Joliet lead
- Previous SHC Position: Customer Strategy team

Useful links for the life

2010-04-01T14:54:00.000-05:00

Dinner in fifteen minutes flat

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/dinner-15-minutes-selections/index.html?xid=RS-round-table-04-01-10-dinner-in-fifteen-tool

[SHMC]IDP 2nd meeting

2010-03-23T11:22:00.001-05:00

Goal Setting

SMART goal: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound
Have a variety of activities to achieve a goal
Create active plan
Success Measurement: How and when will you measure success?

Homework for Next Session

Complete my IDP in HRP
Review session in APrial
Share IDP with manager, mentor for additinoal feedback
Tack your progress

Next Session: information exprience sharing

Quotes

Challenge yourself to look through in different lenses
Don't try to boil the ocean

Are you born to be a billionaire?

2010-03-17T11:34:00.000-05:00

There would be nobody who does not want to be a billionaire. In fact, most people would do anything to be a billionaire, but not everyone be, obviously. Forbes.com has an interesting self-assessment, titled 'Are You Born To Be A Billionaire?'
Link: http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/09/born-to-be-a-billionaire-entrepreneurs-management-billionaires-2010-assessment_slide.html

Why go big at all?
Mapping out your long-term goals for the bussiness is critical before you decide to kick growth into high gear,
Can you see around corners?
Empire-building isn't just about goal-setting and pinpoint execution. Self-made billionaires don't dominate industries, they transform them--and spawn new ones. That take more than intelligence, courage and luck; it takes driven-like vision.
Can you tolerate and manage ambiguity?
Successful entrepreneurs can see through a jungle of conflicting data. If ambiguity doesn't grind you to a halt, then you might have what it takes to go big.
Do you prize independence?
Do you have the guts to double-down?
Amassing $1 billion means spurring tempting million-dollar offers from larger competitors and buyout shops. Now that takes true fortitude.
Are you inspired by Creativity or More process-oriented?
Many entrepreneurs start companies on raw creativity. They envision a new niche--a brand new world, even. But such imagination can get in the way when it comes time to install--and live within--the systems and process necessary to accommodate growth.
Are you willing to make tough decisions for the growth of the company?
Do you like speaking in public?
If public speaking isn't your forte but you still want to grow, find a confident substitute who can sell your story.
Are you a consensus-builder?
In most cases, the bigger your business, the more input you need from those around you. That means being willing and able to marshal consensus.
Can you delegate?
The bigger your business, the less time you'll have to interact with your employees.
If you say you need it on your desk by 9AM, will it get done?
Anybody can hand out pink slips, but leaders of growing companies have to go a step further. They must command a certain degree of respect. As the stakes rise, you need a few drill sergeants on board. Not willing to sacrifice a little camaraderie to reach new heights? Put a cap on your growth plans.
Can you work on Christmas?
The road to the top is paved with sacrifice.
Can you deal with isolation?
Balanced billionaires can sniff out parasites and cultivate a loyal inner circle of people they trust and enjoy.

Looking

2010-01-11T06:47:00.000-06:00

Looking

by W.D. Snodgrass

What was I looking for today?
All that poking under the rugs,
Peering under the lamps and chairs,
Or going from room to room that way,
Forever up and down the stairs
Like someone stupid with sleep or drugs.

Everywhere I was, was wrong.
I started turning the drawers out, then
I was staring in at the icebox door
Wondering if I'd been there long
Wondering what I was looking for.
Later on, I think I went back again.

Where did the rest of the time go?
Was I down cellar? I can't recall
Finding the light switch, or the last
Place I've had it, or how I'd know
I didn't look at it and go past.
Or whether it's what I want, at all.

[Book] On Writing & Lesson how to write well

2009-11-13T08:53:00.000-06:00

On Writing: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Stephen-King/dp/0743455967/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258123823&sr=1-1

I read several writing books in order to make a habit to write everyday, becoming a good writer and publishing my own book at the end of day. The book that inspires me most and gives most practical advice from the first-hand experiences is Steven King’s Write It Well. It includes three of major sections: First how he started his career as a writer; second what he did to become such a successful writer; third what makes you become a good storyteller;

One of his tips to keep writing is to block certain hours every hour in order to write. This does not mean that you just set stopwatch and sit in front of table, hoping something is written up for you. You set a goal how many pages you write on a day in certain hours, have one dominant place to sit to write and commit your time and efforts to meet your goal. In his case, he sits 4 hours every day to write 10 pages every morning; then he edits whatever he wrote later. It sounds a simple rule, but anyone who has written anything would know it is not as simple and easy as it sounds. This advice is relevant the way how John Grisham finished his first novel when he was working as a lawyer. He dedicated one hour every morning before his work with no excuse.

It is insane to expect something different with doing the same thing over and over again. If you want to change something—even yourself, you need to do something differently and this rule applies to writing of curse whether it is spending one hour for writing every morning or finishing 3 pages every day. For me, this comes to a decision to make: I need to do something different everyday if I truly want to write a book someday. The world is fair at lease in a sense of this kind of principle.

SHC Weekly Ideas (SHC)

2009-09-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

Are pricing and price elasticity influenced more by relative context than traditional economic theory? If so, how might this affect our pricing strategy?

What We Can Learn About Pricing from Menu Engineers (GigaOm.com, September 13, 2009)

Relative price cues and the presence or absence of $ signs are among the subtleties that can impact consumer price perception.

What lessons could we learn about signage from the design team of the Dallas Cowboy’s new stadium?

Thoughtful sign planning points Cowboys fans in right direction at stadium (The Dallas Morning News, September 13, 2009)

Read how the design team is combining a pragmatic approach to communicate essential information and an artful approach to tell the story of the brand.

How could we be a fast follower of this and other European environmental innovations?

U.S. following Europe's lead on carbon dioxide refrigerants (Supermarket News, September 15, 2009)

U.S. retailers are following Europe in transitioning from HFC refrigerants to low-carbon business strategies.

Is there a relationship between learning modalities and creativity? If so, how could we create a work environment that stimulates ideas in associates’ minds?

See, feel and hear great ideas: Engaging your modalities in the workplace (Innovation Tools, September 7, 2009)

Your creative process may be influenced by your learning style. Once you know your learning style, there are things you can do to help better ideas in your mind.

Could a few simple tips improve meeting effectiveness and associate productivity?

Make meeting time more meaningful (Cincinatti.com, September 15, 2009)

To make meetings more efficient, start with a specific goal, ask participants to be five minutes early and have them stand to keep the meeting from running long.

Weekly reading from SHC

2009-08-03T06:59:00.001-05:00

Business Unit Leaders,

Below is this week’s installment of Weekly Ideas for Consideration. Please share these ideas with your teams so that all can benefit. Enjoy your day and weekend.

What does it take to drive cross-functional customer-centric initiatives? How can we do this while simplifying our customers’ experience?

You’re organized … how? (SmartBlog on Workforce, July 23, 2009)

Focusing on products, and not consumers, is a mistake that will cost companies sustained growth, Jay Galbraith writes.

What are the simple fundamental principles upon which we will deliver value for our customers and build life long customer loyalty?

A Fresh and Easy Place to Shop (Shopper360 Blog, July 16, 2009)

Read about Tesco, their values, strategies and the simple ideas embedded within their purpose.

How can each of us help return “personal selling” to our businesses, stores, brands and to the retail industry?

The Return to “Personal Selling” at Retail (Shopper360 Blog, July 15, 2009)

Data cannot replace the value of the human connection or of personal selling in retailing.

What can we learn from Wonga? How can we compete by offering consumers greater choice?

Wonga: How the Net Should Kill the Finance Industry (TechCrunch, July 20, 2009)

One of the benefits of the web is the break-up of many monopolistic industries, opening up markets and giving consumers choices.

How could we use virtual planograms to test format changes for a fraction of the cost? For which of our businesses might this solution make sense?

Testing Virtual Planograms in Real Life (Shoppers360 Blog, July 16, 2009)

Staples used a virtual planograms test to validate the results of the in-store test at a fraction of the in-store test's time and cost.

How can we continue to use mobile applications to not only communicate and transact with customers, but also influence their brick and mortar purchases?

Calling All Shoppers: Retailers Push Mobile Commerce (WWD Media, July 14, 2009)

Industry retailers are jumping on the mobile commerce bandwagon.

Calling All Shoppers: Retailers Push Mobile Commerce

Industry retailers are jumping on the mobile commerce bandwagon. By Christmas 2010, shopping on the road, while waiting on line at the supermarket, traveling in China or backpacking through France — wherever there is cell phone service — just might be as normal as shopping online. The latest entry: London-based luxury e-tailer Net-a-porter on Monday launched a shopping application for the iPhone. Users who download the free application can see what’s new in the store, shop and update their wish lists, among other things.

At least 11 major companies, from Polo Ralph Lauren to Sears and CVS to Galeries Lafayette are raising their profiles by offering shopping on Web-enabled cell phones. Dozens more launches are expected in the next year. The moves are being propelled by the explosion in the number of consumers using the latest phone technology. “Like a number of players in our space, we have been looking at and planning for mobile commerce for some time,” said Net-a-porter vice president of marketing Alison Loehnis. “Just under 20 percent of our customers have an iPhone or iPod Touch. The notion of being chained to one’s desk is already a thing of the past and will only become increasingly more so.”

Net-a-porter’s immediate sales projections are modest, but the company hopes to provide better service to its existing customers and possibly pick up some new ones who may discover the store while browsing iPhone applications, Loehnis said. Net-a-porter joins firms such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Urban Outfitters, Galeries Lafayette, Yoox, Victoria’s Secret, CVS, Sears, SVC, Amazon and Etsy in offering mobile commerce. To mark the kickoff, designer Roland Mouret, whose apparel is featured on Net-a-porter this week, and the site’s founder, Natalie Massenet, tonight will discuss the future of technology and fashion at Apple’s Regent Street store in London.

Mobile shopping is part of a much bigger trend, in which shared online resources and Web-enabled devices make it possible to do anything that can be done on a desktop at any time and from any place with cell or wireless service. For example, it’s possible to update a blog, Facebook page, create or view a video of a garment sample, work on a group spreadsheet on GoogleDocs or post a review on the go. “From the retailer standpoint, this will definitely be the next big thing,” said analyst Sucharita Mulpuru of Forrester Research Inc. “People will say, ‘I’ll buy it on the way home.’ It has a time-shifting and place-shifting capability.” More than half of Web shoppers own a Web-capable phone, and 14 percent of them have used the device to shop, a Forrester Research report said in February. Five percent of mobile shoppers have purchased apparel. So far, traffic and purchases from mobile devices is minor compared with e-tail and brick-and-mortar stores, typically less than 2 percent of online sales, but it is expected to grow quickly as more retailers offer the capability.

Smartphones with Internet browsing capabilities make up about 10 percent of the U.S. cell phone market. About 20 percent of mobile phones shipped in the U.S. last year were smartphones, for a total of 34 million smartphones of 170 million mobile phones, said analyst Ramon Llamas of International Data Corp. He predicted smartphone sales will increase this year even as sales of all mobile phones decrease slightly, to 37 million smartphones and 150 million mobile phones. Cell phones can access regular Web stores, but navigation can be difficult and frequently the shopping cart will not work. Adapting an existing Web store to run well on all mobile devices can take as little as six weeks. Or retailers can write an application for a specific device, such as a Blackberry, Palm Pre or iPhone, which takes advantage of unique navigation capabilities and features such as location awareness. A mobile store can use the same security as a Web store, with encryption that protects credit card data based on the latest industry standards.

Ralph Lauren was one of the first designers to launch mobile shopping last year alongside 3-D bar codes, which are common in Asia for promotions. A shopper snaps a photo of the bar code (on a package, magazine ad or billboard) and the phone is automatically redirected to a Web site. At m.ralphlauren.com, shoppers can purchase a handful of casual shirts and chinos from the RL Classics line. “Mobile gives us a new channel to communicate and engage our consumers with the world of Ralph Lauren,” said David Lauren, senior vice president of advertising, marketing and corporate communications. “The immediacy of mobile engagement can have enormous impact on consumer habits.”

When Yoox put up a test site in April without any announcement, 710 customers placed orders over their cell phones in the first month. (The orders were from real customers who found the site on their own, not testers.) Yoox founder Federico Marchetti has said the results have been encouraging. The retailer also builds and hosts Web stores for clients such as Marni, Pucci and Armani, so some of those could have their own stores for mobile devices by the end of the year, Marchetti said. “There’s a fundamental shift going on with how people use and interact with the Internet,” Sears mobile innovations team leader Thomas Emmons said in November 2008, when Sears launched its mobile site, Sears2go. “As more and more devices come out and they get better, we will see a much bigger push into this. We think there’s a strong future in this, and that’s why we got involved.”

The regular Sears site experienced a “marked increase” in visits from mobile device users, particularly the iPhone, in September 2008, Emmons said last year, adding: “If you’re marketing to people who read 85 percent of their e-mails on a Black Berry, and you don’t have a good mobile site, you’re losing that customer.” Sears views mobile as one way to reach its many offerings, including brick-and-mortar stores, Sears’ in-store kiosks, its Web store, Sears’ repair service and its two community sites (MyKmart and MySears). “We looked at what are the available technologies to help us empower the customer to shop to save time and money,” said Sears spokesman Tom Aiello. “As mobile continues to proliferate and get higher penetration, we want to use that to enable our customers to have easy access to our products and service.”

Shoppers who use Sears’ iPhone application receive special offers targeted to their location. For example, Sears could send discounts on Chicago Bulls merchandise to Chicago-area consumers in the fall. The company has received orders for parts and tools from mobile customers in remote locations, including from customers who ordered generators during ice storms when regular telephone service and power were unavailable. Sometimes shoppers will be browsing at a different retailer’s brick-and-mortar store and, unable to find what they are looking for, order it via mobile phone from Sears2go, Aiello said. “Everyone we talk to agrees that this isn’t some passing trend,” said Nick Taylor, president at Usablenet of New York, which has adapted Web stores to mobile devices for about 250 clients, including Sears, Victoria’s Secret and CVS. “More and more people are statistically expected to have successful experiences on Web sites with mobile phones, and that’s only going to dramatically increase. Anyone in the Fortune 1000 or Internet Retail 500, to the extent that you believe your company needs a Web site, you should have a mobile site.”

The travel industry, particularly airlines and railroads, was the first to move onto mobile. Taylor said he expects leading retailers will move onto the mobile Web in the next six to 18 months. Although mobile commerce is relatively small, shoppers who use it in addition to other channels are likely to be the most valuable customers, just as multi-channel shoppers are more valuable than brick-and-mortar shoppers, said Forrester’s Mulpuru. In addition to sales, the mobile Web has great promise to influence purchases via promotions, such as on Microsoft Tag, the 3-D barcode platform Microsoft introduced at the National Retail Federation convention last year. “My hunch is that visiting the Web site to purchase is going to be a fraction of the interest retailers can generate,” Mulpuru said. “We know 90 percent of retail dollars are spent in brick-and-mortar stores, and we think a lot of those dollars can be influenced by mobile devices.”

Japan is further along with mobile shopping than the U.S. or Europe, partly because of better screens. Consumers there have been buying books and music via cell since 1999, said cell phone analyst Yuichi Kogure. Three-dimensional barcodes are popular, and phones equipped with a special chip and software can act as “virtual wallets” for riding the subway, buying items from vending machines, and making purchases at the $1 billion Japanese retailer Casual City.

The twice-yearly Tokyo Girls Collection event held in one of Tokyo’s Olympic stadiums has played a major role in lifting the profile of shopping by mobile phone in Japan since starting in 2005, said Takahiro Yamamura, a business professor at Bunka Fashion Graduate University in Tokyo. Thousands of teens and young women pay from about $53 to $80 to see a fashion show with trendy, youthful designs.

“Even if you can’t go to the show, you can see the clothes on your phone and buy them on the spot,” Yamamura said, adding that he’s surprised at the phenomenon. He expected mobile shopping to be popular for more basic items like T-shirts, which are less subject to sizing and quality issues, but didn’t predict young people would use the technology for more fashionable items. “But it turns out that people are buying trend items,” he said. “They are seeing them for the first time on their cell phones and buying them on impulse without [having the luxury] of trying them on.” Shopping is a natural evolution of cell phone use, Yamamura said. Cell phones have effectively become small, easier to carry substitutes for computers.

“Size variation for Japanese consumers is not very wide, and return of merchandise after purchase is very low,” said Kana Sasaki, investment analyst at investment research information division of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. “This is another reason why retailing through cell phone is popular.”

Retail Stores Training Reading

2009-07-21T16:13:00.000-05:00

Foundation

Big Change at Best Buy: Working Through Hypergrowth to Sustained Excellence
E. Gibson, A. Billings, 0891061762
Built to Last
J. Collins, 0060516402
Inside Home Depot
C. Roush, 0071340995
Kmarts 10 Deadly Sins
M. Turner, 0471435937
On Target: How the Worlds Hottest Retailer Hit the Bullseye
L. Rowley, 0471667293
Sam Walton: Made in America
S. Walton, J. Huey, 0553562835
The Hard Road to the Softer Side: Lessons from the Transformation of Sears
A. Martinez, 0812929608

Business Fundamentals

Essentials of Supply Chain Management
M. Hugos, 0471235172
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
L. Bossidy, 0609610570
Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It
A. Reis, 0887308635
Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change
L. Hrebiniak, 01314675X
Strategic Supply Chain Management
S. Cohen, J.Roussel, 0071432175
The Goal
E. Goldratt, 0884271781
Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand
D. D Alessandro, 0071398503
The Innovator`s Dilemma
C. Christensen, 0060521996
The Toyota Way
J. Liker, 0071392319

People Improvement

7 Habits of Highly Effective People
S. Covey, 0671708635
Getting Things Done
D. Allen, 0142000280
Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
R. Fisher, W. Ury, 0395631246
How to Win Friends and Influence People
D. Carnegie, 0671027034
It`s Not How Good You Are, It`s How Good You Want to Be
P. Arden, 0714843377
Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self
R. Glickman, 0471414646
Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values
J. Huntsman, 0131863665
Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
S. Lundin, 0340819804
Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adapt to Changing Times
S. Lundin, 0340826452
Managing Transitions
W. Bridges, 0738208248
No Excuses Management
T.J. Rodgers, 0385426046
The 8th Habit
S. Covey, 0743287932
The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking
D. Carnigie, 0671724002
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
M. Gladwell, 0349113467
The Winning Spirit:16 Timeless Principles That Drive Performance
J. Montana, T. Mitchell, 0812974980
Think and Grow Rich
N. Hill, 0449214923
Who Moved My Cheese?
S. Johnson, 0091816971

Leadership

Listen Up, Leader!
D.Cottrell, 096587883X
Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way
D. Carrison, R. Walsh
The Effective Executive
P. Drucker
The Leadership Moment
M. Useem
The One Minute Manager
K. Blanchard, S. Johnson
Tough Management: The 7 Winning Ways to Make Tough Decisions Easier
C. Martin
Wooden on Leadership
J. Wooden
Zapp! The Lightening of Empowerment
W. Byham
Everyone`s a coach
K. Blanchard, D. Shula
It`s Your Ship: Mgt Techs from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
M. Abrashoff
Leadership
R. Giuliani
Leading Change
J. Kotter
The Art of Managing People
P. Hunsaker, A. Alessandra
The Art of War (Special Edition)
S. Tzu, L.Giles
The Empowered Manager
P. Block
The Endurance: Shackelton`s Legendary Antartic Expedition
C. Alexander
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
P. Lencioni
The Leader in You
D. Carnegie
The Prince
N. Machiavelli
The Real Warren Buffet: Managing Capital, Leading People
J. O Loughlin
The Servant Leader
K. Blanchard
The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola and Other Top
P. Pande, R. Neuman
The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High Performance Organization
J. Katzenbach, D. Smith
Winning
J. Welch

Additional reading...

2009-07-20T12:46:00.003-05:00

Home Services is driving the importance of customer relationship through the idea of becoming a trusted advisor. This idea is based on the book The Trusted Advisor by Charles Green & co. An added benefit to the book is that it can also be applied to our relationships with coworkers since we act as advisors on projects across functions/teams.

It’ an easy read, enjoy!
Griselda

Additional reading...

2009-07-20T12:46:00.001-05:00

[company] Weekly Ideas for Consideration

2009-07-17T13:40:00.000-05:00

Below is this week’s installment of Weekly Ideas for Consideration. Please share these ideas with your teams so that all can benefit. Enjoy your day and weekend.

What can we learn from Campbell’s about employee engagement as the cornerstone for the company’s turnaround?
How Employee Engagement Turned Around Campbell's (Forbes, June 23, 2009)
Tearing down barriers, turning over leadership and promoting from within are just some of the ways Campbell’s reengaged its employees and improved performance.

What are the 10 principles behind the design of your business model? How do these principles drive action and customer experience?
10 UI Design Patterns You Should Be Paying Attention To (Smashing Magazine, June 23, 2009)
Read about guiding principles behind user interface and online experience, the equivalent of the building blocks to a business model.

As we expand into new businesses, products and services, what lessons can we learn from Amazon about driving customer engagement?
Amazon.com Launches Outdoor Recreation Store (Street Insider, July 14, 2009)
Shipping offers, free passes, merchandise pre-orders and charitable partnerships…all related to outdoor recreation and used to engage and entice customers.

How can we translate everyday and mundane tasks into opportunities for our businesses to help our customers manage their lives, or at least their coffee orders?
Dunkin' Donuts looks to ease coffee run with new site, iPhone app (Computer World, June 22, 2009)
New Dunkin' Run Web site and application aims to quickly take group orders and eases the headaches associated with group coffee orders.

Are there opportunities for our businesses to offer virtual services, enabling a low cost service model and meeting customers’ needs?
Fit Orbit Launches with Heavy Backers, Connects You to Real Personal Fitness Trainers Online (TechCrunch, June 22, 2009)
Site offers online access to real personal trainers with customized training schedules, personal nutrition plans and a feedback loop.

As consumers shift gears from conspicuous consumption to customized connectivity, what are the opportunities for our businesses?
Conspicuous, but not Consuming (Good is/Good blog, June 20, 2009)
Americans are buying smaller homes, fewer cars. Has keeping up with the Joneses shifted from designer jeans to well-designed Twitter messages and Facebook pages?

Reference: Making runnin a habit

2009-07-15T17:34:00.000-05:00

The articl

http://zenhabits.net/2007/04/how-to-make-exercise-a-daily-habit-with-a-may-challenge/

If you’re going to make this a habit, do a 30-day Challenge, and by the end of the challenge your habit should be pretty well ingrained. Here are some practical suggestions I’ve learned along the way to help make exercise a daily habit:

Set a time.
Send yourself a reminder. I use Memo to Me, but there are a number of ways to send yourself an email or text reminder, so you’ll never forget. Then, when you get the reminder, do it right away. Don’t brook any delays.
Start small. This is perhaps the most useful suggestion of all. When I start exercising, I always start with lots of energy, enthusiasm and ambition. I think I can do more than I can. However, doing too much in the beginning leads to burnout, which leads to quitting your habit. When you first try to make exercise a daily habit, chances are, your body won’t be used to that kind of stress. The key: only do 20 minutes in the beginning, and do it nice and easy. Nothing hard. Even 10-15 minutes is fine at first, if you’re just starting out. The key is to get out there, get your body slowly used to daily exercise, and form that habit.
Progress later. Once your body is used to daily exercise, you can slowly start to increase the amount and intensity of your exercise. Wait at least two weeks before starting to increase — that’s the minimum your body needs to adjust. Once it begins to feel way too easy, you can start increasing the length of your workouts, to 30 and then 40 minutes, and eventually up to an hour. Once you do that, you can gradually increase the intensity — running faster or harder, for example. Try not to increase both distance and intensity at the same time.
Make it pleasurable. If you associate a habit with pain, you will shy away from it. But if it’s fun, you’ll look forward to doing it. That’s why, in this beginning stage of my new habit, I’ve been focusing on pleasure. I go slowly, enjoying the scenery, the fresh morning air, the beautiful sky as the sun rises, the quiet time of solitude and contemplation. It’s actually something I enjoy doing. An mp3 player with some great music helps.
Lay out your gear. The fewer obstacles and less friction there is in forming your new habit, the more likely you are to be successful. If you have to not only wake up early but get a bunch of gear together while half awake, you might just want to go back into bed. But if you lay out your workout clothes and shoes and watch and mp3 player, or whatever you need for your exercise, you’ll be ready to go with no friction at all.
Just head out the door. My rule is just to get my running shoes on and get out the door. I don’t worry about how long I have to go or how hard it will be. Just get out and get started. Once I’ve done that, it’s a piece of cake.
Mix it up. One thing I like about triathlon training is that daily exercise isn’t boring — instead of running every single day, now I’ve got a variety of sports to do, and that makes it much more interesting. But perhaps just as important is that with each sport, I’m using different muscles, especially with swimming. Sure, some of the same muscles are used, but they’re used differently with different stresses on them. What that means is that I’m not pounding the same muscles, every day. That gives them a chance to recover, because without recovery, you’re just breaking your muscles down over and over.
Have a relative rest day. Again, recovery is very important. Which is why you need to give your body a chance to rest. If you’re taking it easy, and only doing 20 minutes, you should be OK without rest days. But it’s still good to have one day of rest, where you’re not doing the same exercises as the other six days. You don’t want to skip the day completely, because then you’re not being consistent with your habit. That’s why I do one day of strength training, where I don’t use the same muscles as swimming, biking and running. If you need more rest, you could just do 20 minutes of walking, or even just a session of meditation. The key is to do something every day, preferably something that gets you moving (meditation isn’t the best example, but at least you’d be doing something) and keeps your habit formation going.
Don’t skip a day. It’s easy to say, “No problem, I’ve been doing it for five days … I’ll just skip today!” But that will make your habit formation harder. Consistency is key, so try not to skip a single day. If you do, don’t beat yourself up, don’t judge, don’t feel bad — everyone messes up sometimes, and habit formation is a skill that requires practice. Just start your 30-day challenge over again, and try to identify the obstacle that led to your skipping a day and prepare for it this time.

http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/04/23/new-to-exercise-make-workouts-daily/
I’m an avid gym goer. I go to the gym almost every day for at least an hour. But I didn’t used to be. I was never a star athlete and any exercise I got used to be pretty irregular. It took me several attempts over months to form the habit of regular exercise. In my failed attempts, one of the most important lessons I learned is that if you want a habit to stick, it needs to be daily.

The first few times I tried to install exercise habits, they fell apart. Attempting to exercise three or four times a week, simply didn’t stick. What eventually did the trick was making it a daily habit. It may seem counterintuitive that exercising more frequently is an easier habit to install, but when you look into the mechanisms that create habits, it makes sense.

Daily Habits Are More Thoroughly Reinforced

Willpower isn’t the biggest issue in trying to change a habit. Most people have enough willpower to make it through the first week or two when it is really necessary. The problem most people have is that their habits aren’t conditioned deeply enough to switch the behavior on autopilot.

To understand why, let’s compare the exercise habits of Jill and John.

John sets out a plan to exercise Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. He plans for longer workouts of about an hour. On Mondays, John wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock and heads to the gym. Without realizing it the pattern in his head that links waking up (his daily routine) to the gym is reinforced.

But on Tuesday John wakes up and doesn’t exercise at all. The pattern linking John’s daily routine to exercise isn’t as strong now. This continues for several weeks and John finds that he still needs to remind himself to go to the gym.

Jill on the other hand plans to exercise every day. She only goes to the gym for a half hour, but she is there every single day. When Jill’s alarm clock sounds she automatically reaches for her gym bag and heads out the door. Her pattern is conditioned repeatedly until it is completely automatic.

Consistency is Key

If exercising is a chore, you probably aren’t making the habit consistent enough. Nobody is a drone who executes each day identically, but you can tackle the big parts that reduce consistency. Going from a weekly to a daily habit is one of those.

Even if you don’t exercise at the same time every day, daily exercise will be linked into your brain so that your day doesn’t feel complete without it.

Making Gradual Change With a Daily Schedule

I’m a big proponent of gradual over revolutionary change. Trying to do everything at once is a sure way to fail entirely. If you aren’t exercising at all or very infrequently, shifting to a daily schedule can be tough. Here are a few ways you can gradually shift while maintaining a daily schedule:

Cut the amount of time per session - I like 60-90 minutes for a workout, but if you are already time starved starting with a daily schedule of 20-30 minutes can help.
Build it into your life - If possible you might want to walk or bike your normal commute to work.
Start easier - Don’t try a marathon each workout. Making yourself sick on the first day of exercise is an easy way to give up. Start easy and progress.

Find the Right Challenge Level

When starting a new exercise plan you need to balance between making it too easy and forgetting about conditioning it or making it too hard and giving up out of frustration. Habits of exercise for ten minutes are likely to be forgotten, while two hours of exercise a day might be too hard to take all at once.

If you’ve failed to stick with an exercise habit before, try switching it to a daily routine. I’ve done this a few times with different forms of exercise and each time I found it to be amazingly effective in getting the habit to stick.

[SHC] Weekly Ideas and Reading Topics for Considerations

2009-07-13T16:38:00.000-05:00

This week's book:
The Whuffie Factor: The 5 Keys for Maxing Social Capital and Winning With Online Communities:

Below is this week’s installment of Weekly Ideas for Consideration. Please share these ideas with your teams so that all can benefit. Enjoy your day and weekend.

What can we learn from our customers about how they interact with technology that could improve our ability to positively impact their lives?
What’s in Pogue’s Travel Bag? Literally. (New York Times, July 9, 2009)
David Pogue shares the technology he carries when he travels and how he carries it, including a mention of Sears.

How could the art of storytelling introduce a new generation of shoppers to our legacy, our brands and our role in their lives?
How Storytelling Can Help Your Company (Bnet.com, July 6, 2009)
A company’s story conveys key messages about the company, such as its commitments to quality and value.

What do retailers stand to gain (or lose) from increased government involvement in the private sector?
Why Wal-Mart Supports an Employer Mandate (Cato-at-Liberty.org, July 1, 2009)
Why would Wal-Mart support the employer mandate? Think “an enemy of my enemy is my friend”, and what hurts Target helps Wal-Mart.

When it comes to information, is it possible to have too much of a good thing? How do you cope with information overload?
Information Overload? Relax (WSJ, July 6, 2009)
Xerox makes the case that "too much information can make you feel powerless and unproductive.”

What are our key “quantifiable” success factors, and how can we share them with our teams to help associates prioritize?
Make the Connection (Toolbox for IT Blog, June 30, 2009)
How do we connect what we spend our time on to our vision? The best answer is a very clear, very short, list of Key Success Factors.

Rev. Moon and Suply Chain in the seefood industry
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-0604sushi-1-story,0,3736876.story

The woman I wanted to become

2008-09-21T20:41:00.001-05:00

I do have a habit of making commericials, persuading myself that it is necessary practices for a future marketer.
One of my favorite commercials these days is American Express Card commercials. I have to admit that the one with Diane von Furstenberg, specifically inspirs me a lot.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I knew the woman I wanted to become.
...
To become confident makes you beautiful, makes you happy, (and) makes you fulfill.

What she said makes me think what kind of person I want to become at last.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgu7tZtQLvc

just mutterring...

2008-09-10T09:16:00.000-05:00

I fell grumpy and dull in the morning, and I do not know why I feel like that. I had a good sleep last night and everything is just fine (except my hectic schedule, of course) During the marketing class, which was over right before, I had hard time understanding what the professor said. It was like I heard him, but could not get it. My brain seemed like washed out.

Nonetheless, today's topic is how much I have been blessed and how grateful I am.

I have got email from KS. He said hello and wrote about the Korean Harvest Moon Day. I was so grateful that he reminded me about Chusok since I have never had even a hint about it. I should call my friends and family to say hello and greet for Chusok.
I have great teams this semester. My finance team is wonderful. Every member is very bright, supportive and wants to contribute as much as they can do. I sometimes feel that I am the weakest link and try to harder to catch up with others. My marketing team is interesting and diverse. I can not wait to work with them, learning their varied ideas and reaching consent through exciting discussion.

It seems that the only thing holding me back is not others but myself.
I should have worked harder. I should have been more sincere in myself.
And it is not late yet.

Benjamin Franklin's thirteen virtue (from his autobiography)

2008-09-02T23:03:00.001-05:00

"TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."
"SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."
"ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."
"RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."
"FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing."
"INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."
"SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly."
"JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."
"MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."
"CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation."
"TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."
"CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never todullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace orreputation."
"HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates."

I miss you so much.

2008-09-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

I've been so into Damien Rice, an Irish singer, who has touched voice and colors in his songs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Rice)
A part of the reason why his music has driven me so much is that I miss you more and more, and the place we used to hang around together ss time passes, .
It gets worse if I listen to his songs, and I happen to listen to his songs almost everyday.

One of my favorites, of course the one, which hurts my heart most, is "Old Chest".
Whenever I listen to the last phrase of the song, I just feel something sinking in the heart.
I always believe that everything will be fine as time passes by. The thing is, as time passes by I think about us hanging together back there, missing you more and more.
How long should I wait until I finally feel fine about your absence?

"Older Chests"

Older chests reveal themselves
Like a crack in a wall
Starting small, and grow in time
And we all seem to need the help
Of someone else
To mend that shelf
of too many books
Read me your favorite line

Papa went to other lands
And he found someone who understands
The ticking, and the western man's need to cry
He came back the other day, yeah you know
Some things in life may change
And some things
They stay the same

Like time, there's always time
On my mind
So pass me by, I'll be fine
Just give me time

Older gents sit on the fence
With their cap in hand
Looking grand
They watch their city change
Children scream, or so it seems,
Louder than before
Out of doors, into stores with bigger names
Mama tried to wash their faces
But these kids they lost their graces
And daddy lost at the races too many times

She broke down the other day, yeah you know
Some things in life may change
And some things they stay the same

Like time, time, there's always time
On my mind
So pass me by, I'll be fine
Just give me time,
Time, there's always time
On my mind
Pass me by, I'll be fine
Just give me time

daily log_March

2008-03-19T17:22:00.000-05:00

Wed. March 19, 2008

The meeting with Paul C.
Topic:
the appropriate tone of email and the way to contact summer internship supervisors
Paul's Advice:
I had a tendency to show too much appreciation in my email. Given my personality and cultural background, I would look like a too nice person rather than a respectful, professional business woman.
EY:
Very interesting/helpful comments and advice. I definitely have many things to improve.
Next:
13:00 on Thu. April 3, interview email, outreaching a company, networking through the summer internship

What 2008 will be like?

2007-12-28T03:49:00.000-06:00

From the Forbes
2008: Year of Reckoning? http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0107/021.html?partner=globalnews_newsletter

the current issues
1) Americans' expenditure in exces of income, which is reflected in the US current account deficit
2) The meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, big banks moving huge, exotic assets onto their balance seets and lookin desperately for fresh capital
3) the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates
4) seeking new ways to inject liquidity into markets

Thus,
A slowdown in the US economy for 2008, which means the slowdown of the US GDP growth

The Executive Insights: James Clifton, CEO of the Gallup Organization

2007-11-04T23:02:00.000-06:00

What would make a great speaker distinguishable from a good speaker? What I have learned during the class was that very useful communication skills make on a better speaker, by using a residual message, audience sensitivity, WIIFM, and well-structured contents with abundant supporting stories. However, none would be more important than the speaker’s honest and open attitudes with first-handed experiences and thoughtful insights. I have discerned this fundamental basis by joining the Executive Insight session.

The Executive Insights of Mr. James Clifton was quite different from the former one, the one of Mr. Stephen Sheetz in terms of how the session was managed. There was no specific speech session, but the whole one-hour was contributed to the Question and Answer session, which I appreciated very much. Truth be told, I have been very interested in the Gallup since I began my career as a marketer in Korea. The Gallup Organization is one of the world’s leading research companies, specialized in management, economics, psychology, and sociology. Every marketer, who has ever read and referred to one of the Gallup’s various reports, would wonder how the famous Gallup research was planned/implemented and what value the Gallup would have regarding questioning different people in various countries.

Amongst many questions from the audience, I found these two questions were most interesting: the question that what he would do differently if he started his school and career again, and the question that what would be the most challenging moment he faced in his career. He said he wished to have someone who said to him that how important and difficult sales would be. Then, he described the moment he had to ask a banker to lend the Gallup money when the company went through the financial difficulties in the 80’s. He said he would never forget how the bank blew the smoke from the cigarette to his face. With his vivid description, I was easily able to visualize the moment and felt sympathy of his situation. With interesting first-hand experiences and a lot of knowledge, he did not hesitate to express himself during the whole session. Most of his answers, while answering a question, were focused on the statistics and real experiences and how he interpreted those facts. Every answer was well-structured, beginning with the residual message and moving to a specific story or supporting facts. (However, sometimes his voice was so small that I had to pay attention not to miss a word. Considering my seat—the third row from the front, many people who sat the back would have been difficult to catch his answers.)

Overall, the Executive Insights session with Mr. James Clifton was very interesting. After listening to the session, I thought that Mr. James Clifton was the man who went through many difficult business decisions and did not stop believing in that the Gallup has been exploring the truth and bringing it to people through questioning people in all around the world. I felt so lucky to have a chance to meet him and listen to what he said in person.

[Lucinda Williams: Are you alright?] Everyone needs someone.

2007-11-04T00:44:00.000-05:00

Everyone needs someone to hug and kiss him/her.
Maybe not always, but everyone needs someone to hold tight and give a hug and kiss.
Here , I have another question; whom do I hold tight, hug, and kiss?

Are You Alright
by Lucinda Williams

Are you all right?
All of a sudden you went away
Are you all right?
I hope you come back around someday.
Are you all right?
I haven't seen you in a real long time.
Are you all right?
Could you give me some kind of sign?
Are you all right?
I looked around me and you were gone.
Are you all right?
I feel like there must be something wrong.
Are you all right?
Cause it seems like you disappeared.
Are you all right?
Cause I've been feeling a little scared.
Are you all right?

Are you sleeping through the night?
Do you have someone to hold you tight?
Do you have someone to hang out with?
Do you have someone to hug & kiss you?
Hug & kiss you
Hug & kiss you
Are you all right?

Are you all right?
Is there something been bothering you?
Are you all right?
I wish you'd give me a little clue.
Are you all right?
Is there something you want to say?
Are you all right?
Just tell me that you're OK.
Are you all right?
Cause you took off without a word.
Are you all right?
You flew away like a little bird.
Are you all right?
Is there anything I can do?
Are you all right?
Cause I need to hear from you.
Are you all right?

Are you sleeping through the night?
Do you have someone to hold you tight?
Do you have someone to hang out with?
Do you have someone to hug & kiss you?
Hug & kiss you
Hug & kiss you

Are you all right?

Are you all right?

Are you all right?

I miss home and I miss you.

2007-11-03T19:05:00.000-05:00

While doing the Risks&Decision homework, I suddenly stopped writing because I felt so lonely. I've found myself being homesick a lot nowadays. It is wired because it's been almost three years since I left home and my family physically and I've never been homesick before. Maybe three-year is my limit of living separately with my family.

To make it worse, the song, which I happened to listening to, was about how much the singer misses his hometown and his family, named "Lake Tahoe (For My Father)" and sung by "Sherwood".

These steps they remind me of places that I used to know,
The smell and the sand of Lake Tahoe,
The restaurants and strip malls and chimney smoke,
And these bricks remind me of places I used to go,
With log cabins lining a dirt road,
When my obligations were in the snow,

I miss home and I miss you,
When there's no one around and nothing to do,

And I still remember those weekends when I was nine,
And four hours seemed like a lifetime,
But look out the window son, you'll be fine,
And I traced the railroad through mountains and watched the trees,
The white powder resting on their leaves,
As I pulled a blanket over my knees,

Oh, I miss home and I miss you,
When there's no one around and nothing to do,
And I know that you're keeping busy too,
But I miss home and I miss you.

Yes, "I miss home and I miss you, when there's no one around and nothing to do, and I know that you're keeping busy too, but I miss home and I miss you."

The thing is I have SY and tons of things to do. Then, why do I still miss home and miss my dad? It is a quite mystery to me.

By the way, I've become fond of Sherwood.
http://www.sherwoodmusic.net/index2.html

The 1st day of the 2nd module

2007-10-22T23:21:00.000-05:00

Although, I started on a module with a strong determination that I can get good grades, it seems that I’m already in trouble.In our Communication class, prof. Andy made me scared a lot. At the end of the module, every student is required to give a stock recommendation presentation. The thing is, this project has already started. I have to submit a hard-copy paper about the company which I'd like to analyze with two external analysis reports. One thing made me feel better was that I learned how to use business database such as "Gartner" and "Valueline" through the school library database.

In the Risks & Discussion class, I had a lecture from Dr. Gary Bolton, who looked like a quite character. I noticed that this subject is probably difficult as soon as Dr. Bolton announced that we'll have review session every week.

Moreover, I was assigned as the team A for the L'Oreal Case Competition, for which I kind of regret now signing up. The competition is starting November 24th, and I feel already on edge.

This is my brief emotional summary for today so far. It seems that I have endless works to do, but I believe I can handle it anyway.

As Scarlett said, after all, tomorrow is another day!

I'm sick of being me.

2007-10-11T10:15:00.001-05:00

I'm sick of being me.

Why I'm not persistent enough to keep my promise?
Why I'm not diligent enough to get A score?
Why I'm not determined enough to stick with my plan?

I'm full of self-hatred now.

Reminding myself about the goals

2007-10-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

Motto: Learning sustains the human spirit.
The mission for 2007: Efficient Learner & Sharp Business Leader

The goals for 2007:

Being the top of the class 2009
Getting a summer internship
Keeping daily logs
Running a 5-mile resolution running
Losing weight to 59

The goals for 2015:

Holding my dream degree
Owning $1 million till 45
Writing/publishing books
Running the Boston Marathon
Remaining weight, 52

Reminding myself about the goals lets me focus on what I'm seeking for.
Remember; today makes tomorrow.

Brand Management Boot Camp

2007-09-30T10:29:00.000-05:00

It was an excellent experience to join the "Brand Management Boot Camp" (BMBC). I've always wondered what it is like to work as a brand manager; finally, I grasped the big picture of brand management, thanks to the "BMBC".

If you're interested in brand management, nothing would be more valuable than to learn what it is like to work as a brand manager and to learn how to begin your career as a brand manager. First, Jonathan E. Schaefer from J&J presented us with what Brand Management is and how different it is from marketing. Then, Donna Williams from Bayer HealthCare provided us with a practical approach to get hired as a brand manager. After two information sessions, we had a field trip to Target, along with an onsite lecture about how a real product is displayed in a retail store and with what strategy. During the BMBC, I got an impression that brand management is about passion for a brand. Being a brand manager requires serious commitment as well as a strong desire to develop, implement and refresh a brand.

Furthermore, the BMBC showed what it is like to participate in Smeal's extracurricular activities: exploring possibilities and learning new business ideas. You never know what might change your life. Some classmates who joined the BMBT with genuine interest in marketing are now seriously considering a career in brand management. Consequently, I'd recommend that you try attending as many information sessions/workshops as possible and explore your interest. That is the biggest lesson I learned from the BMBC.

I can't believe we have Chuseok this week.

2007-09-24T09:53:00.000-05:00

The excitement from the new semester has already faded out while the amount of assignments and my shortcomings is snowballing.

I'm feeling depressed; however, I know I have to cheer up. I just appreciate SY's taking care of me.

the brief discription regarding my current situation is....

2007-09-19T11:54:00.001-05:00

Very simple.

Just wake up in the morning, rush to the class, do homework, have tons of team meetings, correct my resume, and go back to home at night. No preparation for class, especially financial accounting and business statistics, which I'm supposed to into, no cooking, no cleaning, and no exercise.

I believe, I've dealt with my hectic schedule so far, but finally almost stressed out. Very closed to the moment when panic set in.

2007-09-10T09:26:00.000-05:00

Class 517: Communications: Mon. Sep.10th

Review

Great speech has to have

Focus
Structure
Audience sensitive

Class

The Residual Message
What's the residual message?
What's the bottom line?
For Excellent Business Speech,

Composition

Focus
Structure
Audience sensitive

Delivery

Tips

Good talking is different from good writing
Using inclusive pronouns, such as "we", or "us", makes better connection between a speaker and the audience.

The 2nd day of MBA orientation: MBA Action

2007-08-14T21:26:00.000-05:00

Had the third day in Smeal MBA Orientation, named "MBA Action."

Arrived at the business bldg. at about 7:15 and had breakfast with other students. Had a yogurt, a couple of pieces of a watermelon, and coffee, which was good. Got on the bus to the Stone Valley and arrived there about 8 o'clock.

Met a dozen of second-year students and other staff who would help us all day long. Had been on a team, which has other 9 members, in the morning and assigned the study team right before lunch. The study team members will go through all tough schedule of the first MBA year together. All member in my team are very friendly, approachable and have interesting background or working experiences. Three of us, including me, are GAs, so I might have some advice or help from them.

In the afternoon, had some team activities, which were like some IQ tests. Later, with another team, planned a product for safe egg-dropping from 12 feet. Needed to plan marketing campaigns and give a presentation to explain our product and concept. Got pressured a lot during the process since my English wasn't good enough to join the discussion more dynamically. Still chose the marketing planning and tried to find out what I would do for the team. Finally figured out my drawing skill might helped the presentation, and it definitely worked out. Was very glad to be a part of the project.

Realized my English should be improved more, and I need to find a way to do so as soon as possible in order to experience MBA class fully. Thinking about joining the Toast Master Club even though there was no club whose time schedule perfectly matches mine. Might have to find a tutor or friend who help me polish my English.

Smeal MBA orientation: MBA Quest

2007-08-13T21:52:00.000-05:00

Had the second day of MBA orientation.

Under the name of "MBA Quest", We--Colin, Marcia, Joe, Morgan, walked around all the campus and downtown for about 6 hours, taking a lot of pictures.

I had fun while figuring out the locations of bars and restaurants. Had a slice of spinach pizza in the cheapest pizza restaurant in downtown.

Here are those pictures: my web album

Had some fun in the MBA Welcome Reception

2007-08-12T23:34:00.000-05:00

Had some fun in the MBA Welcome Reception from 13:30 to 17:00. The detail of the reception was below:

The Dean's welcome address
Introduction of the staff of MBA departments
Introduction of this two-week-orientation
Brief explanation of social-networking
Speed-networking
Reception with refreshment
Offering an information booklet w/ a mug cup as well as a locker key

Seemed to meet a lot of people for very short moments; most of them were very interesting and good to talk with, though.

Had a "Speed-Networking", the concept of which was borrowed from "speed-dating." That was fun, intensive, but too short to learn others well, which made me more curious about my future class mates.

The food in the reception was not bad at all!

interesting news for August 6, 2007

2007-08-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

Nelson Peltz, is he going to buy Wendy's?
Nelson Peltz, the 717th richest person in the world who made much of his $1.4 billion wih food and becerage companies, has made an offer for Wendy's. It seems a good news at least to Wendy's because his lucrative achievement of Snapple, which was bought for $300 million and resold for over $1 billion just a few years later. Peltz set 5:00 p.m. Wednesday as a deadline for a response; now, the ball is in Wendy's court.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/31/peltz-triarc-wendys-face-cx_af_0731autofacescan02.html?partner=faces_newsletter

The author can't stop checking his/her book ranking on Amazon.com?!
Unlike the past feedback system which you had to wait at least six months, the ranking system on Amazon.com or Banes&Noble.com has offered immediate rankings for all books. It does not only offer useful information that how many a book is sold to authors and publishers, but also have an significant influence on how many a book will be sold. That's the reason why some authors and publishers ask to buy a book at a set time, or buy up copies themselves. Writing positive reviews is also one of their strategies to sell a book more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/business/media/06rank.html?8seia&emc=seia

[excerption] Writing Advice

2007-07-31T21:25:00.000-05:00

From "Raibert's Writing Advice: Good Writing" written by Marc H. Raibert, in Jan, 1985

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/Randy/raibert.htm

My formula for good writing is simple: once you decide hat you want to produce good writing and that you can produce good writing, then all that remains is to write bad stuff, and to revise the bad stuff until it is good. So we start with two top-level tips for good wrting.
You MUST want to produce good writing.
You MUST believe you can produce good writing.
My first point is that you can only produce good writing if you want to. It takes lots of hard work; and an unfortunate fact of life is that for most of people, it will always take lots of hard work.

This article reminds me of Hemingway's saying. He said that he is not good at writing but good at revising. Every good article requires hard time and efforts. How much efforts have I made to write a good article?

[R] Carpet Cleaning

2007-07-28T14:22:00.000-05:00

I'm looking for less expensive carpet cleaning service for Parkway Plaza (2 bedrooms).

TNT cleaning: $92.95 (2 rooms+1livingroom): The chosen
(814) 404-7847
http://www.tntcleaningservices.net/
Happy Valley Cleaning Services
(814) 234-0101
happyvalleycleaningservices.com
Citiclean Inc.
(814) 237-9661
citicleaninc.com
Red Hot Carpet Cleaning
(814) 237-8255: $165
Town & Country Carpet Cleaning
(814) 234-0101
Stanley Steemer Carpet Cleaner: $119
(814) 237-7034
stanleysteemer.com
?Nittany Professional Cleaning
(814) 238-0944
?Matthew Home Cleaning Services:
(814) 777-4941
matthewshomecleaning.com

Grey's Anatomy: Desire

2007-04-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

Grey's Anatomy is one of my favorite TV shows nowadays. Many people watch it, enjoying beautiful or handosme, hot doctors, who you never meet in the hospital in the reality. I also like watching endless relationship struggless of hot doctors; however, I rather enjoy pondering what human beings are like while reckoning the comments of Intern Grey, the main character and the narrator of the show. The comments are thoughtgul and keen enough to make me reconsider my emotions, my life and myself.

>> Grey's Anatomy website:
http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/index

2007-04-27, Desire:

Too often, the thing you want most is the one thing you can't have.
Desire leaves us heartbroken. It wears us out. Desire can wreck your life.
But as tough as wanting something can be, the people who suffer the most are those who don't know what they want.

Do you know what you desire for? I was the one who always asked myself what I really want but couldn't find the answer. As I grew old, my desire to find a specil thing for me tfaded away; however, I was forced to go back to my desire when I heard Steve Jobs's Commencement Address at Stanford University. He said, "If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle. ... Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." I'm uncomfortable about the fact that I'm in the middle of thirties but still trying to find my thing. There was no surprise why the last comment of today's Grey's Anatomy was so touching to me. " But as tough as wanting something can be, the people who suffer the most are those who don't know what they want."

Because you love me (by Celine Dion)

2007-04-26T18:58:00.000-05:00

This song was originally written while the composer thought about and appreciated her father, who always believed in her. After hearing her story on TV, this song came to me with special meaning.

For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth that you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
For all the wrong that you made right
For every dream you made come true
For all the love I found in you
I'll be forever thankful baby
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through through it all

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me

You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all
I'm grateful for each day you gave me
Maybe I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me

You were always there for me
The tender wind that carried me
A light in the dark shining your love into my life
You've been my inspiration
Through the lies you were the truth
My world is a better place because of you

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me

Mad Worlds (by Gary Jules)

2007-04-26T18:13:00.000-05:00

While watching Judging Amy (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/judging_amy), which I've enjoyed watching these days, I became into one of background songs there, named "Mad Worlds". Its monotonious melody was so addict and the lyrics filled my heart with desolation.

Have you ever had the moment when you felt anchromatic desperation and fears that today was just like yesterday and tomorrow will be just like today? If you remember the moment when your sorrow was so deep and still that you couldn't even take a breath without any reason, you'll understand me, listening to the song over and over again.

Mad World
Gary Jules (cover of Tears for Fears)

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad World
Enlarging your world
Mad World.

When is the last time your heart leapted up?

2007-04-09T21:53:00.000-05:00

While reorganizing my messy computer files, I found out the rainbow pictures which were taken when I got here first. As soon as looking at the pictures, “My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold” written by William Wordsworth, one of my favorite poems just occured to me.

My Heart leaps up when I behold

a rainbow in the sky;

So was it when my life began,

so is it now I am a man,

so be it when I shall grow old,

or let me die.

The child is a gather of the man.

And I could wish my days to be bound

each to each by the natural piety.

When is the last time when my heart leapt up with excitement? What I’m saying is about the excitement from intellectual discovery or development which I found when I read Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” or Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s “The Communist Manifesto” first. It seems to have been pretty long time since I was so excited for the academic quest that I almost jumped. Comparing to myself at that time, I feel that I'm being die.

I still remember the point when I made a decision to study again; I just wanted to study harder than ever, which I didn’t do so during my college years. Fortunately, I just grasp the chance that I’ve dreamed about for my entire life. Now, I’m at the point again. From now, every move, decision, and point fully depends upon me.

Believe or not, it still snows.

2007-04-07T11:56:00.000-05:00

Believe or not, it still snows. Honestly, this is my first time to have in the early of April, which is supposed to be in the middle of warm, bright spring. The owner of the Korean Supermarket told me that the most late snow he's had was the snow on May 5th. Take a look what I have outside of the window now.

I need something to drive me into it.

2007-04-04T00:24:00.000-05:00

I need something to drive me into it.
I've been distracted so much nowadays, and I don't want to be any more.
I should be focus on being myself and achieving my goals rather than daydreaming or reading rubbish.

This year, I'll be an efficient learner, sharp business person, and keen writer with deep knowledge and insights.

the end day of the visitatiln weekend

2007-03-31T20:31:00.000-05:00

Definitely I had a great time in the Visitation Weekend. I met great people who were willing to share their experiences and wisdoms with others. It was such a wonderful experience, I can say. I couldn't believe this is already the last day of the Visitation Weekend.

Today, we had a town/campus tour, tried the famous Creamery ice cream, which is so good, but it is not allowed to sell outside of the campus because it has higher ratio of butter fat than FDA regulations. I had nice lunch at Hintz Family Alumni Center, which was a beautiful building.

What a great experience I had!
I will work hard and will be successful; later, I'd like to contribute to others just like other people I met in this weekend.

The second day of the Visitation Weekend

2007-03-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

Overall, it was pretty tight schedule today.

The event started at 8 o'clock sharp in the morning with Continental Breakfast. I was late about 5 minutes, and everyone already seemed to enjoy their breakfast. I had breakfast with girls and listened to the overview of today's program. I also had a chance to listen to Dean Thomas, who seemed nice and passionate.

Later, I took the Case Analysis class, the simulation class by Dr. Denny Gioia, who is very challenging students to take part in the class, according to one of the current students. The case study was about an ice cream division of a food company, which had been good at basic flavored products, but struggled with new competition and the decreased revenue. The class gave me an idea what the class would be going like and I really enjoyed. After the class, the professor, Dr. Denny Gioia asked me whether I enjoyed the class, passing me. It was incredibly interesting.

Then, I took Leadership Development Overview, had lunch with other perspective students, and took a building tour along with the career services overview. I also had dinner with alumni. Every table had at least one of alumni, and around my table, I had several perspective students, who had different background and working experience, and the alumni, named Sandra, who graduated from the Executive MBA program of Smeal Business School.

After dinner, we went back to the business building to join the THON auction. It was my first time that I joined an auction, which was so exciting and totally different from what I saw in a movie. The auction was for the fund for children cancer surgery. In the beginning of the auction, young couple with a childe, who was only 4 or 5 years old, stepped to the micro-phone. They were the family who got benefit from the fund. The boy got diagnosed with cancel when he was only two and half years old. He had to get surgery for five hours and go through Kimo therapy for another three months. Almost the end of the speech, the father was closed to tears, to say thank everyone, and it was definitely touching. So I also joined the auction, which was obviously thrilling, exciting experience. If I have a chance to join that kind of suction later, I am willing to do so. It was a great experience, and I really enjoyed it.

Then, I along with other perspective students went to the bar with two free drink tickets, which Admission office offered for tonight's wrap event. I hadn't been in a bar in the USA before, so I was so excited that I couldn't stop smiling. I drank Absolute Citron and Bailey’s, which was great. I'll definitely go to a bar again. I had conversation with many current students, and their comments and advice let me think about the MBA program again. In addition, I met Megan, the second year of the MBA program, who is currently working for the Institute of Business Marketing. I have been interested in the institute since I did research about the MBA program because the institute has a strong reputation in the academic area. I asked her how I can get a job there as Graduate Assistantship, which I was offered. She gave me her email address and said as long as I send her email; she will help me in every way to join the activities of the institute.

Well, I have another tight schedule tomorrow, which starts 8:30 in the morning. I gotta go.
Everyone, have a good night!

Visitation Weekend

2007-03-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

I was invited Smeal MBA Visitation Weekend this weekend. Since I got email and calls from several present students and members of staff, and their events sounded interesting, I decided to join that event.

Overall, it was incredibly great. I met a lot of people, usually present students, who were willing to give advice in regarding to school life and future careers. I can say most of my questions about the program were answered with diverse perspectives by different people.

In addition, I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and cheese, which I love. After the dinner, WMBA, the National Association of Women MBA, offered the reception for only females including staff, faculty, perspective students, and present students. The more important was what they served! They served "Chocolate Fondue with fruits, cookies, and bread, which was so awesome that I couldn't stop enjoying.

I had a great time with great people today. I have packed schedule tomorrow and the day after tomorrow for this Visitation Weekend event, but it was worth it.

I'll be being buried under a stack of books.

2007-03-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite songs is "I'll be seeing you", which gave me strong impact in the movie, "the Notebook", and I've listened to the song almost everyday since then

Well, I can't say "When the night is new, I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you"; however, I can say when the school finally begins, I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing tons of assignments. That's not from my assumption and expectation but from the present students' experiences.

Thus, I made a decision to write as many templates as possible in advance in order to make my life more relieved later. There were lots of books about business writing and proposals in the library, but I choose eight books, which had more graphs, charts, and samples about presentation and reports.

So, if you need any business document or proposal template, just call me (not now but a month later.) I'll be there for you, friend!

It's in the middle of Spring!

2007-03-28T00:03:00.000-05:00

Just a few weeks ago, it was in the middle of Winter in State College.
We had had heave snow for a couple of days and everything was covered with white snow.

Take a look at those pictures!
It is hard to believe that those picutres were taken in the same month.

I can't wait enjoying a cafe latter, sitting outside with bright sunshine tomorrow.

State College, a few weeks ago

State College, now

[article] Unhappy Meals (from NYTimes.com)

2007-03-01T21:25:00.000-06:00

Reference: NYTimes.com, "Unhappy Meals"

Sometimes I wonder, when I read an article, why an author wrote it. Of course, since writing is their job, authors probably write articles for a living. However, when I face an article which has seemingly obvious messages, with lots of information, I wonder whether those messages are what the author wanted to say entirely. That is also the first question I had when I finished the article named “Unhappy Meals.” The author kindly mentioned the core messages in the beginning of the article: eat less meat, more vegetables and whole, fresh foods rather than processed food products. To convey this message, which sounded a little bit cliché, the author gave a short history of nutrition science and explained the power-relationship behind nutrition. Despite and the steady flow of information, I couldn’t help but ask the question: is this all the author wanted to say?

With the question, the article also reminded me about the documentary named "I Eat 33,000 Calories a Day" where I heard a very impressive comment. The documentary mentioned about what a meal should look like. It said since Mother Nature is full of colors, what we have on the table should be colorful too. Beautiful yellow, red colored or dynamic green colored other vegetables, shiny purple colored shell fish and pinkish or bluish silver colored flavorful fresh fish are good examples of desirable colors as meals. Every different color emphasizes their variety and own benefits for our health. Keeping what he said in mind, when we look back in most American meals, the only colors we can notice are beige, beige, beige, and some dark brown from meat. What happens to our meals?

The article showed a clue to this question by providing a short history of nutrition and an underlying power-relationship--manufacturing suppliers, nutritionists, and journalists. The story behind nutrition was not long but not simple either. From the beginning to this moment, I learned two essential things. First, I learned how health suggestions from news lose their original message through being modified by the power-relationship. Second, the core message has been always simple and well-known--eat less meat and more fresh vegetable.

While reading the article, I kept asking myself: whom do we put the blame on? According to the author, three parties—the food industry, nutritional science and journalism--have been responsible for widespread confusion about nutrition, which I don’t agree with. After all, everyone makes a decision and acts based on their own benefits. It is true that the food industry led to a detoured message from science research and real advice from the Committee on Nutrition. However, the final decision to choose between produce products and manufacturing products still has to be made by customers.

At this point, I feel that I have to tell the truth. On my first grocery shopping trip here the USA, I was so thrilled because I found the endless rows of snacks, cereals, soup cans and frozen foods. Those foods were all processed food, some of which I've never seen before in my life. I always thought that preparing a meal by using only natural food is absolutely nonsense. We live in a time when speed and efficiency are one of the most important virtues and cooking in a traditional way is certainly not one of them. In addition, every processed meal looks very nutritious. Each package has a nutrition table showing how health the contents are. Armed with nutrition tables I feel that I've never had a problem with my health or nutrition anymore. The big supermarket looked like heaven to me. At this point, the person who made a decision of buying was me, not manufacturing food companies, nutrition scientists, or journalists. Of course, colorful packages of process foods with loud advertisement messages about how nutritious the food was always tempting. However, I chose buying those processed foods because those are more convenient even though I knew those foods were not as healthy as whole fresh foods despite what the nutrition table said.

Consequently, American meals have created to customers’ consistent need for convenience. Customers pretend to believe those foods are healthy and nutritious with the help of the manufacturing food industry, nutrition science, and journalism. Some might argue that what has happened to modern meals has been caused by modified or even wrong messages. It is true that customers expect to read true, honest messages; nonetheless, it is still the readers’ responsibility to figure out whether they accept the article, see all information as true, and follow their instructions. Maybe this is the author’s hidden message to readers. Don’t accept all information even though it is said by professionals or scientists. Judge all information yourself. Moreover, to make a right decision, it is necessary to read as many diverse articles as possible and to think by ourselves. The more we know the truth, the better judgment we can make. This is the author’s real message from this article--at least to me.

admission letter

2007-02-14T00:23:00.001-06:00

When I happened to click ‘Junk Mail Box’, I found I got email from Smeal Business School. I thought that was one of other promotion mail, but it actually turned out the admission acceptance mail. I felt so thrilled despite that I am looking forward to hearing from other two schools more. At least, I have a program I would attend to from this fall if I want. This sense of acceptance was huge especially since I received no such letter last year except the invitation interview letter from Chicago GBS, which I failed to get accepted finally.

Somehow, it seemed the perfect moment to try change in my life. Great! (However, the process for financial aid consideration is still going on, so I have to wait more. Please wish me luck!)

Commonplace log

2007-02-13T00:49:00.000-06:00

Despite that I went to bed early last night, I had hard time to get up this morning. That is probably because I ate some oily food like bread with sour cream-dipping source and lost of snacks. Whenever I ate something oily like snack at late night, like 2 hours before sleeping, I felt exhausted and uncomfortable in the next morning.

Monday is usually the busiest day in a week. I have a series of classes—two mid-literacy classes, three auditing classes and one personal tutor session—on Monday. On today’s tutor session, my tutor, Jordan, and I talked about the article named “When opium can be benign” from Economist.com. Since Jordan is interested in religion, the discussion with Jordan was very exciting.

As soon as I read Carl Marx’s famous saying, “Religion is opium to people” from the article, the old memory when I read Carl Marx’s book in university suddenly came across my mind. With my expanding knowledge and experiences, I can say that I don’t agree with Car Marx with certain level of confidence. Just like other useful methods such as money and technology, religion is also not responsible for many crimes we, human beings have committed. Not religion, but people are the one who makes a decision to destroy cultures and to kill people or to develop cultures and to help other people. We, human beings definitely tend to place the responsibility on others, which can be limitlessly both beneficial and disastrous.

In my short story class in the evening, we discussed over three short stores, all of which were about love and relationship. The teacher, Michelle, chose love stories because Valentine’s Day is coming. Among three stories—“Mathematical Aphrodisiac”, “Snow”, and “the romance of a busy broker”—I like “Snow”, the bitter sweet love story, borrowed from Michelle’s saying, most.

That story reminded me about all beautiful, shining past moments which I loved so much. Even before reading the story, I’ve claimed that every experience, relationship, and even city I visited has been remembered as a specific moment or scene which is so clear that I can see it vividly in my mind. And the story, “Snow” said exactly the same thing. After going through a short love—living with a lover in the countryside during one winter—and break-up, what she remembered was only the snow which the lover and she had on a day. Yes, I know that feeling. What I remember is the shining moment in the play ground with bracing air of summer breeze, the night on an empty street with holding hands and my throbbing heart, the warm and kind eyes staring at me with no hesitation, and the summer night filled with a soprano’s Mozart’s opera aria all around. How valuable these very moments are and how easily we have forgotten them!

Who expects small things to survive when even the largest get lost?
People forget years and remember moments.
Seconds and symbols are left to sum things up: the black shroud over the pool. Love, in its shortest form, becomes a word.
What I remember about all that time is one winter. The snow.
Even now, saying “snow”, my lips move so that they kiss the air.

From “Snow” (Husbands, Wives, and Lovers p.23)

[Times] 6 lessons for handling stress

2007-01-29T23:00:00.000-06:00

This week Time magazine, published at January 29, 2007, talked about one of my favorite issues: The Brain, a user's guide. That title sounds from the book title, "A user's guide to brain", which I found very interesting.

While I was in Boston, I brought that magazine with me everywhere I went, and enjoyed diverse articles written by varied writers. To tell the truth, most articles didn't answer my curiosity about human brains, but introduced some interesting ideas to me. For example, the article named "how the brain rewires itself (pp.72~79)" or the essay named "Time Travel in the Brain" made me definitely thrilled.

Anyway, among those articles, I chose this article because the article seemed the most helpful for everyone's everyday life.

The article suggested 6 ways to relieve our stress. (p.85)

Breath deeply.
Regular, slowed breathing--a common characteristic of meditation and prayer--alert your brain that your brain that you are in a safe place far away from predators. It also relaxes your heart, decrease blood pressure and removes wastes from the blood stream.
Take a vacation
A change of scenery clears the head, recharges the batteries and, according to a recent study sponsored by Air New Zealand, improved reaction time 82%--provided that you ignore your e-mail and allow a couple of weeks to disengage and unwind.
Make friends
Social isolation increases the physiological damage caused by stress. A 2006 survey found that Americans have only two close friends with whom they can confide their deepest concerns--down from there friends 20 years ago.
Exercise regularly
It protects the heart, which is often the first to feel the effects of stress. Studies show exercise also helps maintain the brain's ability to change focus quickly from one situation to another.
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
The antioxidants and other ingredients they contain counter balance the inflammatory proteins the body produces under stress.
Don't stay up late
Irregular sleep increases the effects of stress on your body, setting you up for metabolic imbalances that increase your risk of heart disease.
Do what you love.
Having a sense of mission about your job makes it easier to deal with inevitable setbacks. (You will still need to take those regular breaks from work.) And if you can't find meaning in your job, look for it in a hobby or through participation in religious or community organizations.

No Excuse No Regret - D-90 2011

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Fall Foliage Road Trip 01 - Holland, Michigan

Without Steve Jobs...

Week of 8.15

A woman who I want to become

God is in the detail + Alpha

After happily ever after with your dream job...

Colin Powell's 13 Rules of leadership

Improve the strategic thinking process with 15 minutes everyday

10 Best Technology Books

No Air

Randy Pausch Lecture: Time Management

No Excuses, No Regrets: Booz Allen Hamilton Chairman &CEO, Raplph Shrader

After work, at Schaumburg library

After you, leaving me...

examplary site: New York Medical Dr.'s English Study

서른살, 꿈에 미쳐라:http://www.everyzone.com/p_s2/cafe/cf_book04.asp?p_id=02&index=test-util&page=2&no=54&curRef=54&curStep=0&curLevel=0

[SHMC] Women's Pannel

Useful links for the life

[SHMC]IDP 2nd meeting

Are you born to be a billionaire?

Looking

Looking

[Book] On Writing & Lesson how to write well

SHC Weekly Ideas (SHC)

Weekly reading from SHC

Retail Stores Training Reading

Additional reading...

Additional reading...

[company] Weekly Ideas for Consideration

Reference: Making runnin a habit

[SHC] Weekly Ideas and Reading Topics for Considerations

The woman I wanted to become

just mutterring...

Benjamin Franklin's thirteen virtue (from his autobiography)

I miss you so much.

daily log_March

What 2008 will be like?

The Executive Insights: James Clifton, CEO of the Gallup Organization

[Lucinda Williams: Are you alright?] Everyone needs someone.

I miss home and I miss you.

The 1st day of the 2nd module

I'm sick of being me.

Reminding myself about the goals

Brand Management Boot Camp

I can't believe we have Chuseok this week.

the brief discription regarding my current situation is....

The 2nd day of MBA orientation: MBA Action

Smeal MBA orientation: MBA Quest

Had some fun in the MBA Welcome Reception

interesting news for August 6, 2007

[excerption] Writing Advice

[R] Carpet Cleaning

Grey's Anatomy: Desire

Because you love me (by Celine Dion)

Mad Worlds (by Gary Jules)

When is the last time your heart leapted up?

Believe or not, it still snows.

I need something to drive me into it.

the end day of the visitatiln weekend

The second day of the Visitation Weekend

Visitation Weekend

I'll be being buried under a stack of books.

It's in the middle of Spring!

[article] Unhappy Meals (from NYTimes.com)

admission letter

Commonplace log

[Times] 6 lessons for handling stress

서른살, 꿈에 미쳐라:
http://www.everyzone.com/p_s2/cafe/cf_book04.asp?p_id=02&index=test-util&page=2&no=54&curRef=54&curStep=0&curLevel=0