Jamie's Trippin'

Goodbye Dubai - Hello Singapore

2013-04-23T03:53:00.002-05:00

This is my last week at Ketchum Raad Middle East. It was a great ride and I made many great friends and lasting professional contacts both from the client side, from partners and from the agency. We're headed to Singapore where I'll be starting my new job in June. Can't wait for this next adventure. Ketchum Kingdom Board Game - I must say that I've played and won this game. (

R.I.P. Rattlesnake in Dubai

2012-02-09T01:55:00.000-05:00

The Rattlesnake is gone!

2012-01-04T05:46:00.000-05:00

The ultimate bar bill from Dubai.

Trillium Days

2011-09-20T00:57:00.001-05:00

Just thought I would post some music here from the good old days of the late 1990's. That's when four young gentlemen from Ottawa, Canada came together to play many live rock n' roll shows and record a few tracks. For a melancholic few hours, I recently uploaded much of the finished music that Trillium (the band I used to sing in) had made. Please feel free to listen, comment and because it is

Move, Learn, Eat... Live

2011-08-08T11:05:00.000-05:00

I am writing this from New York, where I've been for more than a week now, so it might sound a little bit contradictory of me to say that I miss traveling. While I love New York and am really enjoying working and playing here, when I talk about traveling, I mean the kind of traveling where each day I am confronted with 360 degrees of options and experiences, where the question 'what next?' is

Where do we go from here?

2011-03-30T04:52:00.005-05:00

I know I'm a bit late to the game with my own thoughts on what's happening in the Middle East. Colleagues have already made their analysis of Social Media's role in the revolutions. It goes without saying that Social Media was a huge enabling factor that allowed the youth in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, now Syria and many more countries to voice their opinions, collect and share their plight

KPop is taking over the world

2011-01-13T04:15:00.001-05:00

Over at In Yeon, I've been blogging a lot about KPop, also known as Korean Pop. There are a few reasons for this that I would like to explain. Not that I feel I need to explain, but I'm gonna explain it anyway. Firstly, KPop is taking over the world... Seriously! I blogged about how every morning at 10am when I check Twitter, some kind of Korean pop band, actor or whatever is trending near the

In Korea, 'tis the season to make threats

2010-12-24T09:47:00.000-05:00

So over at our other blog In Yeon, we have a post about Christmas in South Korea and its growing popularity as Christianity as well as consumer and pop cultures begin to bloom. Korea really is a nice place during Christmas. They do all the lights, the weather is chilly and often snowy. People exchange gifts and it still isn't overdone like in the West. However, this year, there is a different

Photos from our Korean wedding ceremony

2010-12-14T06:52:00.000-05:00

I've finally posted the pictures and given some details about the many ceremonies involved in our traditional Korean wedding over at our blog In Yeon. I really wish I could go back to that moment. It was such a great experience. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there. For those of you who couldn't be there, maybe this post will help you feel like you were :) Let me know if you have any

WAR.... What is it good for?

2010-11-29T05:54:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I hate that I come from Canada. We don't know war or hardship or have such a strong sense of patriotism that we get all fiery when someone speaks ill of our Prime Minister. People don't even know our Prime Minister. That's why I have a hard time understanding the emotions that my wife Rory feels when she heard about North Korea firing on a South Korean island off their Western shore.

itlnatianle letarissiye daiey

2010-09-08T01:15:00.000-05:00

cnsid ring mi naem es jmai READ, wntied te de sundine fer leterussy deaye. THIS as miye balog psot! Sadly, that is exactly what the world looks like for the 776 million people who can't read - over 90% of whom are in Asia and Africa and 2/3 of whom are female. September 8th is International Literacy Day, a day recognized worldwide and officially supported by UNESCO and the United Nations.

How does culture affect genetics

2010-08-20T02:48:00.000-05:00

I'm Canadian of European descent. My wife is Korean. And according to a new groundbreaking study, the 'difference between European American and Korean customs is so powerful that it shapes the expression of biology: A genetic profile linked to empathy and sociability yields two very different behavioral outcomes, depending on the culture.' The study was published Aug. 16 in the Proceedings of

Wedding Studio Photos

2010-08-19T16:21:00.000-05:00

Since running our wedding blog, I've been really bad to update this one. I don't know if anyone's noticed but in my heart there is sadness... But one thing that lifts my spirit is the thought that we have finally received our studio photos that we did before the wedding. Please check them out and tell us which ones you like best. In the mean time, I will try to do some more blogging over on this

Seoul Mystery Food

2010-03-17T01:49:00.000-05:00

Want to know what I'm eating? Check out our latest post on Korean street food over at Rory and my wedding blog, In Yeon.

Famous Koreans marrying on the same day as us!

2010-03-08T05:37:00.000-05:00

So it turns out that Jang Dong Gun & Ko So Young, two of Korea's most famous actors are getting married. This is big news for their fans and for most Asians around the world who know who these two people are. I personally don't know them and have never even heard of them. However, they have decided to get married on the same date as us so we are now mortal enemies (just kidding). Read

Korean Wedding Planning

2010-02-22T04:41:00.000-05:00

New post on In Yeon - our wedding blog about our recent trip to Korea and some of the wedding planning details. I found it very interesting since I don't know anything about traditional Korean wedding or about wedding planning in general.

Happy Lunar New Year!

2010-02-14T05:59:00.000-05:00

Today is the Korean Lunar New Year so we posted about it over on our wedding blog. It is the year of the white tiger, which only comes around every 60 years. This is extremely good luck and we are so happy that we will be married this year. Feel free to post a comment about what good luck you expect in 2010. http://www.roryandjamie.com/happy-korean-lunar-new-year/

Search Party: When Google Goes Social!

2010-02-09T02:02:00.001-05:00

There is a lot of anticipation for Google's announcement tomorrow of some sort of social media service. Techmeme's money is on a Twitter-Killer type application that will integrate with the GChat interface, as eplained by The Business Insider. The Wall Street Journal pitts them against Facebook. And a good post at Scobleizer explains why Google could outdo all social networks,

Meet the parents (Korean version)

2010-02-06T10:12:00.003-05:00

Rory and I were recently in Korea to meet her parents, eat lots of strange foods and plan for our wedding in May. It was a great trip and we will be sharing the details over at our wedding blog. We've also uploaded all our photos. Check them out! Greased Lightbox →←+-↻ Loading imageClick anywhere to cancelImage unavailableView image in its original context Greased Lightbox →←+-↻ Loading

Our New Wedding Blog: In Yeon

2010-01-28T03:55:00.008-05:00

In Yeon 인연, means 'fated' or 'destined' in Korean and that's why we've chosen it as the name of our newly designed blog: www.roryandjamie.com. We've moved all of our content over from our Wordpress blog and are in the process of automatically redirecting traffic from that site to our new one. Please check it out and let us know what you think. There is a new photos section where we will be

Middle East entrepreneurs and royalty representing at LeWeb

2009-12-28T08:21:00.004-05:00

I hadn't had time to go through the LeWeb videos until today and I was happy to see a panel on the Middle East moderated by Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons with Rabea Ataya, Chairman & CEO of Bayt.com and Habib Haddad, Founder of Yamli.com. I hope that people who watch it get a better idea of the Middle East and the opportunities in this region for entrepreneurs. Also attending was Her

Going to Korea

2009-12-08T04:18:00.000-05:00

A bit nervous about heading to Korea tomorrow to meet Rory's family. Read more about it on our wedding blog. I'll be updating it regularly with pics from ceremonies, dinners, cool places we explore and hopefully some relaxing downtime as well.

Of superheros and economic pundits

2009-12-03T06:09:00.001-05:00

The Wired article actually depict Park in a sort of comic book-esque way I found this article on Wired Magazine's site really interesting. The Troubles of Korea’s Influential Economic Pundit by Mattathias Schwartz is about a sort of nobody Korean guy, Park Dae-Sung, who took to writing anonymously about South Korea's economy and the recession and all that. His alias, Minerva, became super

Korean Fan Death

2009-12-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

On hot summer days, Korean fans are known to commit murder! There's a superstition in Korea that fans kill! Now, we're not talking about this kind of fan, though if looks could kill... but click through to our wedding blog to find out what we're talking about. Knowing just might save your life.

Spare change and the future of journalism

2009-11-18T01:38:00.010-05:00