Prangster in Chicago

Testing the Ricoh in NYC

2010-03-06T23:27:00-06:00

prangster

Smoque + Blackhawks = Chicago

2010-03-05T23:18:57-06:00

March 3, 2010: Sliced brisket, coleslaw and fries at Smoque followed by my very first ice hockey game.

Last night in Chicago

2010-02-26T09:38:41-06:00

Dinner was incredible pizza and salad at Great Lake with BYOB Kirin. Then a latte at 8pm to fight off the sleepies so I could stay up and watch Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. (I was ready to cover my eyes the entire time.) After that, it was post-medal analysis of the women's figure skating before bed.

The night before was good too. A late lunch at David Burke Primehouse. Then another intense Mel Gibson movie called Edge of Darkness. It was like film noir. I think it just came out. I have to warn you though, one of the most shocking things about the movie is Mel's full-blown forehead creases and crazy neck skin. And there are close-ups.

The photo above looks extra delicious cause it was taken with my new camera! It's a Ricoh CX2 and I think I love it.

Like a tiger

2010-02-12T22:02:55-06:00

This year I'm giving Mum money in a red pocket for Chinese New Year. See above. It's my first time doing it. You're actually supposed to start doing it the year you start working, but I haven't cause I guess Mum thought it wasn't a big deal. This year, though, I'm home for CNY and Mum says it's tradition and I should do it because everyone else does it (compelling argument). The one above is from the supermarket. They give out freebie packets for CNY. They're usually super cute.

The only problem is I don't have any fresh New Taiwan Dollar bills to put inside. All of mine are old and you can't give old money in a red pocket, Mum says. Apparently everyone is lining up at the banks before CNY to swap their ratty bills for new ones. I didn't know that. And now it's too late so I have to borrow some new bills from Mum to put into a red pocket and then give it back to her. That's so messed up. I don't feel Chinese enough today.

(Everyone is also supposed to wear something new, and something red for CNY. And if you're playing mahjong, then you gotta wear new red underpants. Now you know.)

Happy Chinese New Year!

February Reading List

2010-02-10T04:26:09-06:00

Sometimes when I'm bored I'll open up the Fox News site and give myself heartburn. I can't help but be annoyed that the main area of the homepage is always littered with anti-Obama articles -- which basically equates to anti-USA articles -- and the tone is so childish and weird. It pretty much sounds like the stupid kid in the playground who bullies other kids with the most uncreative insults ever.

But today, I scrolled down to the "Most Read" or most popular articles section to see what people are really paying attention to on the Fox News site. I feel much better now.

Articles that were in the Most Read list today included:

- Fox411 Recast Blast: "Designing Women"
- Then/Now: The Cast of "Reality Bites"
- Before They Were Famous: Stars' Wacky Jobs
- Scene & Heard: Celebrity Sightings

And now, here are some articles I've actually enjoyed so far this month:

Why would a business say no to growth?
This is about one of my fave restaurants in Chicago. It's a pizza place I went to frequently until they were named best pizza in America by GQ. Now waiting to eat here is worse than waiting to get into the DMV (or RTA if you're Aussie-side.)

For upscale Mighty Leaf, is supermarket distribution a good fit?
If you're into tea, or you're into entrepreneurism, you'll like this. The article's from January 2009, but I re-read it recently. An oldie, but really good.

Japanese shoppers freaked out by shirtless staff at Tokyo Abercrombie
I saw the crazy dumb lines outside this store when I was in Tokyo last month. I was gassed by the cologne they're no doubt pumping into the streets. I hope this store is gone soon.

Introducing Louis Vuitton's $2,000 trash-bag purse
Wow. Another reason to add to the list of why I will never carry a Louis Vuitton bag. The recent ads with Madonna are another one.

Tale of a would-be spy, buried treasure, and uncrackable code
An irresistible spy caper article from Wired. I want to see a movie version of this starring Robert Downey Jr. and Vincent D'Onofrio ASAP.

The secret society of creative philanthropy
I like stories like this. Regular people with small ideas that turn out to have a bigger impact than they'd imagined. Brings a tear to the eye.

The way I work: Paul English of Kayak
Have you used Kayak.com? I use it to look up cheap airfares. Paul English is the CEO. He's a busy guy and he also started the site gethuman.com, which I heard about ages ago. I'm guessing he doesn't play Cafe World.

I did something to my hair

2010-02-02T05:30:52-06:00

Brace yourselves because it doesn't get more Asian than this: going to the hair salon for a trim and a perm. YES, A PERM. (But just a small one.)

On top of that, my hairstylist's name is McQueen. He's the best and looks like a Dragonball Z character.

Perm = SO ASIAN

Perm + McQueen > ASIAN

I can't believe I was there for over 2.5 hours. I was so bored I was nodding off the entire time. How do people do it? The results are okay so far. Just a bit more volume. But I'm pretty sure I'll hate it after the first wash because that always happens.

The company I keep

2010-01-25T14:26:13-06:00

I started playing Cafe World on Facebook about 36 hours ago. Now my entire existence revolves around eating, sleeping, killing mosquitoes, working and Cafe World.

Just then, I was renovating my cafe (I had just expanded it) and four dishes that had been cooking disappeared from the stovetops. They just vanished into thin air. See image above of the vanished dishes and also my renovation. I'm going for a minimalist museum look. What do you think?

One of the dishes, a roasted spit chicken, had about 8 hours left to go. The thing takes 24 hours! It was going to be a big moneymaker and give me the cash to add more plants and put in some desperately needed lighting fixtures. Ugh!

So I hit the Cafe World support forum and apparently this kind of thing isn't uncommon. That made me feel slightly better. But what really didn't make me feel better was reading the comments from the shut-ins who bothered to write about their own disappearing dishes.

For your reference, here are a couple of the ones I read before I wondered if maybe I should stop playing Cafe World. Hmmmm.

First, this person:

I am frustrated I lost around 23,000 stuffed peppers at a value of over $115,000 coins. During all of the freezing up and problems with Cafe World I found that my peppers are gone along with all of the time I put into building my supply up for a few days. I have had my cafe at a constant 28,000 to 35,000 servings and have been open 24/7 for about 8 days. I was saving up to purchase the $999,999 cafe upgrade and now thanks to all the problems I am down $115,000. RRRRRRRRR feel my frustration. Not to mention I have had no visable servers or chef for almost 24 hours. Well at least they are still working even though they are ghosts! UG! I want my $115,000 back or my peppers!

This person is equally annoyed, but keeps it in perspective:

I logged in this morning only to find out that 12 of my 16 dishes were showing the 'whisk egg' icon. The other 4 were fine. They were all finished before I logged off, and I even left the program open for a while before logging out. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it's usually only one dish. This is a FOURTEEN HOUR dish! While I realize this is a small issue in the grand scheme of things, and I am very thankful I have the time and a computer on which to play games, it's still frustrating.

Staying hydrated

2010-01-22T09:00:00-06:00

Yep, Tommy Lee Jones is still inexplicably the very serious face of Boss coffees in Japan.

The smug smile-a-thon

2010-01-21T12:00:00-06:00

On the left: Helen Chen, industrial designer. On the right: Janice Chen Chow, interior designer. So smug.

At A to Z Cafe, the coffee shop and restaurant of Yoshitomo Nara. I had an great green tea latte there. Pricey, but great. Janice has to order cake everywhere she goes, so she got a slice of caramel sponge cake that was tasty. Tasty, but pricey.

Waiting again. This time for Maisen tonkatsu (fried pork cutlets!) in Harajuku.

One word: artists.

More from the album

2010-01-19T09:00:00-06:00

Amazing store interiors. Schoolgirls eating packed lunches at Ueno park. Cute bikes. Blue skies. Clean architecture.