recently

yes, I'm still traveling, just check marked LA, be in Paris in 24hrs. updates will be random and spotty, check back soon.

1. Starting a new job only 5 days after my resignation.
2. Realization of being underdressed in Northern Cal.
3. Living in a hotel for almost an entire month.
4. Despite the fact I only have 5 pieces of furniture. I packed for 3 whole days.
5. While realizing consumerism is discussing, I went off to container store and bought 3 big plastic bins.
6. Saying goodbye to wintery Boston was easier than I thought, sorry Boston.
7. Saying goodbye to friends is always hard.
8. Packed, Unpacked, only to Pack again after 12 hours.
9. Claimed 12,000 miles of air travel and still counting.
10. Exaughisted, but excited.

This past year has certainly been a humbling experience for me. Thinking back, I was really excited and confident that I would have 09 within my grasp. "2009 I'm ready" was my end-of-year statement in my blog entry.

I can't describe 2009 with any words that's better than "humbling". Like many others around me, for the first time in my life, I felt the impact of an economic downturn, though far less than some of my peers, it was enough for me to feel the pinch to say the least.

I also think I've advanced and learned a lot from some of the most respected people in my field this year. They all helped me one way or another to give me a whole new perspective on things, for that I'm very grateful.

Lastly, out of many frustrations, for one reason or another, I definitely think I was again, blessed by some superior power. Some very exciting things happened right before this year's end, it was a complete surprise, too sudden, but it was so exciting that I couldn't pass it up. For those of you that hasn't heard yet, I will reveal the news soon. Until then, Happy 2010! and once again... I am ready :)

I LOVE Panera bread. The restaurant bakes fresh bread and has always got really tasty sandwiches among other things. With good food, they also offer free WIFI, its my perfect hang out. One thing I was never fond of, was it's advertising. I always thought if this company is so careful with their food, they should also put a lot of love into their advertising.

One thing I detest about restaurant advertising is over the top food porn shots, you see one, you see them all. So at Mullen, we tried a completely new approach. Instead of showing how good the food is, we wanted to tell people what Panera is all about - It serves fantastic bread, it's cozy, and warm, and that's it.

I'm really proud of this ad not only because it's an restaurant ad without food porn, it is also my first legit USA today full page ad. Special shout out to my copywriter Kerry Shea for being part of this impossible mission with me.

Jenny is the youngest of 4 cousins that grew up with me. Her graduation is in a school called University of Valparaiso. This trip was one of those typical "don't judge a book by it's cover" strips. The midwest was just swept with a blizzard, Valparaiso was one of those places people don't really know, in a state that I have little interest in - Indiana.

Coming into O'hare, overlooking the massive flat midwest covered in snow was pretty magical, almost like a scene from Starwars.

Marianne is one of Jenny's buddies who was there when none of her relatives are around.

Sally

U-Valpo is actually a pretty charming campus, complete with a post modern Library and Chapel, complete with a bell tower.

In their graduation speech, and this is something I haven't yet heard from all the graduation speeches I've heard before, was that they stressed on the balance of religion and knowledge, faith and reason. I thought that was really interesting.

Meeting up with my "Thanksgiving Orphan" friends in NYC seemed to become my newest tradition. Thanks Mike for letting me stay and Dines taking me to this awesome texas bbq called Hill Country.

Also seeing the Standard finally completed was a cool thing, I know this sounds bad, but I have to say, architecturally, its very cool. "The high line" which was a park converted from an abandoned raised train track next to the hotel is a nice touch too.

I got this special aluminum coke bottle, previously only seen on design blogs. I put some typical things next to it for scale reference. The aluminum is thicker than the can, in fact, so thick you can't squeeze it to crush it. It's a very good looking bottle, kudos to Coke for finally spreading this around.

This is probably the most overlooked movie in the past year. I remember the trailer, boasting multi-continent shoots, some gun fight scenes, and the terrible dialogue that made me roll my eyes and chose not to watch the movie "You can't arrest me." - "Who said anything about arresting."

I over heard my co-worker chatting it up one day, and got curious, as I remembered that terrible trailer. After watching it, I thought this must be one of the most well art directed movie in recent days. The selection of cool buildings in this movie would make any architecture buffs cry. I also thought it's pretty brilliant of them to tie this "International style" embraced by the world with corporate evils, how it's faceless, efficient, and unassuming.

If you're an art director, this needs to be part of your collection. The plot was not bad, its just that last scene. The "can't arrest me / who said arresting" exchange is synonymous with "I'm too old for this shit". Someone seriously needs to build an "overused movie dialogue database" for screen writers.

30 miles west of boston there's a city called Stow, and in that town, there's a really cute farm called Honeypot farm. We went there for apple picking over the weekend. It is not my first picking activity, but it's definitely the most fruitful one ever.

I've always had a special feeling towards apple trees. My parents planted one in my grandfather's garden when they got married, and another when my mom was pregnant with me. Every year, for as long as I can remember, my family, along with my cousins' would collect a full bushel of apples from the two trees. The apples were not particularly attractive looking nor sweet, but I always enjoyed the freshness of them. To me, the trees also were the proof that my parents are extraordinary, since they possessed the power of making trees bare fruit.

As China's environment deteriorated in the 90s, so did the two trees and the rest of the plants in my grandfather's garden. What used to be a tiny oasis for us in the city during the 80s quickly became an empty, colorless yard. The trees from the Honeypot farm are far bigger and bore far more fruit than the apple trees in my memory. When I walked along them, smelling that apple wood flavored air, seeing the unpicked, ripened apples on the ground, my overloaded senses made me think of the days where my grandfather stood in his garden, smiling at his grandchildren, giggling around apple trees.

Polaroid of the week this week continues on our Fall theme. I just can't get over it. New England's fall is beautiful, besides the maple trees turning red, there are this type of birch trees turning bright golden yellow around my apartment and office.

Fall's upon Boston. Loved this random light that got into the camera.

I kicked my self for not making the foliage trip last fall, and this year I was determined to see it in its glory. Turns out, it was more stunning than what everyone has already told me. Glad I went. O, and I'm sorry Shoshanna, for not making it to the house warming party. :-/

Fall started across from my apartment today.

BAM!

I never cooked crabs my self in my life... until now. Sorry little fella...

Sally did most of the killing though, I mainly was responsible for eating. :-/

one Silver and one Bronze, not too shabby I guess. It was a fun night.

The ferry I take to work always carries a lot of toddlers. I love how they're always curious about everything around them, this little guy just stared out through the entire ride, not a peep.

12 dollar chicken tender and fries, though they can't justify the price, and only luke warm, I still gobbled it up like there's no tomorrow.

While I consider Pink as a great artist, I was never really into her, thinking it's a bit too personal and "poppy". Sally dragged me to her concert on Saturday, and It was a lot of fun. The advantage of popular music I guess partially is it's ability to raise a lot of money and reinforce it's cultural relevance and legitimacy... Alright, ok, I had a lot of fun that night and enjoyed a lot of her songs. I love live concerts.

Recently I had two paper bags in my possession, one is a parcel envelope from Switzerland, the other, from the local Shaw's supermarket. The parcel envelope, being an international parcel envelope, contained a plastic bubble wrap out of necessity, unlike the 3m bubble wrap envelops you get in the States, it had precise instructions on how to separate and recycle both paper and plastic, the bubble wrap can easily be taken out of the envelope despite it being very sturdy during use, and judging from the info graphics, it's clear they have a pretty robust recycling program and infrastructure.

The latter, a bag of felafel chips I got, is almost the antithesis of the parcel envelope. The packaging was labeled "organic", and was the only product in the category that had paper bag packaging as opposed to plastic, I chose to buy it solely because I thought the paper bag would be environmentally less harmful, but little did I know, it was a paper bag that contained an additional plastic bag. Congratulations Felafel Chips & Dips LLC, I will never buy your products again.

I originally wasn't going to watch Inglorious bastards, since I kindda felt WWII movies are a bit over done these days and from what I saw in the trailer, premise seemed a bit over simplified. So after couple weeks I finally broke down and went to see it with my good faith in Mr. Tarantino. Sure enough, he delivered.

To my surprise, Brad Pitt only played a supporting role in this movie, the true star is Col. Hans Landa, a extraordinarily charming SS officer that is creepy as hell. Wonderfully acted by a German actor Christoph Waltz. The movie is brilliant!

Another notable thing was the theater I watched it in. The Sommerville theater is a happy accident, I missed my usual AMC Lowe schedule that day and had no choice, and this theater became my new fav. one. Not only because it's a theater with a long historical background, but also it had an awesome crepe house next to it.

Saw this handsome fella on my way to work one morning.