Looking Forward to Icing

Well I'd be lying if I said I haven't been busy this year.  I'm not sure if you knew about my journey these past few years, but to quickly fill you in...

I got laid off just before graduating with my MBA back in 08.  It was heartbreaking.  I went back to school to jump-start my life, to start fresh and anew, and everything was going seemingly well, until that happened.  I ended up graduating into the financial meltdown with very little job experience, and a whole bunch of debt.  After collecting unemployment for a month or two, I settled into the Waikiki travel industry, and have been learning and working my butt off though this recession trying to keep my financials out of the proverbial 'red.'

I've learned more about myself in these past few years of my early thirties than I have in my entire teens and twenties, and this year have finally arrived at a place I can be proud of.

At Aqua, I have dedicated myself completely and wholly, offering to be cross-trained in as many positions at my property as possible.  So far, I've been trained in back-office reservations, front desk guest service agent, and night-auditor. Mastering each has been a challenge, but gives me new insights into how a hotel operates.  I've gotten so into it I autonomously wrote some S.O.P.s  for the night audit position that we've never had before.  I've also made it a habit to offer my graphic design services, and have been able to get portfolio work doing things such as an entrance-awning, a mock up illustration of a front-desk redesign, promotional flyers, and video advertisements that play at the front desk.  I have since asked to be a part of the next 'transition team,' a trusted group of individuals who move into newly acquired properties to train and acclimate the existing staff to our company policies and procedures.  The next one is forming in December, so I've got my fingers crossed...

This past year I have invested much of my time into Taiko, www.ryukyukobudotaiko.org :the group I coach/teach on Monday nights.  We have doubled our enrollment, have had 2 successful fundraisers, and have a strong performing group that I think can really go places.  In addition to that, our leadership team has been working on decentralizing, meaning the other instructors have really stepped up their game in order to lessen the burden on yours truly so that I can keep all the other plates spinning in my life.

Most importantly (in terms of personal achievement), this year I have finally launched my own business.  As of October 2010, Sweet Ignition Design is officially in operation, and I have been spending most of my non-hotel and non-taiko time on creating logos, business cards, a micro-website www.sweetignitiondesign.com , even taking on my very 1st client, Dr Stephen Chu, DDS.  Finally having my own business is so liberating and satisfying on so many levels.  This step is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of my personal AND professional growth and development, that I only wish I had done it sooner.

I am both excited and validated by these three personal projects of mine, and I finally feel like I am on 'the path' that I've been searching for this whole time.  Its funny, how things turn out isn't it?  I am all at once no where I thought I would be, and exactly who I wanted to become.  When know you are on your path, getting to the end is just the icing on the cake, and oh there will be icing.

Google: 'don't be evil' World: 'don't be naive'

A week after Google released it's social networking feature, the public has gone from hype, to hysteria, to full-blown panic attack.

Google's social networking feature 'buzz' made a heck of a debut by merging social networking features into it's G-mail application. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, where users can choose who they follow or have following their 'updates,' Googlers found (some to a shocking dismay) upon clicking the shiny new 'buzz' tab, that they were already following the people they contacted most frequently, and these lists were PUBLIC for all the G-world to see. This list of new contacts could have included prospective job recruiters for competing companies, a cheating spouse's lover, or perhaps a mailto address for erectile dysfunction.

With the outcry from the public, (and now a formal investigation into certain privacy laws) Google has been scrambling to fix the default settings that buzz imposed upon its G-mail users, by allowing clear opportunities for Google users to update, edit, or if you wish delete with a kill-switch any public profile attached to you and your account. Google it seems, has lost the faith, and some respect from everyone: the average user and the tech nerd now asks themselves: what will they do with my data next??

It is no surprise to me, that a product like this was conceived from the company who's mantra is 'don't be evil.' To Google, a company invested in ideals such as openness, and transparency, a product like buzz could have been nothing but positive and productive. It embraces the notion that people can and will find a way to slide in Facebook time, and can still be productive at work. It attempts to bring the world of social networking into our daily work-flow, allowing us to pop in and out of conversations without missing a beat, or an email. Googlers (I among them) would simply defend, that online or not, you shouldn't have or do things you expect to hide from others, period. Perhaps maybe one shouldn't be courting other jobs in secrecy, or other spouses for that matter...

But, the question still remains: what will they do with us? Google has been a leader in innovating the way we interact, communicate and retrieve data. Even now, with all the criticism Google has taken for buzz, Microsoft is positioning itself to counteract the big G by integrating Facebook and Myspace into Microsoft Outlook, its own email client. Jessica Mintz from the Associated press reported wed. that "Microsoft is releasing a "beta" test version of the Outlook Social Connector. The add-onsoftware, which was first discussed last November, adds a new pane to the main e-mail reading screen on Outlook." Sound familiar? Google continues to lead the industry into uncharted territory, and the bigger issues become those of privacy, and the disconnect that no longer exists between our real and online selves. The disconnect that some of us want there.

In speaking with my friends (those that were worried, weirded out, or pissed) the conversation became less about what Google was doing with buzz specifically, and more about what we are becoming, and if we should trust a company like Google to take us there.

A concept like buzz, is the culmination of baby steps we have taken to align the online world with the real one. When we started this Internet thing, Avatars had a purpose, not just to represent us, but to misrepresent us as well. To allow us to participate in an anonymous community. Online social networking destroys the latter part of the avatar's purpose and replaces it with the profile pic: and forces us to show the net what kind of douche-bag we really are. By allowing others to 'tag' us in pictures, post about us in blogs, and read about our trivial musings can show anyone right off the bat what kind of person is behind that pic. Like in the real world, posturing and posing can be seen spotted outright, and yet the genuine traits of a person can be extracted as well. Buzz, and a host of other next-gen networking apps take us to the next level, where we now share where we are, what we are doing, who we are talking to, and when this all goes down. So how do we behave now that we have all this, and who do we trust with this information? The world? our peers? just our families? The good folks over at http://pleaserobme.com/ make a great point and have put together a convenient list of people who have just left home so they can be promptly burgled.

Does a company who's mantra is 'don't be evil' ever think that maybe the magical products and services that they create could easily be transformed into digital weapons? I'm not saying I agree with my friends, I still have my profile up and running. I want to believe that Google can fix this. That they will deal with this fiasco in a way that makes me forget just how vulnerable I've become. To reinstate my core beliefs in transparency and offer insights to us on how we might manage this new frontier. For now, I guess, I'll be OK blogging about it... with my mouse cursor over the buzz kill-switch.

Mini Meh.

Well now that the Mobile World Congress is in full swing (only like the largest cell phone expo on the planet duh dudes), It looks like we have a pretty good idea of the trends to come, no matter how small (ahem) they might be. Looks like largely followed sony x-10 android phone will be gettin' bite-sized iterations of itself: one just like the daddy but smaller, and one with a sass-a -frass snap out qwerty keyboard. Both builds look slightly cheap and toy-like, but seem surprisingly responsive given-that both phones seem to be running sony's proprietary home-screen 'rachel' interface. (image courtesy of slashgear.com)

Kinda kewl, but mostly kinda been -there-done-done-that with my ipods evolution from big to tiny then really BIG again with the I-Pad.

But it micro-trend doesn't stop there: HTC is getting mini with the HD mini, and hey, LG announced the smallest touchscreen phone EVER with their GD880. Apparently elves and babies are target market of 2010, because I don't see how anyone of normal proportions could actually use these devices productively, right? Seriously, didn't we just do the whole 'mini' revolution a few years back? Is the 'retro orbit' really getting that small?

Fwd: Filipino feast & bacon maple bar from frost bakery

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Bryce Watanabe" <brycewat@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 16, 2010 5:03 AM
Subject: Filipino feast & bacon maple bar from frost bakery
To: <blog@gmail.com>

Redmill burgers and alki bakery croissant

Peggys house feast & organic brunch @ portage cafe

Seattle in a flash!

Holy moly that was fast!  This trip was an eating tour to be sure.  We started out slow and steady, so I could bring my bro up to speed with all the favorite places I found last year- breakfast in alki beach, piroshkis at pikes, etc, but it quickly escalated into something else entirely.  The llamas' (leah and john who took me in for thanksgiving last year) took us to pesos, where we nibbled on some of the best pupus ever, ranging from bacon wrapped prawns, to grilled pork loin and cheese sammies. Reids buddy jen showed up to greet us in downtown with a box full of bacon maple bar doughnuts.  Angel and Jack treated us to a home cooked filipino feast.  Peggy took us out to an organic brunch, seasoned with its own fresh fruit and whipped cream bar.  To end things, my brother, peggy and I cooked for all our new friends @ peggys house: fresh sashimi, hawaiian style poke, guava chicken, lemon butter mac nut mahi mahi, and kalbi style short ribs.  We have eaten for 5 days straight, and are ready for a liquid diet in vegas! Pics to follow...

Tullys makes me smile

One of the best things about Seattle? Tully's coffee. So rich and smooth it puts all the competition up here to shame. We started today by taking Melisa to her job interview in the city, went back to peggys to sleep a bit more, went to visit her at wrk briefly before checking out the scene at Bellvue Square, the shopping mall in the area. Man these people up here are rich. Or at least it seems! My brother noticed the amount of money that is being poured into streets, parks, sidewalks... Its so sad when you compare it to whats going on back home right now. I know these people are hurting from the recession too, but ya wouldn't know it.

Fwd: De plane de plane!

Whoa!...that's..uh...cute!  Where do they put the luggage?

*update - we finally boarded the plane 3 hours later, and just before takeoff, we had to stall for another 45 minutes due to a hydrolics issue!  yowza!  We flew into sea tac and baggage claim was delayed for 45 minutes our luggage load broke one of the belts on the conveyer system.  shyaeesh.  In bed, at peggys safe and sound at around 3am!

Here we go again!

West Coast Trip

1/11/10, 2:52 pm *post-posted

Well well well. I'm back. And not just bloggin', but traveling up to the pacific northwest for the second year in a row. If the allure of the place doesn't wear off after this trip, I'm definitely moving there. My brother and I are doing it together this year, and I think he's really going to enjoy Seattle's laid back yet modern feel. I'm writing this from the airport bar, because as of right now, our flight has been delayed for about 3 hours. A small kink in our plan, we continue un-phased, and order a round of beers to kick this vacation off right. It's all in the attitude, and we are positive about being on break starting now!