Name: neener
School: USC Marshall School of Business
Status: Employed...finally
E-mail: Click here!
Reason for blogging: I'm incredibly self-absorbed.
I'm listening to...
::"Stay Beautiful," The Last Goodnight
::"Spaceman," The Killers
::"Green Light," John Legend
::"Superstar," Lupe Fiasco

I'm watching...
::24
::The Office

I'm reading...
::Taiwan, A Political History, by Denny Roy
::The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coehlo

I've just seen...
::Slumdog Millionaire
::I Love You, Man
::The Reader
06/01/2003 - 07/01/2003
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07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011
10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011
12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012
02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012
03/01/2012 - 04/01/2012
Thursday, August 26, 2010
 
Good Employee Training = Happy Customers.  
Serious Eats posted a link to an exemplary employee training video by Wendy's from the 80s.

Awesome.

To see the full video, scroll through the comments to see links to parts 1 and 2.





Tuesday, August 24, 2010
 
Step Up 3D Reminds Me of Business School.  
I saw Step Up 3D a couple of weeks ago. As expected, the plot was simplistic and the acting was not very good. Also as expected, there was some awesome dancing, and I really enjoyed the now requisite "dancing while wet" sequence (thank you for starting the tradition, You Got Served!).

Overall, I think the dancing was pretty cool and helped to offset the really boring parts, i.e. the rest of the movie. Another bonus is that B-Boy Cloud is in it, even though I think he should have been featured more because I *heart* him! It's okay, I can always youtube the Shakira video he's in if I need my sexy B-Boy Cloud fix. He does this crazy flip in the music video, and he's just so...oops, I got sidetracked.

Back to Step Up. My main gripe with the film is actually the movie's main gimmick, the 3D part. The whole 3D thing was really distracting and sometimes made it difficult to see the dancing clearly. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate 3D; there was just too much of it! It was like watching a b-school PowerPoint presentation made by someone enthusiastic who has JUST discovered animation and transition effects. Argh!

Note to b-school students: Just because you can make a chart spiral into your slide with an accompanying sound effect does not mean you should
.

My verdict: If you are going to watch it (and if you like dancing, you should), then I wholeheartedly recommend watching it the good old-fashioned way, glorious 2D.





Friday, August 13, 2010
 
Tea Time!  
I don't know about you, but this whole "working" thing tires me out. My alertness level hits an all time low around 2:30pm every single day. My eyelids get heavier and heavier, and the giant spreadsheets in front of my eyes are making matters worse. And I'm not a coffee drinker. What is a working stiff to do?

Tea! Not one of the usual suspects, but hear me out. Dubya sent me an awesome assortment of tea from LAMILL Coffee in Los Angeles. One of the teas in the sampler was called "Gas Pedal," and it's made from Vietnamese black tea leaves. The hilarious copy on the packaging claims that the tea will give you alertness, and it's true! Nothing short of an IV drip of Red Bull could make me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but a cup of "Gas Pedal" woke me up just enough to last through the rest of the day! Amazing stuff.

lamill tea

Speaking of which, I had the pleasure of visiting the LAMILL coffee boutique in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles earlier this year with Dubya and Jenny from the Block. The LAMILL coffee boutique is not your average coffee shop. It's elegant and has coffee so "awesome" that my coffee-loving friends will brave Los Angeles traffic for it.

A Cup of Lamill Coffee
lamill coffee

Coffee Brewed At Your Table, Using Japanese Hario Extraction
hario extraction

But they don't stop there! They also make innovative "signature" drinks, such as the one pictured below. This one is called "Coffee and a Jelly Donut," and the menu describes it as "strawberry essence layered with donut-infused milk and topped with espresso."

Coffee and a Jelly Donut

Enough about the coffee. What is even MORE amazing about this place is that in addition to coffee that inspires a cult following, they serve some seriously good food. No triangular rocks masquerading as scones here. Take a look:

Potato Leek / Manila clams, Niman Ranch bacon, Josephine’s clam fritter
Potato Leek Soup

Jidori Chicken / Free-range seared chicken breast, spinach with bacon, twice cooked sweet potatoes, whole grain mustard sauce
Jidori Chicken

As you can see, we're talking about a place that serves real meals, not sandwiches encased in plastic wrap and fruit cups like Starbucks, and uses high-quality ingredients.

Kimchi Flank Steak Salad / Seared flank steak, kimchi remoulade, romaine, scallions and carrots
Kimchi Flank Steak Salad

Arctic Char / Twice cooked potatoes, brown beech mushrooms, soy
Artic Char

Soooo good. And we haven't even talked about dessert! The dessert, Un Caf Bordeaux, came with coffee mouse (the "caf," presumably), chicory chocolate sauce (makes me think of New Orleans' Cafe Du Monde), and ice cream in the shape of a canele (a pastry specialty of Bordeaux, France). Yum.

Un Caf Bordeaux / Coffee mousse, canele ice cream, hazelnut streussel, chicory chocolate sauce
Un Caf Bordeaux

If you're in L.A. and either love coffee or are looking for a casual yet elegant meal, LAMILL is a pretty good bet.





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When I learn a new word, I'll put it here so you can learn too!

EBITAS (noun):
Abbreviation for "Earnings Before Income Tax, Amortization, and SGARA." Next week, find out what SGARA is.

Click here for previous "new words."
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