Exposed bricks, after the window was torn down.
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
H&M, finally!
Malaysia's first ever H&M is opening next week and I'm soooo excited.
I plan to be there before their doors open (kiasu) and I'm sure one million other girls will probably do the same.
The local website is already up so you can browse through their items, with prices indicated. But what I most like about their website is the Dressing Room, where you can dress up models in your favourite look. It's highly customisable - you can change the model's face, their hairstyle, tuck in the shirts, unzip the cardi, roll up the sleeves, etc. Needless to say I've been spending way too much time playing with the Dressing Room. Below are some of my favourite creations.
Casual, work and glam *hearts* So I plan to try on exactly the stuff above and hope it turns out still awesome on a shorter person
These are rather yummy too, but the printed skirt (first pix) and jersey top (last pix) are not on the website yet. Hope we get them in stores soon!
I'm wondering whether there's some special pre-opening thingy next Friday. Suppose I could just walk by and see if there's anything going on. Then perhaps if I ask nicely, they may just let me in. Then I can avoid all the crazy girls on Saturday and actually find dresses/tops/pants in my size! Ah, that should be my reward for refraining from shopping at Zara so that I could spend it all in H&M ;)
I plan to be there before their doors open (kiasu) and I'm sure one million other girls will probably do the same.
The local website is already up so you can browse through their items, with prices indicated. But what I most like about their website is the Dressing Room, where you can dress up models in your favourite look. It's highly customisable - you can change the model's face, their hairstyle, tuck in the shirts, unzip the cardi, roll up the sleeves, etc. Needless to say I've been spending way too much time playing with the Dressing Room. Below are some of my favourite creations.
Casual, work and glam *hearts* So I plan to try on exactly the stuff above and hope it turns out still awesome on a shorter person
These are rather yummy too, but the printed skirt (first pix) and jersey top (last pix) are not on the website yet. Hope we get them in stores soon!
I'm wondering whether there's some special pre-opening thingy next Friday. Suppose I could just walk by and see if there's anything going on. Then perhaps if I ask nicely, they may just let me in. Then I can avoid all the crazy girls on Saturday and actually find dresses/tops/pants in my size! Ah, that should be my reward for refraining from shopping at Zara so that I could spend it all in H&M ;)
Monday, September 03, 2012
better kind than clever
I get customised news links from LinkedIn, usually on work-related articles. Today I read something worth sharing, from Harvard Business Review.
Read it directly from HBR here.
It's More Important to Be Kind than Clever
by Bill Taylor
One of the more heart-warming stories to zoom around the Internet lately involves a young man, his dying grandmother, and a bowl of clam chowder from Panera Bread. It's a little story that offers big lessons about service, brands, and the human side of business — a story that underscores why efficiency should never come at the expense of humanity.
The story, as told in AdWeek, goes like this: Brandon Cook, from Wilton, New Hampshire, was visiting his grandmother in the hospital. Terribly ill with cancer, she complained to her grandson that she desperately wanted a bowl of soup, and that the hospital's soup was inedible (she used saltier language). If only she could get a bowl of her favorite clam chowder from Panera Bread! Trouble was, Panera only sells clam chowder on Friday. So Brandon called the nearby Panera and talked to store manager Suzanne Fortier. Not only did Sue make clam chowder specially for Brandon's grandmother, she included a box of cookies as a gift from the staff.
It was a small act of kindness that would not normally make headlines. Except that Brandon told the story on his Facebook page, and Brandon's mother, Gail Cook, retold the story on Panera's fan page. The rest, as they say, is social-media history. Gail's post generated 500,000 (and counting) "likes" and more than 22,000 comments on Panera's Facebook page. Panera, meanwhile, got something that no amount of traditional advertising can buy — a genuine sense of affiliation and appreciation from customers around the world.
Marketing types have latched on to this story as an example of the power of social media and "virtual word-of-mouth" to boost a company's reputation. But I see the reaction to Sue Fortier's gesture as an example of something else — the hunger among customers, employees, and all of us to engage with companies on more than just dollars-and-cents terms. In a world that is being reshaped by the relentless advance of technology, what stands out are acts of compassion and connection that remind us what it means to be human.
As I read the story of Brandon and his grandmother, I thought back to a lecture delivered two years ago by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, to the graduating seniors of my alma mater, Princeton University. Bezos is nothing if not a master of technology — he has built his company, and his fortune, on the rise of the Internet and his own intellect. But he spoke that day not about computing power or brainpower, but about his grandmother — and what he learned when he made her cry.
Even as a 10-year-old boy, it turns out, Bezos had a steel-trap mind and a passion for crunching numbers. During a summer road trip with his grandparents, young Jeff got fed up with his grandmother's smoking in the car — and decided to do something about it. From the backseat, he calculated how many cigarettes per day his grandmother smoked, how many puffs she took per cigarette, the health risk of each puff, and announced to her with great fanfare, "You've taken nine years off your life!"
Bezos's calculations may have been accurate — but the reaction was not what he expected. His grandmother burst into tears. His grandfather pulled the car off to the side of the road and asked young Jeff to step out. And then his grandfather taught a lesson that this now-billionaire decided to share the with the Class of 2010: "My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, 'Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.'"
That's a lesson I wish more businesspeople understood — a lesson that is reinforced by the reaction to this simple act of kindness at Panera Bread. Indeed, I experienced something similar not so long ago, and found it striking enough to devote an HBR blog post to the experience. In my post, I told the story of my father, his search for a new car, a health emergency that took place in the middle of that search — and a couple of extraordinary (and truly human) gestures by an auto dealer that put him at ease and won his loyalty.
"What is it about business that makes it so hard to be kind?" I asked at the time. "And what kind of businesspeople have we become when small acts of kindness feel so rare?"
That's what's really striking about the Panera Bread story — not that Suzanne Fortier went out of her way to do something nice for a sick grandmother, but that her simple gesture attracted such global attention and acclaim.
So by all means, encourage your people to embrace technology, get great at business analytics, and otherwise ramp up the efficiency of everything they do. But just make sure all their efficiency doesn't come at the expense of their humanity. Small gestures can send big signals about who we are, what we care about, and why people should want to affiliate with us. It's harder (and more important) to be kind than clever.
Read it directly from HBR here.
It's More Important to Be Kind than Clever
by Bill Taylor
One of the more heart-warming stories to zoom around the Internet lately involves a young man, his dying grandmother, and a bowl of clam chowder from Panera Bread. It's a little story that offers big lessons about service, brands, and the human side of business — a story that underscores why efficiency should never come at the expense of humanity.
The story, as told in AdWeek, goes like this: Brandon Cook, from Wilton, New Hampshire, was visiting his grandmother in the hospital. Terribly ill with cancer, she complained to her grandson that she desperately wanted a bowl of soup, and that the hospital's soup was inedible (she used saltier language). If only she could get a bowl of her favorite clam chowder from Panera Bread! Trouble was, Panera only sells clam chowder on Friday. So Brandon called the nearby Panera and talked to store manager Suzanne Fortier. Not only did Sue make clam chowder specially for Brandon's grandmother, she included a box of cookies as a gift from the staff.
It was a small act of kindness that would not normally make headlines. Except that Brandon told the story on his Facebook page, and Brandon's mother, Gail Cook, retold the story on Panera's fan page. The rest, as they say, is social-media history. Gail's post generated 500,000 (and counting) "likes" and more than 22,000 comments on Panera's Facebook page. Panera, meanwhile, got something that no amount of traditional advertising can buy — a genuine sense of affiliation and appreciation from customers around the world.
Marketing types have latched on to this story as an example of the power of social media and "virtual word-of-mouth" to boost a company's reputation. But I see the reaction to Sue Fortier's gesture as an example of something else — the hunger among customers, employees, and all of us to engage with companies on more than just dollars-and-cents terms. In a world that is being reshaped by the relentless advance of technology, what stands out are acts of compassion and connection that remind us what it means to be human.
As I read the story of Brandon and his grandmother, I thought back to a lecture delivered two years ago by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, to the graduating seniors of my alma mater, Princeton University. Bezos is nothing if not a master of technology — he has built his company, and his fortune, on the rise of the Internet and his own intellect. But he spoke that day not about computing power or brainpower, but about his grandmother — and what he learned when he made her cry.
Even as a 10-year-old boy, it turns out, Bezos had a steel-trap mind and a passion for crunching numbers. During a summer road trip with his grandparents, young Jeff got fed up with his grandmother's smoking in the car — and decided to do something about it. From the backseat, he calculated how many cigarettes per day his grandmother smoked, how many puffs she took per cigarette, the health risk of each puff, and announced to her with great fanfare, "You've taken nine years off your life!"
Bezos's calculations may have been accurate — but the reaction was not what he expected. His grandmother burst into tears. His grandfather pulled the car off to the side of the road and asked young Jeff to step out. And then his grandfather taught a lesson that this now-billionaire decided to share the with the Class of 2010: "My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, 'Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.'"
That's a lesson I wish more businesspeople understood — a lesson that is reinforced by the reaction to this simple act of kindness at Panera Bread. Indeed, I experienced something similar not so long ago, and found it striking enough to devote an HBR blog post to the experience. In my post, I told the story of my father, his search for a new car, a health emergency that took place in the middle of that search — and a couple of extraordinary (and truly human) gestures by an auto dealer that put him at ease and won his loyalty.
"What is it about business that makes it so hard to be kind?" I asked at the time. "And what kind of businesspeople have we become when small acts of kindness feel so rare?"
That's what's really striking about the Panera Bread story — not that Suzanne Fortier went out of her way to do something nice for a sick grandmother, but that her simple gesture attracted such global attention and acclaim.
So by all means, encourage your people to embrace technology, get great at business analytics, and otherwise ramp up the efficiency of everything they do. But just make sure all their efficiency doesn't come at the expense of their humanity. Small gestures can send big signals about who we are, what we care about, and why people should want to affiliate with us. It's harder (and more important) to be kind than clever.
Monday, August 20, 2012
mentaiko love
I happened to have 100 grams of bacon bits, a handful of spaghetti and some delightful mentaiko. Naturally, it's bacon mentaiko spaghetti for dinner!
That's a failed poached egg on top, if anyone is curious.
Mentaiko is the marinated roe of pollock and is commonly used in Japanese cuisine. It's salty, a little spicy and tastes kinda seafood-ish. The flavour can be quite robust, so a little goes a long way. Here's another picture.
I still have 2 sacs of mentaiko in the freezer, so maybe mentaiko toast with... pumpkin soup tomorrow?
That's a failed poached egg on top, if anyone is curious.
Mentaiko is the marinated roe of pollock and is commonly used in Japanese cuisine. It's salty, a little spicy and tastes kinda seafood-ish. The flavour can be quite robust, so a little goes a long way. Here's another picture.
I still have 2 sacs of mentaiko in the freezer, so maybe mentaiko toast with... pumpkin soup tomorrow?
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
too sensitive or not sensitive enough?
This piece of news appear on FB today.
Dear all, please be aware when you are at outside, no matter where you are, especially at the parking inside the mall.
This incident happened on 16/7/2012 which is yesterday night around 10pm at 1 Utama Shopping Center, old wing LG floor car park. An old man got punch by a malay guy, and he got robbed. There is no security guard around at all, and we cant even find a security guard that time. After reaching of the security guard, they want us to stop taking photo and keep chasing us leave, they are trying to cover up the issue.
And the best thing is, when I call 999, I got scolded by the police =.= "eh! cakap melayu, cakap melayu..." Excuse me sir, I know malay, I'm just kinda panic at the moment because I'm used to speak english most of the time. And it take almost half an hour for them to come over. There is a police station at Taman Tun right? Why took so long? What if people dying? This is seriously unacceptable.
Please share this to all of your friends, love one, family, strangers.. Nowadays no matter shopping complex, or wherever are no longer safe, we gotta take extra care to our self, must be extreme alert when we are at outside. Share! Share! Share!
I thought this was a kind gesture to warn the general public since the newspapers have not reported it. Like the woman who wrote on FB of how she was abducted from the carpark of The Curve.
So, imagine my horror and disgust when this whole thing spiralled into a racial issue. All because the author said the uncle was robbed by a Malay guy and the policeman chided her when she spoke in English. Ugh. Granted the uncle could be mistaken. Malay guy, Indonesian guy, Myanmar guy, a very tanned Chinese guy, all same colour. So what if it's a Chinese or Indian who robbed the uncle instead? Would it alter the crime in any way?
Even if it's really a Malay guy, she's merely stating a fact. Have we become so close minded to the point where we cannot or should not talk about race openly? We can't take things at face value anymore. It seems everything has a racial or political undertone. You cannot call an Indian keling (a colloquial word used to describe people originating from India, now considered a derogatory reference) anymore because that's racist. Calling a Chinese mata sepet (squinty eyes) is equally racist too, even though it's not entirely off the mark. And Malays, well, apparently you cannot even use them in the same sentence with "punched by a".
You should do a google search and see what certain bloggers (especially one that goes by the nick headbomb) and their commentators are writing about cina sial (fucking Chinese?) because of the FB post above. So totally taken out of context.
Let's stop turning everything into a race issue, ok? This was a crime. Someone got hurt. The author just wants people to be wary and stay safe. End of story.
Dear all, please be aware when you are at outside, no matter where you are, especially at the parking inside the mall.
This incident happened on 16/7/2012 which is yesterday night around 10pm at 1 Utama Shopping Center, old wing LG floor car park. An old man got punch by a malay guy, and he got robbed. There is no security guard around at all, and we cant even find a security guard that time. After reaching of the security guard, they want us to stop taking photo and keep chasing us leave, they are trying to cover up the issue.
And the best thing is, when I call 999, I got scolded by the police =.= "eh! cakap melayu, cakap melayu..." Excuse me sir, I know malay, I'm just kinda panic at the moment because I'm used to speak english most of the time. And it take almost half an hour for them to come over. There is a police station at Taman Tun right? Why took so long? What if people dying? This is seriously unacceptable.
Please share this to all of your friends, love one, family, strangers.. Nowadays no matter shopping complex, or wherever are no longer safe, we gotta take extra care to our self, must be extreme alert when we are at outside. Share! Share! Share!
I thought this was a kind gesture to warn the general public since the newspapers have not reported it. Like the woman who wrote on FB of how she was abducted from the carpark of The Curve.
So, imagine my horror and disgust when this whole thing spiralled into a racial issue. All because the author said the uncle was robbed by a Malay guy and the policeman chided her when she spoke in English. Ugh. Granted the uncle could be mistaken. Malay guy, Indonesian guy, Myanmar guy, a very tanned Chinese guy, all same colour. So what if it's a Chinese or Indian who robbed the uncle instead? Would it alter the crime in any way?
Even if it's really a Malay guy, she's merely stating a fact. Have we become so close minded to the point where we cannot or should not talk about race openly? We can't take things at face value anymore. It seems everything has a racial or political undertone. You cannot call an Indian keling (a colloquial word used to describe people originating from India, now considered a derogatory reference) anymore because that's racist. Calling a Chinese mata sepet (squinty eyes) is equally racist too, even though it's not entirely off the mark. And Malays, well, apparently you cannot even use them in the same sentence with "punched by a".
You should do a google search and see what certain bloggers (especially one that goes by the nick headbomb) and their commentators are writing about cina sial (fucking Chinese?) because of the FB post above. So totally taken out of context.
Let's stop turning everything into a race issue, ok? This was a crime. Someone got hurt. The author just wants people to be wary and stay safe. End of story.