{2} Due to a massive work overload, my overlord has giving me the chance to hop on the ‘workfromhome’ wagon {Pardon Moi: when you work for a Norwegian company can’t help to think of the vikings LOL might be just me :p}. The best part of working from home is the 0 commute time wasted so I was able to finish a great amount of work during the day. still home tomorrow, woohoo I can get use to this!

{3} The top 10 social networking annoyances - While we are on the topic of Norwegians, check out an article on social networks. Before everyone jumps to FriendConnect let’s sit back and breath, is transparency really the solution to EVERYTHING?! (also noticing that nothing else on that site is in English, just that one post. Did someone come in to the office one morning just decided to run one post completely in English? heehee I smell a dare!) Anyways, I think there should be a Graduation date setting on Facebook and just auto delete anyone’s account once they are out of school, okay FINE I don’t use Facebook so I don’t know how ‘good’ it is, but when someone in their 40s runs a pickup line of ‘do you have a facebook account?’ … hum … not sexy … not sexy at all!

{4} For some very sweet patterns on hard solid concrete check out Materialicio’s blog post on Concrete art floors by transparent house

{5} Intelligent Travel posted a very chilling article about the original tales of Mike the headless chicken oh what a no brainier, which reminds me of one of Carlos Mencia’s jokes about people eating stupid/slow animals, hahaha it’s very funny I wish I can find a clip to link to, so far no luck :(

{6} Why Freelancers should watch their backs, Let’s get the word outsourcing right: I’ve had some idiot asking me if outsourcing means hiring non-Americans? If he is getting paid by or close to the rates on Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines then it’s not outsourcing NO MATTER WHAT COUNTRY HE LIVES IN! When someone is getting paid much lower for the same task, $10/hr vs $20/hr then that’s outsourcing. Do I believe in outsourcing designers (I can’t speak for other fields), NO! as easy as it seems, design is a very hard topic, COLOR is even a harder one. How can one expect a perfect harmony in both design + color when your designer is a world apart and surrounded by an utterly different environment. That been said, as a designer + Illustrator i don’t see there’s any reason to worry or be stressed about our clients outsourcing creative talents, there are A WHOLE WIDE WORLD OUT THERE, freelancers - don’t get stuck in one box, if your client decides to go abroad (he’s only gambling with his own money, designers have nothing to loose) just get off your lazy butt - find another client. In time your clients will get tired of these ‘lost in translation’ phone calls/email. Recently I’ve had a client calling me back to asking me retaking on the redesign + maintenance of his website ‘it’s stressful, I don’t know if he understands what I want and every time I call him I can’t find him’ that’s his story for coming back to me after trying outsourcing a web design project with a freelancer in China. The internet has developed into it’s most advanced form - we can’t/couldn’t cover up cheaper labors with a blanket, all we can do is stand by our quality and continue to do what we do the best - DESIGN!

Photo from Notes from the road: Colorado Plateau

Gas on your mind? :) Track your Gas Mileage with Fuel Forg, it’s a neat concept of using twitter to track your mileage, hummm that almost made me wanting to get a car to try it out, if you own a car try it out and let me know the results. Would love to find out.

Will the real winner please stand up. It’s smackdown time for some funky logos, check out the First Company Logo Smackdown, heehee geeks.

It’s cooking time, check out my Bento Lunch Box recipe at OpenSource Food. I’m generally a nice person 0:) as long as you don’t do something stupid to piss me off (then again, I guess that’s everyone’s red thin line), so recently at Open Source Food I’ve run into a very immature and rude member, out of NOWHERE he commented on one of my recipes of been not detailed and fake … how do you answer to such a stupid comment, yeah okay during my free time I LOVE to photoshop up fake food so I can post them on the internet, WTF I mean common i’ve heard of no brainier but this is just way too retarded. Cooking is something I do with my heart. not because of I’m been paid of and I certainly don’t get paid writing recipes online, if I ever do then you bet I’ll take the extra time write down to every tsp. if you think you can improve upon my recipe do so and send me a link i’d be happy to learn new ways of creating food, but don’t just go straight to someone’s recipe page and leave a stupid comment like “Dunno, you grabbed it off the net? What IS your recipe anyhow? Is it too freaking difficult to actually measure anything, or record durations? And incidentally, I’m not a girl.” duh, I know you are not a girl, stupid! PS: If you find out where I ‘grabbed’ off the net let me know I’m interested to find out. Ahaha this is actually the funniest thing that happened to me for a little while now, maybe I should frame his comments, laughter is always good for the body. :) The traffic is also doing pretty good, what a excellent PR.

Alright all fun aside i’m doing some small remodeling of DannieG.com, so i’ll end this post short. Night!

Surreal photographs by Martin Klimas

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”

There the genuine you is shining through. Without incongruency, mixed messages or perhaps a sort of phoniness. It’s you to 100%. It’s you with not only your words but you with your voice tonality and body language – which some say is over 90% of communication - on the same wavelength as your words. It’s you coming through on all channels of communication.

The above is a selection from The Positivity Blog’s post: Bruce lee’s Top 7 Fundamntals for Getting Your Life in Shape Phew what a long header!

I’ve been searching for a cure for my allergies for some time now, came across this very interesting article on Martha Stewart’s website, it’s called Self-Hypnosis for Allergies, after following the simple 3 steps I feel much better now, it’s all in the mind after all!

Hey it’s Martha again! forget about books, magazines or tv shows, NOBODY takes advantage of blogs better than Martha. Both a equally successful equally yummy, check out Body + Soul Challenge and Everyday Food’s Dinner Tonight

Buying a pair of jeans or buying a house, when it comes down to it, it’s all the same … hummm XXS is that a Studio or smaller? Next House is a pretty awesome housing solution, still not sure how it works but giving the chance I’d love to give it a try :) ps: can I pick the upgrade package that include a hot handy man?!

The Uno Motorcycle is utterly amazing, not only it saves gas it gives you the right to TURN ANYONE DOWN when they beg you for a ride ‘ah sorry would love to, but my bike is only build for one … moi”

Last, I leave you all good night with a funky Vodka website, remember don’t drink and sleep, one may never wake up.

I know what I said on my last post … and I stand by that, I dislike our local Ikea’s unhelpful staffs - warehouse staff to be exact - This time when I went to look for a BESTÅ TV stand system with drawers, the lady that was suppose to help me find the RIGHT parts pointed me to the wrong box, it’s a good thing I double checked the numbers at the checkout. With that said I do love Ikea very very much, it’s my utterly silly addiction.

I don’t think i’ll ever be able to pronounce any of the names off the label from Ikea’s food market (or any item that’s not named BILLY - even with that I don’t think it’s pronounced as Billy, does i = e?), anyways the cookies and crackers they carry at the food market are wonderful, my fav. has to be the sesame crispbread + red berry jam :)

I’m still getting adjusted to the new two bedroom apartment, don’t have the extra room for my books and hardwares anymore so everything is stuck in the bedroom :( Sigh … I live with the constant fear of my massive overloaded bookcase fall on my face at night, learning to sleep with one eye open. heehee kidding. After a few days, ain’t that bad to have the mac so close to my bed. All in all, It’s a pretty nice apartment, I’ll take some pictures next time. PS: YUP! I got internet! FINALLY no more wifi stealing.

I for example, loves Ikea but I actually do most of my shopping at Target {same quality, same stylish design, same price range, difference in customer service}. That doesn’t mean I’ll prefer to shop at any target over all Ikea stores. The staffs at our local target are very friendly and helpful, on the other hand our local Ikea is packed with lazy asses that likes to chat around a computer stand, every-time you ask them for help you have to wait for them to finish their juicy gossip first, then followed by an ‘Alright, i’ll HELP her now, be back in 5!’ {WTF, I paid to have you work here}. That in turn makes me limit my visit to our local ikea.

Most people knows me know that whenever I make a purchase I do a price list compare like crazy, money does matter! If I want a camera the cheaper I can find it the better, then I make a final list of final 5, within that list I’d always to stick the company that I trust, might not be the cheapest of the 5 but it’s a company that’s the most reliable and a company that has a better customer support.

My mother used to tell me: If you want to keep your customer, then stand by your quality and maintain a honest, reliable costumer service!

Sometimes been TOO friendly can be very scary for the costumers, tonight I went out for dinner my waitress first complimented on the lovely color of my lipstick + wonderful smell of my perfume, I said thank you and felt really good about it. When our food arrived, before I had the time to fork it, she sticks a question at my face “you haven’t told me which brand of perfume you used” - that’s fine people always ask me where I bought this, where i got that. Then on her trip around to check if everyone’s enjoying their meal, she noticed that I was speaking Chinese, so she asked what language I was speaking, I said Chinese, she then went on saying it’s a beautiful language and that I’m really beautiful … at this point I’m not sure if she’s actually hitting on me or wanting more tips {last week I did had a weird bathroom experience with a girl, ahaha so now i’m all confused by them!}. At the end I don’t think I’d like to visit that resturant again. There is a thin line between friendly customer service and annoying one. So beware don’t over do it!

Okay, since I haven’t blogged about any juicy happenings lately let’s play catch up and put more detail into my ‘weird bathroom experience’ - Last Thursday I went on a dinner date, the date was fine, the funny thing started after I spilled some red wine on my dress. Went to the lady’s room to clean up since I figured it’s women’s bathroom so I took the top of my dress off and started to clean the bra that’s all wet. just I was busy cleaning up, A girl doing her makeup 2 mirrors down looked up “are these real” “hum?” I replied wasn’t sure if she’s talking to me or on the cell. “you boobs! are them real?”. Annoyed by the question, I said “yeah!” Then went to the dryer, try to dry my bra, that’s when she came behind me grabbed my boobs “hey beautiful, if your date gets too boring you are welcome at my table” … WTF , how the heck, what the… i really can’t wrap my head around this one, oh woah, that was so totally random I didn’t see that one coming, ahaha due to my slowness It took me a good 10min to figure out what had just happened. Anyways it was a pretty weird + fun experience.

Good night! yes, I’m stilling running on stolen WiFi and are feeling pretty bad about it :P

This Blog Post is made possible by:  The wonderful people that didn’t know how to lock their Wifi signal + Powerful Wifi Stealing MacBook {MacBook black, in this case color does matter … ohhh comon just playing}, oh yeah and my new RightNowItLooksLikeATotalMessButSoonItWillBeAwesome 3rd floor new pad :) back to unpacking!

What’s up with my headline? I have to be fair: Been a long time New yorker and a recent New York hater, I do have to say it’s NOT an easy/clean/nice city for tourist to visit. With that said let’s hear what wacky tourist I ran into this time around.
Starbucks {at the turn of every block}, Juice bars + super sized drinks, bathrooms are the number one issue in NYC. Then again there is no better place to strike up a convocation than waiting inline for the toilet. Hence both of my runins with the European Tourists started and ended at the bathroom line.

Mid noon at Starbucks, waiting inline for their bathroom. Noticing an European family{based on the quantity of Apple bags they are holding}, sure enough a woman infront of me asked “are you girls from out of town” shockingly one of the girl{in her 20s} answered back{in the most rudest way}”yeah! Holland!” {somebody should smack the shit out of her} soon after, their father came out — get this — with his pants unzipped and unbuckled … almost 10 people in the line were forced to watch him buckle his pants, he offered not a word of ’sorry’, then their mother went in without waiting for the door to shot fully closed, she pulled down her pants. Well that created quiet an anger. An young couple behind smiled at me and said “looks like New York brings the worst out of people!”

Second run in with an European Tourist was at Yoshinoya on 42nd. Been my first time using the bath room there, while I was wondering why the door is locked, there came a young man {my age}, spoke a very adorable English sentence — ‘do you think we need to ask for ze coin?’ — then I looked at the door handle duh! it says ‘ask cashier for coin’. I replied ‘hum … ‘ he then very politely told me to wait there{and repeated it, to make sure I understood} and went all the way back to the cashier to get the coins for both of us. I smiled, looks like sometimes New York brings the best out of people!.

Been such a big foodie it’s certain I’ve not just eaten at one place for the whole day - very later in to the night, we headed over to 53rd and 6th to pay a little homage to the Chicken Guy. Luckily the line was very short tonight, on some nights it will fill up the whole block. Chicken Guy is a must experienced NYC “fine dinning”. my meat of choice is lamb {with a lot of the famous white sauce}. The rice is HOT … on top of that you eat it with more hot sauce added, so if you can’t handle the pressure I suggest you leave the line for the big boys. Chicken Guy opens from 7pm to 4am so feed your hunger late into the night isn’t a big problem.

The next day - March of Dimes - It was cold, it was raining, but what the heck we are doing it. In the pouring rain we walked, laughed, played and accomplished a Six mile long walk for babies.

Later that noon we found ourselves on the subway stop of Prince Street :) YES! if you know where I’m heading you know what I’m going to go first … UNIQLO … the only?! store on the east coast{Please tell me there will be one in Boston soon}.

What’s even better than buying a grey UNIQLO cotton cashmere turtle neck sweater at onsale price of $19.99?! looking at their manga art deco of no other than my fav. ‘Detective Conan’ … It’s Conan all the way - a huge colored Conan on the window display facing the street, every shopping bag has a Conan on it, what’s most jaw dropping special is the floor to the wall wraps of mangas. I don’t think I’d want a more cooler store than this.

Out of one door down the block to another, don’t forget to get a taste of Rice to Riches, you can sample all you want but I would recommend ‘MAN-MADE MASCARPONE WITH CHERRIES’. Just like starbucks they have their own cup system, to act like you know what you are doing just ask for a ’solo’.

Now back in Boston, feels like I’m back to the real life ;) what happens in NYC stays in NYC … Alright all funs aside back to packing. Night!

Anyways I’ll blog about my where abouts in NYC, The apt + Bert Monroy (now all i need is to find that book I bought and get him to sign it).

Cheers.

Play hard to get, oi … I’ve noticed that it has becoming a trend IN GUYS lately- it’s probably due to alot of low graded TV shows out there - but anyways just to set the facts straight.

Play Hard to get works ONLY if you’ve hit some base with your girl and she can’t live without you, otherwise you are NOT the only guy on this planet.

I’ve recently attended a dinner party, I guess it’s the first date for me and the person I went with, fair into the evening he try to pull a game on me: the classic let’s talk/check out other girls game. So after 5mins of him doing so, I left and went around talking to other people, towards the end of the night he came back and told me that he thinks i’m pretty, smart, interesting, blah blah and want to see me again, WTF if you thought i was interesting why the heck would you spend the whole night checking out someone else?! I thought you weren’t interested so I had moved on. To reply his, I said ” you spend the whole night checking out and talking to other girls, which clearly shows you don’t care about me and have no respect for my feelings. If i see you again I would have to be very stupid or have a low self esteem, I don’t think I’m either so it’s best for me to pass on your offer”. I don’t believe in if I’m nice to you then you can be nice to others and make me jealous, if at the initial date it’s like this then what the heck am i gonna do on date 2 or 3, I’ll prob. have a heart attack by date 4. I ONLY live on this earth for ONE TIME so call me selfish call me rude but I refuse to date anyone that thinks they’ve got games. If I’m nice and cares about you god dammit be nice and care for me back!

Games are only good, when you are MARRIED to the person and there are no sparks anymore so play some jealousy games, but when everything is still up in the air?! woah dude you are way over yourself, what’s the best quality you have that I won’t just walk two steps over and find in someone else?!!!! Think about it.

Trust me, for me I see that as immaturity and low self esteem. Look at some examples of confident person you will find that they have rules and goals and are well mannered, not someone that just look the part then sounds like still stuck at 14.

Our lives are shorter than we actually think, something could happen in the next hour, the next day, and yet we are stuck most of our lives inside cubicles dealing with hectic and power struggle egomaniacs, the last person I want to date is someone that plays mind games, I want to spend rest of my unworking hour with someone I can feel relaxed with, someone I can share a laughter, someone I can turn to cry when I feel sad, someone that’s not ashamed to sit in the car with the stereo way up and sing off key out loud together. If I want someone that likes to stare at other people I can just get a cat. All in all all I want is someone that I can care for and cares for me back.

Ps: I’m not some mindless bimbo that can’t make up a decision, If I said “no, I don’t like to see you anymore” it means “NO” and stop calling me, asking if i’m ’sure’. Yes I’m Sure and Yes it’s you. You started the game, I’m just ending it.

My best memory of a date was with the only guy I’ve so far ever felt in love with, the first time he drove me home from work I had a light cough, he stopped by the gas station and bought me a bottle of OJ :) told me to drink up.

A simple act of kindness goes a long way (I kept the OJ bottle for almost 3 month, heehee)