The Effects of Propganda on "A State of Mind"

It was announced on Sunday evening PST that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il had passed away from a heart attack. Today I spent a bit of time reading about this from several sources and many comments ranged from sadness, fear, anger, hope, and jubilation. His third and youngest son, Kim Jong Un, is now called "The great successor." He is touted by North Korean's news media as the heir to a nation of 24 million. Not much information is known about this young man who is in his late 20s so there is much uncertainty and speculation. Is he going to be like his dad? Is he going to be different because he knows how to speak several languages and went to school abroad? Is he going to go to war with South Korea to exert power early on? Nobody really knows.

If you haven't already seen this movie I would highly encourage you to watch, "A State Of Mind." Two British documentary movie makers had a chance to follow the lives of two  North Korean young girl gymnasts who are preparing for the Mass Games, a colorful mix of athleticism, gymnastics, dance, song, and military power held by North Korea and broadcasted to the world as a symbol of it's pride, loyalism to their leader, and virility to the world. The event lasts about 7-10 days and is held every 2-3 years.

What you will see will shock you. It's really weird for us to see these people blame their problems on the "evil Americans." At the same time you can see the innocence of the young girls who want to make their family, teachers, and leader proud of them. What we call propaganda and lies are taught to them as real history and facts to live by. There's no two sides of the story. In that country, you are feed what you need to hear. Questioning it will get you in trouble. One of the oddest things they require for all citizens to do is to apply for a travel visa within its own country. This means North Koreans are banned from visiting parts of their own country.  That's something that I can't even fathom in the US at all. Watching this movie makes me wonder how an entire nation can allow for this kind of heavy restriction to continue but then there are many people, including young children, who have bought into it as their way of life. There's still a lot of innocence there...especially in the eyes of the gymnasts. I wonder if they would ever be told another side of the story. The biggest question is if they were told the other side of the story would they be able to handle it? It's hard to say.

Maybe this is a bit weird to admit on a blog but I've always had a major interest in reading and watching movies and the news about North Korea and how it's so different from the US. I think a lot of it has to do with my parents and what they have shared and taught my sister and me. My parents left Vietnam due to the rise of communism and wide-spread propaganda.  When my husband and I went to Vietnam for our honeymoon you can see two sides of Vietnam: The propaganda side, and the vibrant economic expansion side. In a conversation with my dad last week he said he'd never go back to Vietnam again. I didn't press for why. In his eyes I knew there was pain and personal anger that should not be relived.

All of this news is a somber reminder that I am really blessed with the opportunity to be ale to see both sides of the story and be able to choose what I want to learn and believe in. It was not something my parents got to experience growing up, and it's no available to the people of North Korea either.  Although our country has our own problems with distribution of wealth. uncontrolled government spending, under-funded public education, etc. we still have a voice and an opportunity to try to find facts on our own. And with these extra opportunities we can control and change our own "state of mind."

If you've watched the movie let me know what you think it! It's a beautifully well-made documentary and well worth the time spent in watching it.

Big Applause to Patagonia!

Although I'm not a big fan of Patagonia, I must applaud their Common Threads Initiative.
Go to their website http://www.patagonia.com and right on the front in big bold letters it says, "DON'T BUY THIS JACKET!" Quite the opposite from all the other  retail websites in the midst of the holiday season.

The message of the Common Threads Initiative is simple:

1) Reduce what you buy. Don't buy more than you really need.
2) Repair what you can. Pledge to fix what is broken.
3) Reuse what you have. Patagonia will donate your old clothing to those in need.
4) Recycle everything else.
5) Reimagine a sustainable world.

This message is not new. No, in fact, we've probably heard it from our parents, our environmentally conscious friends, in school, and from news in the community. The Northwest (notably Seattle and Portland) is known for mandating an integrated recycling program for all residents to follow. What makes this noteworthy is that a corporation is making this bold pledge and using their clout to encourage people to think about how they are living and what they can do to improve a society that is obsessed by consumerism.

These kinds of bold statements are refreshing and welcoming to a public that's been jaded too long by over-advertising. And yes, maybe, it's a way to encourage people to buy Patagonia's stuff, but it also makes you think about what an individual can do to help the initiative - not just about that cute outdoor jacket in cherry red, right?

With movements like Occupy Wall Street happening, corporations need to own up their actions and use their brand influence for good.   Can you imagine what Toys-R-Us could do for education and assisting needy families? What if Walmart or other grocery stores Fred Meyers created a program to help food missions and those on food stamps? What if Target started a clothes and furniture recycling program that will encourage families  to give back and help those in need?

It's important that individuals do their part to save the environment, but it's also important that corporations are held accountable and use their resources and voice to make a big difference. Big kudos to Patagonia for looking beyond their profit margins and doing something that will help sustain our environment.

How to Navigate "Hater Nation" On the Internet

Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else feel like there's so much hate on the internet? Just look at a couple of random YouTube videos or news articles and there's always at least one or two negative comments to read. If you are Kim Kardashian, you are probably getting at least 90% + hateful comments for every article written about you since the celebrity divorce announcement on Monday. Sorry "doll," but it must really sucks to take Ashton Kutcher's place as the most hated celebrity right now.

So where is all this hate coming from? Why do people love to hate on others? Why is it important to pay attention to groups of haters? Is there a way to turn haters into happier fans?

Let's look at a couple of reasons. Thanks to technology and the media....

1) Hating on the internet is easy to do because you can be completely anonymous while writing a bunch of nasty comments. People may feel more comfortable writing out what they feel instead of saying it in person.

2) You don't have to login as the same profile. You can create multiple profiles on the same or multiple sights and nobody can find out who you are in real life.

3) A group of haters in a forum can really do some serious damage to one they please to single out. A sad but very real example is a group of school kids bullying others on Facebook resulting in physical harm or, the worst, suicide.

4) Social networks and media outlets create spins and drama in order to provoke readers to hate. According to some celebrities being hated is as good as being loved. This means they stay relevant and make can leverage to make money. We see companies and politicians provoking viewers to hate on certain people, political agendas, and products as well. Pepsi vs. Coke, Democrats vs. Republicans, Sprint vs. AT&T vs. T-Mobile, etc..the list goes on and on.

5) It's hard to know what's real and what's fake on the internet these days. Media coverage has turned into an all-out cat fight of personal opinions and political agendas. New articles can sometimes be disguised as promotional tools. Sometimes we find ourselves passing along information that turns out to be untrue and that can cause some riffs between family and friends.

I do want to note that not all hating is bad. Look at Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. Many decades of tyranny were overturned in less than a year due to social networks of haters who passionately wanted to change their countries for the good. Though these countries still are far away from their ideal dreams, the people of those countries were able to channel their hatred into an effort to provide their families with better opportunities in the future. Another great example is "Occupy Wallstreet" movements throughout the world. Many people in the lower to middle class are angry with the lack of wealth being spread across, record student loan debts, massive foreclosures, and budget cuts for services to the needy. I believe this movement will spark a pivotal role for the American government and its people, as well as around the world.

We can't prevent a person from having their own opinion. As a company or a person we can't please everyone we come in contact with. Doing so would run your business to the ground or become emotionally taxing. But I do want to offer some ideas and suggestions that will build your own confidence, be able to carefully listen to what viewers or customers are saying about you, and find a path of peace that includes a resolution that is very sincere, conscientious, and mindful of the affects your words and actions have in this world.

1) Become an effective listener. Unfortunately we can only cocoon ourselves from negative feedback for so long. It's really sad to see some people are quite delusional about their situation and refuse to hear the truth. It's important to be someone who can listen to criticism as well as compliments and find ways to improve your weaknesses as well as grow your personal strengths. This is easier said than done but it's something we need to strive for constantly in order to balance oneself. By being able to listen to good and negative comments will give a person or their company a chance to reflect and put themselves in other people's shoes. Can you see what they mean or not? Keep asking yourself this until you can.

2) Not all hate comments are helpful comments. There's a difference between hateful and critical opinions. Learn how to differentiate the two. Simply calling Kim Kardashian a dumbass skank isn't going to be as helpful as someone who says, " Hey Kim, that was not nice of you to announce your divorce to the media before speaking to your soon-to-be ex-husband. You need to respect him and see him in person. Give him the privacy he deserves to speak to him about this. There's no need for you to be hawking your handbags in Australia when your personal life is imploding." If you are the receiving end of hateful comments, really take into consideration the ones that are critical. They might be able to offer insight that can be a personal breakthrough for yourself and change the way you live your life or conduct business.

3) Teach your children and share with others around you how to navigate in a world of hate. Everyone might have a different way to do this, but teaching and sharing what you know might someday change the way people present information, and how people use the internet.

4) Don't be afraid to lay low, unwind, and reflect on your own self. Despite a lot of hate out there, the harshest critic can be yourself. It's important to work on your insecurities and find a way to love yourself for who you are. If you know where your heart is, no about of hateful comments can hurt you and take away your inner peace you've discovered for yourself.

Again, these are just suggestions to help you navigate this wild ride we call life. I'm merely a student of these words that were passed to me by my friends, family, mentors, and colleagues.

Juice Fasting: The Journey That Allows Your Body to Heal Itself

If you haven't seen "Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead," I suggest looking it up on Netflix and watching it right now. One lazy Saturday afternoon my husband, Ian, and I stayed in bed and decided to watch this documentary. Prior to this we had been on a two week whirlwind vacation on the east coast and enjoyed more food than our tummies can handle. Pizza and Polish food from NYC? Check. Whoopie pies from Lancaster? Check. Philly cheesesteaks from Philly, soft-shell crab sandwiches from Chesapeake Bay, Hershey candy in Hershey, PA, and a week's worth of all-inclusive meals at a Georgian Bay fishing club in Canada? Check, check, check, and mate. Oh yes, it was all very delicious but I felt sluggish when we returned home.

While watching Joe Cross's documentary, Ian surprised me by suggesting we do a two-week juice fast after a raft trip. I stared at him like he just just told me he was pregnant. "Are you kidding me? I don't think you can last that long," I recall saying to him.

"No, I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, have a severe dependency on protein so I don't think you can do this."

"Well, you can't have any beer on the juice fast. That's cheating."

"What? Beer is juice! I should be able to have one beer a day if I wanted....or how about 2 beers the entire time?"

Haha...yes, this is kind of how this conversation went between us. So we both agreed to do the juice fast for 11 days. The 12th day is Ian's company picnic and he didn't want to miss out on all the good times with his bosses and coworkers. On August 8th we borrowed a juicer from Ian's mom, and began our 11-day juice fast.

I've facebooked the journey and included a couple of pictures of the large bowls of fruits and veggies it takes to make a just a couple of glasses of juice. Below is a picture of just breakfast and lunch for me only.
Impressive, eh?

The juice fast we followed included NO coffee, and just tea and water. Here's a quick break down of each day:

Day 1- Ian brought 2 metal bottles worth to work this day. When he got home he decided 3 bottles would be better as he was really tired and lacked energy. Later that evening to keep our minds off of food we walked to Kure on 42nd and Hawthorne for a juice dinner. They create fresh juice from scratch. It was very hard walking past people at Por Que No? and the other food carts nearby. My stomach whined and asked me to feed the belly and I only responded by feeding it more juice.

Day 2 - Tired and hungry. I tortured myself by reading my favorite food blogs and watching Anthony Bourdain. You can probably say my food porn addiction has risen a bit. In the evening we did a small walk around the neighborhood and went to bed early that night. I found myself having a bit of trouble sleeping so I went in the living room to read and try to relax. The headaches were getting worse throughout the night and I drank a lot of tea/water to combat this. No Aspirin, no Alieve (my go-to pain reliever of choice). This, after-all, was the body doing work detoxing itself.

Day 3/4- For me, these two days were pretty tough while working. Many of my emails had improper spelling and grammar, and the normal work-stress levels felt a bit more elevated to the point where I shed a couple of tears at the end of the day. We went to the gym but kept it slow and steady.

"Why are we doing this?"

"Because it would be good to see if we can discipline and reboot our eating habits ."

"Oh...ok."

Ian's mom called and gave us good advice to take some olive oil to help our gall bladder manage the influx of toxins in the body and to do some dry brushing for circulation. I think this whole time I've only had 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and Ian did only 1 of olive oil. It was gross but it felt kind of nice to eating something from a spoon.

Day 5/6- Oh curse that metallic flavor in my mouth! I felt like I had been sucking on 20 pennies. Yuck! Our breath was kicking and our body odor got worse. Our pee stank (sorry TMI) and the farts were horrid. No amount of brushing, flossing, tongue scraping could get rid of it. And your tongue is really gross and white like a wet white sock. Probably smelled like it, too.

On day 6, we had agreed to babysit Thalia and Clio, Ian's cousin's kids, for the afternoon. I emailed Becky and stated, "We don't have any solid food like bread to give them. Is this ok?" She said it was fine to feed them some of our juice.

When they came over we took them over to Kruger Farms fruit stand on Hawthorne and let them pick out fruits and veggies to make their own juice. It turned out to be a really fun activity. They girls really loved playing with the juicer and smelling their own fresh juice recipe. After that we bottled some of it up and went to the Avalon, a five cent arcade space on Belmont. There was a dirt bike game I tried to play and you actually have to pedal and turn the handle to maneuver the course. Although it only lasted 3 minutes, it felt like an eternity and I ended up in 4th place....out of 4 bikers. Walking home, I felt a bit spacey and light-headed then proceeded to drank the rest of the juice and pretty much stayed in one spot the whole night.

Day 7 - Our friend Shannon invited us on a hike on Sunday morning. I remember asking Ian, "Can you look up the level of difficulty of this hike?" Dog Mountain in the Gorge is marked as "Difficult." All of a sudden, I got nervous. I had a traumatic experience with one of our friends, Erik Hansen, picking an "EASY" hike and it turned out to be the most difficult hike I've EVER been on. To make matters worse, my back was sore from camping/sleeping on the ground, and our friend Marilyn was 6 month pregnant at the time and the first one of our group to make it to the top. Boy, was I out of shape! The only reason why I even bothered to finish that hike to the top was because there was a beer with my name on it chilling in snow at the top of the ridge.

"Don't worry," Ian said. " If you don't feel good we can stop and turn around. It would be good to try this."

When we got to Dog Mountain we saw that it was marked "Most Difficult." Uhoh....here we go! Talk about steep! Wow, my butt is still hurting today from the hike. We ended up only making it less than half way before wanting to pass out. The light headed dealio was bothering me and needed to get down quickly to risk falling down a steep hill.

Anytime we've ever gone a hike we always follow it up with a beer at a local town bar or brewery. This time we stopped at Dead Man Walking in Stevenson, WA. No beer, just ice tea for us. Ian had a small sip of Shannon's beer, and I recall staring at people eating delicious looking fries and pizza. We are definitely coming back in the future for that pear and Steelhead pizza!

Day 8 - Juicing per usual. Gym time. Kept it slow and steady again. We are both feeling really tired and kind of bored of this juice fast. Ian weighed himself and lost 12 pounds!!!! I'm so jealous! He's looking slim and that beer gut is nearly gone. My wedding band is too loose for my ring finger! It's probably the lack of salt in the diet.

Day 9: Today. Tired and stressed from work. Bored of juice fast. Ian is meeting Ben for a beer. I did tell him he's allowed 2 beers. He said he will probably only drink half. We will see. Hopefully I will not need to come get him and drive him home.

Day 10: Wednesday tomorrow. I'm sooo done....Just keep juicing.

Day 11: Fast in morning, lunch: Solid food dinner.

Going to make spaghetti from zucchini and a cashew Alfredo sauce and some soup and vegan meatballs from mushrooms and black beans/lentils. Something light. Hope that goes well. I've been reading a lot and many fasting resources recommend to go slowly and ease back into a normal eating cycle. Breaking the fast appears to be harder than the fasting part itself. It's kind of like the weight loss journey. "Ok, I did it, now what?" But we have a plan to ease back into regular eating slowly. Smaller meals mostly cooked from home. Less protein (Gasp!) and lots more veggies. We want to continue to juice periodically. I'm even considering continuing the juicing but incorporating more cultured foods and probiotics to aid in digestion with very small meals.

Throughout this journey, I have to say I've been really happy that Ian is doing this with me. Having support from within the home really helps motivate me to get through many of these hungry days. Thank you Ian for being a wonderful, loving, and supportive husband. If you had never suggested this, I would never go through this kind of torture as I love food too darn much. But I love you more. =)

Life Lessons I Learned From My Dog

I just read an article called "What Health Lessons I learned From My Dog." It got me thinking about my dog Bandito. He's not with us anymore. We had to give him up because we were not a good match to care of his needs. I miss him everyday and think about him a lot. Even though we only had him for 6 weeks he taught me so much about being an animal owner and possibly even changed my perspective on life forever. I have to forewarn you: this a bit sad. My dog was not happy-go-lucky dog but I still found a way to love him. Here is what Bandito taught me in a matter of 6 weeks:

1) You REALLY can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I found Bandito on Petfinder.com. He was described as a 3-5 year old with 4 missing front teeth who was house trained. Corgies of all ages generally are pretty young looking so when we met him we just thought he was sleepy but still really cute. When we were there the lady taking care of him told us he came from a hoarding situation and lived with an old women among 9 other dogs. The house was condemned and the old women had her dogs, including Bandito, taken away from her. His balls got chopped 3 weeks before we met him. Bandito was never walked on a leash before and he never had to climb hills or stairs in his life. The first 2 weeks we had to carry him up and down the stairs and literally drag him on the leash until he got over his fear of stairs and walking. At the time I thought, " I can't believe we may need to do this for the rest of his life..."

When we took him to the 2 different vets in Seattle they told us he was easily 8-10 years old but but without all of his teeth we would really never know.

Amazingly enough he learned how to walk up and down stairs and even started running and jumping and skipping stairs. At that time I thought we could teach the ol' dog new tricks. It was a very small victory for both Ian and me.

The thing that really broke my heart was that Bandito only knew how to love and trust one human at a time. His whole life he never knew how to interact with more than one human. Being that I worked from home most of the time he really attached himself to me has "his" mommy. Ian really loves playing with dogs so I could tell he was so sad that Bandito didn't want to open up to him. Through our doggy psychologist (yes we paid for this) she suggested Ian be the main caretaker when he's around. It was so hard for Bandito to understand that I wasn't feeding him after 6pm or taking him for walks when Ian was around. We noticed his separation anxiety grew worse and that was when he started going into a weird trance-like state and barked and peed himself silly. Slowly towards weeks 5-6 he started to be more tolerant of Ian but things remained difficult. Out of frustration Ian told me I was babying Bandito too much, but honestly didn't feel like I was. This was who Bandito was.

So yes we did teach him how to use the stairs but I would've gladly carried him up and down the stairs the rest of his life if he knew how to love both of us equally. Unfortunately that never really happened and I know many of us has experienced this in our lives with people or situations as well.

2) It truly does matter how you were raised while young. It makes you who you become in the future. If you are a parent or an animal owner of a youngen these are critical times that will make the most impact in their future.

Anyone who's a dog lover or owns a dog knows that training your puppies between ages 2 to 9 months is the most critical time in doggy development. Past that period and it's pretty much next to impossible to unlearn many of their behavior they've picked up.

As I mentioned earlier, Bandito came from a hoarding situation. At the time I did not realize how difficult it was to work and train a fearful dog. It was only after getting Bandito that I started doing a lot of reading about hoarded dogs and fearful behavior. Thanks to today's technology I found that there were many dog owners who experienced the same combination of frustration and love for their animals. Some of them had to let their dogs go and some chose to keep them, but everyday was a new challenge for them. The last visit we had was at the Queen Anne Animal Clinic and the vet basically said, "Your dog is never going to change. He needs to be on Prozac or some kind of medication to get him over this. I respect what you decide but I were you I would let him go. If you choose to keep him I will help out the best I can but it will be extremely tough." It was a hard message to hear but I really appreciated the vet's honesty. That evening I found myself crying on Ian's chest and feeling unbelievably angry at Bandito's former owner. Why did she do this to him? I hated her so much. He never had and never will have a chance to understand and experience love and appreciation from a family who wants to love him. We wanted the best but he never understood it. I wonder how many people in this world are like Bandito? That really makes me sad.

My hope is that our next animal and future children will never go through life not understanding love and appreciation from both of us from a very early age.

3) Don't let your fear debilitate you from being the best you can be.

Have you ever looked into the eyes of a fearful dog? It's like starring out of a window and seeing only a brick wall. Bandito's eyes would widen into saucers and his pupils would get so large it reminded me of Japanese anime. Sometimes his eyes would roll up into his skull. I dare you to try to widen your eyes a big as possible right now. Maybe it's me, but don't you feel a bit scared or anxious all of a sudden? We call that "The Bandito."

One time I took him for a walk in our old Queen Anne neighborhood where there's a park with a tennis court. He loved walking through there and spying on other dogs who would play catch. One day when we got close he saw and heard people playing tennis and freaked out. He had taken a crap and I wanted to drop it in the crash that was close to the courts but Bandito refused to move and tried his best to get out of his leash to get away. The sound of tennis rackets hitting the ball was too much for him that his eyes saucered and he growled, bark, and tried to bite me. At this point people were looking at me oddly and I felt so embarrassed. All I wanted to do is take him to a place that he loved and throw away his shit. Instead, I followed my doggy trainer's instructions and led him far away from the tennis rack sounds. They say you should notice your dog's fear and instead of exposing it you need to show confident that you will take care of the situation so next time they won't feel scared any longer. I had tried to get him back to the park several other times but he just stopped loving that park after that incident.

My husband came from a family who encouraged their kids and their animals to be outdoorsy and experience as much as possible in life. Their recent cat, Paris, was the most fearless animal in the world. He loved jumping on our car while it was still moving and he never had an issue with greeting anyone that came near the house. Sadly, it was his fearlessness that got him hit by a car. Though his life was short it was filled with lots of love, laughter, and wonderful cat experiences. I'm far from being a cat person but I really loved Paris and miss him a lot.

It is better to live a short life fearlessly than to grow old living in fear.

4) Never stop trying to learn and discover new places, practices, and things in life.

Going back to not being able to to teach an old dog new tricks, I am reminded that no matter how old you are or where you are in life you need to grow and stimulate your mind with something. Whether it's a book, hiking, or scrap-booking (something I ever plan to get into but I can appreciate my friends who make beautiful books), always find something that will stimulate you. When we taught Bandito how to go on walks and he'd gotten used to the leash we took him to Green Lake just one time. That was the day I've never seen him more happy in his life. He was so friendly and he loved seeing all the other dogs and peeing on all of the trees that were now "his." People pointed out and commented that he was the happiest dog they've ever seen.

Make time and learn new things and make new experiences always.

5) Taking on too much, whether it's eating too much food or handling too many tasks, will make you sick. Find an even balance in life.

Bandito loved chewing on his bones and eating treats so fast that he threw it up after 15 minutes of swallowing it. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he used to have to share and fight among 9 other dogs for food and treats that it was a survival tactic. How do you teach a dog to stop throwing up it's food? By feeding it less or giving smaller treats, of course. And guess what? That's the same for humans too.

6) Sometimes the best act of love to let someone go.

Oh my goodness, this is the hardest lesson I had to learn and I always have tears in my eyes when I think about it. We did our best to love and give Bandito everything he needed. In the end we knew this was not the right dog for us. Feeling like a total failure I would jealously see all my friends on Facebook with their loving dogs and wished I my dog was like theirs. Why was Bandito such an asshole? At the time Ian and I were on planning our honeymoon to Vietnam and we tried to introduce him to my parents and to Todd and Alex but Bandito just did not like it. I couldn't imagine a more miserable 3 1/2 weeks of torture on any friends or family so we made the call to the humane society and scheduled an appointment to return him 3 days later.

Prior to him leaving I made sure they had access to all his medical records and the doggy psychology report (yes, I did pay to have this written about my dog) in hopes that if someone does decide to adopt him and give him a home they will know the history and be better prepared than we were. Ian ended up doing the drop-off while I stayed at home cleaning as much of my house up of doggy items and locking it deep inside our storage closet. It was too hard to look at.
When Ian came home he told us if we wanted to call them and ask about him we could. One time I did and I left a terribly weepy soppy message. I was so surprised to get a call back on my phone and had Ian talk to them. Bandito was doing ok but was going to be picked up by the lady who originally gave him to us. We later found that she ended up sending him down to Portland no-kill shelter. The orange picture below is what I found on their website.

My friend Madalyn, who's a really big dog lover, told me she's be happy to call them ask about him. She did and said they informed her that Bandito was quickly adopted and living somewhere in near Portland. The funny thing is that now we live in Portland and sometimes I fantasize about seeing him with his new family while walking down the street. Ian and I joke that he was probably adopted by an old lady or a lesbian couple who could use an old grumpy dog like him around.

Although the time we had him was short I will never forget him and what he taught me. I hope he is in a better place with owners who cater to his needs, and I hope he knows I will always love him. The most difficult part of this all is that I've had a very difficult time learning how to forgive myself and letting go of that feeling of failure. Some days are harder than others but in the end I am grateful for the experience and know this was meant to happen to us to prepare us for the rest of life's journey.

PS: Normally I'm not so depressing so I promise next time to write a funnier blog. =)

A bit MIA these days...

When I first started this blog I wanted it to be about promoting ethical and socially responsible marketing. Now after reading a lot of blog posts I've found what really resonates is a personal experience. Don't get me wrong, I still want to promote socially responsible marketing but now I'm going to focus on personal experiences as well. In order to be socially responsible and promote this ideal, I'm finding that you have to live it and walk it each day. A task which is incredibly difficult but something I want to commit to.

A lot of changes has happened since I've started this blog. My husband and I moved to Portland, OR from Seattle, WA. You might think this isn't a big deal, but for those who know me personally it is. You are talking about the girl who never wanted to leave Seattle. I used to dream about living in a condo in the city with a rooftop deck or in a house boat on Lake Union....yeah, well that dream is gone. It was hard leaving my family and friends and going to a new city I barely knew, but when Ian got the job offer in January wearing a dirty sweatshirt and jeans (in his defense he didn't know it was going to be an interview, just lunch) I knew this was meant to be. So far Portland's been good to both of us. We live in a great neighborhood which has lots of things to explore within walking distance. We've been blessed to have Ian's family around and also reconnect with old friends, some of whom we haven't seen in many years.

A lot of people think Seattle and Portland are the the exact same. I am going to proclaim this as a matter of fact: NO IT IS NOT! As a former self-proclaimed Seattle city girl living in Portland I can definitely tell you that Portland's got some distinct differences that including the following 7 listed below:

1) Portland is way more laid back and chill in comparison to Seattle. It's funny when I mention this to Alex, a friend who moved from New York to Seattle. "You don't know stress or craziness until you've lived in New York. Seattle is so laid back in comparison." Yeah well Portland is about 5x even more chilled out. When I meet people and ask them about things like going to concerts they are like, "I'll go when the stars align..." and a lot of people are happy working a bunch of jobs here and there as long as they do what they love while attaining the basics they need to survive.

2) When going to a restaurant in Portland nearly all waiters and waitresses are very knowledgeable of vegetarian and vegan options and even give you great healthy recommendations. Remember Collin the Chicken from the show Portlandia? That's everywhere actually.

3) As much as Portland is a big foodie town and very vegan and health-conscious friendly, there sure are a lot of smokers everywhere. I find it weird that a vegan will not eat certain foods but they are happy to suck down a couple of Camel or Marlboro cigarettes. I've even seen bikers ride around while smoking too. Personally, I have nothing against smokers, this is merely an observation.

4) Organic Food and all-natural household products in Portland is cheaper and widely available to all people of different incomes. Sure there is a Whole Foods here but even the WF stores are cheaper than any of them I've been to in Seattle. In Seattle I would spend $80 bucks for 1 bag of groceries. Here in Portland I can buy 2 bags or more with the same amount of money.

5) Farmer's markets in Portland are the best. I loved living close to the Fremont Sunday Market but nothing really compares to the selection and variety you get at the Portland State Farmer's Market. By far my favorite and I love going back to buy to pate, Choi's Kimchi (amazing stuff), and the organic veggies are at fantastic prices.

6) Portland has charter schools. Washington has banned them. Ian's cousins have their kids in the school called Trillium Charter in N. Portland, and we had a great opportunity to attend and help at a charity event. It saddened Nico, Ian's cousin, to see that his kid's school needed to put on an event to prevent their school from shutting down, but on the other hand, they had a very successful evening and raised more money than expected. We met many parents and relatives who were passionate about their kid's education and were fighting hard to keep the doors open. I've never seen that kind of parent involvement so it was incredibly touching to to witness. It's no secret that the education program in Oregon is worse than Washington, but I see there's a lot of hope from both kids and parents to have this changed.

7) The LA Fitness is never packed in Portland like it is in Seattle. People here prefer going to yoga studios, micro-gyms, classes, etc. way more than big gyms like LA Fitness. It must be that anti-corporation vibe that hangs the Portland air. I like LA Fitness when I need to go to the gym and it's even better now that it's never ever packed.

So what does all of these observations have to do with socially conscious marketing? It's hard to say. I do see the both the good and bad in these comparisons but this blog isn't really meant to judge anything or point out anything. It is interesting to see the differences in the level of awareness in certain issues are for both cities and people who live there. I did forget to mention that people here do say hi to you on the street. That was weird to get used to. No more Seattle freeze for me. And I am a newly minted Blazers fan but I still miss The Sonics....

You should be happy to know that I've started reading books again! Yea! Magazines bought while standing in line at the grocery store were my cryptonite, but I found myself at Powell's (a Portland institution that's the coolest mega-bookstore ever) and started picking up books. I'll probably write about the books I've read in the next blog. This one is getting too long. Until next time, Chao!

Your Words Will Speak Louder Than Actions Online

Has there been a time where you sent an email to a friend or colleague and somehow they misunderstood what you wrote? I am not going to lie. It happens to me a lot. What's intended as a funny joke can come across as being bitchy and rude (both of which I seldom am...honestly, just ask my friends!) and then you have to send a follow up email with a bunch of smiley faces or make a phone call explaining what you really meant. It's kind of annoying that we have to further explain ourselves in case we accidentally hit the bold ,italics, words are larger than others, or if you change the color/font of your email.

"Does red mean something is important? "
"Does red, bold, & large italic font mean someone's upset?"

There are no English classes that teach proper internet etiquette. I've witnessed many fights and tears over emails, Facebook, and Twitter posts. What the hell is going on here? Since when did our society get so sensitive over a bunch of words posted online?

With the explosive growth of online social networking, blogs, website and communities, words carry a much greater value than ever before. People can now judge you based on the number of Facebook posts and comments, and the type of content you post for people to see. There are apps that will allow you to speak on your phone and it will send your message as a text to your buddies. And lets not forget auto-correct on the iPhone!!! With one accidental touch you can text the wrong word and completely change the text conversation into an awkward one.
See example below:

If you think your friends and family are are the only ones profiling you based on your posts, and location check-ins, then think again. There's a bunch of companies and marketers who are getting into text analytics and they actively analyzing the text you are posting online right now. There's a shift in how companies collect data for market research and marketing these days. The ability to analyze a customer's open-ended text and auto-compare it to cultural semiotics, the study of signs, symbols, and signification, is easier than ever with text-analytics software. Based on the words you've posted, or how you contextualized it, you may be surprised to see the kinds of advertisements that pop up right now on your online communities. On my personal Facebook page I've stated I was single so I don't get any ads aimed at married people, but I must have posted the word "husband" or "hubby" a couple of times. Now I get ads for baby products, mortgages, and girls weekends away from the home-are they suggesting a weekend break from my husband?

Pictures and simple images, by contract are losing a bit of it's effectiveness and shine as the world expands the online experience. With the increase in online communication people will be judged and analyzed more by the words they post than ever before. A picture may be worth 1000 words but a picture with a 5 word comment is worth 1005 words. More and more people will move towards surfing the internet on their mobile devices causing the ability to analyze images to greatly diminish. Words, in contrast, will carry an even greater significance. Now is the time to buy stocks in words because the value is going to sky-rocket. Well, I wish you can buy stocks in words....

Coming from a qualitative research background, I spent hours reviewing and presenting open-ended comments from focus groups, interviews, and analyzing free form open-ended text to help my clients profile and categorize their respondents into actionable data. Technology is making this task even easier to collect and analyze this cheaper than ever before, however, one must question how accurate is this really? Advances in semiotics and text analytics software will make this more accurate and a piece of cake to do soon and it can capture those words while you are "sharing" your experience on your online profile.

A part of me is a bit worried about this trend but a part of me also knows this is a part of the changing society and it's already happening with us not even realizing it. Who knows, maybe someday we will laugh at the idea that we worried about online privacy and companies analyzing our online profiles in the year 2011.

Anti-Market Research Strategies: Sometimes trusting your gut is better than trusting your stats

When I first learned how to play and sing jazz music my band director told us "Jazz is caught and not taught." You either have it or you don't. And if you don't catch it, you are lagging far behind those who just got that swing. I guess you can say I was one of the lucky few where Jazz music, especially doing scat solos reminiscent to Ella Fitzgerald, were relatively easy and fun. Pretty good for a young high school girl who's mind goes completely blank on stage.

There are people in this world who are just made to do certain things. "True Hollywood Story" actor or actresses would always talk about how they didn't know anything except how to act, sing, or make people laugh. Everything else they really sucked at. Those people also exist in the business world. There are those who are gifted at sales, running a business, creating new products, or working in a particular niche such as consulting . I've seen Prominent CEOs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg who trusted their own instinct and their gut feeling resulted in huge success. I call this the "Anti-market Research Strategy."

Try googling or Bing "anti-market research." Are there any companies really promoting this? No. There's not one article or blog talking about anti-market research! Why? Because everyone believes doing research is going to help the company make more money. By not doing it you are being ignorantly bliss and, ultimately, failure will be the long-term result. Well...is that really always true? I have to wonder....

Although research strategies are important for the sustainability and growth for a company I believe there are many business owners who are motivated by their sheer gut and internal instinct even after reviewing a research report. Unless you got "it," you really don't know. This is more prominent in small entrepreneur businesses who's strategy is as simple as, "what do I need to do today to keep the lights in my house on?" to ,"how can I grow my business and take care of kids?" It's difficult to measure the probability of success for business owners who trust their heart and had it positively pay off. But those stories are out there and it's happened many times over. Is it their God-given talent that makes them this successful or were they just born this way?

Let's go out on an even further limb for shits and giggles. There are a lot of companies who are suffering big time right now. Technological advances have made many products and services near-extinct and many dying companies are spilling tons and tons of money trying to find out what people want in order to makeover their existing product and service line. As great as it is to see all this money being poured into research, ultimately business owners already know what to do and sometimes it's not pretty. It's hard to explain but I do see that good business owners trust their gut. They will consult with a couple of trusted people and allow others to bitch and whine at them, but their bottom line is drawn in the sand and they tell others to shit or get off the pot. Some people may call it a really dumb strategy to run a business but sometimes we just have to give them props. They got that swing and they know their gut instinct is telling them this is the right things to do. You can't teach this. They were born this way and if you work for someone who's innovative spirit is driven by their gut, you just have to trust they know what they are doing and enjoy the ride.