Year: 2015

Coming Together, Falling Apart

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In reality, equilibrium is only an observation over a large scale of time, but at any specific time period, things are more like a pendulum, swinging from one end of the spectrum to the next. Looking at the world today, and the violent conflicts that seem to escalate in scale, it would appear that the world has forgotten the horrors of war – the incredible devastation of the two World Wars that obliterated most of Europe – and the resulting need for international unity and harmony. As the old Chinese saying goes “after a long time together, it ought to separate, after a long time divided, it ought to come together”. In many ways, if we look at the history of the world, that is exactly how things play out. The world gets smaller, then it divides and feels farther apart. The Macedonian Empire disintegrated into separate polities, only to reunite again under the Romans. The Mongolian tribes were brought together into the largest empire ever seen only to fall apart. In some ways, faced with …

Bombing Oil Fields and Fighting Islamic State

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Has anyone given thought to the political, economic, and environmental consequences of such destruction? Has anyone thought about the devastating environmental impact of bombing oil fields? For the most part, the majority of the people under IS control are innocent. Yet, this sort of destruction and retaliation by the West, is exactly what drives the youth to join in the extremist movement. How can anyone be alright with the destruction of their livelihood and of their environment?

The Power (or Lack of) of Internships

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There is always something to learn in every situation – depending on your perspective. Some might say it is always better to get an internship at a large corporation for its name recognition, connections, and employment opportunities. It is true. A lot of times, having a big name on your resume (much like a degree from a renowned academic institution) can stack the odds in your favor during a job hunt. Yet, I believe being an intern at relatively new or small companies provide special opportunities to learn and grow. The current company I am working for is small. We have two owners, nine employees, and two interns including me. I am the marketing intern and I work with two others, making up a three-person marketing team. The small size of this company meant that I was actually handed much more responsibilities and allowed much more involvement in the business than the average intern. As of today, I am in charge of operating and managing the company’s market research and analysis, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads …

Learning and Growing! Internship and Coursera Specialization!

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Last week, I started my internship with WLM Financial – a real-estate brokerage. With my interest in urban planning and development and my background in the social sciences, it appears to be a good fit to work as their Marketing Intern. I was quickly integrated into the marketing team and I am happy to say that the owners have been very trusting and gave me a great opportunity to learn. They have taught me a great deal in the past week about mortgages and real-estate. They are always open to questions and really took me under their wings. I look forward to learning more about the real-estate industry and about business development. Though I am only an intern, my opinions were valued and contributed to the direction the company is taking. Using my skills with ArcGIS, I took the initiative located our target audiences. I integrated demographic data with geospatial data from the U.S. Census Bureau to reveal locations where our target audience might be located. I was quickly able to locate ten cities in …

Customer Service is…

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Today, I helped out with the Taiwan Products Day in San Gabriel, CA. It was a great learning experience and one of the first times I helped out with a large scale event. Customer service was incredibly important and I found it amazing to help people. With a winning smile and great patience, it was amazing to see how easy it is to make someone feel comfortable. I enjoyed solving problems as well. One of the vendors could not find her package at all and it was essential for her meetings with her buyers today. (Hooray Google!), after obtaining her tracking number and the logistics company, I was able to track her package. We found that it was delivered safely to the hotel and was misplaced somewhere. With the help of the friendly hotel staff, we were able to locate her parcel and deliver it to her before the event began. It may sound simple, but helping a nervous vendor feel comfortable and ready for her meetings was a great feeling. I began to understand …

If You Want to Visit Peru

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As a recent graduate, I have a fair amount of time on my hands while job hunting. This meant that I have plenty of time to indulge in reading, one of my favorite pastimes. I am a pretty avid reader cutting across a variety of subjects: history, biography, biology, classics, philosophy, to name a few. One of my favorites things to read is books about foreign places, cultures, and histories. I recently devoured the book, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams. The author retraced the expeditions by Hiram Bingham III, who was famous for “discovering” Machu Picchu and a host of other Inca ruins in Peru. The book is highly entertaining and really reminded me of my own time as a research assistant in the Peruvian Amazon. If you are interested in learning a little bit about Inca culture and history, there is lots of nuggets in this book. If you want to visit a foreign place, but is unable to physically at the moment, this book …

Dessert…is the Food for Soul

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Let’s take a break from the heavier stuff. In recent years, I have taken quite a liking to cooking and making desserts. This is partly because I am beginning to notice how the food you eat affect how your body functions and feels. Another reason is the sense of accomplishment that comes with making good food. I admit, my skills as a chief is probably only average, but part of the fun is to see my personal growth. With each meal and dessert I make, I gain more experience with how to prepare the ingredients and what to do once the fire is on. Desserts are my favorite things to make. The more challenging the dessert, the more I want to attempt it. I always love a good challenge and a hard dessert is like a puzzle to be solved. Personally, I think unlike main courses and dishes, most dessert recipes require some delicacy to their preparation and cooking. It takes patience and care to make a good dessert. As the ancient Chinese like to …

Who Decides Our Spaces?

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In the past week, there were two news items that came to my attention regarding public space. One is in Hong Kong, where the Town Planning Board is reviewing a plan to extend the Avenue of Stars on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. The other is in New York, where the mayor is openly considering the removal of the pedestrian plazas in Time Square. Though the motives and incentives are different, both instances are controversial : they seek to remedy areas that are actually immensely popular (though more for the tourists in the case of Time Square). This brings me to ask, who should be in charge of shaping the urban environments around us? It appears that both in Hong Kong and New York, they appear to employ top-down planning favoring expertise and technical knowledge. Yet, is that really a good approach, especially when most of the decision makers do not necessarily visit or have intimate knowledge of areas they are trying to change. On the other hand, a bottom up approach to planning could …

The Mental Acrobatics of Space

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Space has always fascinated me. It is something we experience constantly, but few would pause to give thought about. As a child, I built castles and moats out of rocks and mud. I drew imaginary and fantastic maps. I created cities out of Lego and origami. Yet, I never truly understood the spatial arrangements and relationships between objects. To be honest, despite going to graduate school I still do not completely understand them. In my humble opinion, I believe the interactions between psychology, design, and planning have been quite weak. Why do we prefer smooth edges and straight lines? Why do we have preferences for certain spatial arrangements? Why are certain places more attractive than others, even if they are designed similarly? Why do we prefer to be in the middle of spaces as opposed to the edges? How do we use the space around us and why are some spaces more utilized than others? Certainly, part of the answers to these questions depend on not only personal preferences but also historical and cultural background – …