upward mobility?

When I first came to America, there was an ESL student from Mexico named Carlos. He was taller than me, and was pretty athletic. we played on the basketball team together.

We lost touch over the years, and I have no clue what he's up to. actually, I can't even recall his last name either.. R something? Rengal? hmm... i can't recall the exact spelling.. (my Eng was pretty horrible those days)

Since then, I never really met a hispanic friend. (in College, I hung out mostly with other Koreas, GC was filled with sailor-mouthed ex armed-forces guys and gals and Korea was.. well.. Korea! :D

Just recently, while playing Destiny, I met bunch of new people, and one of my new friends is Hispanic. Our conversations opened up a whole new world, which I didn't even think too much about and practically chose to block out for so long. Although we don't get to talk a lot, conversations are always fascinating. 

So Central America had been on my mind recently, and coincidentally, one of my "weird-quirky-podcast-indulgences": Planet Money just published the cost of crossing. 

# Thoughts 

This beautiful world is marred by humanity: taking advantage of the less fortunate and their desires to climb out of the shit hole they find themselves in. 

the terms of payment boils down to the common denominator: money or sex. #disgusting

gunning for MacBookAir

my dad's asus UX31 display died.
the laptop still limps along when connected to an external monitor, so we had a choice to make:
1. replace the screen by spending $100+ for the part off ebay plus time spent on labor.
(i'm a techie on paper, so there's a off chance i might piss $100+ plus time down the drain.)

2. Duh! buy a new laptop ;)
 ( the UX31 had been with us for 3? years or so, i guess it's about time to upgrade, esp since the keyboard was always mushy and trackpad never really tracked as well as the apple counterpart.

So we hit up a local BB to take a look at different laptops.
the 2 in 1 convertibles and ultrabooks all defied its namesake: heavy-ass tablets, heavy (not ultra) books.

The world of laptop computers is one of compromises.
cheap = big, heavy, horrible resolution LCDs 15.6 inches w/ 1366 x 768 resolution? common!
expensive (2 categories)
1. decked out. nice big screen, fast processor, discreet graphic cards, and HEAVY
2. light, slick looking, underpowered (graphically speaking, esp w/ getting-better-but-still-not-that-good integrated graphics.)

My dad is stupid cheap. but weight was a huge factor, he picked out the lightest of the bunch: 2.6 lbs Yoga 3 pro $1,299 + tax.
what a cool looking (but not really practical for our needs) machine. i wanted orange, but alas BB only had the silver.

since we walked in around closing time, I went back the next day and picked up the 512 Gb version :p

Brought it home, and even though i HATE win 8x. (my crappy Surface Pro experience resurfaced.) after I found a way to defeat the Metro interface, life was a tad better.

installed Office, installed Webroot and turned it over to pops.

For the most part, he liked it, but he soon started complaining about lag. esp scrolling.

So i did some looking online, only to find that the new Core M is slooooo (well i sort of knew that, but it was a deal breaker, stacked on top of: higher price tag. $1299 vs $949 for Yoga 2 Pro w/ i5 and 256 Gb over at Lenovo. Sure you get a sexier, thinner machine, but the straw that laded on top of the camel that already broke his back was: my Dad didn't need any of the "cool" functionality offered by the 2-in-1 form.

The Two-day Yoga 3 Pro experiment was over before I had time to fully explore the system. (once my mind is made up, no need to hold on to the machine imo.
Best Buy and it's great 14 day return policy saved my hide (again, after the first time i returned my original Surface Pro). Currently I have no need for near $1,500 (after taxes), slow but sexy laptop in the wrong color. (remember I want the orange one)

Well, now I'm almost back at square one.
UX31 with busted screen, and in need of a light notebook under $1,300 or so..

Which is a great segue to our new "hero"

wait for it.. XPS 13 (2015) (weird how the year notations work well for apple products, but not for this XPS, confusing really.. I had to look at the screen for the a. bezel and b. the webcam location to tell the difference.)

2 Things that are ALWAYS mentioned by the reviews: amazing Infinity screen and HORRIBLE location for the webcam.

which brings me to..

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. - Walter Lippmann

Ah! Forbes... lovin your quotes

Recent string of searches for reviews of new products, which are pretty much cookie cutter reviews made me realize, I won't go out of my way to review a product.
here are some common themes:

- Mac Book Air comparison
- Infinity Screen (put as second, because no matter what, this amazing-according-to-press/reviewers cannot shake the shadow cast by the industry standard)
- Location of the webcam

What I have not found: direct comparison to last year's well review XPS 13 (2014)
But that could be due to my crappy searching skills.

As it turns out, Dell's stock isn't shipping until middle of Feb (at the time of writing on 1/28

Bottom line: If I were still working out in Korea, doing presentation and such, I would be totally torn between Orange Yoga 3 Pro (my biggest appeal is the tent mode for presentations for a small group in a small room setting) and "tiny" footprint of "amazing" 13 inches of screen shoe-horned into MBA 11 body.

I'm leaning towards Orange and only Orange Yoga 3 Pro, only because I currently use a boss of a laptop: 2013 MBP Retina 15. 

Just in case anyone is curious about the laptop I ended up getting for my Dad, the answer is NONE. :p

heavy favorite was the XPS 13 (2014) due to 1080p touch screen and $899 price tag. I totally dug the "sex-appeal" of the 2015 copy + $400 for questionable upgrade in performance. I totally agree with my good friend Matt, when he so eloquently texted:"He doesn't need cool / you want a tank for your dad, so you don't have to support it in a year."

So what is the lite(as my Dad wants) tank? for the time being will be my 2011 refurb copy of MBA 11, still with 14 months of apple care running a bootcamp Win 7 Pro.

update: choice of iDevices for the holidays

Happy New Year!

I hope your holidays were way better than mine!! :D

not quite freezing rain on 01/03 but made for some good pics :D

So the holidays has come and gone, 

looking back on my thoughts on the iDevice(s) to get...

well the crazy discounted shopping season is over, and here's a glimpse of what I netted.

iPhone6+ NOT! 

after Target screwed me over (pre-order-esq non-preorder debacle. seriously, what were you guys doing? putting me down for pre-order, promising the item for a week after the release, only to not contact me AT ALL!) i decided to just keep my 5S and get a separate tablet.

So, let the tablet roulette begin!

Black Friday - Best Buy had a $100 off deal on iPad Air2 as a door buster. (as it turned out, the doorbuster sale lasted more than a day. I strolled into local BB in the evening and found me a 64Gb White for $499+ $30 tax) this was only the beginning.. 

Sometime in December - BB had a sale on iPad Mini with Retina, or #iPadMini2

64Gb White for $329. with BB holiday return window until 1/15, I jumped on a good deal.

I really like the mini's form factor, although that was somewhat ruined by Lifeproof Nuud case for original iPad mini (I bring that up, since the retina version is a tad thicker, and the case seems a tad too small...

I started using the Mini 2 right away. Air 2 is still sealed at this point.

this coincided with MS opening up Office for iOS for free.

started using excel with my mini 2 for ordering at the store for some vendors.

But as with all excel applications, having a small screen is annoying, so I was reeeeally close to just opening up the Air2 for store use, although that seemed like a waste for a device that seems like a delicate version of the "original" Air.

While I was mulling over my options, Microcenter dropped a "Original" Air with 32Gb for $329. unlike 2 BB telephone associate (idiots) and 1 BB telephone associate (who couldn't price match on technicality, which was whatever..) the associate in the store was (actually) helpful. [I like the customer service at the "new" Best Buy, alas, it may be the case of too little too late. but i'll enjoy it while it lasts, be it 1 year, or 20..

For last Christmas, I bought my mom the Black / Space Gray Air with 16Gb for Christmas from an online retailer, but she always liked white, so I took this opportunity to swap them out.

Now that I had a "free" iPad Air sitting around at home, I decided to bring that one to the store, so I can a. run the CCTV app to check on the front of the store while working in the back and b. use a bigger screen to use Excel for iOS.

phew..

So.. that still leaves me with a Still-sealed-in-box Air 2. Well, that one's going to my Sister. So in the course of a month, i dropped over a G on 3, 3! non-16Gb iOS devices. I guess the 24-70mm f/2.8L II will have to wait :p

Oh yea, and I also scored the Lifeproof Nuud case for 5S. (too back I decided to spring for it after the screen was cracked, but it was either the case or go commando :p

as much as I dig my 50 1.4, the not-so-great focus  keeps whispering the name of the $2k toy :p

best or worst of both worlds

10/21

US phone: iPhone 5S 64

Kor phone: Note 3 (Verizon wireless): currently used to stream sbs radio via app. due to google play, it cannot download any apps region locked to Korea. i.e. tbs fm application, 

any excuse to post a pic of her ;)

thinking of swapping, again. attempt 2 after temp switch when my 5S screen was utterly busted..

BUT..

but i HAAATE migrating kakao talk to another device. (at least within iOS, all messages remains in tact :p

edit: nothing like posting an entry from 10/05 on 1/04/2015.. ^^;

Food

so says google

I'll talk mostly about the Korean variety here.

stay tuned ;)

Advertisement vs Sale

Ads vs Sale

they both bring customers in to the store, but which is better?

Today, i got a call from Yelp: Spend $6,000 to make $20,000 + in revenue.
as a store that rarely advertises, it's always tough to go from zero fixed ad budget (it's done on an ad-hoc basis) to over $6,000 per year. (suggested amount)

but you spend money to make up for the amount and make more money.

as a sales person, the Yelp guy, let's call him Dave, did a good job at sales.
but he is fighting an uphill battle.

Yelp does a great job already at what they do. (I guess, what do i know?

But later in the day, during a little break, I picked up a Korean book i bought, but never read: 고객이 이기게 하라 (Let your customers win.)

52쪽에 어떤 중국의 성공한 사업가를 인용하면서 "고객의 심리적인 저항선을 뛰어넘는 세일을 하라"
on page 52, he quotes a successful Chinese businessman, "a Sale should break the unconscious psychological barrier held by a customer."

그리고 56쪽엔 '조금 아끼려고 하다가는 모든 것 을 잃게 된다."
and on page 56, "by trying to save a little, you may lose everything."

the book, Let Your Customers Win, was written by a successful Korean restaurateur,  OH Jin-kwon (not to be confused with Jin Kwon

My mind is 89% made up. ;)

I guess Yelp is still one of the leaders in the field, and I use them when picking out restaurants and such.

as for the grocery stores, they are more of a location services than a determining factor to find THE store i want to go to. Well, i guess we'll see.

Galleria 2.0, i.e. a3galleria is coming along slowly ;)

iPad mini3 vs iPhone 6+

I can't remember the last #AppleKeynote i missed, but i missed this one.

I was actually excited about the Mini 3 announcement, as I was sooooo close to picking up the 6+ 128gb w/out a contract. I guess i'm lucky that my local Target still hasn't gotten a copy for me yet :/ thanks Tar-jet, you saved me $950 for a device.

But I missed it. When I finally tuned on the web, news of Air 2, and about-time!-but-still-amazing 5K 27inch iMac were plastered on the web. Well, there was the whole-29 seconds of Mini 3 announcement too.

so the contest of 6+ vs Mini 3 went the way of Super Bowl XLVIII

the only thing Mini 3 has going for itself is... uh... slighter lower msrp? and a bigger screen, but the 6+ wins out on the ppi front. (401 ppi vs 326, but does it really matter at that level?)

I'm enticed by the beefed up Air 2 and may even pick it up. (this sentence was supposed to end with "beefed up Air2" but i convinced myself before finishing that sentence, what viable option the slimmest kid on the block Air 2 would be.) I'll have to hold it in person next week at a local Apple Store.

Def am not going to wait in line with Asian students studying abroad, investing their time waiting in line to help eBay make mucho money off of fees.

When Mini 2 was announced a year ago, i thought (no way to prove this but whatevs) 'of course Apple is holding back Touch ID, as they held back "Retina" screen from the first Mini.'
I had no idea they would go so far (or nowhere) as to not even upgrade the processor. (well they did shave $100 off the upgrade to 64gb, but that's more of a price normalization than anything else.)

judging by the track record, just as Apple held back the latest tech on the original iPad and released much loved iPad2, Mini 2 had similar leap in terms of being a much better machine.
the newly announced 3rd iteration, may be going down the path paved by the older 3rd cousin: iPad 3. although to me, getting the retina screen and a faster processor is a much better bargain than getting Touch ID and the ability to Apple Pay.

So what device should I get?

iMini 3 is out. unless i happen to get it for free.

refurb iMini 2 64gb would be my choice at $349 (I wouldn't mind dropping $50 more for 32 more gigs, but $439 for the 128gb is too much for me to spend on a last gen product.

6+ w/ 64gig at minimum. unless you put everything up on the cloud. but that's not my thing..

Air 2.

currently I have 5s on Verizon and Note 3 for my Korean phone and the 32 gig original iPad Mini, which is slated to be traded in at Amazon for $181.

6+ would be consolidation at the expense of size compromise on both ends: bulk and small screen :p

not to mention having to spend $849 instead of: $349 for the Mini 2 or $599 for the Air 2 64 gb. I def need to see the Air 2 in person before making the decision.

just hoping there won't be an #airbender-gate :p
but you know there will be idiots attempting to bend their tablets just to get their shine... *shake