Falling Behind

When I started on this little project of mine I had a half-formed view of what I wanted to cover.  But down the line I was listening to the podcast of The California Report and they had a story that I felt worked well within the point I was eventually going to get around to writing about.  Unfortunately, I've been just sitting on the story for the past month and I doubt I'll get around to it within the next month.  So I think I need to get back to my near stream of consciousness writing style to maybe keep some of my thoughts from getting stale.

Here's a link to the radio piece that aired on 10/7/09.  http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R910070850

The main thrust of the story is to highlight the Silicon Valley Encore Initiative in its mission to partner retired corporate executives with nonprofits to utilize their business acumen instead of just their manpower.  This caught my attention because in my own twisted logic, the story supports my belief that there is a dearth of management skill out in the world.  Yet even though this is a great way to give purpose to those individuals with years management experience in a constructive fashion, I wonder if the concept could be turned on its head.

One of my main contentions is that most businesses take management skills for granted.  Either they try to find talented individuals or they hope to buy them from the MBA market since the degree is supposed to confer some semblance of management competence.  But really the true development of management skill comes from experience and the ability to learn from success as well as failure.  While most companies would like to be able to develop managers, the hard reality of business forces a majority to reward seniority and office politics.  In as such, a few can thrive while those that are unable to develop quickly enough are forced down or out.

But what if companies could take the time to develop leaders internally without having to place such critical responsibilities as measures of effective leadership.  Good corporations usually have mentors in place to help shepherd this process.  Unfortunately, this doesn't provide the environment and experience necessary to develop the skills of higher level management.  So why not send lower level managers into this public-private partnership space to give them the experience of executive level management without the critical profit-driven motives that would be driving their decision making at work.  At the same time, non-profits can take advantage of better management and business practices to become more effective at the goals they are trying to accomplish.

Of course this all works in a perfect world.  Most individuals don't spend extra hours outside of work to enhance their work skills.  Let alone people climbing the corporate ladder trying to make more money to gain a higher standard of living.  The main roadblock I envision is the lack of imagination in the management sphere.  If incentives aren't created to develop these skills, then we're just left with more of the same.

Currently Peter & Max: A Fables Novel By Bill Willingham see related

Lacking Inspiration

I wonder at times if I have too much on my plate or too little.  Work is not mentally challenging enough that I find it bleeding over out of work hours.  I've recently commited to a new local cycling team, so I'm putting more hours on the bike over the weekends to get ready for the 2010 racing season.  Attempts to do more writing with occasional little blog projects to keep myself writing almost everyday lately.  I'm also slowly working on transcribing a favorite anime OVA of mine to practice screenplay formatting in an attempt to eventually write out an adapation for fun.  Plus, my middling attempts to volunteer more at the local AIAA chapter to work on my networking skills and develop my understanding of non-profit organizational management.  This on top of the mundane chores of everyday life and other little projects I have on the backburner and I occasionally feel like I should narrow the focus of my energies.

Then Halloween rolls around and I find myself musing over what type of obscure pop culture costume I can come up with this year.  It would probably help if I were craftier and knew how to sew or knit or any variety of costuming skills with some mastery.  Last year's Iron Chef costume really pushed my creativity and know how even though if was essentially dyeing a pre-made chef suit red.  I spent far more time thinking of what I could do to top that costume than I really should have.  But for most of the past year I've been drawing a blank.

I blame it on the lack of good Asian Male characters.  Outside of Bruce Lee, Ninjas, and other variations on a martial artist, there really isn't much that I feel would suit me.  Plus, I already pulled the creative card on the Iron Chef costume and going that route a second year in a row seems a bit lame.  Although, one of these days I will find a way to make a sexy male Librarian costume work.  At least one won't come off as just me in a tightly fitted suit with glasses.  A last-minute idea that I'm considering as possibility for next year would be to go as Rocky Horror, but I'm going to need the year to work on my abs.  Then all I would need is a blond wig, gold speedos, and some boots I can paint gold.  And of course a spray tan.

But alas, I had to fall back another idea that's been bouncing around my the back of my head for a while.  Something related to a not entirely too obscure TV show that's been off the air for a few years.  Not that it would qualify as a whole costume, but beggars can't be choosers.  So, with a month to go, I settled on making some Brain Slugs from Futurama for me to be a Brain Slug Victim.

Preferrably, I would have liked to have some knowledge of plastics to be able to make a Brain Slug out of the same material as those sticky hands where it would be something rather solid but with a slimy feel to it.  Lacking such knowledge I searched for a more easily accessible alternative.  While gelatin seemed like a quick solution, I didn't really want something that would melt on top of my head throughout the day.  So I had to settle on something similar to gelatin that was less readily avaliable: agar.  I'm glad I was able to get some agar powder at the local asian market.  After getting a decent mold, I practiced a bit with the agar and green food coloring to see if it would work well enough on its own.

Solid agar while stable at room temperature unfortunately was still a little too brittle to be able to find a way to attach it in a stable fashion to my head.  So I had to find a solution that would help keep agar out of my hair and allow it to be attached to something like a headband.  The solution I settled on was to cut out some thin foam sheets into circles for a base and then to glue a small styrofoam ball to the center to act as an anchor for the remaining agar and green food coloring mixture.  Googly eye and some green cloth-wrapped wire for "antennas" and the look was complete.  What's fun in making test subjects was that I had a few extra Brain Slugs to offer to people to keep myself in character.  The final touch was super gluing the foam base to headband so that I wouldn't have to balance one on my head for few hours.

Wouldn't you like to have a Brain Slug now?

Piercing the Veil

Currently Vatel By Gérard Depardieu, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Timothy Spall, Julian Glover see related

Syrup

So, the weekend after labor day, I went on a little trip up to LA to eat and explore with some friends.  These posts reviewing places and things is getting a little boring to me.  I think this will be the last one for a while unless something really exciting pops up.  Like maybe Black Dynamite or a run of films at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.  But I really haven't found a voice that feels appropriate yet, so I might try a few different things in the near future.

Anyways, back to LA with the fun and exciting things that I try to fill my time with.  First stop was Phillipe's, which served French Dipped Sandwiches and apparently profiled on the Food Network.  Since I've mostly kicked the food porn habit I can't really verify the veracity of those claims.  Mostly cheap eats with the standard baguette and meats dipped in savory juices.  Saw dust on the floor for some real down home authenticity.  A good starter to the day and a nice warm up of the palette.  Then off to amble around Chinatown, or at least the original one in LA.  Quite small and seemingly bypassed as most of the Asians in LA have apparently migrated to other centers.  Stumbled through the little Mexican market by Union Station while there was some sort of community event going on.  Wandered down an alleyway and found ourselves right outside the Chinese-American Museum.  A nondescript little three-story brick building.  Took a look around inside to escape the heat and to take in some of the heritage still lingering in museum form.  Unfortunately not too much time spent on self-reflection due to the limitations of parking meters and off to Little Tokyo we went.  Spent a spell taking in the kitsch of an artificial ethnic enclave.  Of course it wasn't long before we went to Korea-town for some Korean BBQ buffet.

After marinating ourselves in meaty smokey goodness, we hit up a show at the Upright Citizen's Brigade theater.  My first time seeing live improv comedy and they did not disappoint.  But the real treat of the night was where we ended up deciding upon for dessert.  As per the title of this post, we found ourselves at Syrup  Desserts in downtown LA.  Relatively new, possibly just a few weeks, with no website and a menu that is still being completed.  The theme of the restaurant is flavored Belgian waffles a la mode.  A panoply of fruity ice creams to pair with petite Belgian waffles covered in whipped cream and chocolate syrup on a bed of sliced fruits.  Of course you could order the items a la carte, but why would you?  While my companions partook of the delicious combinations being offered, I had to be a little different and sampled from their selection of Sweet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  I kid you not that this is what they had to offer.  Proof for the disbelievers.   Too bad my bravery failed me when I went with the seemingly safe choice of the "Syrup Favorite" Raspberry Grilled Cheese, with it's brie cheese in a croissant with agave and toasted almond slices on top.  In my short-sightedness, I was hoping the croissant would pair more favorably with the Belgian Hot Chocolate I had ordered (which was the real deal as they took a knife to a large chuck of chocolate to melt into steamed milk).  It should seemingly work, but perhaps the raspberries were too tart at this time of the year as the flavors clashed rather than mingled.  I was slightly regretful to not have gone with my initial instinct in getting the Pear and Mascarpone.  Although I suppose it gives me a reason to go back sometime.

Sunday was only slightly less action-packed.  Dim sum in Monterey Park, although can it really be called dim sum if they don't roll the food around in carts.  Followed by an almost obligatory stop at the Portos bakery for some meat pies and potato balls to go.  Probably would've gotten sandwiches if weren't still full from dim sum.  Then off to the Pasadena area to take in The Huntington Library and surrounding grounds.  Definitely a great place to spend and afternoon walking off the calories.  King Tacos for an afternoon nosh and a little bit of sweets at Dots cupcakes.  Perused a small little tea shop that was a bit to touristy for me.  Loose leaf tea in glass jars just rankles my sensibilities.  The trip was capped off with a Chinese dinner containing roast duck and lobster noodles at a place where our host revealed that once he had had an allergic reaction to MSG so severely that it caused him to go to the ER after dining at said location (it didn't happen right away).  The fun things you can learn while sharing a meal.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Secretary by Day, King of Otuam, Ghana, by Night.  This was an interesting story.  Least of all the female King, but did they really decide on it by some 'farcical aquatic ceremony'?

"The town elders had performed a ritual to choose his successor, praying and pouring schnapps on the ground and waiting for steam to rise as they announced the names of 25 relatives. The steam would signify which name the ancestors had blessed as the new king."

I suppose it's a lot safer than having a sword thrown at you.  With all her planned reforms, I hope she turns the town into an anarco-syndicalistic commune.  It'll cut down her commute time.