Perrenial Blossoms

VideoJug = Your source for all intern questions when you have an internship. Holy shit if only I read this stuff earlier.

http://www.iiepassport.org Finds all college programs!
http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/Bridging/ABRD-finaid.html List of scholarships for Asia.
http://www.internationalscholarships.com/browse.php Huge database of scholarships
http://www.blogtoplist.com/rss/study-abroad.html One of many blog aggregators.
http://www.experience.com/alumnus/article?channel_id=Ventures_Abroad&source_page=Study_Abroad&article_id=article_1130797730791 How to best judge the program.
http://www.studentuniverse.com Veritably cheap airfare for students.

Minor miscalculation...SU Abroad Program fees include room & board (at least, Kansai does). This means... maybe I can afford it after all!

A year at SU costs me approximately $12k, including room and board. $6700 of that is in loans, while I pay $5300/yr out of the pocket. Semester-wise, that's $6k/sem, or $2600/sem + loans. If I travel to Kansai, it'll only cost me $100-200 more, counting the flight, because the room and board is really cheap and included in the program fee for some reason. I'm guessing there's a catch in there somewhere that I have yet to catch. Add on an additional $600 for shopping and having fun in Japan, and that's around $800 extra to study abroad one semester. That sounds worth it to me! Plus, I think I might get $1k+ in aid/scholarships. So...where the hell is the catch?

What Peter Francese says you need to know -- and do -- to reach the changing consumer

THE TREND: The average age for a U.S. head of household is 49.5— just six months shy of getting a sign-up pitch from AARP. The first boomers will turn 65 in less than three years.

MARKETING CHALLENGE: Older consumers tend to be more risk-averse and less open to new ideas.

WHAT TO DO: Don't pander ("60 is the new 40"). Play up messages suggesting advantages such as guarantees, safety and experience.

THE TREND: The gulf is widening among consumers when it comes to attitudes and behavior. The online- and wireless-centric consumer lives in a different world from the older newspaper reader.

WHAT TO DO: Rethink strategies for target marketing. Put more emphasis on ethnographic research into the culture, beliefs and activities of the target consumer

THE TREND: One nation, but hardly united or homogeneous. The Northeast is older, largely white with fewer children; the West is younger and more diverse. Two thirds of recent immigrants have settled in the South or West.

WHAT TO DO: For products aimed at older consumers, consider looking north and east. If you want younger consumers, pick your regions and then make sure the message resonates with a multicultural audience.

THE TREND: The median age of U.S. Hispanic women is about 28—14 years younger than the median age for white, non-Hispanic women. Two in five consumers under 45 are Hispanic, Black or Asian (vs. one in five for 65- plus). More than half of household heads in California and Texas are Hispanic, Black, Asian or multiracial.

WHAT TO DO: If you want to be the choice of a new generation, embrace the cultures and voices of that generation.

THE TREND: In the past seven years, 40% of U.S. population growth has come from immigration. Five big states (New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and Connecticut) would have seen their work forces and populations shrink were it not for new immigrants.

WHAT TO DO: Marketers need to engage in the national debate about immigration. Immigrants, after all, are a source of labor—and a prime source of new consumers.

"The future of America will be formed at the intersection of two great demographic forces. With the inexorable aging into senior status of the giant baby-boom generation, immigration may be the best way to get needed workers, taxpayers and home buyers. ... The best thing to be done for America's future is to think ahead and optimize the intersection between aging America and immigration."

He might have added shoppers to the list of things we need as boomers move out of their prime spending years, 35 to 54. We could certainly use more immigrant families to bulk up the smaller Generation X and repopulate our base of consumers.

The rapidly aging Northeast region could certainly use more immigrants as well to care for its large and growing multitude of retirees.

Perhaps the best thing forward-looking marketing folks can do is to become more fully engaged in the national debate about immigration. It's bizarre that we permit and encourage global movement of consumer goods, services and money, but not workers. Given our aging population, we clearly need to permit higher levels of immigration to feed our future labor-market needs.

At the very minimum, we should stop treating immigrants so shabbily. After all, they are the only ones likely to bail us out of our heavily mortgaged future.

7/1/08

I am an Account Management intern at a successful San Francisco ad agency. My internship consists of learning how an agency works and what account managers do and participating in account coordinator support tasks. I will show you everything that I have learned, starting with the essential task of tracking billing.

Billing is my supervisor’s secret passion. According to her, billing is one of the most important things for an account manager, if not THE most important. Various accounting programs exist for handling billing, including Advantage and Donovan. Besides using the program, your job as an entry level Account Coordinator is to give the job a very specific title, ask what kind of job it is (print? TV?), find out if there’s sales tax (there generally is!), and, in some cases, create estimates. Generally producers create estimates, but for anything that falls under Miscellaneous, it’s generally easy enough for an account coordinator to discover the going rates. Once you have the estimate, you send it to the Accounting Department, who creates an invoice which it is the account supervisor’s job to keep track of. The Account Supervisor (above account managers and coordinators) must ensure that no job is missing, or unpaid for too long.

There are two types of costs in billing:

1.      TOS (Time of Staff)
2.      Production Costs/Hard Costs/Out of Pocket

TOS is the estimated time/year/person/agency and has to do with margin and profits.

Hard costs are costs the agency doesn’t incur, but pays someone else to do. It is the account team’s responsibility to ensure everything is billable back to the client. Who wants to pay for something unnecessarily? The account team is solely responsible for keeping track of the budget. One cannot assume that the accounting department or clients are doing it, though they should be. Not even all account managers keep a budget spreadsheet. And if you find you’re on a team that doesn’t have one, take the initiative to create one for them.

The budget spreadsheet I was shown was broken down basically like so (and can be much more complex):

On the left: TV, Online, Print, Miscellaneous, and Talent. On the top row: Job title, Job number, Estimate Amount, Invoice Number (old/new), Paid, Revised Invoice, Final, Notes.

The left column headings are pretty straightforward, and consist of the breakdown of production media and then talent, which is hired actors. Most clients have their own talent agencies, but we work with an agency for those clients who do not. Once you get into Talent, you start hitting things like Session Fees and Holding Fees (to keep the commercial on air). If you miss a holding fee and keep the commercial on air without their permission, the actor will renegotiate a higher fee with you, so watch out and pay your bills!

As for the top headers, you must know that every job has a number given it, and a title that is as specific as can be (e.g. January 2008 Outage Ad). An estimated invoice is issued from the production department to you to the client, and later might be revised. This is where Estimated Amt, Invoice Number (old/new), and Revised Invoice Amt come in. Note that your job is to ensure nothing is revised unnecessarily. Unless production has a really good reason for needing more money (an “overage”), such as the client asking you to do something different, then do not approve it. As an account coordinator, you must immediately inform your account manager (your higher up) about this change, because costs must always be approved and signed off by the client as soon as possible. Some agencies only have the client sign off on the final invoice, but the way we do it is much more detailed. We create a Job Analysis Report, which requires tracking every single cost in the spreadsheet and having every cost signed off. An example of costs includes invoices from a photographer or Fedex.

“Paid” indicates whether the invoice has been paid or not, and “Final” indicates whether you need to credit the client. (And here lovely accounting terms such as credits and debits finally come into use!) “Notes” is useful for noting that a job was funded by the 2007 budget, among other things.

Account coordinators (entry level) are responsible for opening and closing out jobs. Don’t close major jobs, such as commercials, until at least six months have passed since activity. When you do close out a job, the producer and Senior Account Manager must sign it before it’s given to the Accounting Department. Once a job is closed, you can no longer add costs to it, and the money is gone (credited to the client).

As for opening a job, I believe that’s where Job Request Forms come in. Learning how to fill one out is on my Ad 101 agenda. I do know that it involved filling in the ISCI code, which is the unique code for every TV spot (e.g. XPAC 8305). Other things on my agenda include mini lessons from my account coordinator on how to do the administrative tasks that she does, such as filling out job requests, status reports, and contact sheets. Such lessons take a lot of time on the part of my colleagues, and I am very grateful to them each time. Besides administrative tasks and billing, I have also been to meetings and briefings. Meetings always occur later in the day, and are somewhat of a luxury account coordinators have to earn by finishing the rest of their tasks as quickly as possible and becoming more responsible and important. Briefings, as they are called, are meetings that cover the updates on the creative brief and subsequent advertising. (As far as I understand, that means a lot of meetings qualify as briefings.) Other than a briefing, I have also been to a Hot Sheet with a client on the phone, where the account manager updated the client on the goings on of the agency.

Besides having the lessons that I am most grateful for, there are a number of things I have learned through experience:

Prioritize. 

The first few days I felt like I was overwhelmed because I wasn't control of what was going on, I was letting my higher ups control me. Then I started to assert myself (say 'I have to do that, not this, right now sorry!'), and was actually praised for it. Apparently, not everyone starts prioritizing right away and they get lost in the chaos. 

Time management. 

On the other hand, through trial and error I've learnt to leave 30 minutes of leeway for delays before a deadline. I disappointed someone by not doing this, although I would've been OK if it had printed correctly. Hardware problems were rampant at first, and it made me look less dependable.

On the upside, I've caught my stride and have become much more productive (thanks to the prioritizing and management of time).

Clarify.

I've often wondered what's the border between bothering someone and asking necessary and acceptable questions. I've decided the way to handle this problem, where I've constantly worried about bothering people with questions and so would try to get my answer in some roundabout way, is to ask them everything I possibly can immediately upon receiving my assignment. Important questions to ask include: "How urgent is this?" "What do you mean by 'useful' arrangement? In what way? How will it be used?" And even if they act like this project is your baby and your chance to prove yourself...they may actually not want you to be that creative and may actually want something very specific, such as something that can be written upon, rather than sheathed in a binder. It's kind of annoying when they try to get you to decide for yourself what must be done, and then tell you that you did it all wrong. If they do that, well there's not much you can do but press them with clear arguments as to why you need to know something.

As a general rule, I'd say ask over don't ask; but try to ask as many questions at once as possible. (Much like when you send an email with one question...then another...then another.... One email is much more convenient.)



Socialize.

Apparently in a normal work day, the times you get to socialize are during lunch, and when you happen to have an orientational meeting that isn't rushed and is all about you. I've been reluctant to ask anyone to lunch, since I've felt sort of like the odd man out being so young and also new and a lowly intern. I've had lunch with another intern (unofficially) and my account management team (officially) so far.

Emerald’s Nuts’s claimed 3PM slump really does happen, but not every day. If your work is really challenging and stimulating, and you have enough sleep, then you don’t need nuts to keep Robert Goulet away. Why am I using Emerald Nuts advertising as a metaphor? Because I had to research their advertising campaigns as part of my Competitive Analysis for Orville Redenbacher. The competitive analysis, though nothing new, is nonetheless challenging, and my major assignment for the summer. It will culminate in an internal presentation to the acc management teams. This presentation could make or break me, and a LOT of pressure is on. The project itself is rather humdrum in the making, because since it’s a huge project without a deadline, it doesn’t match the fast pace of the ad industry. Still, there are days when I am just as busy as any account manager, and those are the most exciting. I’ve found that I thrive in this chaos precisely because I can keep in control of the chaos, and make it into a massive orderly process. This sense of control over myself and my surroundings is something I need, and is the same reason why I can’t stand pot.

If you ever feel like things are going slow, ask for another assignment; don’t sit around drawing pictures on Facebook funwalls. I prove my worth more through production than networking, but networking is still the most important thing in the industry. Unfortunately, I’m not adept at networking…and I don’t feel like my work makes up for it enough. I do good work, but I've never been able to finish a project early and shock someone with my productivity rate. On the other hand, I  am a perfectionist and everything I do is high quality work. Yet that's why I can't be fast. Hopefully I'll find the right balance as I move along.

      I think the most important thing I’m going to get out of this internship is how to comport myself in an office environment. In a way, it’s not that different from school, and first impressions are very important. In my next internship, instead of being awkward like I am now, I will hopefully be able to open up to people and be my smiling self, like in any other situation. Furthermore, in my next internship I will be a little older, and that much closer to being on the same level as my coworkers, which may do a lot for feeling less insignificant. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to recreate my image in this agency before the end of the summer, in order to leave a better impression on my supervisors.

    Lastly, don't be afraid to add your coworkers on LinkedIn and Facebook ASAP. Take breaks and socialize with people. This is something I don't do very often. But unfortunately, I don't really have a reason to visit the areas where people I like work either. Also, introduce yourself to the people around your desk ASAP to avoid awkwardness. Another tip to avoid awkwardness: Be excited and admiring and never lose that pep. :)

By ERIN CHAMBERS

Whether it's to test their interest in a certain industry or to gain a leg up on the competition come job-hunting season, internships are more popular than ever among college students. And landing the perfect one is just the beginning. Here's how to make the most of your summer internship:

Be Early. Arrive early the first day and keep it up. Be early to the office, to meetings and on conference calls. Chris Duggan, president of internship placement firm University of Dreams and summerinternships.com, recommends students practice their commute before starting and test alternate routes in case of traffic delays. "Wait outside the building if you have to," says Mr. Duggan. "But always be early."

Get real. "For students new to the work world, they might expect 'Wow, I'm going to have this glorious internship with fabulous assignments,'" says Espie Santiago, career counselor for internships at Stanford University. "But many of them don't actually have a realistic idea of what's expected of them." If you didn't have a formal one-on-one with a manager during orientation, ask for one. That's also the time to request and review a set of guidelines and expectations.

Drink coffee. Find out where the water cooler, break room or coffee station is, and make a point of stopping by. You never know when the boss or the head of human resources might be taking a break. "Students are often too intimidated to go up to their managers and say hello," says Mr. Duggan. But internships are as much about building interpersonal relationships as they are job training. And experts agree you often learn more about the business from casual conversations in the break room than formal meetings.

Don't get discouraged. If it's been a few weeks, and you're still just making photocopies, don't fret -- or complain. Request a meeting with your supervisor to ask about new projects. Ms. Santiago says managers are often open to expanding on their list of intern tasks, but "you won't know unless you ask."

Resist the urge to stand out. Ms. Santiago says many students view an internship as a chance to show off their skills but, "employers are really looking for someone who [fits] the corporate culture." When you are reliable and consistent, your work will speak for itself, she says. Mr. Duggan warns against being too competitive with other interns. "You want to get along with everyone."

Take notes. Keep a log, notebook or some record of everything you do. Not only will it come in handy when it's time to update your resume, but it will also help your supervisor pull together a letter of recommendation down the road.

Play softball. Think carefully before turning down any offers to get involved. Asked to join the company softball team? Go for it. Invited to go along on a Starbucks run? Say yes, even if you don't drink coffee. Asked to tag along on a client meeting? Accept graciously. Employers "want someone to take whatever is thrown at them, do it well and then come back for more," says Mr. Duggan.

Write to Erin Chambers at cjeditor@dowjones.com

Unecessary jealousy is not about whether or not your partner might cheat on you, but about 1) How much you trust them and 2) How much attention you crave. In other words, it's all about you.

If you're 30 years old, you need to set aside $448 per month for next 35 years to become a millionaire -- if you earn a reasonable 8% annualized return in a retirement account. Don’t have $448 to spare -- or even $248? Maybe you do and don't realize it. Let's take a look at how you can come up with the cash.

Save $219 Per Month on Taxes

Here’s How: The average refund for the 2008 filing season so far is about $2,500. If you received an average refund and you are in the 25% federal tax bracket, you could be entitled to three extra exemptions worth $3,500 each. That would boost your take-home pay by $219 a month. A couple of reasons you might be eligible for more exemptions: becoming a new parent or buying a house.

Save $100 Per Month on Food

Here’s How: Bring your lunch and snacks to work. Considering that the average meal at McDonald’s costs $5 and Dunkin’ Donuts charges $2 for a large cup of coffee, the brown-bag windfall can be substantial.

Save $80 Per Month on Entertainment

Here’s How: We're talking about one fewer dinner-and-a-movie night every month. That assumes you and your significant other pay the average $33 per person for a restaurant meal (according to a recent Zagat survey) and that you spend $7 per ticket, the average price at the movies (according to the Motion Picture Association of America).

Save $28 Per Month on Health Care

Here’s How: The typical family spends $1,321 on out-of-pocket health expenses each year, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Serv­ices. You can pay those costs with a flexible spending account, which lets you set aside pretax dollars.

Save $10 Per Month on Auto Insurance

Here’s How: The average consumer pays $829 annually for car insurance, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Raising your deductible from $250 to $1,000 can save you 15% or more.

Save $8 Per Month on a Well Maintained Car

Here’s How: Keep your car’s engine tuned and tires inflated to the proper air pressure. Those minor improvements can save you up to $100 on gas each year.

Save $6 Per Month on Generic Non-Prescription Medicines

Here’s How: The average American spends $185 annually on over-the-counter medications. Generics cost up to 40% less than their brand-name counterparts and work just as well.

$451 Saved in Total!

Invest the found money every month in a retirement account that earns an average of 8% return over the next 35 years, and you'll have $1 million. That wasn't too hard, right?

Ppl I should remember the names of for future visits:
Mr. Jow
Mr. Arber
Ms. Cadoppi
Ms. Sheperd
Ms. Moffitt (now English)
Ms. Maquinana (rm 142)
Ms. Takemoto
[Other Japanese teacher?]
Mr. Drain
Mr. Hathwell
Mr. Shimmon

Stuff I had to take out to keep more professional, but which I still love:

"I didn't know it was possible to get to know someone well enough in a month to thumbwrestle them to the ground and throw them in a puddle."--Tim Ahern

My nutty friend: "omg i wanna make out with a guy greater than 6 feet tall. One of my life goals, hopefully accomplished by tomorrow!"

"Anything that's rubber and that can be taken off is fun to play with."--Stephany

"yup, lubba dub dubbing in a tub"-Me/Sean

Prioritize. 
The first few days I felt like I was overwhelmed because I wasn't control of what was going on, I was letting my higher ups control me. Now I've started to assert myself (say 'I have to do that, not this, right now sry!'), and have actually been praised for it. Apparantly, not everyone starts prioritizing right away and they get lost in the chaos. 

Time management. 
On the other hand, through trial and error I'ver learnt to leave 30 minutes of leeway for delays before a deadline. I dissappointed someone already with this. Although I would've been OK if it had printed correctly. Hardware problems have been rampant for me, and it makes me look less dependable.

On the upside, I've began to catch my stride and have become much more productive (thanks to that last post and the prioritizing and management of time).

Clarify.
I've often wondered what's the border between bothering someone and asking necessary and acceptable questions. I've decided the way to handle this problem, where I've constantly worried about bothering people with questions and so would try to get my answer in some roundabout way, is to ask them everything I possibly can immediately upon recieving my assignment. Important questions to ask include: "How urgent is this?" "What do you mean by 'useful' arrangement? In what way? How will it be used?" And even if they act like this project is your baby and your chance to prove yourself...they may actually not want you to be that creative and may actually want something very specific, such as something that can be written upon, rather than sheethed in a binder. It's kind of annoying when they try to get you to decide for yourself what must be done, and then tell you you did it all wrong. If they do that, well there's not much you can do but press them with clear arguments as to why you need to know something.

Socialize.
Apparently in a normal work day, the times you get to socialize are during lunch, and when you happen to have an orientational meeting that isn't rushed and is all about you. I've been reluctant to ask anyone to lunch, since I've felt sort of like the odd man out being so young and also new and a lowly intern. T., an older intern, has asked me to lunch however. And following this, I will attempt to ask some of the nicer people out to lunch with me, such as J., and B.. I also heard that the account management teams were originally planning to have lunch with me. Maybe they decided they didn't want to have lunch with me anymore and that's why I haven't heard of it except from one person...I hope not! 

There are certain situations I need to correct:
1. Apologize to L. for cutting off my story lamely. (Realized there were 50 people listening to me talk about something illegal haha.)
2. Mention to F. whenever I can that it wasn't a prioritizing issue that assailed me, but still one of time management. I was working speedily, but not as quick as I now realize I should have worked. I have taken her advice to heart, along with the lesson that I must let others know of my priorities.

First Year

Direct expenses: 40,591 (According to Bursar records)
Direct expenses we paid: 3416 (Plus an estimated $2876 in indirect expenses: $6292)
Financial Aid: 32,750
Loans: 4425

Second Year

Direct Expenses: 43,072
Direct expenses we paid: 2812 (Plus an estimated $2654 in indirect expenses: $5466)
Financial Aid: 34560
Loans: 5700

Third Year

Estimated Direct Expenses: 45,556 (Oh look, tuition keeps going up!)(Added $50 to school's estimate)
Direct expenses we will pay: 5175 (Plus an estimated $2714 in indirect expenses: $7889)
Financial Aid: 33681 (Oh look at that, it went DOWN!) (ACG only for first and second yrs)
Loans: 6700

Can I afford to go abroad in the spring? NO!!!!!! Life long dream go down the hole. Ahahahahaaaaa!
That extra $7000 or so is going to be saved for my life after college...so that I can afford to go out once and a while and pay my loans.

Total Loans to date: $16,825
Estimated Loans 4th yr: $6700
Estimated loans upon graduation: $23525

Counting interest calculated by edwise.org,
$23,525 in loans will accrue $8473 in interest with a 10 yr repayment plan (considering the interest rates of both my loan types). Total: $31,998. Monthly payment: $267

If I earn $28k (the low end for Account Coordinators), $267 will be 11% of my monthly income. Your initial payment should not exceed 10-15% of your monthly take-home salary. If I earn $32k (high end), then it's 10%.

To do: Apply to scholarships that I will probably not win. Suffer without TV for even longer. Be glad I didn't go to U of Mich, where I'd pay 10k more/yr.


More info on my loans:

Subsidized Stafford Loan:
http://financialaid.syr.edu/Loans.htm#types
$3500 freshmen, $4500 soph, $5500 Jr/Sr, Total: $19000
6 mo. after graduate, 6.8% interest starts (For those whose subsidized loans were disbursed after 2006: 6.0% (2008-09), 5.6% (2009-10), 4.5% (2010-11) and 3.4% (2011-12), with a return to 6.8% in 2012-13). 10-25 year max payback period, depending on balance owed.
Eligible for deferments and forbearances. (Deferment types include: in school, military, unemployment, economic hardship, graduate fellowship and rehabilitation training. Interest does not accrue on Subsidized loans during deferments.) (Forbearance is a period of time during repayment in which the borrower is permitted to temporarily postpone making regular monthly payments. For example, a forbearance may be granted if the borrower does not qualify for a deferment or is experiencing financial difficulty. Interest does accrue during forbearances.)

Perkins Loan:
Based on a formula, not by year. What I recieved by year: $925, $1200, $1200. 4th year, most likely, will be $1200. Total: $4525+. Grace period: 9mo. Repayment: Max 10 yrs. Interest: 5% Minimum monthly payment: $40. I will likely pay around $50/mo for this loan alone...IF I want to drag it out for 10 yrs.

Saving money
Good Payer Incentives:

• 1/4 percentage point interest-rate reduction on eligible loans for using "direct pay" - having monthly payments deducted directly from your personal checking or savings account. Not only do you make payments on time, but you maintain good credit.

• A 2% interest rate reduction after making 48 consecutive monthly, on-time payments. On a $15,000 loan, you could save nearly $1,000 in interest and reduce your payments by six months. (From Citibank, my Stafford lender, it's 1% after 36 mo and another 1% after 48 mo.)

• (I can save $1128 using these, according to EdWise)

Pay-as-you-go (in School):

• No prepayment penalty for paying off some or the entire loan before payment is due. These options can save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars in interest.
• If I start now and pay $10/mo for 20 months, I will pay $200, and save $193 of interest later on. (On my Stafford rather than Perkins loan, since the interest is higher.)

Accelerated Payments:

• 13 payments/yr rather than 12 (Can save me $933 in interest if done for 10 yrs)
  
• Larger payment (If I pay an additional $20 per payment for 120 months, it'll save me $496 in interest)
  

Resources:
Financial Aid Plan Calculator: EdWise.org
http://www.finaid.org/loans/scripts/interest.cgi

Create and define a marketing-related catchword or phrase, e.g., incentivize.'

"Youthify" [is] the act of making a brand appeal to a younger demographic. --Mike Byrne, CCO, Anomaly, New York

"Reach-around marketing": An overt, courteous gesture made by a marketer designed to distract from the fact that they are in the midst of violating you. --Andrew Deitchman, strategist, partner, Mother, New York

"Contentualization": The desperate attempt to justify an agency retainer by throwing anything with the client's brand name on it into a video, posting it on YouTube and selling it to said client as a viral campaign. --Cal McAllister, cd, Wexley School for Girls, Seattle

"WoW" or "word of Web" to replace WoM or word of mouth, reflecting the power of social networking and the pass-along influence of people "talking" on the Web. --Chris Colbert, CEO, Holland Mark, Boston

A text message ad or a mobile ad is a "tad." --Chet Fenster, managing partner, director, content creation, MEC Entertainment, Los Angeles, New York

"Funditure" [is] an expenditure of funds. --Bill Field, president, Mintz & Hoke, Avon, Conn.

"Procurize." It's making the fee proposal acceptable to both procurement and marketing executives. --Cleve Langton, worldwide director, business development, DDB, New York

"Fiftyten" [is] a term describing those age-defying baby boomers who refuse to turn 60. --Steve Lanzano, COO, MPG, New York

[A] "media wiccan" believes the ideal balance of push and pull media is best determined by use of entrails. --Dan Barron, partner, Conroy Barron, New York

"Anonymize" or make anonymous. You anonymize information. You can anonymize individuals, too. --Gunnar Wilmot, CEO, Gotham, New York

Reasons why I wasn't productive at work:

1. My computer was old and slow
2. It was a Mac
3. Word kept freezing
4. I was new
5. I was distracted by 1) wanting to make friends and 2) not making any friends
6. I felt kind of lost/depressed
7. I wasn't listening to music
8. My assignment was 1) Unclear and 2) Unchallenging

Ways to rectify this situation and become more productive Tuesday:

1. Bring my laptop (and cords)
   
2. Use both laptops simultaneously (shit yeah! although I can only get online with one..)
3. Listen to music
4. Ignore other people while at my desk (?)
5. Establish "do not disturb" times where I turn off everything and focus on the task at hand
6. Hurry to finish the assignment and get on to more exciting assignments

Materials:
1 cup, 1 spoon

Ingredients:
Whipped Cream
Honey
Fruity, nutty, or herbal Liqueur or Brandy

Fill cup with whipped cream, drizzle with honey, and pour in a dash or less of brandy (I tried it with cheap Apricot Brandy. Technically anything apricot flavoured should be similar to Amaretto, but since it was cheap, it lacked the almond goodness.) Makes a light, quick dessert for desperate hosts. Try adding lemon zest or a dash of juice too, if you like. I was inspired by the british dessert "Syllabub."

Basil
Tomatos
Fresh mozzarella balls
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and pepper

Chop, mix, and serve. :)

1-8oz ball fresh mozzarella
1 large (8oz) tomato
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fresh Basil (lightly chopped)
Salt and pepper

Slice mozzarella and tomato in equal slices (approz 1oz each)
Layer on plate (Mozzarella on top of tomato)
Oil (to taste)
Garnish with basil
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Makes 4 Servings

Courtesy of my Chinese Grandma (who lived in Taiwan).

Ingredients:

• Rice wine or shochu (not cooking wine, 35% alcohol, distilled from rice, not brewed like sake)
• Green/unripe japanese plums ("Ume" in Japanese, usually harvested in June) (Very hard to find, but I found them at Kukje Market)
  
• rock brown sugar (flaky)
  
• Shiso leaves (red/purple, not green) (Known as Perilla in English)(Also used to make pickled ume, umeboshi)
• Sealable glass jar
• Piece of thick plastic twice the size of the mouth of jar (from a bag that contains food for instance)
  
• Rubberband

Directions:

• Soak green plums in water for 3 days
• Wash shiso leaves, pat dry, then air dry completely for a few days
  
• Pat plums dry and then dry plums under the sun till it's dry on the surface and very slightly wrinkled. (If it's at all wet on the outside, mold will develop on top of the wine. If this happens, wait another 3-4 months to kill the mold.)
• Put plums in the bottom 1/4 of a large glass jar, put 3 bowls of rock sugar on top (if it's a very very big jar, like 3 feet tall), and loosely scatter a few leaves on top, another 2 layers the same way, and leave 1/4 of the jar free. Don't put too much shiso because it has a very strong flavor, like basil. (Can also put 2 layers plum and then 1 layer shiso). Pour in rice wine to the top of the plums.  The top 1/4 of the jar is left for the plums to expand as they ferment. 
  
• Seal the jar by placing the piece of thick plastic over the mouth of the jar and closing the lid and clasp. Put rubberband over plastic to keep it down. Or the old way: Seal the jar with wax.
  
• Leave 3-6 months in cool area. 1 year recommended. The longer you wait, the more flavor soaks into the plum, and it'll be slightly more sour (sweet-sour). If you wait long enough, even the seed is tasty to suck on. In my opinion, sour=better. I recently bought a cheap plum wine that was way too sweet, and lacked that extra tanginess.
  
• When serving, may dilute with water if it has fermented for a long time.

Kagayaki brand California Premium Short Grain Rice is my family's new favorite type of rice (it's a Japanese brand). It must be cooked differently from normal rice in a rice cooker.

Normal rice:
Equal parts rice + water.
When rice is done, keep plugged in and warm.

With Kagayaki rice:
Equal parts rice + water.
Unplug when done, let sit for 10 minutes, then uncover and stir. Will be slightly chewy. If you don't take off the lid, it'll get soggy.