Interactive Displays? No lets say real people.

New York, what a great place.  That of course is skewed because I'm from NY!  Take a look at how their doing their displays.

Link to article for Lingerie Display

It's quite an interesting yet smart tactic.  A lot of stores such as Macys or JCPenny are starting to use interactive TV's that have sensors when people walk by that trigger a certain chapter of a DVD that could say, "Check out this in this aisle..."

Having someone there, especially a model attracts a lot of people.  XOXO is trying something new to attract customers and some say its working!  But the question lingers how does it affect children or young teens that walk by 5th avenue?  What kind of image does that portray? Whatever it is..I hope I find that in SF.

---

Another tid bit why Madison is so awesome:  Snowball Fight of 2009 UW

Donation List is Growing

Currently my donation list is growing:  (AND THEY KEEP ASKING ME AT THE DAM GROCERY STORE)
TAX SAVINGS PLEASE!

Current:
- Kappa Eta Kappa DAA
- American Cancer Society
- United Way
- American Heart Association

Upcoming:
- Good will
- University of Wisconsin Madison

I'm on a Boat!

The tiger woods betrayel

Poor Tiger Woods, he got renamed to Cheet-ah Woods hah!
Find the link for the SNL flick hilarious:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/06/tiger-woods-snl-video_n_381711.html

mmmm k.

Beer in all its Glory

Fun comic that Taylor sent me in regards to beer, good laugh :)

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/beer

Free Wifi for all!

Free Wifi? No way...yes!  It's going to start appearing on virgin airline flights.  Wait but the best is yet to come...the person backing this is (my other poster boyness) GOOGLE!

http://www.freeholidaywifi.com/

Virgin Airlines is the first US airline to offer wifi on an airplane.  So whats this crap about us shutting off our cell phones?

In my opinion it is to reduce the amount of air talking.  You ever sit on a bus and someone next to you or nearby is just chatting off a head, "OMG Becky lets get together sometime!!!!"  ...annoying.  If your not talking on your phone your probably paying attention to the safety information the flight attendant is giving you.  =)

* Hulu on the plane would do good justice *

Links:
Check out this Southwest Rap Safety Rap:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvdCFYLf_JI

Your household pet

Diabetes? Cancer?  Yeah you typically hear that in humans but what about your furry little cute creature that you have at home?  It's crazy how household pets are developing these cases!  What is in their diets?  Here's an excerpt of an article posted on my companies site:

November is international diabetes awareness month – Abbott Animal Health wants you to know that dogs and cats can get diabetes, too. Diabetes affects an average of one in every 200 cats and one in every 500 dogs.

Symptoms and diagnosis
You will be able to recognize the symptoms of diabetes in a dog or cat that is part of your family:

• Drinks more water than usual
• Urinates more frequently, produces more urine per day
• Large appetite despite weight loss, although cats may also be obese
• Is less active and/or sleeps more
• Has cloudy eyes (dogs)

It’s important to take your pet to a veterinarian if he or she has these symptoms. Diabetes is usually diagnosed in cats and dogs through evaluation of symptoms or testing for abnormally high levels of glucose in the blood.
Most cats and dogs that have diabetes are older than seven years. Male cats and female dogs are more prone to this disease. Burmese cats have a risk factor for developing diabetes; the dog breeds with risk factors are Miniature Schnauzer, Bichon Frise, Miniature Poodle, Samoyed, Tibetan Terrier and Cairn Terrier.
You may be able to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes if you help your pet maintain a healthy weight by adhering to the diet prescribed by your veterinarian.

Managing diabetes in pets
If your pet is diagnosed with diabetes, the goal of treatment will be to regulate the glucose level to be as close to normal as possible. This may be done with daily injections of insulin to metabolize dietary glucose, along with careful monitoring. Monitoring is key to managing this disease, in order to reduce the symptoms, minimize the potential consequences of the disease and get the pet into the normal blood glucose range. Pets who do not receive treatment are more likely to get recurrent infections.

The AlphaTRAK Meter, from Abbott Animal Health, was developed specifically for the unique properties of animal blood and provides convenient, accurate blood glucose results with a very small blood sample size. Best of all, it can be used in your home.

Using FB to help you job search?

Well, the title says it all.  People are using FB to find jobs.  While I think FB is a great social networking tool the people around my generation have quite the track record with FB.  When I got onto FB it was Freshman year of college.  At the time it was only exclusively available to students with an *.edu address for good causes!

It was fun finding people from your classes and "stalking" them until the state of creepiness comes.  Now FB is exposed.  You can find me easily, http://www.facebook.com/wang.mark information is viral its very easy to spread.

In this article: http://newgradlife.blogspot.com/2009/11/job-hunting-with-facebook-new-grads.html
It states to send people private messages.  When you do that does that person realize that your profile becomes exposed?  That all your privacy settings don't necessarily apply anymore?  Now they can see your information, your interests (Britney Spears hah!), and whatever else you have "publically" available.  (Photos?)

I'll have to agree though networking is one of the best ways to secure a job that you enjoy and love.

Decisions that you ponder

Have you ever wonder what life would be like if you decided to go with the opposite decision that you chose? For example, what would happen if I didn't go to UW-Madison?
Would I still be at Abbott Labs? Certainly wouldn't have met Beth :( There are lot of decisions that you've made just like that!

It's crazy how these all play out. Looking back at a couple of my friends back home its bewilders me how things end up.

Generation Y

Check out this interesting article I found in Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_37/b4146032027785.htm

Tidbit: My company is mentioned there at the end! :)

What to get guys

A lot of girls ask what the heck do they get their boyfriend, I started with generic stuff:

- Cologne
- Ties
- Tie Rack
- Khaki's/Pant's Rack
- Scarf
- Watch
- Sports poster
- Game/Console
- Meghan Fox
- Headphones
- MP3 Player/Mp3 Player Holder for working out
- Think about sports...golf, tennis, bball...
- Shirts (Obviously that you like)
- Pictures
- Electronic junk (for nerds like myself)
- Car stuff
- Sexy Pictures of (yourself obviously...)

There's a lot more but here's a start. Comment if you have others hah.

Golf Life

So every big wig plays golf right? Getting face time with those people "high up" is key. Majority of them play golf...fun sport!

For me, I just started this endeavor picked up the activity at the start of this rotation. Sure I've been golfing for a long time but never really got into it. While I was in Dallas a lot of the people I'd hang out with commonly went golfing without me. Phew it is way too hot over there any ways to be in the sun all day.

How I got started...well I decided to go to Goodwill, a local thrift store where you can find just about anything from clothes to golf clubs. Lucky for me, I called up some friends that were "seasoned" to the sport. Brad...for one started to explain clubs to me over the phone where you could hear the background of people laughing...and how he wished to see me hit. (Brad I'm ready to play when your down here!) The clubs there are cheap and obviously I will get better ones as I get into the sport.

This isn't something where I could just buy simply a basketball and then just go to a court to play...no its really expensive...practicing is expensive. Can you imagine buying 100 golf balls and then lose them? Yeah that might be me...(no j/k)

Anyway, if you haven't started playing golf and your looking to move up take it up! That is the advice I've heard from many many...people.

Smack FORE!

The Jar...

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.

The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space
between the sand.

The students laughed..

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything
else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children.

Spend time with your parents.

Visit with grandparents.

Take time to get medical checkups.

Take your spouse out to dinner.

Play another 18..

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.

Set your priorities.

The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.

The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

Networking Part 1

Networking is one of the many great ways to expand your career. Many people agree, unfortunately, its not what you know, as much as its a matter of who you know. With this in mind networking is a must to climb any corporate ladder. What kind of networker are you?

There are two types of "Networkers." One is a hunter and the other is a gatherer. What is the difference?

Hunter: Are those people who walk into a room and just wants to meet anyone and everyone. They end up walking out of the room with a hand full of business cards, but is that person going to call anyone of those again? Probably not.

Gatherer: Is a person who sees that they are going to a networking event and sets goals for themselves. They instead of meeting 100 people they meet 5 new people. That should be enough. It is the spider web concept where you meet those 5 eventually it will explode to more.

Setting goals that are measurable and achievable will distinguish you as a networker from the rest of crowd.

Ideas to network:
- Join cross-divisional organizations
- Get that common denominator
- Go eat lunch with your co-workers don't just sit at your desk and eat
- Do Informational Interviews on the positions your interested in
- Do presentations, get your name out there.

Vacations or rather Staycations?

With the economy not being the greatest a question was asked on my company's homepage...is your next Vacation going to be a staycation?

Well what the heck is a staycation? According to Wikipedia, its when the person stays close to their area of residence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staycation)

I guess many people these days don't want to spend a lot of money and travel, unfortunately, my second half loves to travel. It's not a bad thing, right now with no attachments and young its the best time to travel! A couple places I want to see:

- Brazil

- Paris

- Spain (Barcelona?)

- Taiwan and China

- Jamaica (Hopefully this will be done later this year)

Where else do you think I should visit?

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Road Trip

It was 99 degrees and dark outside when we decide to pack and load my car before heading out to the bars with a couple friends. Amazingly, after 15 trips up and down the non-pregnant friendly stairs we loaded up my car. I shipped three boxes but added a Beth to my car! Finally loaded we meet up with Eric, Taylor, and Sammy and headed over to Pete’s dueling piano bar. This is where Beth began to sing country music to me...something about Whiskey not really sure what the song was haha, after the fun party we eventually abandoned Taylor and headed home for some long awaited sleep.

Morning, we start our epic adventures with Dayquil and McDonalds off we go on our way to Hot Springs, AK. The first thing we notice is the traffic in Dallas, I hear a big sigh of relief from my passenger who didn’t want to drive in this town (especially on a stick shift) we finally get over to the Springs. Driving around the Mountains we got hungry and stopped at renowned place called “Ron’s.” Famous for their Godfather pizza, we settled with a 10 incher. The waitress with her heavy southern drawl hyper and too happy comes and calls Beth baby and myself honey and continues by dipping her finger into my ranch sauce. (Accidentally)

Now were off looking for a Jet Ski place in Lake Hamilton…we get to the place mapped out by my trusty sidekick and found out that they don’t rent jet skis anymore on Lake Hamilton. Bummer, we decided to walk up the mountains. Hiking in 95 degree weather was not the best idea, Beth turned bright red like a raspberry from the heat. I ended up being topless and some dude saying, “Nice body”…great..

Taking a hike around the mountains we found a wonderful view looking over the Hot Springs canyon! Hot and thirsty, we finally embark our way to Memphis, TN where Taylor and Eric were eagerly waiting with beers in hand. We arrive into Memphis just about 9pm and met up with Eric and Taylor at a famous Bar-BQ place called, Corky’s Bar-BQ. Place is packed! Our server Anita, comes out with ribs and a “ya’ll want some beer” saying. The ribs there were phenomenal!

Upon our arrival at the Double Tree hotel, we park my car in front of a sign: “We are not responsible for anything within your vehicle. DO NOT LEAVE VALUABLES BEHIND!” big sigh as we moved our suitcases and laptops into the hotel. Diamond VIP access granted us an Executive Sweet on the top floor with a pimpin pool view!

On the top penthouse floor, we rolled in with two balla’s Eric and Taylor. We walked across the street and went to the Fox and Hound bar…VERY smokey. Dislike.

We shot some pool:

We ended up calling it an early evening due to the long car drive ahead. The next day we set off to St. Louis!

Suggested by co-workers (Holly) to stop at the Merrimac Taverns we stopped and found Jesse James! These caves were hands down amazing! Minus a small key-lock-out incident the trip was exciting…the caves were just as you would think…cold and dark. (Hold me hun?) It was getting late so we decided to leave and head towards St. Louis to see the Arch! Getting there…it was a Sunday no place was open for food except this pho’grande soup! Fav…Yelp.com is awesome.

Our Hilton hotel smacked right in the dab of downtown, we were both close the arch and the casinos! Beth who hasn’t been to a casino since she lost her 21 virginity we hit the blackjack tables! All in all the experience was good. We didn’t come out ahead but it was still fun!

One block away the arch was right around the corner, we set out and “climbed” the arch and its phenomenal history. The structure of this arch was such a engineering marvel…(dork)

Going to an infamous mid-west school know for its…”party” we stopped at Busch and took a tour of their facility! It really reminded me of F2, fermentation over here in Abbott (Allan) and we got free beer at the end so why not. New Fav. Shock top!

At the end of our road trip, we arrived in Madison…our final trip. Getting out of the car, I immediately reached for that jacket. Started at 104 degrees it was now 66 degrees…cold shock, felt good! Thanks Beth for coming with me on this trip J. See pictures:

Wedding and road trip