Tag Archive for 'chicago'

Relient K and Shutdown Day? More like… Shutdown 1.5 Days

Published
by
Josh Kim
on March 24, 2007
in Site News
. 0 Comments

Chicago. Ah.

Inadvertantly, I kinda celebrated Shutdown Day a half day early. Supposedly, today was supposed to be a day without using the computer, at all.

For me, this happened because I was without Internet. You see, without Internet, my computer ceases to be a computer in a lot of ways. I can’t check my email, talk online, check my feeds… I need my data!

I finally drove over to Panera near Woodfield for some lovely wireless bits.

Now I probably have like 300 stories I have to wade through (Google Reader, why don’t you tell me the exact number and NOT “100+”… what, is it that CPU intensive to give me the right number?) I have about 10 emails I have to reply to (lengthy… ahhhh!). Posts upon posts to write…

Here are some post ideas I have right now, sitting at Panera.

Mae at House of Blues

  • Relient K Concert (with Sherwood and Mae) at House of Blues
    • The Actual Event: Whoo hoo! First non-classical concert ever!
    • RIAA and Music: I thought this topic through while they were playing their new songs, the ones that I didn’t know.
    • City of Chicago: How INSANE it is to drive in the city
    • 14 Year Old Girls: DAH. “Sadie Hawkins Dance! Mood Rings!” still rings in my ear…
      • I always thought Relient K was more geared towards college kids… huh.
  • Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston
    • How incredibly awesome it is
    • How amazingly the author Jessica Livingston could have easily been Josh Kim
      • She writes… the Intro. The rest of the book is basically her asking questions at the founders of each respective company covered in the book. I could have asked those questions, and typed out 450 pages. Heck, I’d probably type that sucker faster…
      • Meh, maybe she asked the right questions… we’ll see as I keep on reading
    • How much I want to write a review PER CHAPTER
  • Consulting
    • How I keep mistyping “consulting” as “consluting”… ew…
    • Things I’ve learned with the clients I’ve had in the past
    • How I want to grow it: How to create an effective portfolio
  • Blog
    • Categorizing vs Tagging: I think I’m getting it…
    • Redesign process: How to effectively design a Wordpress Theme

Yeah, insanity.

I have a feeling, April is going to be insane.

Are you guys wondering “I mean… dang, Josh Kim… how much more insane can it get”?

You’ll see.

Quick Update

Published
by
Josh Kim
on March 6, 2007
in Personal
. 0 Comments

I went to Chicago today. I went to help out my Grandmother. I learned so much about family, I think I could write a couple chapters in my autobiography… if I had one… uh… yeah…

Sorry for the lack of posts. I kinda took a vacation for the past couple of days, starting and deleting posts all over the place. I will try harder this week to bring JoshKim.org to the previous glory days it once enjoyed.

Productive Day

Published
by
Josh Kim
on January 24, 2007
in Personal
. 0 Comments

Been thinking recently.

Wait, that’s the understatement of the year.

Okay, but back to the point of this entry.

One of the many things that I’ve been thinking about… is what the heck I’m doing here, and what the next step is.

My first client job will be done by this weekend. I will make sure of it. Freaking IE bug will no longer stand in my way…

For some reason, today at work I realized only today that there is definitely a benefit in freelancing like this… but the downfalls are just as large.

In this case, the overhead in dealing with three different projects within three different groups is larger than I thought. The barrage of emails alone is quite amazing. Actually, it’s both fun and frustrating from time to time… but slowly, I think I’m realizing that this life might not be for me. Freelancing… just isn’t for me, in the long run it seems.

But for the next couple of months, I think it’ll be fun to rack up some experience like this. I really do enjoy the part-time-ness of freelancing… being able to have a little bit of free time (more so than working full-time) to continue my research of my next set of options.

Here’s where I see my life going: Either I go work for an amazing company and climb the corporate ladder into management OR start a company outright. Now, this plan might include an MBA… which means that I need to start studying for the GMAT.

After this first client work is done, I might have to start studying for it. The deadline for this coming year is March 15th. I already know who to ask for recommendations, so that’s set. Just need to make sure I kill on the GMATs… My work experience will be kind of weak, seeing how MBA students usually go in with about two years of full-time experience… but maybe my “freelancing” as well as all my pertinent part-time work will be clutch.

If I don’t get in (and even if I do get in and decide to go later… or even… not go at all), then I will start looking for a more permanent position. Chicago doesn’t sound too bad… and the Valley is still an option. Cincinnati just doesn’t feel that all right with me… I’m not sure why. I think it’s more or less my desire to keep moving from place to place…

The engineering job fair is on February 8th, and so I have until then to sharpen up some skills. I hope to be pretty well versed in Ruby by that point. CSS will be cake, and JavaScript… I hope… I will have mastered by then. Freaking… get… a web application done… Maybe also by then, I can put down “Fluent in Korean and Japanese”. Must make some serious goals and timetables… and… you guessed it: Lists.

Wow… the next two weeks will be chock-filled with goodness.

Also, I might be going to Cincinnati this weekend for my sister’s birthday. I got her the shuffle… now I want one… Oh my… she’s 18! And I pray she’ll pass the driver’s license exam on her first time, too.

I think that pretty much concludes this amazingly productive day.

Onward to 6 AM!

After the All-Nighter

Published
by
Josh Kim
on January 14, 2007
in Personal
. 1 Comment

Okay, so I guess I wasn’t very clear yesterday. Nor could I have been, since I don’t remember writing that entry.

I did go up to Chicago. But for like… let’s see… I got there at 9 or so, and left at like 2… I was there for 5 hours.

Why, you ask? My Dad wanted to see Grandma since it’s been a while (just shy of a year, I think)… and so did I. I had an off day of work, so Dad and I decided to drive up. Plan was that Dad would come from Cincinnati, then I would finish the trip up to Chicago.

It was fun driving around Schaumburg. I recognized all the roads from my last trip, and it only made my driving experience more fun. Lunch was at Todai at Woodfield. I felt so happy to see my grandma so healthy and see my dad happy that grandma was so healthy. Just recently, she visited the hospital for something serious, but it looks like she’s gotten better. I think this was the first time in my life I ate more than my Dad did (and this was a buffet!). I’m not sure what lead to that, but I have a feeling it has something to with the company.

But alas, I wouldn’t be Josh Kim unless I learned something from the trip.

I learned the important role that food plays in relationships, and vice versa. I bet, if my grandmother wasn’t present, I wouldn’t have eaten so much. Maybe it’s something about listening and talking and laughing and… I don’t know, maybe it was just abnormal calorie burning throughout the meal. I have feeling, there’s something more to it than that…

I learned more about family. I shared earlier how I’m only beginning to realize how important people are in the world… a subset of those people who we call “family” seem even more important.

I would go into town with these, but I’d much rather just pray through them.

What followed after my Chicago trip warrants yet another entry. I hung out again with Derek, my freshman-year-roommate-who-served-in-iraq-and-got-married friend. A 32 oz cup of Mountain Dew and a bag of Sun Chips and like… 8 hours of Splinter Cell on PS2 later… wow. Let me tell you, that game is fun with a friend in co-op mode.

Yes, it wasn’t a very useful all nighter, but was it fun.

I need to unwind like this a lot more.

Oh and tomorrow and Monday… the kids are coming back to town. I have no idea how I’m going to get ready for that. Freaking students and their new year resolutions, crowing up the gym… Do I have to change my routine to mornings?

Well, not just students in general… but a lot of my friends on campus are coming back. Can I resolute to at least meet all of my old friends that are on campus before the end of this academic year?

Dudes, half the month went by. Are you guys keeping up with your resolutions? 23/24th of a year is left…

Shortest Chicago Trip Yet AKA First All Nighter of the New Year

Published
by
Josh Kim
on January 13, 2007
in Personal
. 2 Comments

I woke up at 5:30 AM, unable to sleep.

And Here I am, at 5:41 AM, the next morning.

Yeap, the first all nighter of the new year.

First Mountain Dew induced all nighter in quite a while. First video game (co-op splinter cell) induced all nighter in an even longer while.

For those of you keeping score… I count my days based on when I sleep. If I pull two all nighters in a row, that 48 hour period indeed becomes one day… and so I’m not late on my daily posting.

It’s just that, right now… my mind isn’t wanting to function properly.

Quick, to bed!