have you watched this movie: Shoot ‘Em Up? i loved this movie! It
was so cool and full of simple gun fighting action! it was really all
about shooting from the first 30 seconds to
the last second.


in the movie there’s a lovely scene where
smith(clive owen) smashes a mercedes with his stolen
bmw just because the mercedes driver never uses his blinker (direction or signal light). that scene alleviated all my stress from the crazy drivers who never use blinkers!!



yes, i hate people that don’t use their blinkers when
they change lanes. I HATE THEM!! i don’t have any problem with road rage but
those non-blinker-using-folks always drive
me crazy. (well, i get frustrated by poor
traffic signs too)

first, it’s so DANGEROUS. people die of car accidents, right? all of you have
some crazy experience with this, don’t you?

second, their LAZINESS! you need just one
finger to move one inch, not something so
hard to do.

third, their THOUGHTLESSNESS! how selfish and simply bad! we all know that we
share the roads, these people don’t care about public
safety.


when i see a crazy car cut me off without using
their
signal i go nuts, not because they’re cutting me off but because it’s an
unexpected movement that freaks me out and
puts me and my passengers in danger. am i too sensitive? i served as a armed car driver early during my military service so
I’ve been trained to drive with some common sense. but i don’t think that commom sense is significantly different from what we learn to get a regular driver’s license.


if you feel sympathy with my frustration, please, tell your friends/family/non-blinker-using-folks to use their
blinker when you see they don’t. your
small action can make a positive change on the road and in the world where we
are living together.  

hello people,

i just wanted to say,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

tomorrow.. every body,
just chill out with family
or
have fun wherever you are, whatever you do.

i know this is a really late posting but i just wanna share some pictures with ya.
if you click the picture you’ll see it bigger and at a higher quality.
enjoy~

October 15th was our 2nd anniversary so we planned a short trip to Prince Edward Island where Anne of Green Gables came from! surprisingly in Korea and Japan, people in my generation loooooooooooove this novel, when i was a kid we always watched the TV animation of Anne.

we had a connection to PEI, via montreal. i was surprised by three things there. first, everything was in french and english together! second, the canadian dollar was more expensive than the american dollar! third, they put vinegar on the fries!

on the 1st day we didn’t do a lot of stuff but we enjoyed the dinner! since PEI is a tourist place lots of restaurants close during the low season(October to March) but fortunately we caught the last day of this restaurant, flex mussels. 

---

on the 2nd day, sunday, we woke up early and went to a cute local church. we were the only asians, actually non caucasions, in that church but nobody was curious about us. i guess there must be lots of tourists during their high season. we were just so thankful to God for having 2 years of happy marriage so far.
 

the small town with the church was very beautiful.
  

after church we went to a small town called Rustico. since all the restaurants closed for low season we had a hard time to finding one. finally we found this one, “By the Bay!!” we saw many cars in the parking lot so we thought it is either really good or the only one opened today in town. amazingly we were right. it was the only one restaurant open in town and it was so deng good! so we went to this small restaurant 3 more times during our trip.

so after we filled our tummies we finally went to the Green Gables historical site!! it was just like the novel, Anne of Green Gables!! the house where Anne lived in the story was so cute and there were lots of flowers around the house and in the garden.
     

it was so fun to look inside the house. if you are an Anne maniac you could tell which room is from which episode!
      
this is Anne’s room!!

we also walked on a beautiful trail in the forest behind the house, lover’s lane. in the book Anne always walked there and let her imagination run wild. the forest had lots of balsam trees.  it was very fragrant, aromatic and fresh there.

oh here’s one more pic. =)

the cottage house we stayed in was so nice. it had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms(1 with a sky light), 3 beds, full kitchen, and big living room w/fireplace. oh, and a mid-size jacuzzi, which was killer! it was not so expensive but great for two families or one large family. would you like to go there with us later? we’re going to make reservations for the next trip here in 10 years.

one of the rainy nights, we stayed in and played in the gamehouse they have at the resort…it was a lot of fun. we are both pretty competitive when we play each other.

---

on the 3rd day, we just looked around and took pictures of the island.
PEI was an impressively beautiful place even though the weather was
chilly and slightly rainy. we fully enjoyed the moment on every sight. we drove around and stopped by wherever we wanted to look at.
              

we stopped by this small cute town. it had the oldest house and catholic church in PEI. and also we saw the tail of a rainbow but there was no big jar filled with gold coins!
      

since it was so cold we came back to the cottage and took a rest for a couple of hours. and then we went to see the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge in the world. we didn’t go across the sea though. it was just soooooooooooo long. the end seemed like it was going into the sea. (yes, the earth is round.)
   

after that we went to a restaurant, the Merchantman Pub to have our anniversary dinner. food was very good. i was wondering how come all the food in this small island is so good. last year we didn’t have anything for our 1st anniversary but this year, everything was just awesome and we were so thankful. we truly, truly enjoyed the dinner.

next? yes, jacuzzi time with local blackberry wine!! woohoo~

    

---

on the 4th day, we woke up so early and went to sea shore on Cavendish to take pictures even though it was crazy windy and cold. cuz we knew even in that weather, the picture will come out beautifully.

and then we went to Tim Hortons for breakfast. because we were always wondering why all the canadians say dunkin donuts is a piece of crap. conclusion? yes, absolutely it is better then dunkin. haha. we really liked it but sadly in jersey it’s totally covered with dunkin stores.

we said bye to our car, matrix and left PEI for Montreal.

and then our awesome trip to PEI, was finally over.
  

thanks a lot for reading this long entry.
 

i just started a part-time job in nyc as a bookkeeper. it’s a small
architect firm in Chelsea. since i have some experiences of Excel and
general office work i feel comfortable at work. the best thing is that
it’s not a crazy korean company. flexible work hour, no dress code, no
pressure, no work on holidays and so on, haha. maybe it’s just because
i’m not an architect or a full-time employee and i’m new. i’m sure
things will change sooner or later but right now i’m just happy.

my boss is a mid-age polish lady with heavy accent which might be
the hardest part of my work. i have hard time  at understanding english
with the european accent. (yea, i’m a fob) actually on the first day we
both got frustrated at each other with this problem but it’s getting
better. i’m getting used at her accent and she is nice enough to
understand my struggle.

i work only 2 or 3 days a week so i can have some time to do my own
work for the next full-time job. yes, this is not my ultimate career
path or goal, the dream job. all i need to do is to keep in mind that i
have to study and work on the web stuff with wise time management. i
have couple of more part-time jobs which are so little and small but
i’m getting busy with them.

as soon as i dropped all the worried and concerns about future, God
started pouring out his grace on me who don’t even know how to deal
with them. i’m just so thankful and praising Him. thank you all who
helped me and prayed for me.

link: finding
my dream job 01

link: finding
my dream job 02

link: finding
my dream job 03

 

where I want to be? it was the question this time.

 

I wrote down every single subject I have ever
learned from or through school, work, home, hobby, seminars, volunteering and
so on. I highlighted what I still have passion and interest in.

 

and then I wrote down subjects

that I love to talk about

that is my hobby or interest

that I always read in bookstores

that I want to study

that I am unconscious of the passage of time with

that I want to write a book about

that I always read on newspaper

that I frequently search on the web.

 

I tried to find three most frequent subjects and
they are web 2.0, planning and culture.

so this part with a question mark will have my
dream job where I can be constantly happy and excited.

after asking around many people who are working in
actual field I figured it out as a sentence: To plan and to manage products
& contents in web 2.0 field based on cultural approach.

+

i wanted to be sure about this.

so i met many people in the web industry and asked them if i have possibility to be succesful or at least i am qualified for the work, showing all the fact i found out about myself.

then i asked them of advice about what i can do to have my dream job. thankfully they willingly gave me lots of advice with practical and specific guidence and even some job opportunities!

now i’m working part-time for a living and preparing myself for my future and the dream job.

it’ll take time. i can be wrong. however i don’t worry or regret my decision and walk. cuz i know that God always provides.

it’s very very nice to feel the fall is coming.
my hot apartment is not super hot anymore. it’s just hot.
in the evening i just don’t want to do anything but just want to sit down and look at the sky through the window near my desk.

i kind of feel i’m back in korea.
because lately i smell some random korean smell a lot in the evening.
today why isn’t it surprising to smell broiling mackerels at this point?
i’m supposed to smell at least barbecue or potato soup instead of fish.

i’m living in such a korea town.
i don’t like it.

link: finding my dream job 01
link: finding my dream job 02

After I figured out my transferable skills which I want to use at work, I worked on finding out what my my traits or temperaments are. Transferable skills can be specified with this for example, “organizing systematically” and “organizing intuitively” are not the same and the words “systematically” and “intuitively” explains the style of the skill “organizing.”

I looked at my success stories many times to find my traits. and then I emailed people who’ve known me for at least 3 years to ask what kind of traits they think I have. after the research I was able to make this list.

analytical
brave
challenging
confident
constant
creative
efficient
endeavoring
immediately
industrious
innovative
leading
listening
logical
motivating
patient
positive
practical
realistic
sensitive
strategic / tactic

through human network

wow, even I was so surprised! do I really have this many characteristics?
of course these are all positive. I don’t have to know my negative ones because I only need to focus on my good ones to use at work.
however, “brave” can be “rash” or”careless”

after I figured this out, I was saying, “I kinda like myself…” haha.

link: finding my dream job 04
.

i got my green card finally.
yes, it’s not a dream!! woohoo!!
the long long waiting is over now.
all my complaint about immigration service just flew away!
as soon as i ascertained the mail i prayed on my knees thankfully.
and called eugenia to let her know that i can go to PEI in canada for our 2 year anniversary trip!

now i can do anything i want in the united states!
all of sudden there are so many things to do as soon as possible.
1. to renew my driver’s license
2. to start planning to travel out of the states like PEI
3. to start saving money for visiting korea asap
4. to get a job!!

thank you everyone who worried and prayed for me.
man, it’s really time to get a job. no excuse anymore…

and it’s time to enjoy this freedom !!

link: finding
my dream job 01

 

today I will talk about “Transferable Skills.” 

 

1. what are transferable skills?

 

before I start this post let me explain about the
transferable skills. I have many skills, gifts and talents. I learned some of
them from school (ex. mathematics, book keeping), some by myself (ex.
using a computer) and some from work (ex. using MS-Office). However, what I
tried to find were innate abilities that I have utilized to use all my acquired
abilities. these innate abilities are called “Transferable Skills”
according to Richard
Bolles. when we
use these transferable skills we are happy and enjoying the moment because it’s
our “gift” which God gave us even before we were born.

I want to be happy at work and more specifically I want to use the
skills that make me happy at work, which will be more then 70% of the rest of
my lifetime. that’s why figuring out my transferable skills is very important.

 

2. Writing the Success Stories

 

as the book, “What
Color is Your Parachute?” said, to find my transferable skills I wrote
stories about myself. they are more like an essay which tells what kind of skills
I used at happy & successful experiences in my life since I was born. it’s
not about a general everyday experience but a sort of specially memorable
moment. the story must have the following conditions: a goal, an obstacle, a
description of what I did, a result, and any measurable/quantitative statement
of the result.

 

the book recommends to write 7 stories but I wrote more then 20
stories and picked the best 7. here is a summary of one of the stories.

 

Title: building an efficient work system at the army

1. the goal of the activity

- I wanted to improve the work efficiency of the work system &
process so that I can save my time and effort.

2. Obstacles or constraints

- there was an old paper-based work system which was
conservatively & firmly established

- I had to spend 4 months building a new database

- I knew only the basics of Microsoft Excel and Word.

3. Description of what I did

   ➀ I planed what to do for an innovation.

   ➁ I waited and kept on thinking about the
innovation until the senior officer retired so that I can avoid his
conservativeness.

   ➂ I input all the paper data to computerized
forms like Excel and Word for 4 months.

   ➃ I studied MS-Office to make up for the
lack of knowledge and applied it to work.

   ➄ I developed and improved the computer
based work system with MS Excel and Word.

4. Description of the outcome

- great improvement of work efficiency and accuracy

5. Measurable/quantitative statement of the result

- I reduced  working hour to less then 20% of how long it was

- I reduced consumption of paper and printer supplies to less then
50%

 

3. My transferable skills?

 

After I wrote all the stories I analyzed them as the book says. it
was not easy but I was definitely able to see several outstanding skills which
I’ve always used unconsciously. yes, those were my transferable skills. I can
say I do great job when I use these skills, of course, with lots of happiness.
I cannot specifically explain the method here because first, it’s not that
simple and second, I don’t want to violate the copyright of my teacher’s
teacher. but I promise it’s simple.

I could make several sentences about my transferable skills.

1. I collect information through experiencing, observing and
researching a person, an object or a situation.

2. I analyze the collected information.

3. I apply, develop, improve things from the analysis.

4. I advise, couch, counsel, encourage, guide, inspire, convince a
person from the analysis

5. I direct, serving, help people

6. I lecture people

 

and these are my transferable skills extracted from the sentences.
(and another source)

observing

analyzing

discovering / perceiving

sorting / arranging

systematizing

planning

realizing

implementing

adapting

improving

initiating

synergizing

utilizing

inspiring

serving

taking instructions

lecturing

 

I have so many transferable skills! one thing i’m sure about is
that most of my transferable skills are about people and data. I don’t have any
apparent one about material or physical matter such as drawing, carrying,
driving, running or so. I have been designed to work better with people and data rather
then materials. with this list I knew what I can do well and enjoyably.

 

the next step was finding my nature or temper, with which I can tell how I use my trasferable skills. i’ll talk about it
next time.

thank you for reading. =)

link: finding
my dream job 03

i’ve been working on finding my dream job for a couple of months lately. i learned career consulting from one of the best career coaches in Korea at school. his instruction was based on his teacher, Richard Bolles and his book(What Color is Your Parachute?). it was very very helpful. in korea i’ve had successful experiences in getting dream jobs for myself and my friends who i shared all the lessons with. this time i thought i really need to work on myself. yes, it’s because i’ve been staying home for six months now. it’s time to get a “good” job in this country and i must be happy with the job.

i realized that even though i’m about to start my new career in this country pretty late it’s not actually late. at my age, a lot of people drop their current career and start totally different one again because they realize that they are not happy with their current career. however, since i don’t think i have time to restart i must have a sort of dream job at one try.

when we start our first jobs we usually don’t know what we wanna do exactly. we actually start thinking about our future and career when we go to college but it’s not easy to figure out. some are pushed by their parents to go to medical field or law field and some simply follow by trends or friends. and then, of course, we have a hard time to find what we want to do for a living. the sooner, the better! we should find what we want to do, what we can enjoy, what we can do excellently and simply what God gave us.

in my case, 4 years ago, i figured out what i can do and what i wanted to do and got a great job too. but a lot of things changed in the states since i left korea.
- i don’t have american college degree.
- i don’t speak perfect english.
- i don’t completely know the business culture here.
- i am not treated as an experienced one at all here.
- and so on.
however here’s other stuff.
- i can read and write korean perfectly.
- i know asian languages, history, geography, and culture…..i almost got a minor in college.
- i went to the army so i know how to deal with organizations and people.
- i know a lot of stuff about computers, internet and electronic products like all other korean guys.
- as an asian guy i’m pretty good at dealing with number related work which i don’t really enjoy.
- and so on.

with all the differences in this country i had to study and analyze myself again. so now, i can tell what i wanna do, what i can do, what i can enjoy. the work itself was time-consuming but it was very interesting and exciting at the same time. i’m going to share this process here at xanga over several times of posting.

btw, man, this is the longest entry at my xanga ever. thanks for reading.

link: finding my dream job 02