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4月24日 Welcome Emilia (Emi) Kyuri SimEmilia (Emi) Kyuri Sim arrived on Thursday April, 17 at 3:53PM at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and 18 ¾ inches. The delivery was fairly smooth, with active labor lasting for about 4 hours. Emi seemed eager to join her new family; it took only 10 minutes of pushing before she dove headfirst into the light. :-)
Mom and Dad are doing well and big sister Keira is fascinated by her new baby sister (and the peace offering gifts that Emi "gave" her).
Like Keira, we wanted to pick a name that would work in both English and Japanese. The characters for Emi in Japanese translate to "wisdom" and "beauty."
Check out additional pics here. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bz2r1bb.6tu8f4t7&x=0&y=kvphsq&localeid=en_US 3月31日 The Sim's prepare to be a family of 4Preparations have begun for the unnamed sequel to to the smash hit, Keira. E's mom has arrived from Asia to provide much needed relief. Thank God grandma will be staying with us for a few months to help out any way she can. E has officially started her maternity leave and has been thoroughly enjoying her time with K. And just yesterday, I fished out all of our old baby gear from the attic and piled them up in our garage to be sanitized and washed. I was amazed at how much stuff we have for a tiny 6-7 pound baby: car seat and 2 pods, bassinet, bouncy chair, jumperoo, electric swing, baby bjorn, stroller #1, our nused double stroller, our nused crib (thanks lisa!), high chair, etc. I'm sure I'm missing several other items that are sitting in that pile but you get the point.
Keira is also preparing for her new role as big sister. We got her a new toy a few weeks ago and she looks like a natural. She's good but still needs some practice. Check out how she manhandles "Baby" in the second video.
3月18日 Fourth Annual Guy’s Ski TripHere are a few pics from the fourth annual Vividence Boy’s Ski Trip a few weeks ago. It was another incredible getaway filled with lots of great skiing, bar hopping, hot tubbing, red bulls, and of course, male bonding. Not as dramatic as our second annual two years ago at Jackson Hole (e.g. no one got pulled over by the cops, no fist fight in the SUV, no Famous Cowboy Bar ho down, and no snowmobile injuries) but a blast non-the-less.
Here are some of my favorite memories:
1. Fitting six guys in a 4 man hot tub… and explaining to everyone where the mysterious foam actually comes from. 2. Finishing off 8 frozen pizzas in 2 nights 3. Subsidizing a good chunk of my trip via late night Texas Hold’em 4. $1 PBRs at the bar, all day and night 5. Our exchange of grilled meats with our neighbors, in which we obviously got the better end of the deal (1 petite filet in exchange for a rack of ribs, sausages, and pulled pork) 6. Sean’s secret crush on the ex football player from South Carolina 7. Drinking Redbulls with sidecars 8. Blaine playing tour guide all week, along with his repetitive commentary about how shocked he was by the amount of development in Park City since he left 10 years ago… and his stories about certain “special landmarks.” 9. Jupiter bowl… all day baby! 10. Fake credit card roulette I can’t wait till Whistler next year!
Another Kid, Already?That’s the usual response I get from friends when I tell them E and I are expecting another bundle of joy, in fact another daughter, at the Sim family. Surprisingly pregnancy the second time around flew by and before we knew it, we were about 1 month away from the due date. (My apologies for the folks who may be finding out the news via blog instead of a more personal form of communication). We’re bracing ourselves for the craziness and hectic nature of life with, not just one, but two kids under the age of two. K has no idea what’s coming. And to be honest, there is a tinge of guilt I feel that her days as the first and only child are limited. She is already possessive over her dad; in fact, I often find her wedging herself between me and any other baby in whom I show interest. The same applies to dogs. But I know that once she gets over the initial adjustment period, she will make a great big sister. And it really warms my heart to know that the two of them will likely grow up to be great friends. Here are some reason photos of Keira. She's 18 months now and continues to amaze us. On a funny note, the following video is a warning to my friends out there who are not yet ready for life as a parent.
1月30日 Keira never ceases to amaze us!Keira is about 17 months old now. E and I have noticed over the past few months that she has developed a very strong sense of independence and a will of her own, as opposed to being the little baby who just did what we told her to do. These days, her big thing is spoon feeding herself, athough only about 10% of her attempts result in food actually entering her mouth.
Just a few days ago, Keira surprised both of us when she started reaching for the chopsticks that E was using to mix up some noodles. To our amazement, she was a natural within just a few minutes.
1月7日 Christmas in CancunThis holiday season, our family decided to mix things up at bit and spent Christmas in warmer climates. Rather than making the cross country trek to Washington D.C., E, K, and I decided to meet the fam down south in Cancun. We spend 6 nights at the Riu Palace Las Americas after being upgraded from the Riu Caribe… Thank GOD! The Palace was impeccably clean, new, and the clientele was civilized. The Caribe was filthy, dilapidated, and the clientele was pretty awful in terms of manners, dress, and general behavior (image lots of drunk kids and obnoxious tourists with armpit stains on their shirts).
Note: do not give too much credit to Trip Advisor for its reviews; they have been very hit or miss. I’ve stayed at a few places that reflected the positive reviews they received, but the Riu Caribe reviews were waaaaaaay off mark.
The vacation was a blast! Crystal clear water, awesome weather, great food (although all the restaurants started tasting the same after a few days), and potentially the best part of it all, having my sister Judy and mother around to help take care of K. The weeklong vacation was a bit hard on the little one; she was over-stimulated the whole time so she slept and ate very little. But overall, the trip provided the long overdue rest and relaxation the family needed.
Here are a few pics from the week.
Funny Bill Gates Keynote at CES:People love to bash Bill G, but there's no denying the positive impact that this individual has had on the world, both through his work at Microsoft as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its will be a momentous day when he gives up his full time gig at Microsoft. Imagine what it would feel like to leave the company that you've built from scratch and led for over 30 years. Here is a really funny parody of himself that he introduced at the 2008 CES Keynote today.
1月3日 What happened to Adam Carolloa in the Bay Area?Wow, it’s difficult being a fan of the Adam Carolla show. I’ve been listening to the show religiously every morning on the drive into work for the past couple of years. The problem is, the show keeps getting dropped from the San Francisco Bay Area radio waves! I used to listen to Adam Carolla on 106.9 FreeFM until the station did a complete turnaround and changed their format from talk radio to classic rock. That bummed me out until I was able to find the show on the AM dial on 1550 KYOU radio. Then on January 2nd of this year, I was dismayed when I turned to 1550AM only to hear someone giving retirement investing advice. Are you kidding me? And to top it off, I found out that the Carolla show finally canned Danny Bonaduce, who annoyed me since the day he joined the show. Just when the show got better, I have no way of listening! Well I’ve searched the web and the radio dial and it seems that the Carolla show is unavailable on Bay Area airwaves. It’s unfortunate because Adam’s sense of humor is intelligent and thoughtful… a good break from the obnoxiousness of the morning airwaves. If you know of any Bay Area station that broadcasts his show, please leave me a comment. I know there is an option to listen to podcasts on the 971freefm.com website but that doesn’t make my morning commute any more bearable. 11月15日 Marie Digby.. worth a listenMy buddy emailed me a link to this clip of Marie Digby who apparantly posted some videos of herself singing acoustic covers on YouTube about six months ago. Since then, her cover of Umbrella has been played on a bunch of radio stations and she was recently featured on Last Call Carson Daly. She has an amazing voice and its pretty cool to see talent discovered this way via the web. Check out the video that got her discovered. My personal favorite is her cover of a song by James Morrison called You Give Me Something. Check out the original also... I never heard this song before hearing Marie's cover but it rocks!
9月16日 My how fast time fliesLast week, Keira turned 1 year old. I can't believe how fast this past year flew by. It feels like just 6 months ago, we brought her home from the hospital, with absolutely no clue about how we were going to survive the next month, let alone a full year. But somehow, we figured it out, and this amazing little girl has proven to be quite resilient.
We followed the Korean tradition and threw a big 1 year birthday party (dol) for our little one. My mother came out from the east coast for the festivities, and E organized quite an event. As part of the tradition, we laid out several items in front of Keira such as a pencil, a book, money, a bowl of rice, and a spool of thread to see which she would choose; her selection is supposed to indicate her fortune. I must admit, I kept trying to steer her to the hundred dollar bill (with thoughts of early retirement for me!), but she ended up choosing the bowl of rice (which I think indicates good health).
Here is a slide show I put together to recap the past year with Keira, as well as a few pics of her in her hanbok. Enjoy.
8月11日 Makes me laugh every timeWow... its been a while since I've updated my blog. Been pretty busy with work and going to lots of weddings these days.
In any case, here is one of my favorite videos of Keira... its about a month old but it makes me laugh every time I see it. Regardless of how rough my day has been, it only takes a giggle out of Keira to wash away any stress I have.
7月5日 New Beginnings at Fraudwall TechnologiesLast month, I decided to leave behind a great job as a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail group for a very small, stealthy start-up called Fraudwall Technologies. Working at Hotmail was an incredible experience. I got to work with some truly intelligent and passionate folks, launch a product that impacted more people than the population of the US, dogfood some of the coolest technologies before they ever hit the market, chat with Bill Gates at a BBQ in his backyard, and watch as an insider some of the most exciting launches in Microsoft's history (Halo 2, Xbox360, Zune, Vista, Office2007, and of course Windows Live Hotmail). So why leave this all behind?
I've always had an interest in being an entrepreneur. And while Microsoft offered some "entrepreneurial like" opportunities, nothing beats the real thing. When I was presented with the chance to join Fraudwall as the Director of Product Management and Marketing, I seized it with both hands. Fraudwall has a rockstar team, and is working on an incredibly audacious business plan to become the source of truth for online click fraud.
So what is click fraud? In simple terms, click fraud is when a person, organization, or machine clicks on "pay per click" ads with no interest in the product or service being advertised. Instead, they do so for personal monetary gain or to cause monetary loss.
Examples are as follows.
So how big of a problem is click fraud? No one really knows but its covered in the news more and more over the past year. Estimates range from as low as 0.02% (as reported by Google) to as high as 34% (as reported by the China IntelliConsulting Corp on China's largest search provider: Baidu). But everyone agrees that online advertising will continue its explosive growth rate (estimates show online ad spend in the US will reach $37B by 2011). And as that pie grows, so will click fraud's piece of that pie.
I'm confident that Fraudwall will truly be a game changer in online advertising. We have a brilliant team working on the problem, an investor and advisor board comprised of the movers and shakers in silicon valley, and some early traction with key beta partners. I'm psyched for what lies ahead!
6月9日 Keira is learning how to talk... well kindaJust a few weeks ago, Keira learned how to "army crawl." That's the stage just before crawling in which she uses primarily her elbows and feet to get around. Now she's scrambling all over the house, opening up cabinets, bumping her head into glass doors, and playing mop on our kitchen floor.
She's also recently started becoming more vocal (as seen below). Her vocabulary is limited to sounds made up of no more than 2 letters (e.g. "ne," "ba," "la," "eh," and "ma.") Anyone have a clue what she's saying?
6月6日 Register as a Bone Marrow Donor... its simpleElyse is the daughter of a friend of a friend. She is the oldest of triplets born just about 4 months ago and has been diagnosed with a very rare blood disorder (1 out of a million) which is life threatening. Please watch the following video and read about Elyse and her family's wish to find a donor.
5月21日 Segway-ing around Angel IslandThis past weekend, E and I left K at home with grandma and headed out for a day of adventure without the little one. We took a fairy to Angel Island with a group of other Wharton alumni, and took a tour of the island in a very "Bay Area" way: we got to explore the island on segways!
Neither of us had ever been on segways before, but it was quite simple for both of us to get the hang of it. The first 30 seconds you hop on, it feels like you're on the verge of falling over. But that's the beauty of segways... they're literally impossible to tip over. So once you get over the initial fear, you feel like the segway is a natural extension of your body. You lean forward, you go forward. You lean back, you go back. You lean back harder, it accelerates faster.
We started off at 4mph, then increased to 8, then to 12! The segway has an interesting way of limiting your speed. You can lean as far into the segway as possible and it will begin to lean you back as you approach the limit, regardless of how hard you try (a very strange sensation).
If you're in the Bay Area, or just visiting, I highly recommend taking the tour. You can get info and reservations at http://segwayangelisland.com/. They run two tours a day, and you can get a two hour tour for $65 per person (which is totally worth the price). And Tuesdays are "two for tuesdays!" The guides are very laid back, knowledgeable about the island, and aren't paranoid or restrictive about how to ride. They basically let you ride at your leisure, as long as you're not being dangerous to yourself or anyone else.
Given them a buzz to book a tour as the popularity will only grow over time. Tell them I sent you! :-)
5月19日 What happened to 106.9 Free FM (San Francisco) and Adam Carolla?For those of you who know me well, you may also know that I am a HUGE fan of the Adam Carolla Show. Although I originally hated the addition of Danny Bonaduce to the show, I've grown to accept the fact that he's not going anywhere; and the show continues to make me laugh. However, on Friday, I tuned into 106.9 Free FM to listen to the show and was SHOCKED to hear oldies... one after the other. In fact, I couldn't tell if it was an extended joke on the show b/c the the theme was "Oldies that start with the letter, L." Could this be real or was Adam trying a new bit?
I kept listening all the way to work and figured maybe there was some radio transmission screw up for the day. I checked the 109.9 Free FM website and was dismayed to see that the radio station has been pulled from the FM airwaves, to be relocated to 1550AM. What the hell? The only info I could find about this sudden, unexpected change was on the blog of one of the other personalities on the station, Emily from Sex with Emily. It sounds like this change was as much as a shock to her as it was to the rest of the world:
Remember that scene in Howard Stern's movie Private Parts when he shows up for work to find his station has suddenly switched formats to country music? Well, that's exactly what happened yesterday except I didn't hear Dwight Yoakam but an oldie (but goodie) Donna Summer's hit.
That sucks. Here is a post on Yahoo Answers which may also explain what happened:
Well, this old radio station, KFRC, used to be at 99.7 FM, which now airs a dance format. KFRC was a classic hits station at 99.7 FM for many years until October 2006, when they flipped to dance music. So, many listeners complained to CBS Radio San Francisco, and they gave in and decided to flip the format on Free FM because they were in last place in ratings (literally), and 106.9 had an 80,000 watt signal, so CBS found it appropriate to put classic hits on 106.9 FM.
Well, at least Adam is still on the air in San Francisco on 1550AM, although I'll have to listen to Ozwaldo's movie reviews in mono now. :-( Also, everyone can continue to stream the show on www.971freefm.com. 5月12日 Windows Live Hotmail Launches WorldwideWow, what a week. We finally launched the new version of Hotmail on Monday! Whooohoo!!! Check out my video debut on Channel 10.
 I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of coverage we've gotten. Here is a quick rundown of some good stuff (thanks to our PR agency WaggEd).
And a few favorite quotes:
In addition to the great coverage, we've also released some hilarious promotional videos. You can find them at http://newlivehotmail.com/. Here is my favorite... notice the "supsicious male" warning:
5月10日 Email: Buying a House in the Bay Area SucksI received this email a few weeks ago from my buddy. Given my previous post, I thought I'd share some more light on what the Bay Area housing market is like. I think E and I lucked out... BIG TIME.
So, I've read all these reports on how the housing market is in decline and how it's becoming more and more of a "buyer's market" as supply outstrips demand. I'm not going to argue whether it's a good time to buy or not -- I just don't know. And frankly, I just don't care anymore after getting a few more lines in my forehead from worrying about it. But I just need to vent about the freak'n Bay Area and all the money that gets thrown around in this earthquake-foresaken hood. Yes, I am bitter. Too many rich bastards live here. I just put in my first offer on a house. I felt like it was a pretty strong offer: - $135K OVER asking price (for a fixer that needs a new roof, new floor, new kitchen, new bathrooms, new windows, rodent and wasp removal, and MUCH more). - NO contingencies whatsoever. Yes...no inspection, no appraisal, no nothing. - A 14-day close. That's f&*king crazy good. - 20% down. From a seller's perspective, lower chance of a hickup in the loan process. - An earnest deposit check of over $25K. I came in 3rd place out of 18 offers. Unfortunately, getting the bronze medal in this competition is worth jack s%$t. Oh, but I did get the joy of spending a couple hours reading over a hundred pages of disclosures and signing a bunch of documents that sounded like, "if you sign this, you are an idiot". And so I ask, once again..... WHY DON'T WE ALL MOVE TO VEGAS?????? We can buy a 5 bedroom house - each - and take turns throwing bachelor parties for the remaining single dudes. 5月3日 New Home Sweet HomeIts been about a month since we moved into our new home and we absolutely love it. We originally planned to move about a year ago but once we discovered how little space we could afford in the Bay Area, we nixed that idea pretty quickly. In fact, there was a time when we were seriously considering buying a place in East Palo Alto, but luckily friends like Tom convinced me otherwise by doctoring my photos of the place with potential scary situations like the one below. Thank God we didn't move there. It would have been a great "investment" but not very livable for another 5 years.
Then in late February, we decided to get back into the real estate rat race for a home of our own. By this time, we figured the market in the Bay Area had settled enough; and we even heard rumors that it was a "buyer's market." We found a place that we fell in love with and decided to go after it, only after about 2.5 weeks of looking. To our dismay, we heard it was a competitive bidding situation so we put together a very compelling offer: placed a bid a few percentage points ABOVE the asking price, had no contingencies, a 14 day close, and a personal letter to the owners!
I remember the night that we submitted our bid, I couldn't sleep at night. I had frightening visions of washing dishes on the side to make some extra cash, and feared my first mortgage payments. The next day we got a call from our agent and found out we actually got the house! I have to admit, I had a bigger "Oh S*&T!!!" moment when I heard this news, than when I found out E and I were pregnant." Needless to say, we'll be living conservatively for the next few years but we're both aboslutely thrilled with the place.
Its a humble 3 bedroom townhouse and its a stone's throw to the water. My favorite parts of the house are:
1. my very own garage with a work table and vice... I keep looking for random things to lock down in the vice and saw apart.
2. the hottub and deck in the back yard.
3. the fact that we don't have to worry about our neighbors on adjoining walls
We're still settling in but hopefully we'll be able to begin entertaining soon. Shoot me an email and I'll send our new contact details to you. If you're an MSN/Windows Live user, you can subscribe to my contact updates by clicking on my Profile. 4月30日 K on her new jumperooA few weeks ago, we visited our friends' place for brunch and found that K abosolutely loved their jumperoo. E and I typically refrain from going overboard with toys for K, since we don't want to get lazy and rely on them to keep her occupied. However, we watched her jump for about 15 minutes straight, squeeling the whole time, so we decided to get her one of her own.
Here she is in her first week with the jumperoo at age 7.5 months. Actually, I think E and I might be doing more of the squeeling in this video.
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