Personal | Geek in Heels

I have been blogging for over a decade now, and in that time I have certainly received hurtful and/or hateful comments. I have had my share of trolls, personal messages from particularly irate readers, as well as (empty) threats. At first they used to bother me. A lot. But now, I find them quite amusing. Does something that a complete stranger writes on their personal blog bother you so much that you feel the need to continually argue your point? To refresh the page over 90 times in an hour to see if you had gotten a response? (Yes, someone actually did this to me quite a few times.) To link to the offending post in an online forum or social media site to ask for reinforcements? (A...

Marketing/Advertising, Personal

Got PMS? New Milk Ads May or May Not Be Offensive

Jul 15. 2011

The California Milk Processor Board along with ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners have launched a new "Got Milk?" ad campaign touting the benefits of the white stuff in reducing the symptoms of PMS. The problem? Many women — as well as men! — are finding the ads humorless and offensive. Take a look: As someone who suffers from severe PMS (and pregnancy is like 10 straight months of PMS!), I'm not quite sure what to think about these ads. I can see the humor in them, but I can also understand how they can rub you the wrong way. What do you think of these ads? Are you rolling your eyes and assuming that the campaign team consists of all men? Or do you think...

Aerin, Baby, Claire, Motherhood, Personal, Pregnancy

Approaching Toddlerhood, and 24 Weeks

Jul 15. 2011

Remember how I said that we were working on transitioning Claire from 3 naps down to 2? She continued to hover back and forth between 2 and 3 naps for over a month. But in the end, it took a traumatic visit to the pediatrician's office to officially push her over to the 2 nap schedule. The lengths of her naps are still inconsistent, lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Her nighttime sleep has still yet to return to her pre-teething days and so she will wake up at least once per night more often than sleep all the way through. But now that she is able to stay awake for up to 3 and a half hours...

Parenting, Personal, Relationships

Discipline Styles

Jul 14. 2011

J and I grew up in a culture and generation that was all for physical discipline. In fact, it was rare to find a household that did not spank/cane their children. Our homes were not the only places for punishments either — I still remember how, having attending up to the 2nd grade in Korea, all the teachers kept a separate cane for punishments (the unspoken rules stated that we would "only" get hit on the palms of our hands or our calves)...

Personal, Relationships

Learning to Balance (Opposites Attract)

Jul 13. 2011

J is finally back from his business trip, and I couldn't be happier. :mrgreen: This was the first time in years that we had spent a night apart, so being away from each other for three nights was plain torture. We had promised each other that we would video chat every night via Skype, but you know what happened to my computer. :cry: I really wanted to cry when I first saw him this morning, and I'm not just saying this because I know he will read this. And to show my appreciation for him, J returned home to a...

Claire, Gadgets, Motherhood, Personal

Nervously Waiting for #3

Jul 11. 2011

In the 24 hours that J has been away on his business trip...

Finance, Home, Information, Personal

What Costs More in 2011?

Jul 10. 2011

Living in an area with fairly good public transportation — in addition to having an infant who does not like car rides much — I hardly ever drive anymore. I even walk to the grocery store, pushing Claire in her stroller (thank goodness our stroller has a huge bottom compartment that fits 5-6 full grocery bags). So when I took the car out Friday night and saw that I was running dangerously low on gas, I was in for a rude awakening. $55 for a full tank of gas??!!! Apparently this wasn't that bad, either. Friends tell me that gas prices have actually decreased in the past month, and that they were regularly forking over more than $60. And this was in the state of New...

Books, Food, Geek, NYC, Personal

My Exciting Friday Night

Jul 09. 2011

Last night, I got to meet one of my all-time favorite authors. I also indulged in the best fried chicken in New York. And that was one of the most exciting things to have happened to this 6-months pregnant mother of a 9-month old in a very very long time. Sad, isn't it? The rest of the post will chronicle this action-packed evening, so this is an advance warning to those who may feel that their time may be better spent skipping the rest of this long entry. Please feel free to stop reading now. But for those who are interested...

Art/Design, Gadgets, Geek, Infographics, Personal, Photography

Canon vs Nikon [Infographic]

Jul 07. 2011

Digital Photography School has sparked another Canon vs Nikon debate by posting the following infographic earlier today: As much as I would've liked to see more technical data, I can only assume that the resulting infographic would be about 5x larger due to the wide range of products each company provides! On a more personal note, when I purchased my DSLR two years ago, I was leaning a bit more to the Nikon side solely based on the fact that my favorite photographers seemed to prefer Nikons over Canons. However, J strongly encouraged me to try them out in person first (my choices at the time were the Canon T1i and the Nikon D90) and once I held each camera in my hands, played around...