Dec 10, 2007  •  In Facebook, Funny, Relationships

For All Facebook Users…

xkcd is another web comic I enjoy. I think that the fact that the comic is drawn entirely in stick figures forces the reader to really concentrate on the content, which mainly consists of very geeky humor.

Today’s xkcd was probably one of the best, because as an avid Facebook user (I signed up way back when it first started and Johns Hopkins was one of the beta schools) I can understand the hilarity of the “relationship status” concept.

Enjoy!

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Sep 25, 2007  •  In Geek, Relationships

Geeky Proposals

As a huge geek, I can’t help but be smitten by geeky proposal stories. So here are my top three favorite geeky proposals:

 

3. Dashboard Widget Proposal

Earlier this year, a Mac geek created a Dashboard Widget (which, according to Apple, are “mini-applications that let you perform common tasks and provide you with fast access to information”) to propose to his girlfriend. When she was using his computer, he told her to hit F12 and an image of a ring popped out with the words “Will you marry me?”

Needless to say, she said yes, and all (Mac) geeks reveled in delight. You can get more details on this proposal here.

 

2. The Joy of Tech! Proposal

The Joy of Tech! is one of my favorite comic strips, concentrating on geeky, techie, pro-Apple subjects. Here is their idea of a proposal….and I love it! I really would’ve been swept off my feet if any guy had done this.

Joy of Tech! Proposal

 

1. The Apple Store Proposal

Last summer, Apple opened its famous Fifth Ave store in Manhattan (can you tell I’m a huge Mac head? 😛 ). In celebration of the grand opening, Apple set a website with time lapse photos in front of the store. This man took three signs with him to the location at 5:30am and proceeded to propose to his girlfriend on camera:

Here is the direct link to the video on the Apple website – the proposal shows up about 2/3 of the way into the video.

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Aug 31, 2007  •  In Beauty, Personal, Reviews

Favorite Beauty Products

I’m pretty cheap when it comes to most items but the three things I splurge on are gadgets, handbags, and anything that goes on my face…aka beauty products. And as a natural researcher by heart (and trade), I research and test items from all three categories to death before making any purchases, especially if a lot of money is involved. While I can go on and on about all three topics, I decided to share my all-time favorite (meaning I never stray from these) beauty products with my readers.

(Before I start, I want to say that I have an extreme case of combination skin. My t-zone is a natural oil well, but my cheeks and chin can become so dry to the point of flakiness. So while some of these products may work well for other people with combination skin, it may not with others.)

 

My favorite lotions and creams:

Clarins, I believe, has one of the best skincare lines out there. I’ve tried almost all major skincare lines in pharmacies and department stores (aside from the uber-expensive ones) and Clarins beats them all. I alternate lines depending on season, and I usually use one lotion/cream for night and another with SPF in the morning.

Clarins also has a great men’s line. I’ve even converted my father, who’s very picky and sensitive about lotions. He’s tried almost every men’s line out there and swears up and down that Clarins is the best he’s used.

 

My favorite exfoliator:

The Korean ddae soo gun (exfoliating rag). These are relatively cheap and you can buy them for less than $1 at almost any Korean market. I use this to exfoliate my entire body once a month and my face daily. Since new ones can be rough, I usually rub it across rough surfaces before using to break them in a little. This is not recommended for anyone who has sensitive skin. And although I use it on my face every day, I do it VERY gently with a light hand.

 

My Favorite Cleanser:

The Prescriptives All Clean Fresh Foaming Cleanser For Normal Skin, $21 for a 6.7oz tube which lasts about 3 months with twice-daily use. I’ve tried soooooo many cleansers out there (practically everything at drugstores as well as Sephora) before finding this one, and I’ve stuck with it for the past 5 years. It has everything I look for in a cleanser: some foaming action but not too much, unscented, and leaves my face squeaky clean without it being too dry.

 

My Favorite Eyeshadow Primer:

The MAC Paint, $16.50 for a 6.5g tube. Okay so it’s not meant to be an eyeshadow primer. But it still works great as one, even better than the popular Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion! I use it in Bare Canvas, which matches my skintone perfectly. My eye makeup stays put for 18 hours straight with no creasing whatsoever. And although it’s a tiny tube, mine has lasted more than 8 months with daily use.

 

My Favorite Eyeliner:

The MAC Liquidlast Liner, $16.50 for a 2.5ml tube. I swear up and down that this is the best long-lasting eyeliner out there. It even stays put after you wash your face! I’ve tried all other long-lasting eyeliners, even the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner that my friends love so much, but even that smudged at the end of the day. The only bad thing about this liquid liner is that the brush that is part of the packaging kinda sucks – it’s too long and flimsy. So I use the MAC 266 Small Angle Brush to appy it. And, as with all liquid liners, you need a very steady hand.

 

What are your favorite beauty products? Also, I still haven’t found THE mascara yet….what do you recommend?

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Aug 27, 2007  •  In Beauty, Personal, Reviews

Eyelash Extensions

Are you one of those lucky people who are blessed with long, lush eyelashes that never need mascara or even curling? Well, I hate you. I have very short and very sparse lashes that are practically non-existent.

I still remember a couple of years ago when my mother first read about trichotillomania (the disorder where you pull your own hair). She immediately called me and asked me if I have it.

“Of course I don’t have that, why would you even ask me?”

“Because your eyelashes are so short and sparse! Everyone else in the family has long and full eyelashes except for you! You can tell me….is there anything you want to share with me? Do you have trichotillomania?”

Over the years I’ve been trying to make up for this disadvantage with eyeliner, mascara, eyelash curlers, etc. I redefined the word “irony” when I purchased the ever-so-popular Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler to find that my eyelashes were too short for it.

False eyelashes never worked well for me. The first time I successfully applied a set, J said I looked scary and ran away from me. I tried flares, thinking that it would be more natural looking, but it looked like an army of spiders had died under my eyelids, leaving their legs dangling over my eyelashes.

So when I first heard about eyelash extensions, naturally I was ecstatic. Individual eyelashes are applied between your natural lashes with a semipermanent adhesive. Depending on the life cycle of your natural lashes and other factors, they usually last 3-4 weeks.

I immediately began calling around and received a shock. All the salons I called in the NYC area charged $300 $350!

When I mentioned this to my mother, she exclaimed, “$300?!? That’s ridiculous. My salon does it too – I’ll ask them how much they charge.”

It was $100. Not exactly small change, but definitely a lot better than $300. I asked my mother to set up an appointment.

Normally I shudder at the thought of being the subject of “before” and “after” shots. But I decided to suck it up and share these photos with the world…purely for the sake of research, of course. 😉

My lashes before:

My lashes after:

Wow, I never realized how many freckles I have… Anyway, the closed-eye view looks a little freaky but I have to say I LOVE how my lashes look now!

The procedure itself took about 30-45 minutes. The false eyelash is real human hair (which is a little freaky now that I think about it) that is pre-curled for this procedure, so no more need for eyelash curlers! The lady who did my lashes explained that each false eyelash is placed between my real eyelashes, so if the person has more natural eyelashes the ending result would be fuller as well.

Since this was the first application it cost the full $100, but if I come back every month for touchups she’ll only charge me $50.

If you’re interested, the salon I went to is:

Hye Chung Salon
10 Sylvan Ave
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
(201) 944-0220

They speak some English, but not much so if you don’t speak Korean you may want to ask someone who does to call for you. Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll gladly answer them!

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Aug 12, 2007  •  In Education, Geek, Personal

Science Labs

I’ll be the first to admit that I was never good at math and science. I never possessed the analytical, logical mind to excel in the subject; I much rather preferred social and language studies. I’m one of the few Asians I know who actually did better in the verbal portion of the SAT’s.

Not surprisingly, I usually dreaded the few times a week we were required to attend science labs. Whether it was physics or biology, chemistry or life sciences, I never had the patience to clock the amount of time it took for water to boil, let alone follow intricate instructions meticulous enough to obtain expected results.

I would usually end up making one mistake, panic, then do something completely idiotic in order to make up for it. Like the time I accidentally spilled all the contents of a bottle of distilled water. And quickly tried to recover by grabbing the first bottle of clear liquid to replace it. Which ended up being hydrochloric acid.

But there were a few labs that I thoroughly enjoyed. There are two in particular that stand out in my mind, even to this day.

The first is my very first scientific lab, from way back in elementary school. Maybe it was the excitement of actually doing something hands-on for the first time. Maybe it’s because the problem placed before our young minds stumped us. Or maybe it’s just because I felt like a total idiot when I found out what the answer was.

The Problem:
You have a large bowl of water and a lump of clay in front of you. How can you make the clay float in the water?

Can you figure it out?

The second lab is the infamous egg drop. That’s right – when a raw egg gets dropped from the top of a building (usually 2-3 floors high). You must design a container/contraption/device which will keep the egg from cracking.

This activity has become a staple of the American public education system. If you attended middle school/high school in the states, there’s a good chance that you participated in an egg drop of some sort.

Most kids ended up designing parachute-like devices, which usually ended up failing miserably. I mean, just how much drag can you expect to get from 2-3 floors up?

Others would design crazy, complicated-looking contraptions which consisted of many parts forming a cube or a circle, with the egg suspended in the middle with elastic bands. These were usually the most admired, because to most kids’ eyes, the more complicated-looking something is, the more amazing it is.

I don’t remember exactly what I did; it was probably something boring like a tin box stuffed with cotton. The funny thing is, I didn’t have that much fun designing my own. I had a lot more fun the day of the egg drop, when weeks of planning, designing, and constructing either succeeded or failed.

Did you participate in an egg drop while growing up? What did you design?

 

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Jul 12, 2007  •  In Geek, Information, Personal

Diamonds, Part III: Some Tips!

Diamonds 101
Diamonds…continued

When purchasing a diamond, the worst thing you can do is walk into a jewelry store and pick something they have on display.

First, you need to do your research.

Then, find a good vendor. A good jeweler will be honest with you and try their very best to find the best diamond for YOU. They will not try to push more expensive diamonds nor will they pressure you to buy. In fact, a good jeweler will call in diamonds for you if they do not have something you’re looking for in their stock.

Another important thing is their trade-up policy. Try to go with a vendor with a lifetime trade-up policy. While I’m very sentimental and I could never trade up my e-ring, some women are more than happy to do so. Some people may not have the money for a nice e-ring when they get engaged so they may upgrade for an anniversary later on.

Whatever the reason, the point is that good vendors will allow you to trade in your diamond for 100% of the initial purchase price. If you think about it, they will not do this unless they believe in their product – if they sell a sh*tty diamond now, and the person comes back years later to trade it in, it’s the jeweler’s loss.

When viewing diamonds, look at them under various types of lighting. The lights in jewelry stores are deceptive! What may look great in the store may be a dud in normal lighting.

Once you find a diamond, make sure it is certified by a lab such as GIA or AGS (EGL tends to go soft with their grading so they’re not always recommended). If it is not certified, take it to a reputable appraiser to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to look online! Online vendors usually have a lot lower prices because they don’t have to deal with the overhead costs as regular jewelry stores. There are some very reputable online vendors out there with impeccable reviews, fair prices, and great customer service. (Another plus is that if the online vendor operates from a different state, you may not need to pay sales tax.)

Whiteflash is based in Houston and they specialize in ACA, or A Cut Above diamonds, which are cut especially for them to their specifications. They also recently started carrying X-Factors, which is supposed to be a great (and some say better) alternative to princess cuts.

Good Old Gold is based in Long Island and they’re known to find some of the best diamonds out there while providing tons of documentation on each diamond they sell. They also carry a great selection of Square Hearts & Arrows, which has the performance of a round in a square shape.

Another great option is James Allen, which is based in Frederick, MD. James Allen’s website carries actual pictures of their diamonds with zoom options, so you can see exactly what you’re getting.

J purchased my diamond from Engagement Rings Direct (ERD), which is an online vendor whose office is located at the diamond district here in NY. We are very lucky to be in NY, because more than 75% of the diamonds sold in the US go through the NYC diamond district at one point or another. In other words, ERD has a great pool of resources.

ERD’s office is actually in the same building as the GIA’s NYC branch. They can just look at the GIA database of diamonds and run downstairs if they see something they like. In my online research, I could not find one bad review about them – people raved about their eye for well-cut diamonds, very fair prices, and honesty.

If you have any questions about diamonds at all, feel free to ask! I’d love to help anyone out!

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Jul 11, 2007  •  In Geek, Information, Personal

Diamonds…Continued

Please read my previous post, Diamonds 101, if you haven’t already done so.

Let’s talk about diamond shapes.

The round brilliant is the most popular shape for good reason: it faces up large, and no other shape can perform as well in terms of brilliance, fire, and scintillation. Rounds are also easiest to predict in terms of performance when you only have its specs, so it is a safe bet if you’re thinking about purchasing your diamond online.

Other shapes are categorized as “fancy cuts”:


(image taken from Excel Diamonds)

The second most popular shape these days is the princess cut. Due to the popularity of princess cuts, their performance is also becoming easier to predict based on just specs and numbers. The princess is probably the most brilliant fancy shape; however, the downside is that they look very small for their carat weight (a 1ct round will look much larger than a 1ct princess).

If you want something that will look the largest for their carat weight, go for the pear or marquise. A 1ct pear or marquise can look as large as a 1.2ct round.

Asschers and emeralds are step cuts (as opposed to brilliant cuts), meaning they are not cut for brilliance (they don’t sparkle as much). However, that isn’t to say that they do not sparkle at all; rather, they tend to give off large, broad flashes of light. Beautifully-cut asschers and emeralds can be breath-taking: when you stare down on a well-cut asscher, it can look as if you’re looking down into a pool of clear water. Asscher cuts are really gaining in popularity these days; however, there are two cons to them: (1)they face up very very small for their weight (perhaps the most so out of all diamond shapes), and (2)they show color a lot easier than brilliant cuts so you ultimately have to pay more to get something that looks the same size/color as say, a round.

The cushion cut is also starting to become popular. As you can see from the picture above, it is shaped like a cushion. There are sooooo many different types of cushions out there: old miner’s, cushion modified brilliant, cushion brilliant, etc. Even within those, they can be cut differently with different faceting patterns. However like princesses and asschers, cushion cuts face up very small for their
weight.

With all fancy shapes (with maybe the exception of princesses), you need to see the actual diamond in person and compare them side-by-side. Due to the many variations within each shape, it can be difficult to predict their performance based on just specs and numbers. A fancy shape may look horrible on paper but can look great in real life, and vice versa.

Next up: some tips for when purchasing a diamond!

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Jul 9, 2007  •  In Geek, Information, Personal

Diamonds 101

I’ve never been a jewelry person, but I can’t stop staring at my engagement ring! How does this little thing sparkle so much? Why are diamonds so expensive? What makes one diamond better than another?

So, per my typical fashion, I decided to do some research and share it with you…

I won’t get too in-depth with numbers, angles, etc but I will give a basic (albeit long) tutorial. This post will be the first of a three-part series.

When most people think of diamonds they think of the 4 C’s: carat, color, clarity, and cut (some men I’ve spoken to say there’s a fifth C – “cost” – but that’s another story). What most people don’t realize is that “cut” is the most important thing to consider when choosing a diamond.

Many confuse “cut” with the shape of a diamond (round, princess, oval, etc) – they are not the same thing. “Cut” refers to the way a diamond is cut from the rough (or from a larger diamond), affecting the proportions, the angles, and the overall sparkle. A well-cut diamond will look larger, hide imperfections, look whiter, and as a whole, be more brilliant. Unfortunately, the majority of diamonds on the market are NOT well-cut.

When I first started researching diamonds, I was surprised to find that one diamond can look a lot larger than another of the same weight. If they’re the same weight, shouldn’t they look the same size? Not so…take a look at the picture below (all images are from the Whiteflash website):

Let’s assume that all three diamonds are the same weight.

The diamond on the right will face up smaller (look smaller when viewed from the top) because there is too much weight on the bottom. Not only do you end up paying for size you can’t see, but the diamond will have less light return as well.

On the other hand, the diamond on the left will face up the largest of the three, but it will be lifeless because as you can see from the picture, light will leak from its sides.

There is, of course, a lot more at play here….angles, dispersion of light, etc but I won’t bore you. If you want to learn more, go to www.pricescope.com – they have a huge tutorial along with a friendly, informative forum that will answer all the questions you will ever have regarding diamonds.

Now, on to the other C’s…let’s start with “color.” A larger percentage of the population is familiar with color, and basically, diamond colors run from D (colorless) to Z (yellow/light brown). There are, of course, fancy colors like pink, blue, etc but I won’t get into that here.

Looking at this picture and the chart, it’s obvious that most people would want a colorless diamond in the D-F range. You wanna know a secret? 95% of the population have trouble seeing color in a well-cut “H” diamond. If a diamond is especially well-cut, you can even go down to “I” or even “J” and no layman would know.

Now, in my case, J was very unlucky because I’m super-color-sensitive. A while back at a Tiffany & Co, I was able to see color in an “F” diamond when no one else in the vicinity was able to. So a high color would be priority for a little freak like me. However, for most people, you can sacrifice a lot on color and save a lot of money in the process….just as long as you get a well-cut diamond!

Just for comparison, a 1.00ct, D, VS1 diamond costs between $7,000-$8,000. Compare that to a 1.00ct, H, VS1 with a range of $4,500-$5,500!

Now on to clarity. Clarity runs from the “FL” (flawless) or “IF” (internally flawless) range to the “I” (included) range:

Based on pictures like these, most people stay clear of anything below a “VVS2.” However, you have to realize that when plotting inclusions, gemologists scrutinize these diamonds under 10x, sometimes even 20x magnification.

If you are lucky, you can find a beautiful “SI1” that is completely eye-clean (which means that you cannot see the inclusions with the naked eye). I even read about one girl who wanted a 2ct diamond on a $10,000 budget. While most jewelers laughed at her, she was patient and found a jeweler who was able to find her a 2ct diamond that was an “I1.” Although she was able to see the largest inclusion, it was positioned on a corner so the prong in her ring completely covered it.

Unless you’re really adamant about a flawless diamond (I know many Asian cultures are picky about clarity and scoff at anything below a “VVS1”), anything in the “VVS” range is overkill, IMHO. Why pay for something you can’t see? For comparison, a 1.00ct G FL diamond can cost $7,500-$9,000. Go down in clarity with a 1.00ct G SI1 and the price jumps down to $4,000 to $5,000.

To reiterate: if you are on a budget, find a well-cut diamond and you can sacrifice a lot on color and clarity. Use the extra money and invest it in your retirement fund. Put it towards your wedding or your honeymoon. Or just buy a larger diamond with it!

Next up: shapes!

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Jun 29, 2007  •  In Personal, Relationships

Holy Crap…

I’m engaged!!!

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Jun 22, 2007  •  In Funny

The Best 5-Second Video on the Interweb

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