KA Version 3.0

Account Gone Bad | 03.14.05

2005-03-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

Account gone bad

So its been a bit gloom and doom with my main account. The Client has been an asshole since I’ve been here but now they are looking to take most of the work from us. So the jumping ship has started already. Most of the senior account staff are leaving in droves. If we get final word that the work is gone, we are going to have mass layoffs in the creative also. Doesn’t look good.

A silver lining though for me, I’ve got a call from another ad agency who is looking for someone like me to run their creative shop. Been in a few meetings with them already. I’ll see where it takes me. Maybe more pay, less asshole client? That would be great.

MIA | 03.08.05

2005-03-08T10:18:00.000-05:00

Wow, its been a while since I last post. Lost of things been going on. Well on the work front, the Drug company pitch went well and we'll waiting word if we go it or not. Then there was the a client review we have to pitch for also. That was in Denver. It went ok. I think we lost the work. That happens in this business. Sometimes its just time for a client and agency to part ways. In this case, I don't mind if this client left, they were huge assholes. Most clients are, but these guys were the biggest. Unfortunately, they also have a big budget, so there will be some changes if we lose them.

As for personal, nothing much is going on. My wife and I are talking about having kids (crazy). I've also been thinking about leaving advertising. I've been doing this for over 15 years and while I enjoy doing it, I feel like doing something else. What else, I don't know yet. I guess I have to figure that out before I can move on.

the Client SUX | 02.07.05

2005-02-07T16:12:00.000-05:00

The client is an a-hole. The last couple of days have been really bad for us at the agency. The client has decided to put the account up for review, again. This is after we just came thru a review for the overall business and keep only one part. Now they want to put that part up for review also. What a bunch of a-holes!

So just got out of a briefing conference call, and the vibe was bad. There is definitely a conspiracy going on with one of our main client contacts, who seems to be going to bed with one of our competitors. This is the same competitor who just won the other part of the business. HMMMMMMM.

Accounts in review. What’s this? Well it means that the client wants to put the account up for bidding with the incumbent agency against new suitors. Clients do this for many reasons; one they may hate the current work from their agency or they may want to get cheaper prices. Our client definitely fits the latter. They are one cheap f’ing bastards. But our client is out of control….two reviews back to back?

Personally, if my agency could afford it, I would just let this client go. They aren’t worth the hassle and they are a bunch of numb-nuts. Unfortunately, it’s a multi-million dollar account, so we can’t blow them off (plus we don’t have another client to fill in the space). So we have to be the stupid clown monkeys and jump for this client.

I have advertising (on days like this). Remember, rule no. 1 in advertising, the client is always right.

iPod Nation | 02.02.05

2005-02-02T14:10:00.000-05:00

So this past x-mas I received what is one of the most talked about consumer products in the world right now, a iPod. Now, I knew about the iPod way back, seen all my young designers listening to theirs as they worked but I never really wanted one. It seemed interesting but I didn’t feel like paying money for one.

Well, now that I got one, I totally get what people are saying and feeling about it. It’s a life-transforming tool. Basically, the reality or physical aspect of this transformation is that all the boxes where I kept my music CDs are now all transferred to this little electronic box. All my music is now in my hand, available at any time. I bring my iPod to work, listen to it on the subway, in front of my computer, when I drive my car (with the add on product “iTrip”). This is an incredible device. You really have to use it to understand the empowerment you feel.

Now, would I buy it with my own money? Hmmm, maybe. I’m actually very interested in getting a iPod Shuffle. Apple is definitely on a roll.

In fact, I’m slowly realizing how much I’m buying off Apple. I brought a new G5, I have a .mac account, I’ve been buying songs off iTunes, and I even own some of their software (Final Cut Pro). So I figure, you know, since Apple is becoming part of my life, might as well as buy the company. Ok, so I can’t really buy the company but I can buy some stock. Which I did today. Its high, at $70 a share but I think they are going to do really well in 05. Oh, by the way, I’m looking at getting a Mini Mac also.

Check this article on the iPod accessory universe that is being created. It’s a movement and it won’t stop. Sorry Microsoft.

Insomnia | 02.01.05

2005-02-01T13:12:00.000-05:00

I’m tired. I was up till 5am last night, eating nuts and watching cable news. Oh, I played a little John Madden Football also. Geez, I got to stop doing this. I’ve been having a really bad case of insomnia the last few days, which is funny caused Brand Z (new biz pitch I’m working on is about insomnia). Maybe Brand Z will give me some samples, to help me with my problem. But the funny thing about the ad business, since I’ve been working in this industry, the client never gives us free samples. Coca-Cola…..free coca? Nope. Popsicle….free Popsicles? Nope. So I doubt Brand Z will give us anything. But I can sure use it.

Meanwhile, last night I had the client call from Hell. Basically we have a website that’s taking over a year to launch. The reason was the client kept on asking for changes, and we had different client contacts over that span. So we had this client call which was to get final approval before launch, we get on the call with 4 new people we never heard from. So they take a look at the site and ripe it apart. But the worst part was they were complaining about features that the previous client contact specifically asked for. This was bizarro world. I actually was pretty fired up and giving back some of the stuff they were throwing at us (not usually a good thing to do with a client but this client definitely deserved it).

Some examples:

Client: FYI, the link to the press release doesn’t work.

Me: FYI, you never gave us press releases.

Client: This navigation doesn’t work. Its illogical and stupid.

Me: Well, just to give you context, this project has been going on for a year, we went thru 4 different set of revisions and the navigation you are talking about was a specific ask by the previous client before you.

And then they ended up talking to each other on the client call. For half an hour, while we just sat on the phone listening. Clients like this, you have to get rid of. They’re trouble. When you’re a great creative agency, you don’t take clients like this. You take clients like this when you can’t chose your clients and you need the money. We need the money.

Afterwards I went to this event at the MOMA, which just reopened. The MOMA was my favorite museum in NYC. It was pretty nice, the renovations were great and it was good to see their collection again. I wish I brought my digital camera, cause we basically had the museum to ourselves and I could have taken some great pictures. Oh well. Next time. (moral of the story: there is no “next” time so be prepared.)

Monday already? | 01.31.05

2005-01-31T17:30:00.000-05:00

So its monday and it feels like its going to be a long week. So besides the two major accounts I have to manage, I'm working on this new business pitch. So this pitch for brand Z, is due in two weeks.

We had to start by getting briefed on the demographic target. So we were supposed to have a meeting this morning at 9:30am. Now, in case you don't know the industry, creatives never come in before 10am. Creatives like to get started later in the day. Maybe their cortex isn't awake till then, or something.

I we had a 9:30am meeting, on a monday and I was the only one there. Yep, good way to start the week.

So anyways, we finally got the meeting done, once everyone came in. Brand Z, is going to be a boring pitch I think. Found out the target audience is 40-50. Hmmmmm, not the most exciting group.

I'll talk more about Brand Z down the road.

Interesting thought on Iraq | 01.31.05

2005-01-31T17:29:00.000-05:00

I've been reading this blog for some time now. He had a great entry about how everyone is praising the recent Iraqi elections except for....

Read and find out

Iraq Elections | 01.31.05

2005-01-30T23:50:00.000-05:00

I was up late last night watching the live iraqi elections on the cable news channels. It was truly inspiring to see a group of people embrace something we Americans take for granted, the right to vote for our leaders. It wasn't perfect, and it won't change things right away for the mess that is Iraq right now, but the hope that you saw in people's faces, in their smiles, in their dances was incredible. I was in awe of the historic moment that was happening. And the funny thing, people heard bombs going off in the morning and didn't know if they may die in a insurgancy attack, but they came in masses to vote. Wow, congrats to the Iraqi people.

As for the cable shows and their handling of the news, it was quite interesting (as is usually the case with all these different cable news shows). The most appalling was MSNBC news. All they had was americans, talking to the cameras with abstract backgrounds. They were obvisiously in some safe haven, away from any voting spaces or on the streets themselves. And all they did was talk about what they "heard". What kind of reporting was that? It was in sharp contrast to CNN, which let their international team cover the Iraqi elections. You kept on seeing CNN reporters at the voting spaces, talking to voters, talking to Iraqi security forces, to US troops. You really felt you were there and saw what was going on. Of course CNN mentioned and was able to show that the voters were coming out in force. Meanwhile, MSNBC's talking heads kept on talking about the "threat of violence" more so then the voting. And it was funny that not one can be seen at a voting space. It makes me wonder about the reporting coming out of mass media outlets like MSNBC. Of course on Fox News, everything was great. But Fox News is the pom pom squad of the Bush Administration. Even I will admit to that. But even Fox News went to the voting spaces and interviewed people.

Saw John Kerry on Tim Russert talking. What a worm. So happy he wasn't voted president, and it showed why. On a incredible day in Iraqi, all he would say was it was "good" but won't change a thing cause Bush sucks. Thats great support by a potential president. Hmmm, I thought he said during his concession speech that he would do all he can to bring harmony to the the country. Him and his fat drunk friend Ted Kennedy are doing a great job so far. If you want to hear what John Kerry said, read the transcript.

Interesting note. In the interview, he actually mentions that he never signed a 180 form document with the government to release all his medical records from the Navy. This was so 180 degrees (no pun intended) from the elections when he told everyone that he has released all his records to the public. (FYI: the 180 form document must be signed from the individual to make all their records open to the public. John Kerry has avoided doing this and lying about it.) He says "yes" to Tim Russert, but I would like to see if he actually does it. Read the transcript and see for yourself.

All about the Money | 01.30.05

2005-01-30T01:41:00.000-05:00

So a funny thing happened to me at work. It happens all the time in corporate america. One of my designers (I manage a group of creatives: writers, designers, art directors, etc.) told me they received a offer from another company...for more pay! My designer is a young kid, this is his first job out of college. He's been at my company for over a year now and he wants to make a little more money then what he is making now (for his 200.00 jeans habit, iPods, trips to England, etc.)

So, I was faced with an dilemma, do I counter offer or let him go. Well, he's a good kid and very talented. The sort of person you want to grow into a company, and let him one day take your position. So I talked to HR and my boss and we put out a counter-offer.

This happens all the time. And I played this game myself. Unfortunately, this usually happens at companies that are reactive instead of proactive. He was due a review for a while, and forces outside of my control wouldn't let me give him a review (hence the opportunity to give him a raise). So, what my designer had to do is get another offer before he can get more money from us. We were lucky, he's happy here and he likes his boss (me =), so he decided to stay. But alot of times, people may just take the money and run.

Thats when you will know if a company is good or not. If they take care of you, especially with the money. I learned that my company sits on their hands with stuff like this. Thats not good. You take care of your own, especially if they are good. Or they may one day fly away.

Advertising and Jesus | 01.28.05

2005-01-28T19:46:00.000-05:00

So there is a local pastor named Tom Keller. He is the main speaker at a church called "Redeemer", which is most popular in the city area. He's sort of the thinking man's speaker. Well, he's doing a presentation on advertising and religion. Here is what the flyer says:

What: Dr. Tim Keller, Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church,
speaking on...Selling: Spin, the Paradox of Commerce, and the Perfect
Product; schedule includes food, the talk, Q&A, snacks, and networking

If anyone is interested, you can come by. Here is the site to register and get info:

Faith and Work

MLK Weekend | 01.19.05

2005-01-19T11:55:00.000-05:00

Man. What a weekend. So I went up to Saratoga, to town called “Ballston Spa” with my wife. Great little town. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. They also had a spa with natural springs. That was nice, I highly recommend taking a natural spring bath. Great for the body, gets all the stuff out of you. Then we went to get massages. Now the massages were so-so. Much better in NYC. But we did have a great dinner at this place called “Paul’s”. Now don’t go there if you are really hungry, cause they
are slow, but its good and fresh.

So I get back and then my in-laws are moving stuff in their factory. So
what do I end up doing? Moving stuff around and getting my hand smashed
by some shelves. I should have just done that in the beginning before I
went away, no? Oh well.

So, if you want to get away, Ballston Spa. Stay at the Medbury Inn and
go to Paul’s. Oh, and there cute antique stores all around also.

CBS News Report on Bush Papers | 01.10.05

2005-01-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

Finally, CBS got their report out on the fake Bush papers that CBS news
reported on before the the elections. People got whacked:

Four CBS executives were fired Monday following the release of an
independent investigation that said a myopic zeal led to a 60 Minutes
Wednesday's story about President Bush's military service that relied on
allegedly forged documents.

The 224-page report by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and
former Associated Press President Louis Boccardi did not directly fault
the correspondent on the Sept. 8 story, Dan Rather, who is stepping down
as anchor of "CBS Evening News" in March.

So Dan escaped the fire, but his producer Maples got the axe.

Oldboy, a review | 01.10.05

2005-01-11T19:09:00.000-05:00

So i saw this movie this weekend with the wifee. Its called "Oldboy" and
its a korean film. Its being getting alot of press in the international
circuit and actually won a prize a Cannes this past year.

The premise is very interesting: a man, everyday sort of guy, is
abducted and imprisoned into this cell for 15 years. He's suddenly
released and he then tries to find out who did this to him and why.

The first 1/2 hour into the movie is great. The director, *Park
Chan-wook, *has a great visual style and the pacing is great. Then the
movie starts lagging and then finally the ending happens. It was
disgusting. It was one of those "shock" revelations for the sense of
shock and not for the fulfillment of the storyline. Others may have
disagreed, but I thought the ending was gratitious and really insulting.
My first thought was that I wasted 2 hours of my life watching this
movie, then the second thought was do people in korea like this sort of
movie?

I do give Park Chan-wook some props. It is a original moive in style and
look. Its good to see movies of this skill and quality (production wise)
coming from Korea but the subject matter seems to be lacking.

I hope this isn't a future tread with movies coming from Korea.

To read another review on this moive, Click Here.

Buying Real Estate | 01.06.05

2005-01-06T15:39:00.000-05:00

So at lunch today, our Project Manager was thinking of buying a place in
Brooklyn. She thought of buying a place 3 years ago and now everything
is much more expensive and she doesn't know if she should buy now (being
the market is really inflated).

Ah, this is the dilemma alot of people have been facing in today's real
estate market. Do I buy now? Or do I wait? But if I wait, am I going to
get priced out? Am I buying at the top of the bubble?

Well, my answer is this (DISCLAIMER: I'm not an "real estate" expert;
these are my opinions based on my own real estate deals in the past few
years and reading numerous real estate books) go and buy now. But buy
carefully. Yes the market is very high, but there are good deals out
there. The secret is to look around a lot and don't buy high.

Ok, Why should someone buy, especially in today's market? One word:
limited. Land is limited. We can make more cars, more buildings, more
clothes, but we can't make more land. There is only a certain amount of
land available. Second, the benefits of real estate is vast. There are
hugh benefits that would benefit 99% of the population, here are some:

- tax breaks on property taxes and mortgage interest
- in some cases, no taxes on property sold for profit
- increase net value with mininal money

Here is a example. I see a property for 500,000.00. Now, if I wanted to
buy 500k in stocks, I would need 500k in cash. Well, if I want this
property for 500k, I just need a mortgage and 10% down (50k). Now for
10% of the value of the property, I now own 100% of that property.
Pretty cool, huh. It just gets better.

Now, say I held onto this property for 2 years. The property value
soared during this time, so my property can be sold on the market for
say 550k (a 10% increase in value over 2 years, very conversative
figure). So for 50k in cash, I made another 50k (value of the house is
500k to 550k). I made an 100% return on my cash investment. Now thats
hot. Wait, it gets even better.

By paying taxes and mortgage interest, I get a certain percentage back
in taxes for those two years, because I own the property. You're like,
thats awesome, right? Now get a load of this.

If I sell the property 2 years after I brought it, I won't have to pay
taxes on my profit (this is under certain conditions, like if you use
the money to buy another home or you had to move for work). So I made
100% profit on my intial investment and I didn't pay Uncle Sam a dime of
it! Say if I made the same amount of money in the stock market, I would
still have to pay taxes on my profit, after I sold the stocks.

Are you a believer now?

So, how do you get started? I have some very simple steps:

- read a book on real estate. there are tons of good books. just so you
know what you have to do, and what you need to prepare for.
- check out your credit report (equlifax, TRW). you will need good
credit to get a mortgage.
- get a mortgage loan. find out what you qualify for. they will show you
how much you can afford based on your salary and cash on hand.
- last but not least....start looking around. and look. and look. the
rule of thumb is that by the time you buy your place, you should have
seen 99 other properties before that time. the more you look, the better
you will know your market. also, don't except to get any property you
just bid on. sometimes you will lose out on a bid to another bidder.
thats why you got to keep on looking until you find the right one and
win the bid on it.

ok. hope that got you all hot and heavy. now get to it.

What do we do? | 01.05.05

2005-01-06T01:30:00.000-05:00

Want to know what we really do? Here is a great bunch of articles about my field.

Acct vs Creative | 01.05.05

2005-01-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

In advertising, there is always a war, account vs creative. Account is
about the client's needs, making money and making the client happy.
Creative is about making cool, fun stuff, sometimes moving from the
goals of the Accout/Client. Hey we are creatives, we really want to
(take your pick) write books, make music, make movies, paint, etc. We
just do this cause we can't pay our bills any other way.

Well today we had a meeting to go over some creative that Acct just felt
strongly against. Sort of we were off target, they say. Our creatives
really wanted to stick to their guns. I was out there to make the peace.
Unfortunately in these battles, creative usually loses. Mostly its
because you can't really quantify creative.

I can move on, but some of my creatives feel hurt. Thats the game we
play here in advertising. The bad guys won today.

New Year | 01.03.05

2005-01-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

Wow. Its 2005.

I don't know what happened. I feel bad, I haven't written in over 3 months. Whoa. Well a lot has happened since I last wrote. The big one is that Bush won re-election. The second is a big Tsunami killed over 150,000 people in southeast asia. X-mas came and went. Blogs are in the news.

I came to the realization that I have to be good with my Blog. So I promise to write everyday into my Blog. Not only that, I want to be true to what my Blog was about, which was my work in advertising. So I'll keep true to that.

Well I started work today. I took off the last week of December. I hate work at the moment, or better yet, I hate my company. My company, ad agency AB&C, is a worldwide agency. But we're really second hack advertisiers. We make bad shit. I'm the CD on the digital (interactive) side of things. My main client, during x-mas, decided to give over 60% of the work to another agency. It was a bummer for me and my team. It wasn't anything to do about us or our work, but money. Our client was one cheap motherfucker. Thats advertising today, clients want a new partner. They think the grass is greener on the other side.

I think I'm ok for now. But I know down the line, we have to let go of some people. Thats what happens in advertising, when you lose work, you let go of people; when you get work, you hire people.

Oh well.

Today is a new year. We'll see where it takes us.

Liberals are mean | 09.17.04

2004-09-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

So I'm a conversative but I'm surrounded by liberals at work. Now bottom line, it doesn't matter to me if you are this or that. I think everyone is entitled to their opinions, but one thing I notice is that liberals take it personally when you have a different view on subjects from theirs. Of course I'm only talking about liberals in my workplace.

When we have a discussion on politics or issues, it always come back to emotional attacks: "why you like bush, he's stupid"; "bush is evil"; "oh, you want the poor to pay more taxes!"

But I don't mind it, cause I enjoy having discussions and understanding where people are coming from. But there is one woman here who is just a bleeding liberal and we can't even talk one sentence before she gets all upset. To her, its her way or its the wrong way. She's the sort of person who will make her comment during a group conversation and put you in a negative spin ( "oh, you think we should beat those terrorists in prison. why don't we just shoot them then, huh?").

We'll she tends to get very upset and walk away so she doesn't committ sucide. I got to admit though, I love getting her riled up.

But one thing stood out in my mind. One day she was telling a co-worker that a man was killed by his cat. Supposely the man was going to kill the cat with a shotgun, but the cat accidently pulled the trigger, killing the man first. Both this woman and the co-worker were all happy that the cat killed the man. I was just walking by but I'm thinking, "they're happy that a man was killed by a cat?" I don't know about you, but when people place animal's lives over humans, I think thats Fucked up. Those animal activists, I say...."good for you", but how about the people, children in this country who are hungry? How about the homeless, why don't you go protest about that?

Sometimes I wonder.

News Media | 09.17.04

2004-09-17T12:02:00.000-05:00

So I’m a republican. Let me say that straight. There is only one reason for that, I don’t like paying taxes. Bottom line. Its not that I don’t believe in social issues and helping out the less fortunate. But I know that our government wastes money, our taxpayers money, on programs that’s suppose to help people. I don’t know if its graft or just mismanagement, but it happens. So I don’t want to put any more money into badly run gov’t programs.

So that leads me to Bush. I’m voting for Bush, only because where he stands on taxes. I don’t think Bush is great, but compared to Kerry, I pick Bush in a heartbeat.

Which leads me to the main issue about the news media. I’ve been following the media for a while and its fascinating to me how biased the news media is. Either its for conservatives or for liberals and the news are slanted to portray each sides view on the same events.

The big thing early on was the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. They were claiming that Kerry was a no good son-of-a-bitch and didn’t deserve to be president. Now, no major news media carried the story. Only when people started buying the book and cable news shows talked about it, did the regular news media start discussing it.

You can view the Vets at this site:

http://www.swiftvets.com/

And it was obvious that the Swift Boat Vets are helping Bush, attacking Kerry. But in the liberal News Media, all people did was attack the vets (all 200 of them) as liars and cheats, not even really investigating if anything here can be true. Kerry has never responded to these allegations and has claimed he has released all his navy records to the public. Now it has come out that Kerry has not released his records and he’s holding these files up. The navy can not release the records without Kerry’s permission.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/3829.shtml

Now comes “Rathergate”. Dan Rather at CBS news came out with memos stating that Bush received favorable treatment when he was in the National Guard 30 years ago. Dan has been hitting on this for the longest time even though people don’t really give a shit if Bush got special treatment. But he goes on the news and says he has memos that proves this is true. Well guess what, people from all over the country, experts in fonts, type, military language, have come out and said these memos are fakes. Thanks to blogs, people were able to get experts to state their opinion.

PowerlineBlog was one of the first to break this story:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/

What does Dan Rather do? He denies it for a week. He blames “right-wing conspiracies”, never putting up a defense on how he knows these memos are real. In fact CBS’ own experts are on other networks saying they told them the memos are probably fake.

Dan Rather has staked his credibility and his networks based on his personal agenda to discredit the President of the United States. And now Rather, who tangled with Nixon in the 70’s, is acting just like him. Denying and stonewalling. Here is a portion from an article from today:

--------------------
CBS curmudgeon Andy Rooney indicated yesterday he believes the controversial documents on President Bush's National Guard service are fake and said it could cost Dan Rather down the road.

"I'm surprised at their reluctance to concede they're wrong," Rooney said, referring to CBS brass.

Despite praising Rather as "a good, honest newsman," Rooney added, "I'm unsure if they're whistling in the dark instead of apologizing."

The flap over the documents has rocked CBS News, has Republicans calling for Rather's head and has people questioning the credibility of Rather instead of Bush.
--------------------

Which brings me to this statement: When did the news media decide not to just report the news? It makes me feel uncomfortable that people are deceiving, manipulating and changing the true fabric of storylines to sell their agendas. That’s fucked up.

Here is a media watch group and their take on the news media:

http://www.mediaresearch.org/realitycheck/2004/fax20040909.asp

Monday | 09.14.04

2004-09-13T12:33:00.000-05:00

So the weekend came and went on by. And I didn’t really do much except fix my computer and spend time with family (in-laws and my own). One thing people ask me, now that I’m married, “is it different”?

Hmmm, not really. The only difference is now you have more family politics to deal with. Like seeing the in-laws, seeing your parents, seeing relatives. Kind of sucks if you ask me.

So I got VoIP, Voice over Internet, this weekend. Its basically using the internet to make phone calls. I signed up with Vonage and pay $15 a month for 500 minutes nationwide and Canada. Its great. So quick and simple. Plugged in the modem and then plugged in my phone receiver. No wonder phone companies are getting nervous. You can get unlimited phone calls for $30 a month. Think about that. Technology, great for us, bad for corporations. Sign up if you have the chance, I highly recommend it.

http://www.vonage.com

regime change | 09.09.04

2004-09-09T16:24:00.000-05:00

Ok, so today is getting busier at work. Still doesn’t mean I’m into work. Still not. Actually I’ve been thinking about new regimes. So I got a new boss 2 months ago. Let’s call him Big Boy. BB (Big Boy) came from another agency and is in charge of the whole division. Its funny but I’m so use to new regimes (from past experiences) that what I see is deja’vu. Basically it goes like this: new boss comes in, new boss brings in co-workers he’s friends with, new co-worker’s are losers.

So after 2 months, the scene plays out. BB has brought in new hires and surprise, surprise, they are people who worked with him before. Now that’s not bad, whats bad if they’re not that talented. And so far what I’ve seen has been sooossss impressive.

Now BB is sort of on the hot seat himself. Cause he’s got a job to do, goals to accomplish. He has to generate new business for the company, so for the past 2 months everyone (and I do mean everyone) has been working on new business pitches. So far we haven’t won zip.

Now, what happens to BB when there is no new business in the next few months? Hmmmmm. I’ll let you guys know.

That’s regime change.

The world is one cold, hard place.

Moral of the story: regimes come and go. like a storm, if you weather it, they will pass.

Post Wedding Blues | 09.08.04

2004-09-08T15:36:00.000-05:00

So I'm back to work, following 3 weeks of wedding and honeymoon bliss. I've noticed that I'm so into my work. I don't know if its the realization that advertising is bullshit or the people have been doing fine without me or that I just don't want to work for this company anylonger. Or it can just be I got the blues after months and weeks of preparation for a wedding, buying a home and planning a honeymoon. Either way I hope I can break out of this soon.

Sometimes my imagination runs wild and I think of just submitting a resignation letter. Even though I don't have a new job, or prospects, just quit. Like in the movies. Release the chains and search for the ideal situation in life. Then I realize I just got married, going to buy a house and have a rental apartment to pay off. Thats what they mean by ball and chains of life I guess. Or the rat race. I'm fully in the race, I'm not losing but I'm sure not in first place. The best thing to do is go off the race and do my own thing. A great book to read about "independence" and "financial" freedom is "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". Now, don't buy his tapes and the rest of the stuff he's now selling on TV, but the book came out a long time ago and its a good read. It explains the difference between building a life of wealth and just living a life of work.

http://www.richdad.com/pages/twodads.asp

Now I've read the book and unfortunately I've still haven't followed his lessons that he outlined. Maybe you can do better.

Married | 09.04.04

2004-09-04T22:16:00.000-05:00

So its been a while, but i got back from my honeymoon. Yes, I'm married! You can see some photos at:

http://homepage.mac.com/warrenpark/SFwedding2004/

The marriage day was total chaos. During the "walk-thru" the day before the wedding, both set of parents didn't want the wedding ceremony on the beach as originally planned. So the night before, we got a new site (it was a secondary site we knew about) plus my wife brought a new wedding dress to match the new site.

Needless to say, it brought a lot of stress to the party but we got thru with it. Afterwards we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and also to Vancouver. More about the honeymoon coming down the pike.

Now its back to reality. We came back to our NYC apartment and now had to clean up.

But at least we'll back.

Getting Married Part 2 | 08.12.04

2004-08-12T11:19:00.000-05:00

So I finally finished getting all of my future wife’s crap out of her old apartment and into our new apartment. That took 5 days straight of moving back and forth. She refused to throw stuff out.

Now we have to get ready for the wedding, only 10 days away. We are planning to get married in California, on the beaches of Carmel. Carmel is 2 hours south of San Fran. Its right next door to Pebble Beach, the famed golf course. Its beautiful down there. If you never been to visit, definitely go. We are staying at the Highland Inns and then having a reception at the Ventana Inn.

Check out the hotel at:

http://highlandsinn.hyatt.com/property/hotelinfo/slideshow/index.jhtml

Ventana Inn is in Big Sur. Big Sur is awesome. Its basically high cliffs meeting with the Pacific Ocean. You’ve seen this sight in movies and in commercials. Winding roads on the edge of the cliffs. Take a look:

http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Calif%20Central%20Coast.htm

Can’t wait.

Lost Weekend | 08.09.04

2004-08-09T14:29:00.000-05:00

For the past 2 days, i've been moving stuff for my financee. She's such a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadddddddddd mover. I've been moving stuff back and forth from her place to our new apartment in NYC. My back is gone. I'm tired as hell. Can't really write or think. I'll be back.

Getting Married Part 1 | 08.05.04

2004-08-05T11:07:00.000-05:00

So one of the big events (or as they call “marker points” from my humanities class) in my life is I’m getting married at the end of the month. Marriage is a weird and wonderful process. When you meet someone, you never truly understand that you are actually getting involved with a whole new family, new views and new values. I met Jackie in Dec. of 2002. I was actually going away to work in another city for my job. I didn’t think she was going to be the one I was going to marry that night. But even though for a year I was living in another city, we grew close and eventually when I moved back to NYC, we got engaged. Now the big day is coming up.

The funny thing is how the both families are reacting to the marriage. My parents are so different from my fiancée’s parents. They totally do not agree on things, in terms of what is best for us. They have different views on the wedding, Korean customs for marriage, gift giving, honeymoon, etc. Fortunately it’s not so bad that we’ll still able to move ahead and get marriage, but its really stressful. One way or another, one side of the family is not getting their way, so someone is going to be upset. And then sometimes things don’t go the way for my fiancée, so she’s upset. Me, I just want to get married, right? Let’s just do it I say (all men are like that I guess).

I now see how people actually break up due to this process. I know of one couple that broke up right before their wedding date (like 2 days before). There is a lot of stress and bullshit that comes with marriage. Its like life, no one teaches this stuff to you, you learn on the job.

Some advice:

- Talk to your parents. Tell them everything that is going on with the marriage. The more they feel they are part of the process (even just being told), the better it is for both of you.
- Give in to the “rents”. The wedding isn’t really for you. This is the number one rule you better get quickly. The wedding is for family and if your family is like mine, they are crazy. So even if you think it sucks what they want (400 guests? I don’t know this Mrs. Soo-Me Kim!), just give in.
- Plan your honeymoon. That’s the only thing that’s going to make you happy with the whole process. Plan it, make it long and don’t be cheap. Its your honeymoon. Spend the money. You’re only going to do it once (we all hope).

More to come.

MSN Awards | 08.04.04

2004-08-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

So I went to an Award Show sponsored by MSN last night. MSN is basically a portal service like AOL and Yahoo. Like Yahoo and AOL, they are one of the biggest web properties to offer advertising ad space. Last quarter was the first time MSN made money (after almost 10 years in the marketplace) and it was because of ad revenue. As an advertising company, we run online ads on MSN and hence we had some creative up for awards.

So we went to this club called “Crobar” on the west side of NY, right next to Scores. I didn’t really care about the awards but the first prize winner would get 25,000.00 in cash. That got my attention. So a group of my creatives and I went to Crobar and got some drinks. The drinks were free, as were some food. The place was packed with other creatives, media and account people from other agencies. It was mostly media folk, since this is what they do, got to parties and get free drinks and food.

After a few drinks, MSN got us to go to a bigger room at Crobar where they planned to announce the winners. Short to the point, we didn’t win and I was pissed at who did win. Basically, I don’t mind if we didn’t win, only if the other work was good. The winning creative fucking sucked. It made you really think hard on the bullshit MSN was throwing that night. My whole team was so annoyed, we left after the announcements and went to get some Chinese food. I saw the same reaction with others in the crowd. Some stayed for the free food/drinks (media folk) and others left in disgust like us.

Now I may come out as a sore loser, but I’m honest to appreciate and honor any winners in an award show as long as they were good. Its like going to the Oscars and you’re up for Best Actor. Can you be upset if Russell Crow or Denzel Washington beat you for the Oscar. Heck no, they're good actors and they usually give a great performance. But if Carrot Top or that Jackass guy (Johnny Knoxville) won, wouldn’t you be like, “What the fuck?”

Well Johnny Knoxville won at MSN last night.

Fuck MSN. Motherfuckers.

Buying a house | 08.03.04

2004-08-03T14:07:00.000-05:00

Buying a house is tough. You think getting a date was tough, or getting into college or getting a job? No way. Buy a house. Or try to. This is what you have to go thru:

- You first have find the house that you like.
- Second you put a bid in for the house. Hopefully there aren’t any other bidders for the house, so you and the seller can settle on a price.
- Then you have to apply for a mortgage.
- You need good credit for the mortgage and show all your assets.
- Then you fill out the application and try to get a good rate.
- Then you scrap together your money for a down payment.
- Then you have to have a house inspection. This will tell you if they’re any problems with the house you like. If you do have problems, then you have to settle that with the seller before going on with the closing.
- Then you close on the house. Closing consists of you sitting in a room with a bunch of lawyers, who are all being paid by the clock. And you sign document after document, and check after check. Afterwards you feel like you signed your life away.
- Oh yeah, now you can move into your new house. Fun, huh?

Want some advice?

1. First check your credit. This will help you alot. If you have bad credit, you will need more money for a down payment or for a better rate. Go to www.equifax.com. You can sign up for an instant credit report.
2. Create a budget, figure out how much u can afford per month. This will give you a range of money you can pay for a house.
3. Lock down a rate. This is important. The rate is everything. Go to www.ditech.com for current rates.
4. Look at alot of properties. Never bid on your first house. See whats out in the market. Get a feel on what you like and what things are worth.

Good luck.

new house pic | 09.03.04

2004-08-03T10:19:00.000-05:00

Here is a pic of my new house. You can see the rest at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/warandpark/

sdhouse18
Originally uploaded by kav30.

Tuesday Morning | 09.03.04

2004-08-03T09:19:00.000-05:00

Its 10am and I'm all tense. I just found out that I got the house I was bidding on. Its a mini castle or as my dad says, its a "ghost castle". So I'm now going to be a land owner. I don't know if thats a good thing or bad thing. If you ever brought a house, or an apartment you're realize that buying property is one of the biggest pain in the necks you're ever deal with. The cost alone will usually be the largest purchase you make in your life. This is definitely my biggest purchase.

I'll give you more info about house buying down the road. Its quite interesting.

Work | 08.02.04

2004-08-03T09:14:00.000-05:00

Today was a shitty day at work. My head was about to explode. I had to come to work early to prepare for a meeting at noon. Got in, got the presentation stuff ready and then we had our meeting. One word on the meeting…”FUCKING HORRIBLE” (ok two words). Seems like the client didn’t really ask for the work we showed. The account team afterwards talked about how the client didn’t know what the heck they want or don’t want. Hmmmm, don’t know, sometimes the client is the asshole and sometimes the account team. I’m not sure who to pin the donkey on this one.

So just for the newbies, who don’t know how the world of advertising work, I’ll give you a really quick def on each group:

- Account: people who manage the client relationships. Either they get along really well with the client, are related, went to the same school or just has to suck be brown ass to them. It’s a hard job. Don’t ever want it. Here is the secret that every ad person knows…”THE CLIENT IS ALWAYS CRAZY!”
- Media: these people control the money spent on advertising. In other words, they control the budgets for their clients and the budgets are for ads on TV, Radio, Print, etc. Because they control the money, the advertising channels (TV, cable, magazines, newspapers, etc.) want to be their friends. And to be friends with the media folk, you got to buy them things. Things like dinner, lunch, free tix to the Yankees, etc. Its an hard, hard life for them.
- Creative: ok. You know the people who can’t get regular jobs? Went to school for music, art, lit, art history, or general studies? That’s the creatives. They’re the ones to come up with crazy ideas and try to sell them in to the client (after the account folk smoothes the edges). Everyone in creative thinks they are better then being an advertising creative. Hence they write novels, books, sing, play instruments, make movies, paint in their free time. They want to make art, but don’t realize they are being paid to advertise.

The 411 Manifesto | 08.02.04

2004-08-03T09:05:00.000-05:00

Who am I?

I’m a Korean-American Male, living in NYC. I grew up in the tri-state area (area surrounding nyc for people who don’t know). People call me 2.0 generation, or generation X. I don’t know what the fuck I’m am, but I got lots of crap in my head.

Why am I doing this Blog?

I want to start documenting aspects of my life. I’m entering my mid thirties and for some reason there’s lots of things to reflect on. Most importantly, I ask myself…”How the heck did I become so old?!!!!!”

What do I do?

I’m a Creative Director for a big NYC advertising firm. Yes, Madison Ave and all that jazz. I was an art major in college, but I wanted to eat so I got into advertising. Not what my parents really expected from me growing up, but they’re at least happy now that I make a decent (ok good living) from my job. Its not one of the “big three” jobs that Korean parents like to guss about, nor is it easy to explain…but what the fuck, this is what I do.

What’s this Blog about?

Hmmmm, good question. Probably a little of this and a little of that. I’ll talk about my job, my life, my personal history, things in my little head. Views, opinions, and yes pictures. I like to take pictures so I’ll hopefully have some pictures for you.

What is KAversion3.0?

We’ll I needed a title and I figure, heck I’m Korean-American and I’m in my thirties. And I use to work in the software bizness, so there you go.