Top 10 List

Per an IM conversation with Dave, I figure I'd throw this out there...

Apparently P&G and Google are having a kind of a job swap to learn about each other's companies... Since my cousin works at Google, and I work at P&G, there's been some joking around in the family that we should swap places.

So for my P&G buddies out there, help me fill out the following top 10 list:

Top 10 Rejected Things we should teach Google

I might send my cousin an email and have him do the Google version of it...

Panera Bloginage

Hey, I made up a new word! Blog + badinage = bloginage. Just noticed it's been a while since I've blogged... the last couple weeks have been a bit busy.

We had our 4th semi-annual (bi-annual? What's the right word for twice a year?) Asian/Pacific Americans off-site last week. This time we had it at the Cincinnati plant, so I didn't hafta go far. The community has come so far in two years... It was music to my ears to hear one of them give the feedback that the one thing that was very different about our community and one in another department is how much we focused on leveraging our strengths and our diversity instead of changing to be more like a stereotypical P&Ger. That was my mantra and it's awesome to see it taking hold.

The CD thingy on my laptop broke off. The thing is designed so you accidentally hit the button all the time and the tray comes popping out. Well last week it just flat out snapped. That just adds to my ever growing list of things I hate about my laptop. Other than the CD thing, I had to get the screen repaired, there's a loud "pop" whenever a sound is about to play, and the function and control keys are swapped. I'm saving up for a Mac...

So I came across this article about Twitter. Twitter is like blogging except you only do 140 characters or less. It's getting big, but so far I haven't found any that I really follow. I think 140 is a little light... I would say you'd want to post maybe a couple sentences at a time. But it seems to really be taking off. I'm thinking people wouldn't want to read about my every move, but I can see how it could be useful... maybe when you're on vacation with a group of friends? Or doing a complex plant trial in say, Toronto?

Well time to head to orchestra... our concert is on Saturday Dec 6 at 7:30 PM. It's kinda like a reunion concert for me... We're playing the Barber of Seville overture, which I played a simplified version in middle school. Also the Franck Symphony, which is one of these epic symphonies, and I played that my senior year of HS (I can't imagine how we pulled that off). Then a song called "More" (which I snicker every time the conductor says it, because it just BEGS for a "who's on first" type conversation... ). Finally we have another song that slips my mind right now and a suite of music from Duke Ellington.

Panera and Starbucks blogging

OK, enough silly conversation about me fathering mixed race kids for my married friends. Although I must say I did enjoy every minute of it.

Since I do a lot of Panerablogging and Starbucksblogging, this blog post on the Freakonomics blog was very interesting to me:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/cafes-dilemma-can-you-offer-free-wi-fi-and-still-sell-lattes/

I feel zero guilt going to Panera and Starbucks to hang out (Tom and I hung out at Panera from 10-4 on Saturday) because never has the place I was at been completely full. And, since I really don't like Panera's food nor do I drink coffee, both places are making incremental income from me taking advantage of their wi-fi because I do always buy something.

Voting Asian because I'm Asian?

So in Karen's blog (point #7), she mentions how it irritates her that people vote along racial or gender lines... i.e. African Americans voting for Obama because he's African American. I used to think that way too, but with experiences over the last couple years, I've completely changed my tune.

At work, they wanted to improve the numbers of Asian Americans to reflect the population of the P&G consumer. So they created "affinity groups" where people of similar backgrounds got together and tried to help each other and the company. Like most people, at first I was very skeptical. I was born and raised in the US, I fit in with Americans, but now you're taking me out and now pointing out how I'm different. Now, I realize just how great it is to be a part of an affinity group... some of us may have been born here, some of us may have been born in Asia and only lived in the US for a few years, but one thing I learned that we had in common: We all had Asian parents, and we learned that they did all the same quirky things as my parents did. I started to understand why I was who I was.

Now I realized I wasn't the only kid who felt guilty about watching Saturday morning cartoons because I should've been studying math. And why I play the violin. And why until recently why my dad was so stressed out about my sister not being a science major. And why at the age of 6 I wanted to be an engineer. And why I feel so conflicted when my parents want to buy me a car after I got my MBA. And why my mom was really surprised to find out that Xavier University was a real college after I toured them. I'm sure any of my Asian friends out there can add more.

So the answer to why voting for an African American president when you're African American is right? It's not that a black person is voting for Obama because he's black... it's because he's grown up with similar experiences as they have. There's no one better to understand race relations than someone who's gone through it. If an African American person votes for an African American president because he's African American, I would venture to guess that they agree on maybe 60-70% of their values. Now if you vote for a Republican because he's Republican, I would venture to guess that percentage is much lower. And for some reason it's OK to vote Republican if you're Republican.

I just read an article that immediately illustrates why having Obama as president changes things... suddenly racial diversity is no longer a taboo subject; instead it should be embraced. Although I wouldn't have been so quick in dropping the "a mutt like me" remark, I actually would call someone like him a "mix." I think of it as best of all worlds... Tiger Woods is a mix. My sister's kids will be a mix. When hitting on non-Asian women I try to use that as a pick up line. Hasn't quite worked yet, maybe a mixed-race person as president will help my cause?

Wedding Reception

My sister made her marriage official in the continental United States last weekend... and the family gathered together for the biggest party of the year. The best line of the evening was the speech given by my dad... "I'd like to welcome the Baehring family to the Ting Dynasty."

The wedding reception was held at Miller Park, and we got to have pictures taken in the visitor's clubhouse, the dugout, and the press room:


I also got a picture taken with someone who's bobblehead doll I own:

Accompanying two bridesmaids in the song "I Believe in Love" by the Dixie Chicks:

And a great picture of my dad and sister dancing, with a picture of both of them in the background: