Happy Spring! Spring marks a new season that resembles new life, growth, renewal, bunnies that lay eggs, and weddings. It is one of my favorite seasons. Mainly because one of the things that happen around this time are wedding shows or at least the start of wedding shows.

My guess is that most guys get sucked into the holiday season celebrations and pop “the question”…near Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Valentines. There is a good 5-6 months of bride-to-be’s chomping at the bit to start their wedding planning. The reality of the wedding finally hits the bride as soon as the weather warms especially after many nights reading bridal magazines on cold winter days.

For me, Spring means, I grab my nearest bride and head to these wedding shows to collect swag and to gather new wedding trends. I enjoy heading to these shows because I like watching the many happy and glossy-eyed people look for all the little things to make their special day memorable.

Here are my tips before you head out to the show(s):

1. Know your budget. There will be a lot of really cool things that will appeal to you and your future spouse. Knowing your budget will help limit the add-ons.
2. Wear comfortable shoes. Expect to do a lot of walking and standing while you meet with vendors.
3. Bring a backpack. There are some shows that give out a lot of swag but don’t give you a bag. Remember bag for your swag.
4. Bring mailing labels. I’m sure you might have some mailing labels that you forgot to use for Christmas or ones that have been collecting dust. I recommend using these labels when you sign up with different vendors. It’s faster to place a label than write your information and the vendors will appreciate the fact they don’t have to convert your handwriting.
5. Eat before you go. While most shows are in hotels, you might want to eat ahead of time in order to get the most and reach every vendor. Also bring a bottle of water.
6. Prepare to spend your whole afternoon. Really good shows know how to keep you there. Most will have a dress show, presentations, raffles, and a really good selection of vendors.
7. Talk to vendors. While it might be easy to grab a brochure, take some time to talk to the vendors. You’ll get a little more information from them than what’s on the paper. You never know if they have a special deal.
8. Preorder tickets. If the show you want to attend has an entrance fee, you might want to preorder. Most shows that I’ve seen give you $2 off if you preorder.
9. Bring a notebook and pen. Write down the ideas you see as you see them. Bring a camera too however ask the vendors if it’s okay to take pictures.
10. Have fun!

I surprised myself with some homemade boutonnieres. I received a text message the other day, “The florist can’t make boutonnieres. Can you figure something out for my wedding?” My initial thought was, “The florist couldn’t make the boutonnieres? Did she just ask them today?”

I decided not to dwell on the many possible reasons why. Instead I texted back not to worry and that I’ll figure something out. It has been a while since I arranged flowers and must more made a boutonniere. Yes, I’m even having a hard time making sure I spell boutonniere correctly. Hopefully by the end of this entry I’ll be an expert.

Here was my train of thought.
Step 1. Make sure I have pins. Not regular pins but boutonniere pins.
Step 2. Make sure I have floral tape.
Step 3. Flowers…Roses…I need some Gypsophila! (Baby’s Breath).
Step 4. Arrange.

Roses are easy and I thought Baby’s Breath would be easy too. Totally wrong! I called 3 florists and none of them could sell me Baby’s Breath. They said that there isn’t any in San Francisco. The flower market hasn’t had any for days. The day I called was 3 days after Valentines. I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it but there wasn’t anything I could do to make Baby’s Breath appear. One of my close friends recommended for me to just make artificial ones out of tissue paper and some wire. As much as that sounded like a great plan, I decided against it and took a simple route. Simplicity was key…at least in this instance.

References:
This is the last boutonniere I made.
http://edelalon.com/blog/2009/07/edible-boutonniere-recipe/

I’ve been thinking about how I do things in my life and found out that I have a built in mechanism on how I deal with risk. For those of you who don’t know, risk is, as defined by dictionary.com, “exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance.” I’d like to throw in that risk can also have a positive impact but that’s another post I need to do.

Here’s my internal mechanism for risk. Will it work, yes, do. Will it work, no, don’t do. These are my simple rules of risk and now that I think about it, I’m pretty risk adverse. Here’s how real project managers handle risk.

Project managers make a list of risks, the probability of hit happening, and the impact it will have in the overall project.

The list will probably look something like this:
Location: Tropical Island
Date: September to December

In this list you’ll mark down what the probability of it happening. A value ranging from 0 to 1, so .1, .2, .3, etc… And then you’ll do the same for the impact. Impact is how much damage is done if the risk actually happens.

Let’s take a look at the risks above:
Tornado: The probability is 0 because we live on an island. The impact is .9 because if there ever was a tornado on an island it would case a lot of damage.
Typhoon/Hurricane: The probability is .5 because it’s definitely possible. The impact is .5 because people living on island are generally ready for typhoons/hurricanes.

The next step is then to multiply the probability and the impact and then place it on the chart. If you have a lot of dots in the red zone you might want to put more effort in planning how you’re going to respond to them.

Are you Filipino? Are you going to have a wedding soon? Do you think you’ll do the money dance? Do you think you’ll do the money dance even if the answer to the last question was no? Don’t want to get stabbed with pins? I have the perfect solution for you.

iPhones have paved the way for in innovative technologies. There’s a device out there called Square which enables anyone to conduct credit card transactions for a very low fee. The fee is %2.75 per swipe. Now sure if you’re a business and you own retail store the transaction fee is lower than that but we’re talking about the ability to mobilize and remove yourself from the register.

The Square gets you paid. It sure does. What does this have to do with the traditional Filipino Money Dance? Instead of doing the traditional money dance where you pin money to the bride or groom for a dance, have the Square handy and swipe away.

Here are my problems with the traditional money dance:

1. Pins hurt – Yes they do and sometimes you don’t have a place to pin things. Also, imagine putting pins on your expensive dress.
2. No pins or using the wrong pins – Pins run out. Although, I’m an avid wedding crasher and I bring my own pins…not straight pins, safety pins. Also, someone might forget the pins.
3. No Benjamins – Guess what, you get dollar bills because people forgot or didn’t think you’ll do the dance so they didn’t hit up the ATM before heading to your wedding.

Visit Square for more information.

My obsession with Sanrio doesn’t stop at my Hello Kitty Cakes. In fact, Hello Kitty isn’t my favorite Sanrio character. I’m a big fan of Badtz-Maru…partly because we’re both born in April but there’s more.

Over the years I’ve watched Badtz-Maru go through a couple of cycles. He likes to travel, loves space, into chemistry, plays guitar, plays bass guitar, runs around in a crown and cape, and dreams of greatness. These are things that I’ve been doing for most of my life too. In fact, I’ll visit a Sanrio store just to see what’s he’s doing to see if we’re still in sync. I’ve been tempted to buy the Badtz-Maru bass guitar that they sell in the stores but it’s a little short for me. Instead, I decided to build a custom guitar of my own.

I’ve had a Squire Bullet for a couple years that has been collecting dust and I figured it was about time to put it to some good use. I haven’t decided on the electronics yet but when I do, I’ll feature this guitar in my music section. For now, it’s a glorified art project. Squire Bullets are famous for people buying them and then changing the electronics. Taking a $99 guitar and making it a $500 guitar. For a little history, the bullets before 2007 were made from plywood and the ones after 2007 are solid basswood. The one I modified is pre 2007.

Sanding down the original finish took a while. I wasn’t aware of the thick coat of clear coat. Removing the clear coat took a while.

Guitars are almost like artists’ canvass. After sanding, I used 80, 100, 160, 220 grit, I put on a layer of black and left it like that for a few days because I didn’t have a bigger plan. I ended up commissioning my brother-in-law to help me out with design. After a few hours of brainstorming, we came up with the design below.

He went for it and I clear coated it. The next step is to setup new electronics.

My plan is to throw in some Dimarzio pickups. Stay tuned.

I was looking around for wedding programs and I couldn’t find a good example of one that would fit my needs. Also, I didn’t like the way most wedding programs out there didn’t list the entourage.

Here’s a Wedding Program for you to use if needed. As a heads up, it’s really simple.

I’m doing some research to find a distant relative. Please let me know if you’re related to the person in the picture. Here’s a description of who he is:

Name: Felipe Sese

Known History: Moved from the Philippines to Hawaii. Jumped on a ship in Hawaii and landed in New York.

Contact me if you have any information or if you think you might be related. Maybe some of you Sese’s in Hawaii can help me out.

Here’s a system to help create a streamlined process to organize a weekly menu in your household. This menu planner is broken down into breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. The other part of this system is the grocery list. The grocery list is also broken down into days of the week.

I’m not sure about you but I like my ingredients fresh. The consequence is that I have to go grocery shopping mid-week (sometimes 3 times a week) to gain a certain level of freshness. Also, I rarely buy frozen foods.

I tried to categorize the grocery list but ran out of room. That’s why I have “other” at the bottom.

Give it a try. Let me know if this works for you.

Enjoy!

Downloads:
Weekly Menu and Grocery List – PDF
Weekly Menu and Grocery List – Excel 2010

I had bacon on my mind all day. Not sure why or what. It could have been a combination of memories: Saturday morning, cartoons, orange juice, and bacon.

Surprisingly I only have about a slice of bacon on top of a pizza today. Nothing too extravagant but at least I had a taste.

Normally I get in good 6-12 slices in. To compensate, I made this t-shirt. I was going to make a t-shirt that said, “I love bacon” but I noticed that there are already a couple of shirts and apparel that had it.

I decided to go whole hog and make the bacon university shirt (and more) with the thinking that one of these days I’ll open a university dedicated to bacon and all the other tasty parts.

I figured I should throw it up on Café Press just in case there are other bacon lovers out there. Take a look at the store. Buy the shirt if you’re a bacon lover like me.

I have yet to make my own bacon. A coworker of mine sent me this link: http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2.html. I hope to do this at some point when the weather starts getting cooler.

Oh, I almost forgot why I wanted to blog this. It took me 20 minutes to setup my store. 10 minutes to create the graphic and 10 minutes to walk through the instructions on Cafe Press. Yes, there are other websites out there that allow you to upload your graphic and throw it on anything but I decided to use Cafe Press because of all their “plug-in” support for things like WordPress. I’m sure they have other plug-ins for other applications. The other reason why I chose Cafe Press is because they are the only ones I found who will print on a Sigg bottle. Please take time to browse the store and buy. I’ll be making more bacon related items soon. Maybe I’ll throw up my other stuff.

Thanks for your support!

Store:
http://www.cafepress.com/EdelAlon

I’ve been dragging my feet around for the whole summer to a point where some people were worried about me. I’m not sure why or what caused the drag but there definitely was a drag. The other day one of my buddies sent me a link to a blog. I read a couple articles and I fell in love with the organizational tools (it remind me of some of the tools I’ve made for you on this site).

More importantly, there is an article on team building that talks about the different ingredients needed to form a great team.

Here are some point from the article:

• There are people who are driven intensely by the ambition to create exceptional experiences. The key word here is ambition, and I could see it in the face of everyone I interacted with. Ambition is one of the prerequisites for effective action. There are many times where the desire for exception experience is expressed, but when the ambition is lacking there just i no personal investment driving the action forward.

  Expressing the ambition is the mission. I think a good team knows that it’s the magic that they’re creating that’s important, and removing barriers to letting the ambition express itself fluidly is one of the prime metrics of a good team. By “expression”, I mean that ideas and desires are made visible so they can be directly experienced by another person. Another way of putting this: “the good of the project is greater than the individual interests of the team members”. If this mentality isn’t shared among all team members, you have a broken team.

• A great team shares the same ambitions, and reinforces this with every action taken. In the past, I would have evaluated teams by looking at personalities, communication, mutual respect, and other such indicators of a healthy social group. Many such teams are quite pleasant to work with in a social sense, but never quite reach the heights of productivity they imagine. The key indicator may be, for teams I’m interested in working with, is the level of shared ambition.

I’ve been lucky with most of the teams I work with. There’s definitely a sense of ambition. Right now, I’m stuck in the cycle of trying to keep it all going.

References:
http://davidseah.com/2010/07/finding-ambition/