my name is in the urban dictionary

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jin+woo

1.	Jin Woo
	A nickname that originated from a Helio phone commercial, meaning when a Americanized Asian male dates a white woman. You see Vicky over there, she is rockin a Jin Woo on her arm.

My pastor?

there are many thoughts in my head right now…  my trip to europe in may, getting my passport b/c my stupid ass forgot that i need a passport to travel internationally (the last time i travelled internationally was to Vancouver B.C. in 2000, and to Korea when i was 10… what a jetsetter), finals week is gonna be busy at the store… but the thought that keeps coming to mind are 2 words… ‘my pastor’

its all on the coattails of the unfortunate ’scandal’ that has plagued Obama’s campaign in recent days. 

Pastor Jeremiah Wright is a man that Barrack Obama considers his pastor.  a counselor, a guide…. sounds good.  You see.. i have a pastor too.. someone i consider a counselor, friend, a guide.  My pastor has seen me make some pretty big mistakes, and hopefully has also seen me do some pretty good things as well. 

So.. what is the scandal?  Pastor Wright is a man that up until last week was an advisor to Obama, because of the importance this man has had in Barrack’s life.  It all started with a video of Pastor Wright saying some stupid.. wait… really stupid things in a sermon to his rather large congregation at Trinity United Church of Christ (part of the video montage above).  Agree or disagree… thats your perogative.  BUT, where is Barrack in all of this?  Obama has denounced Pastor Wright’s comments publically. 

Is that enough? 

I watch CNN and other news shows regularly throughout my day and am aware that the news programs can be biased and skew objectivity.  But i trust myself enough to be critical and if there is more to be understood, i will dig deeper to understand.  so… as a Christian i must analyze this from the a christian man’s POV.

I don’t think its enough for Obama to just denounce his pastor’s words.  but the truth is, i don’t know if there is anything more he can do.  My questions of Obama is this:  How can you call a man who thinks that way your pastor… who preaches to those he has been called (by GOD) to lead with such passionate hate and divisive rhethoric.  How can you build a bond with someone like Wright and not know his character, and then call him ‘my pastor?’ 

If after 11 years of serving w/ Pastor Eugene, if could not attest to his character, than i have no business calling him ‘my pastor.’

Is Wright Obama’s pastor?  I say YES.  If i were to believe that Obama calls Wright his pastor under the same or even similar standards as i call Eugene Cho my pastor, than, I must believe that Obama knows the kind of man Wright is on and off the pulpit. He’s a smart guy… he must!  Wright’s comments aren’t just words and its not just a sermon.  These thoughts and comments come from a deeper place for Wright and there is no love in his conveyance of it.  Im an open minded guy… even a faithful heretic at times, so i do understand where some of those comments could’ve come from?  Racism is still the monster (more elusive) its always been… there is alot of pain in his words.  but, God doesn’t teach these things… this is not God’s heart, and its certainly not the heart of the church the way i know and love it. 

Obama did and does have a ’substantive’ friendship/relationship with Jeremiah Wright, and cannot conveniently distance himself from ‘his pastor’ b/c its inconvenient for his campaign.

I have looked consistently for Obama to say more than just pump up the 20k+ citizens looking for hope and results… but he continues to disappoint me.  Obama is a gifted orator, but his character is now in question for me. 

In my honest opinion, if he indeed did not know that Wright was saying these things, then at the very least, Obama is a poor judge of character, and to me thats a big deal. 

sometimes, a man can and should be judged by the company he keeps. 

my morning activities

every morning.. i wake up..  go to the track and eat dem suckas like licorice.

Im the silver car.

Crapbucks closes…

 

…from 530-830 today.  for what?

to ‘get back to basics’ and ‘train their baristas to pull a better shot of coffee.’

What the heck kind of bulls**t is that? its more public propaganda to make the ‘darling’ seattle company look like it actually cares about its customers and the products it serves.

So, i hate to burst your bubble but here is the real deal.

YOU DON’T NEED 3 HOURS TO TEACH YOUR BARISTAS HOW TO PUSH A BUTTON.

what the hell did Jin just say?  a button? what?  Armageddon? 

the bulk of Starbucks stores (with exception of store #1 at pike place market) have automatic espresso machines.  which means the barista really just presses a button.  oh, they pump the syrup and steam the milk too, in large quantities beforehand so all they have to do is pour the milk for the next 5 drinks on the order list…. oh and dont worry cuz it has a cute thermometer so the barista knows that the milk is still hot (by health code standards and for your consuming pleasure).

you ask any real coffee connoisseur (thats what everyone would like to think of themselves as, right? otherwise, you’d be going to 7-Eleven or heaven forbid, McDonald’s for your coffee)… and they’ll tell you that it starts w/ the beans, and then the right grind, and then the perfect packing of the grinds, and then viola!… the perfect shot.  for the majority of us other coffee entrepreneurs, 3 hours would be a spirited training session…  having trained many baristas over the past 7 years.. how would i use that time?  a true training session would start w/ telling my trainees, ‘look at the oils in the coffee beans, because those are the oils you are trying to extract to make the perfect shot.”  telling/showing them the importance of the grind…’the finer grind will result in a slower shot, a courser grind will make the shot fall faster, and the humidity in the air has everything to do w/ how the shot will fall, so ADJUST YOUR GRIND regularly’  i would tell them that a perfect shot will take approx 20 secs, and look for the crema! a perfect drink should have you steaming the milk as the shot is falling, and finishing the steaming just before the coffee shot is done.  I would tell them that timing is everything for a consistently good latte… if you wait too long after the shot is pulled the oils will dissolve, and the shot will be come bitter… if you steam the milk too early and let it sit, it will separate from the foam.

But starbucks can’t do that.  they are too big and clunky to focus on that.

so, Mr. Howard ‘I screwed the city that i “love” by selling the sonics even tho the loss was just a tax write off’ Schultz is either smoking crack or is completely oblivious to what makes good coffee.  But here is what is more likely.  the Starbucks Board of Directors, who probably have no real idea of what its company is really doing (sure, they’re seasoned business people not baristas), want to see their struggling company do something… anything… to address some of the concerns Mr. Schultz raised in his memo last year. 

is starbucks doing the right thing?  i’ll say this…. im sure at some point in the early days (very early days) when starbucks didn’t have their own line of expresso machines and didn’t have a record label (although thats fairly recent) their coffee was actually good.  and their efforts to try and ‘recapture’ some of the early starbucks culture is admirable.  but… impossible.  Starbucks is commercial, everything they are now is commercialized.  and they are going to continue to struggle as the consumer becomes more savvy about the product they are buying.  Starbucks vs. McDonalds is a perfect example of this (more to come on this in a future post). the starbucks drink isn’t worth $3-4 anymore.  Wallstreet says Starbucks’ sales struggles are due to economic woes… thats crap.  People in general are very inelastic when it comes to their foods and their habits.  when is the last time you said, i can’t buy a latte or a beer because of economic woes.  You’re more inclined to buy the cheaper latte than the mocha, but not likely to stop buying coffee all together.  there is no better example of this than the poor college students that i see every day who still manage to buy their daily latte or mochas.  Starbucks is falling victim to its own success and realizing that they can’t fool the public anymore.  Their latte is only worth a couple bucks now and thats why dunkin donuts and mcD’s are their main competitors.

so today at 530 – 830, will i hope to lure away some crapbucks customers?  hell yeah.  and i will see the same expression that i’m so used to seeing from ’starbucks-turned-good’ customers that so clearly screams…  Oh S**t, this is what a latte is supposed to taste like! 

KITT trivia fact

the voice of KITT in the new Knight Rider is

Lounjin to be featured

I’m excited to say that Lounjin will be featured in an upcoming issue of Seattle Magazine.

this day we call Valentine’s Day

i remember those days of being absolutely blinded by love… anticipating this ‘Day O’ Loooove’ with sweaty palms. 

remember this… Valentine spells ‘an evil net’

DONT GET CAUGHT!

but in case you are caught in the ‘NET,’ here are some love songs for you.

they’ve worked for me. 

and no.. its none of that emo ‘Im depressed as hell in love’ crap.

Thank You for Loving Me – Bon Jovi

Now and Forever – Richard Marx

Heaven - Warrant

When I Look Into Your Eyes – Firehouse (b/c the other Firehouse fan called me on it)

I’ll Be – Edwin McCain

With You – Tony Terry

the blogging begins… again.

believe it or not Dr. Doogie Howser was one of my early blogging influences.  He used to make an entry into his IBM at the end of every show, summarizing the lesson he learned from that episode.  I know you remember.

I had my cool word processing program on my Apple IIe - ProWrite and i still have the disk.  Im curious to see what i wrote at the age of 10, but no one i know has a 5.25″ disk drive nor a functional Apple IIe.  maybe i should take mine out storage and see if it boots up. 

but i’ll admit… lately i have nothing to say.  but its startin to flo.

more to come.

I think i need a shrink.

THE place to shop on the internet.

 Click on the logo.

This is the best site on the internet for buying anything.  Free shipping and No tax.  I consider myself a very savvy internet shopper, and although some places may have slightly lower prices, the free shipping and no tax make the buying from buy.com much more appealing.  Their return policy is great and they have a great selection.  Since it is the season to shop, i figure i’d share my favorite site with y’all.

memories

If there is a part of this existence that i would love to take to heaven, it is this thing we call music.  I feel incredibly fortunate that i’ve been given the gifts to make it, if not just to appreciate it. 

I know all of us have a song that triggers something… a feeling or a memory. 

Recently, i went thru my music library and found this particular song by Alex To…  this song is a bit special because its the very first song i’ve ever sung to anyone.  I remember it like it was yesterday…  FYI… nothing can stop a man who’s head over heels in love (yeah right) with a girl.  (vomit) …sitting w/ my chinese friend Tony, repeating each line, getting the mandarin pronunciations just right…  who cared if i knew what it meant… all i knew is that it was a love song, and i HAD to sing it.  sooo… the moment of truth came… the 1994 Chinese New Year’s Show in Kane Hall, 730 people in the auditorium.  Then they announce my name, Jin An (”but he’s korean”).  Surely the Lord was with me, as i managed to sing the song “just like a chinese person.”  (a friend said)  So began my dreams of becoming a chinese pop-star.  LOL.  anyway, enjoy.  The funny thing is that 13 years later, i can still sing the song word for word.  Just like riding a bike.