March, 2012 | Dear Vixen - Catherine Gacad

Fashion Friday: Best Optical Shop

Posted on March 31, 2012 // Leave a Comment

I’ve been wearing and shopping for glasses ever since I could read. I discovered an optical shop in the Mission that has hands-down the best inventory of vintage, classic, modern eyeglasses and sunglasses. Hundreds and hundreds of pairs in all designs in multiple colors.

Fine Arts Optical at 888 Valencia near 20th

The company has been around for a while, but recently opened a location in the Mission. You’ll pay a pretty penny, but these glasses are works of art that you can sport on your face. Seriously fashionable glasses! I could have spent all day in the store; I wanted to buy several pairs.

Check it out. Best spectacle store ever!

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: 888 valencia, best optical shop, eyeglasses, fashion friday, fine arts optical, glasses, mission, spectacles, sunglasses, valencia

Austin Awesomeness

Posted on March 30, 2012 // Leave a Comment

While I don’t think Austin is weird, I do find it a wonderful town to vacation in. I already mentioned that the weather is perfect. Lots of outdoor areas to drink coffee and hang out during happy hour.

The city is undeniably friendly. When I checked out of the hotel, the room charges were done via an honor system. “Did you take anything out of the mini-bar that we should add to your bill?” Strangers are constantly striking up conversation. I can see why Austin is a good place for singles.

I witnessed someone walk out without paying her bill at a coffee shop. One of the attendants ran out to stop her. In response, she smiled, then continued to walk away. In any other big city, there would have been a lot of cursing involved, potentially a physical altercation, the po-po would be called in. Clearly they take things more lightly in Austin!

I like that Austin’s a hub of great music. Waiting in line for hot chocolate, I heard the baristas talking about new music they were listening to. We listened to amazing blues and jazz at the Continental Club for free. This woman Tameka Jones was so good, I made sure to tip her the amount she should have been asking for in the first place. Has anyone discovered this woman? Sign her to a recording label pronto!

I like that Austin is laid-back. Whereas in LA or other big cities, you feel obliged to dress up. In Austin, you can wake up, throw on a dress, and start your day. Dresses, I love that a lot of the women wear dresses!

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: austin awesomeness, continental club, dresses, friendly, honor system, music, singles, tameka jones

Keep Austin Bat-Shit Crazy

Posted on March 29, 2012 // Leave a Comment

The mantra ‘Keep Austin Weird’ is deceiving because Austin is not weird to begin with.

I’ll admit, however, that ‘weird’ is a relative term. I don’t have a status quo definition of weird considering I graduated from Berzerkeley and I’m a Burner who spends my summers in a temporary city.

So what makes Austin weird? The music scene? Doubtful. Their liberal stance? Half the country is liberal. The diversity? There are less than a handful of gay bars in the whole city. Someone please enlighten me. I don’t get why Austin is weird.

Except for this random gorilla. He was funny.

Maybe locals think Austin is weird because of their cutting edge food scene. I had no idea that Austin is the food truck capital of the world. Not sure if I’m mentioned this on my blog before, but I absolutely abhor food trucks. The food isn’t that great. If it were that great, it wouldn’t be a food truck, it’d be a certifiable sit-down restaurant where critics go to taste the cuisine. Food critics do not critique food trucks! Food truck prices are way over-priced, especially since your food is handed to you on a paper plate and you have no place to sit down.

Maybe locals think Austin is weird because they light their signs in neon. Woweee. I might as well go to Vegas. Or because people bike everywhere or grow beards. I’m still not sold.

I think Austin should change their mantra to something like ‘Keep Austin Bat-Shit Crazy.’ To me, the most unique thing about Austin are the millions of bats that dwell underneath Congress bridge. At dusk, the adult bats wake up and leave the bridge en masse to forage for insects to feed themselves and their babies. So cool! What other cities can claim such a wildlife treasure?

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: bats, berzerkeley, diversity, food trucks, gay, gorilla, keep austin bat-shit crazy, keep austin weird, liberal

Trip to Texas

Posted on March 28, 2012 // Leave a Comment

I’d never been to Texas before except for layovers on the way to Central and South America. Not that two cities define a state, especially a state as big as Texas, but I had such a great time in Austin and San Antonio last week. The trip was an ideal 5 days. We were joined by friends from both coasts. And the weather was unbeatable. Perfectly hot, which is exactly what I was looking for. Anything warmer than chilly SF makes me so very happy! Sun was my #1 trip factor and Texas certainly came through.

Something else that stood out to me was how friendly everyone was. Must be that southern hospitality. The only swearing I heard was from other tourists. I’m used to swearing and hearing a lot of it, so the lack of cussing in Texas didn’t go unnoticed by a potty-mouth such as myself.

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: austin, central america, hot, san antonio, san francisco, SF, south america, southern hospitality, texas, weather

Job Hunting

Posted on March 27, 2012 // Leave a Comment

One month ago I started aggressively job-hunting—as aggressive as you can be while having a full-time job. My job hunt consists of searching key words in my current employer’s website, LinkedIn, Simply Hired, and the job postings on the Chicago Booth alumni website. I find that the easiest search is the key word ‘MBA’ to hone in on management-level positions.

In these 30 days, I’ve landed interviews for a total of 6 positions.

3 have been with my current employer. I guess it’s always easiest to hire one of your own. Speaking of preferential treatment, I recently posted an ad on Craigslist to rent my garage space. Everyone who turned up was eager and professional, but I had to give it to someone who works at my same company. Doesn’t get easier than that in terms of references and payment.

2 were through website applications on job sites, tied to search firms. One of the recruiters has a loose connection to me, but a connection nonetheless. The other one, there was no connection—and it’s for a large, public technology company. It’s noteworthy to point this out because I think there’s this belief that you can’t ever get a job unless you know someone at the company. I don’t believe that to be true.

And lastly, one very promising job lead is through a Burning Man connection. Yey! When I was thoroughly depressed and complaining about my job, a fellow ARTery volunteer told me to send him my resume and he would pass it on to a friend of his who happens to be on the Board of Directors of a bank! The bank followed up immediately.

I am very excited about what the future holds. Based on my experience job hunting, I do feel the market is picking up.

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: artery, board of directors, burning man, chicago booth, craigslist, employment, job hunting, linkedin, mba, simply hired

Money Monday: MEGA Millions

Posted on March 26, 2012 // Leave a Comment

Have you bought your lottery ticket? I actually went to the California Lottery website because I wanted to see which retailers sell winning tickets. I have this theory that people who win the lottery never come from the city of San Francisco or NYC. In fact, no retailer in the whole county of San Francisco has ever sold a winning ticket. Winners come from podunk towns like San Lorenzo. I told my parents to buy me some lottery tickets over there in the East Bay because I know that buying a ticket from a lottery retailer in say, the Financial District is wasted cash!

$540 million. You know what I would do with $250 million (after taxes)?

1. Pay off all my debt.

2. Pay off my immediate family’s debt.

3. Quit my job.

4. Set aside a trust fund to pay for any family member to get educated (private school, college, acting classes, culinary school, voice lessons). I would only pay for the education. I would not pay for dorm rooms, student housing, apartments, living expenses while in grad school. I see this as an incentive so people wouldn’t constantly be in school. At some point, they’d have to become employable!

5. Make charitable donations.

6. Travel around the world, spend as much as possible, and anything left over would go to charity.

7. I do not believe in passing wealth down generations. It makes latter generations complacent and lazy!

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: california, charity, east bay, financial district, lottery, mega millions, money monday, nyc, san francisco, san lorenzo

The Creators Project San Francisco

Posted on March 25, 2012 // Leave a Comment

I had the privilege of attending the Creators Project’s inaugural West Coast event two weeks ago. I didn’t even know what it was when I signed up for it.

The Creators Project was born through a partnership between Intel and Vice magazine, and showcases art, technology, music, film, and design. The SF event was spread throughout several buildings at Fort Mason and took place over the course of the weekend. Tickets for Saturday, including the music line-up, were distributed via lottery. Sunday was open to the public, minus the musical acts.

Attending the event was similar to going to Burning Man: stand-out art and installations minus the dust. If you’ve spent time in the desert, you realize that it’s unbearably hot in the day, but also unbearably cold at night. I think we experienced San Francisco at its coldest because we were freezing our asses off at Fort Mason, especially since it’s right by the water. I turned into a popsicle, I was sooo cold. I was hungry too, but could barely wait in line at one of the food trucks. F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!

The art installations were mesmerizing. As for music, I only cared to see Zola Jesus. I didn’t even know the headliner the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. Dean had to play a clip of their music for me before we went. Art + Music + Friends = Suhweet Night

My pictures don’t do the event justice. The one I included is proof that I went. But you must watch this 1 minute video clip overview.

Oh yes, I should also mention that the event was completely free. Thank you Intel and Vice!

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: art, burning man, creators project, design, film, food truck, fort mason, intel, music, san francisco, technology, vice, vice magazine, west coast, yeah yeah yeahs, zola jesus

Why Your Parenting Skills Suck Part II

Posted on March 24, 2012 // Leave a Comment

Thank you to everyone who chimed in on my previous blog post about monster-rearing. Check out the comments here.

The commentary can be summed up in one sentence: Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Agreed. I swear, I agree. But I’m still entitled to an opinion, yes? Here’s how I think of it. When I was dating, I welcomed people’s advice and opinions. After 10+ years of dating, my strategy for finding a committed partner was not working. I appreciated when friends set me up, or told me to get online, or said to join meetups. Many recommended moving to Silicon Valley–home for many academic, employed, eligible dorks. Great advice, but can you imagine me commuting to a job in the city from say Palo Alto, when I already had a home in San Francisco?

If I’m a parent and I’ve got some rug rat throwing a hissy-fit and I’m not getting sleep, I would welcome any advice that would help me get the brat to bed. But I’ve noticed that parents are quick to get defensive rather than considering new options or spending a few minutes to think strategically. I would want to muster what energy I have and ask, “What am I doing wrong? I know there are parents who do a better job. What can I learn from them? What can they teach me?”

We have friends who have kids in elementary school. They insist they have parenting down to a science. We are always going out to drinks with them–so they are another great example to learn from. The mother claims that parenting is common sense and Americans simply don’t get it. Of course, this couple I speak of is British.

Daniel sent me the link to this article which is more evidence for why Americans are the worst parents ever. Based on research by anthropologist Elinor Ochs, children in Samoa and Peru are expected to help support the family at a very young age. “A video clip shows a girl around 5 years of age in Peru’s Amazon region climbing a tall tree to harvest papaya, and helping haul logs thicker than her leg to stoke a fire.” Here in the U.S., we’re ecstatic when our 5 year old shares his ball in the playground. We consider trifle things milestones.

Dean has a bad/good (you decide) habit of constantly saying, “Good job.” It makes me crazy. I fear our kid will be praised for very little achievement, and in turn, will end up going to community college. The horror, the horror! It boils down to discipline which I know kids not only need, but want.

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: discipline, elinor ochs, judge not lest ye be judged, parenting, peru, research, samoa

Fashion Friday: Camper Shoes

Posted on March 23, 2012 // Leave a Comment

I thought I had several pairs of comfortable ballet flats until I tried these Camper shoes on at a boutique in Austin. I would have purchased them on the spot if they weren’t bright blue. I still considered buying them regardless of the color. If I find something in a boutique or book store, I always like to give them my business versus writing it down and buying it cheaper online. That’s awful for small businesses. Honestly, I was going to go back and fulfill the purchase, but the timing never worked out for visiting the boutique again.

These shoes are heavenly. It’s like you’re walking with socks instead of shoes. Most comfortable shoes I’ve ever set my foot in. They’re on Amazon, so I’m starting with one of the kids sizes at a steep discount to the womens shoes.

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: ballet flats, camper shoes, fashion friday

Midwestern Hiatus

Posted on March 22, 2012 // Leave a Comment

If you haven’t been reading my tweets or status updates, or seen Keith fervently checking me in everywhere, then you don’t know my hiatus was due to a blissful 5-day vacation in Austin, Texas with a quick day trip to San Antonio. Fun, relaxing, good friends. Everything that you want your vacation to be. As much as I love vacationing with Dean (I can vacation by myself and love that too), the fun factor goes up when you’re playing car games to while away the driving time, staying up past 3am acting out celebrities, and having everyone get different items on the menu so we can canvas the restaurant’s full cuisine. I’m detoxing until Saturday.

I will post on the trip soon. My 2005 Apple MacBook is close to death. It needs serious healing powers from the Genius gods, but the first available appointment is on Friday. Until then, you won’t be seeing many pictures. I can’t even upload my trip photos.

Filed Under: Posts // Tagged: apple, austin, genius, macbook, san antonio, texas