Neat Phone Number Math Trick

Just saw this, worked out for me. I'm sure there's a bunch of math stuff behind it, but let's just be kids again and enjoy the trick.

1. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the Area code…)
2. Multiply by 80
3. Add 1
4. Multiply by 250
5. Add to this the last 4 digits of your phone number
6. Add to this the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
7. Subtract 250
8. Divide number by 2

Do you recognize the answer ??
O.M.G. like magic!!!

Source: http://mymomisafob.com/2008/12/02/always-giving-us-more-math/

Greensboro Grub

I got invited to a dinner party, called "Greensboro Grub". It was a month dinner hosted by my neighbors that live in the building next to my downtown apartment. They have a great apartment with many rooms, and there were approximately 50 people there. The hosts Charlie and Ruth are great people - very friendly, confident, and were great hosts.

The atmosphere was very friendly, there was no ounce of negativity, and everyone was there to enjoy themselves - that, is the beauty of Greensboro Grub.

I arrived at 6:30 and there was a small mixer of approximately 15 people, and people kept on coming during the next hour or so. The people were diverse - all ages and professions, both local and recently moved. I mingled a bit and made some small talk before everyone were seated. The table setting was beautiful, and they had about 5 different types of dishes. After dinner, we picked out our deserts buffet style from a different room, and they were delicious.

The best part is the "sharing" after dinner. People brought their chairs to a different room and formed a "stage" for different performers. A band played a few mellow chilled out songs. I've never been big into southern music, but listening live without loud speakers was a very enjoyable experience.

There also were a few different people reading poetry, and then the hosts Charlie and Ruth did a great Abbott and Costello routine, "Who's on First".

They also did a small skit comedy, about an autistic guy meeting a girl. The guy started a conversation with the girl almost like a pick-up approach, the girl wasn't receptive, but the guy "plowed on" in a "funny" way because he's autistic. The girl became more receptive and revealed that she's got a brain tumor and won't live very long. The guy sympathized, and was extremely optimistic due to his unquestionable faith in religion and was happy to be going to heaven. He innocently told the girl it would be like her taking a nap, waking up with Jesus, and Jesus would sing her favorite song to her, and her brain won't hurt anymore. A lot of people were laughing at the great performance of the childish innocence of the autistic guy, but I wasn't for some reason. As one of the youngest guys in that crowd, I think I have a bigger problem than most about the concept of dying. I found the performance extremely moving and the couple were great thespians.

The night was finished by the band that played before. I'm really glad I went to this Greensboro Grub event, and I feel truly fortunate that I had the privileged to have had the great experience.

Gas Shortage In The Carolinas

Even though gas is plentiful in Greensboro, I hear there's a real shortage in other areas of North Carolina and lots of gas stations ran out of gas.

How does a company "run out" of a popular product in today's economy?

If the supply overwhelms the demand, shouldn't the price of the product increase until it reaches a price equilibrium? If a gas station only has 25% of "normal amounts" of gas available , shouldn't the station owner increase the price to $10/gallon? As an inelastic good, people will still buy the $10 gas, they'll just buy 25% as much, probably just enough to do their necessities.

In a free economy, goods shouldn't ever be "sold out" for long, the amount left should instead get lower and lower into an asymptote, as the price increases until people can no longer afford it...

My New Shower Panel

So my shower panel arrived and I installed it. Having one of those has been something I've been thinking about for a couple of months now, so I finally decided to get one. After some random hiccups on the installation, I finally got it working.

The Good - Does exactly as described

• Multiple shower adjustable jets coming out of the panel
• 2 shower heads - one "standard" and one handheld
• Great "gimmick", most people (especially women) would be intrigued.

The Bad - Mostly a novelty item

• It's not nearly as exciting after you use it for a while
• Water only comes from one source - you have to decide whether it comes from the standard shower head, the handheld shower head, or the body jets
• I didn't compare it to my previous shower head, but I think this one reduces the water pressure a bit
• It's taking up the space I used to use for my shower catty, have to be more "creative" with all kinds of shower products I have now - normal shampoo, conditioner, body wash, fancy shampoo (Paul Michell), fancy body wash (Bath & Body Works)

Online Search Program Manager - Natural Search at REI

Since I've been writing a lot on my other blog and been ignoring this one, thought I'd update this one with something quick, another job opening. If anyone's interested in moving to WA (and be closer for interviews for Microsoft), this might be the way to go.

Company: REI
Job Title: Online Search Program Manager - Natural Search
Location: Kent, Washington
Salary: $80-$90K, potentially more


Company Description: At REI, we inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship. What began as a group of 23 mountain climbing buddies is now the nation's largest consumer cooperative with more than t hree million active members. But no matter how large we grow, our roots remain firmly planted in the outdoors. Our passion for outdoor adventure is clear, whether you walk into one of our 80-plus stores, phone us, or visit the REI website.
Job Description: At Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) we aim to create a retail environment that inspires, educates, and outfits our customers for a lifetime of outdoor adventure. We’ve been recognized for the eleventh consecutive year as one of Fortune Magazines “100 Best Companies to Work For”, and we credit our continued success and trusted reputation to our dedicated employees who work each day to share their interests, friendly expertise and passion for the outdoors with people of all levels of experience and ability.

The Online Search Program Manager – Natural Search contributes to REI’s success by helping to define and implement search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that drive traffic to REI’s digital properties, facilitate conversion and support the core co-op’s core values. This talented individual will apply their expertise to meet optimal architecture, link, and design criteria of the latest search engine algorithms, improving visibility, rank, and relevance in search engines. The Online Search Program Manager will effect change by representing the Online Information Architecture team in cross-departmental efforts and by partnering with peers in marketing, merchandising, editorial, usability, design and production.
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Responsibilities
- Oversees the strategy and execution for all aspects of REI’s natural search optimization programs.
- Provides technical advice of website strategy and development for natural search optimization, including HTML, error pages, re-directs, etc.
- Partners with Public Affairs to pursue potential linking opportunities that drive qualified, brand appropriate traffic.
- Uses social media marketing, press release distribution, etc. as needed to enhance REI’s search engine ranking and visibility.
- Partners with editorial and subject matter experts to develop search engine optimized content, structure and metadata. Responsible for formalizing natural search strategies and tactics.
- Collaborates cross-divisionally in keyword research and testing to develop holistic term and keyword strategies for continuous natural search traffic and conversion improvements.
- Manages tracking, reporting and analysis of natural search metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Reports findings to cross-divisional audiences of all levels and makes actionable optimization recommendations.
- Provides top-to-bottom natural search optimization strategies and tactical requirements for REI’s digital assets, including: site structure, page construction, site features, site content, keywords, site maps, inbound link generation, ranking referral reports, site audits and more.
- Monitors trends in search engine algorithms. Maintain up-to-date knowledge of navigation changes and assess how new oppor tunities in the SEO industry could be leveraged to improve web pages’ search results positioning.
- Creates ongoing natural search optimization assessments and recommendations for rei.com and digital content assets including text, video, images and user generated content.
- Monitors competitor sites and the general search engine landscape and marketplace to ensure competitive advantage in natural search.
- Researches and develops natural search optimization best practices to identify new opportunities and maximize program profits with improved organic rankings.
- Works with third party SEO vendor(s) on researching/implementing SEO projects as needed.

Living For The Present

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that's why they call it the present." -Eleanor Roosevelt

I had a small heart-to-heart chat with one of my closest female friends over the weekend, and she brought up a different perspective I never thought of. She told me that I don't live in the present, especially relationship wise.

She told me that my decisions are influenced too much by either past or the future, and not enough by the present. To elaborate, she told me that I live my life either trying to avoid the mistakes I've made in the past, or to set up my life so it would be convenient for the future. She also advised me that I should make some decisions that makes me happiest now.

I totally agree with her, but chances are, I won't change my lifestyle just because I noticed this about myself. Either way, it's good to actively comprehend why I make the decisions I do, instead of making those decisions on the subconscious level then try to rationalize it by some other reasoning.

Experiences, Part 2

Continuation from my last post.

I woke up Monday morning, and drove to Bethesda to have lunch with my friend Eddie. He seems fairly happy, got married in Thailand while I was gone. Wow, marriage, whatta step. I guess he's been dating her for a few years, it's his time.

I then drove to Washington Post and visited my old job. Reconnected with a couple of ex-coworkers, and played some foosball with my replacement. My replacement Neil seems to be extremely competent and knowledgeable and I feel like washingtonpost.com is in good hands.

I started driving back around 3:30. It's somewhat ironic that when I was in DC, I missed my friends in Charlotte that I go visit every long weekend I had, and now I'm doing the same thing, but reversed the cities. Overall, it was a great trip, and my friends were awesome.

Live From DC - Part One

So I'm spending the July 4th weekend visiting the DC suburbs, hanging out with friends, and a part of me never want this to end. My friends and I did nothing special, same old things we always did. Something about it, feels familiar, feels like "this is how it always should be", but I feel somewhat down because I know it can't last. It's ironic, that while living in DC, I visited Charlotte almost every long weekend I had, trying to relive the "old familiar times" I've had in Charlotte, and now that I live close to Charlotte, I'm doing this with DC.

Thursday
With Friday being July 4th and taking Monday off, I started the weekend on Thursday night. I attended a party at Andrew's house in Raleigh and crashed there. We had fun, had a BBQ, played drinking games, same old good times. I crashed the night there.

Friday
I woke up around 11AM the next day (Friday, July 4th) and hang out for a bit, and left for DC around noon. It took about 5 hours from Raleigh to DC. I called up my friends ZZ and Scott, whom both worked at Washington Post with me, and we did dinner at Scott's place because he was making burgers. I met Scott's semi-new girlfriend Jill for the first time, she's extremely nice and I'm happy for Scott. The four of us went out bar hopping. We started at Clarendon hitting up Whitlows and RiRa, then metro'ed to Dupont. We hit up several bars at Dupont, which I don't remember the names of. ZZ and I ended up going to U-street while Scott and his girlfriend went home. I had a blast, and crashed at ZZ's place.

Saturday
I woke up around noonish at ZZ's place, called Scott, and the three of us went to lunch at Pho75, a Pho place I used to eat at while working at the Washington Post. Great food as always. After we split up, I hit up Tea Noodle Rice in Courthouse Arlington Virginia, a quick Chinese place across the street from my old office. I used to eat there about twice a week while working at the Washington Post, and I just wanted to drop by and say hi. Since I just ate lunch, I had some bubble tea while chatting up with the owner and the waitress. The food is just like any other Chinese places in America, but the familiarity and the friendliness made me choose that place over other American Chinese places every single time.

I had a small gap before meeting up with this lady friend of mine for coffee in the afternoon, so I hit up Barnes and Nobles to kill an hour and a half. I bumped into another coworker of mine. I really never knew here much aside from the usual "office greeting" while working there. It turned out that she's actually from China a little while back so we had some common things to chat about. She was holding a cookbook. We chatted about it a bit, she's single so she doesn't cook much, but she enjoys looking at different recipes. She asked me about the book I was holding, it was "The Game" by Neil Strauss, a book that made the top 10 selling on the NY Times, about a guy's experiences learning how to pick up women and getting into an underground scene with others who're trying to master the same art. While talking about the book with my coworker, I basically described it as a fiction and an "interesting story". We exchanged cell number and Email addresses, so I can take her out for a drink the next time I'm in town, and I left to meet my friend for coffee.

The coffee "date" went great, we spent about an hour on a couch with her in my arms. We didn't really do much other than a quick kiss here and there since we were in public, but it reminded me of why I liked her. She was smart, educated, and also socially considerate. She's full of compliments, seemed like she cared about and paid attention to what I was talking about, etc. Since I had other plans to hang out with other friends at 6, we parted ways.

I hang out with the group of friends and just sat around and played video games, the same thing we always did, for the next 3 hours. We hit up a diner at 9:30PM, and went out drinking afterwards. We were out having a blast till about 3AM-ish and then stood around in the parking lot of a bar and talking about some random stuff like we always did, then decided to hit up IHop. By the time we were done, we parted ways around 5:30AM. Since my back's still semi-sore from sleeping on the floor at ZZ's place the night before, I went to get a hotel instead of crashing at a random friend's place. A lot those guys live with family and it would be an inconvenience for me to impose on them anyway, so I started driving around looking for a cheap motel. I found a motel for about $100 at around 5:50 for "Sunday Night" because it's Sunday almost at 6AM, and I could check in right now, so I got about 2 night's of sleep worth for $100. Not great, but definitely not bad for the area. I relaxed, washed up, and went to bed around 6:15AM, great Saturday night.

Sunday
I woke up around 1PM on Sunday since I went to bed around 6ish the night before. I showered up, watched the last 45 minutes of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on TV in my motel room, and went out for lunch. I went to the food court of this local mall and it reminded me of living in temp housing, the weekend before I started my job at the Washington Post a little over 2 years ago - I randomly drove around Arlington to learn the area and the mall was the first landmark I found other than my temp housing. I was full of hopes, dreams, and excitement, moving to DC suburb from the Carolinas and obtained the job that was the turning point of my career, not knowing what's going to happen next in the big city, still looking for a place to stay while living in temp housing for 2 weeks, etc. It was great remenicing old times while having lunch. I visited some friends around 3-4ish and we went to a local diner around 7ish, stayed there chilling out till 9:30. It's Sunday night, I'm the only person that didn't have to work the next day so everyone called it a night. It's 10:30, I'm in my hotel blogging, winding down. I'm planning on meeting my freind Eddie for lunch tomorrow around 11-12ish and then visiting the Washington Post office just to say hi to my ex-coworkers, I'm looking forward to it.

So far so good, keep an eye out for the remainder of the trip in the next 2-3 days.

Spending July 4th In DC

Haven't been blogging here in a while and probably won't be blogging that frequently in the next few months. I've actually been doing a lot of writing in my other blog about my new hobby, for those that want the location of my new blog, ppzhao at aol.com

So I'm spending July 4th weekend in DC with my friends, hopefully that'll be fun. I'll do some couch surfing with different friends so I can save on hotel, but I'll probably just spend that money on buying drinks every night in DC.

Merchandise Manager Position in LA

I guess the economy really isn't that bad in my industry after all. I'm starting to get recruiters contacting me more often than usual. Again, if anyone's interested in this position, contact me and I'll forward the recruiter info.

Original Email from recruiter:

Cc:

Bcc:

Date:

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 2:05 pm

Hi Paul,

I noticed your background and thought you may be interested in finding out more about our new job opening, which is pasted below for your review.

The position is for a Marketing Manager in West Los Angeles, CA.

For more details or to apply simply visit our website:

http://www.CyberCoders.com/ qb.aspx?posId=VBB-MarkMgr&ad=CSNPVahid.Behzadi

Not a fit for this job? Search all of our open jobs:

http://www.CyberCoders.com/ qa.aspx?ad=CSNPVahid.Behzadi&sterm=Merchandise+Manager

The job details:

Merchandise Manager - Marketing Manager - SEM Manager
Location: West Los Angeles, CA or Los Angeles, CA
Salary Range: 70,000 - 120,000

Merchandise Manager, Marketing Manager, SEM Manager, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Pay Per Click, CPC, Cost Per Click, Natural Search, Campaigns, Paid Search, pricing, margins, Sku, Retail, Jewelry, Shopzilla, Pricegrabber, Auctionwatch, Bizrate, eBay, Blue Nile, ice.com, Zales, Tiffany & co, Yahoo Search Marketing, Diamonds, Gold, Precious Stones, Platinum, Precious Metals, MySimon, Robbins Bros., Home Shopping Network, HSN, Gem Shopping Network, GSN, QVC, Overstock, Jewelry Exchange

Are you a Merchandise or Marketing Manager with Retail Industry or Fashion Industry Experience? We are a publicly traded company with amazing growth over the last three years! If so, read on...

We are looking for an experienced Merchandising and Marketing Manager to join our growing team to oversee the operation of a new and growing ecommerce property.

What is in it for you?

- Competitive Base Salary
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Options
- 401(k) and more
- Great team
- Relocation can be provided for the right candidate

What you will be doing?

- Creating and implementing a merchandising plans
- Creating and implementing marketing initiatives like
- Weekly customer newsletters
- Holiday and theme driven customer campaigns
- Management of CPC shopping feeds and partnership programs
- Designing and testing marketing landing pages for best conversions
- Managing Natural Search rankings with agency assistance
- Managing Paid Search programs with agency assistance
- Driving business results through the implementation of both merchandising and marketing initiatives.
- Managing inventory levels by product sku and category to maximize sales and turn
- Managing product pricing and margins consistent with the company’s financial goals
- Setting annual and seasonal objectives for categories and vendors and consistently reviewing for progress and performance (Sales, Gross Margin, Key Items, Presentation Standards, Pricing Strategies)
- Stay current on emerging trends, market updates and new product opportunities
- Maintaining competitive market awareness both in U.S. and European domestic markets

What you need!

- A background in e-commerce or retail or high end fashion or jewelry
- 2+ years of retail merchandising experience
- Strong working knowledge of Cost Per Click
- Bachelors degree in marketing, advertising, or business administration
- A thorough understanding of merchandising/sales/turn and inventory management
- Highly organized and able to adapt to quickly changing priorities
- High level analytical skills and the ability to communicate in a clear and concise manner
- Excellent knowledge of product and the domestic and international markets
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite

What's preferred?

- Experience with SEM - Omniture, Google Analytics or other ecommerce analytics tools
- Experience with SEO
- Working Experience in a Comparative Shopping Website
- Bilingual Russian (not required)


So if you are a Merchandise or Marketing Manager with Retail Industry or Fashion Industry Experience, we look forward to your resume!

Merchandise Manager, Marketing Manager, SEM Manager, SEM, SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Pay Per Click, CPC, Cost Per Click, Natural Search, Campaigns, Paid Search, pricing, margins, Sku, Retail, Jewelry, Shopzilla, Pricegrabber, Auctionwatch, Bizrate, eBay, Blue Nile, ice.com, Zales, Tiffany & co, Yahoo Search Marketing, Diamonds, Gold, Precious Stones, Platinum, Precious Metals, MySimon, Robbins Bros., Home Shopping Network, HSN, Gem Shopping Network, GSN, QVC, Overstock, Jewelry Exchange

If you are ready to join a winning team and take the next step in your career, apply today:

http://www.CyberCoders.com/ qb.aspx?posId=VBB-MarkMgr&ad=CSNPVahid.Behzadi



http://www.CyberCoders.com/e/?posId=VBB-MarkMgr&ad=CSNPVahid.Behzadi



Good luck in your searches,

Vahid

CyberCoders | 42 Discovery | Irvine, CA 92618 | optout