A few months ago, when I was living in Seattle, I went with my .gf and friend to a tour of Theo Chocolate. It’s a chocolate factory about two blocks from where I used to live that does organic chocolate. On the day of our visit, a news reporter was doing a radio spot for NPR on the factory. She asked to follow us around and we told her that was cool.

I looked for the spot for a while online, but I couldn’t find it. Just now, I was looking at searches on how people get to my website, and I found one misspelled query for “Hung Troung” that I followed and led to this blog post. It’s the news report that I appeared in so long ago!

I guess the lady didn’t have a lot to talk about because she used a lot of my random quotes. One of the funniest things that happened on the tour was this little kid (maybe 8 years old?) who kept on spewing non-sequiturs like “My uncle has a tree” and “I like pie” when asking questions. He reminded us of the I Like Turtles kid. I wish the reporter had gotten him in the story.

I also remember the tour guide being a little over the top. Like in terms of being dramatic and stuff. I remember hearing someone say that she just got back from doing some audition, so maybe that was why.

When the factory found out that the reporter had been following us around the whole tour, they felt sorry for us and got us some boxed confectionary candies. That was really nice. I think they were like $20 each or something and we got one each. Score! Thanks, Theo!

Oh, and I think it’s kind of apparent that I mumble a lot, or maybe I was just nervous. I should work on that. Here’s the audio of the story and the transcription (Fair use?):

Remember Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Where four lucky kids win a tour of Willy Wonka’s secretive candy plant? Well, Theo Chocolate isn’t that exclusive—but you better call ahead.

Just one measure of its success; it’s tours are booked solid.

Hung Truong: “Make sure you call ahead because the tour’s so popular. I think I reserved like four weeks or something in advance? That’s really early.”

Hung Truong came to Theo Chocolate to see where the candy he buys is born.

Hung Truong: “Oh wow the fig one is good.”

Kate Kraay, leads this tour of about 20 visitors. Buzzing about each step of the chocolate bar’s creation.

Kate Kraay: “It’s this process of slurping up the chocolate from the bottom, spraying it up and around the sides; this is the closest thing that we have to Willy Wonka’s waterfall of chocolate.”

How did a company just four years old navigate through the recession? Vice President of Sales and Marketing Deb Music says one factor is the price.

Theo bars run about $3 a piece. That’s proven to be not too high and not too low. Another ingredient to success is that Theo bills itself as the first organic, fair trade chocolate factory in the US. That plays especially well in the northwest.

Music says founder Joe Whinney’s decision to relocate to Seattle from the east coast has been a golden ticket.

Deb Music: “I think our values at this point are very progressive and in line with a lot of people’s values here and I think the company is inspiring because we’re really trying to effect positive change in the world.”

Music says overall the company grew by 21 percent last year, despite the rough economy. And for the first part of this year Music says Theo has seen significant growth – around 25 percent – over 2009.

Curtis Vreeland is a confection industry analyst from Pennsylvania. He says while the chocolate industry isn’t recession proof, it is recession resistant.

Curtis Vreeland: “The overall premium chocolate market is struggling, but they’re layers in there which are doing well. And those would be where Theo is and those companies that are sort of in the gourmet section, but not the high-end.”

Another sweet spot for Theo is its identity.

Curtis Vreeland: “Once you’ve bought into the ethics of those kind of bars – organic and fair trade – you’re not going to shed your ethos in a recession. You may buy less. I think when the country comes out of the recession they’ll be buying quite a bit more.”

Back at the tour at Theo Chocolate, Hung Truong says it’s worth the price.

Hung Truong: “There’s like a psychology thing there, where you might not be able to afford the best things all the time, but you can afford something that’s really nice some times. And it’s just like what $3 for a bar? You’re treating yourself, and you’re not breaking the bank.”

By the end of the tour Truong is left with only one worry.

Hung Truong: “I think those little kids disappeared. It’s oddly like Charlie and the chocolate factory. Did one turn into a blueberry? What happened to them?”

I’m Chantal Anderson reporting.

I went to the bank yesterday to fix a $12 fee that shouldn’t have been there. I kept getting random offers and shit that I really didn’t want to hear. Like the teller kept trying to show me how to do bill payment through Chase Bank and my credit cards (also through Chase).

Apparently the reason for the $12 service fee was that my accounts weren’t properly linked. The teller asked her manager if the fee could be reversed and then told me that he could reverse the fee if I agreed to be shown how to do the online bill payment (I had to log in on their computer). I probably should have just threatened to close my accounts, but I didn’t want to waste more time.

Needless to say, the experience wasn’t a good one. I’m closer to closing my Chase accounts than ever before. I’ll probably find a new bank before I do so, though. I really hate how pushy Chase is to try and get me to open more accounts, use their stupid bill pay and use their debit cards (which I never do). The worst thing is that all of these “offers” increase the line wait time and just wastes their customers’ time. Definitely not the way to do customer service.

Anybody know of a good bank that has branches and ATMs in Southeast Michigan?

Anyway, some guy just started chatting with me on it. He was also named Hung Truong. Here’s the strangeness that ensued:

webuser5.1128: yo

me: hi

webuser5.1128: sup man

me: not much bro

webuser5.1128: where u from?

me: uh, you’re on my portfolio

webuser5.1128: my name is hung truong

me: what
me too

webuser5.1128: like seriously though
i search my name in google
and this website came out

me: yeah, cool
do you have a website?

webuser5.1128: nope, but nice webste man

me: thanks
there’s also some hung truongs in the news

webuser5.1128: wow

me: like one who killed a police officer or something
that’s not me
that’s not you either, right?

webuser5.1128: hahaha
nooooo!!

me: ok good

webuser5.1128: lol

me: just checking to make sure

webuser5.1128: i was born in vietnam
are you by any chance vietnamese
?

me: my name’s vietnamese but i’m actually chinese
my parents lived in vietnam
but i was born in the US

webuser5.1128: cool
i g2g man nice talking to u dawg

me: yeah you too
bye

webuser5.1128: peace out

[System] (visitor closed chat)

Wait, did I really forget to mention that my SXSW Panel submission for Student Startups was accepted? I really have been busy at work.

I just got news from Hugh (the guy who invented SXSW) that my panel is going to happen on Monday, March 15th 2010! That’s 3/15/2010 for you numerical types. The panelists will be Ellen Chisa from Alight Learning, Ben Congleton from Olark and Rishi Narayan from Underground Printing. I’ll be moderating the panel.

Please comment if you are going to be at SXSW and will be attending! If there’s anything you want me to cover, you can note that in the comments, too. See you at SXSW!

I brought home a bundle of joy yesterday. No, I did not adopt a child or animal. But I do have a new pet: the iRobot Roomba 530 vacuum-cleaning robot!

I’ve wanted a Roomba for a while. It makes perfect sense: it’s a robot, which I love. It’s a vacuum cleaner, which I also really like. It’s also kind of a pet. I have to say that the way it moves around is pretty cute. There are really nice, nuanced touches. Like how it beeps as it backs up when it leaves its docking station. Or how it slows down a bit when it knows it’s gonna hit the wall. And it hits the wall a lot. It also plays a sort of sad sound when it runs out of batteries. The Roomba definitely has a personality.

In addition to just being a cool nerdy object, the Roomba does a pretty decent job. It picked up a bunch of gunk the first time it swept through my apartment. It seemed to prefer the living room, maybe because it was dirtiest? Or maybe because it liked the feel of the shag rug. I’m not sure. The algorithm that determines where the Roomba goes seems non-deterministic. So it ends up doing something different each time, but I think the algorithm also ensures that it hits all the spots a couple of times, and it apparently knows when it’s found some dirt, in which case it goes back for more. There are some really nice details about the design of the robot. It’s circular, which means it can turn with a 0 degree radius. It has a rotating brush thingy that helps it get stuff that’s in a corner. It’s also pretty short, so it fits under my couch and my bed. It’s only gotten stuck like once, and that was an edge case where it used a table leg as a ramp.

So far I am very happy with my Roomba. It’s cute, functional and gives some serious nerd cred. I realize that it’s only a matter of time before my Roomba gains sentience and tries to kill me in my sleep. For now, though, it’s worth saving the trouble of having to vacuum by hand all the time.

As some of you may know, grocery shopping is very important to me. It’s one of my favorite adult activities to partake in. Which is to say that grocery shopping is one of those things that you do after making the transition from kid to adult. Or at least that’s what I like tricking myself into believing.

In Michigan, I went to Meijer, because it pretty much had everything I needed. I’d also make a side trip to Trader Joe’s maybe once a month for hippie supplies. Now, in a new city, I must figure out where to get my foods and stuffs. Meijer is strictly a Midwest chain, unfortunately.

Now, the obvious choice would be to pick the closest grocery. It’s pretty easy to calculate the distance to the closest grocery because I live above the PCC Food co-op thingy. Literally. I am on the fifth floor and they take up the first floor in my building. I could literally jump down to the store entrance. Actually, a firefighter pole setup might be safer and cooler, but I’ll have to ask my landlord about it. The PCC is pretty high quality; it makes Trader Joe’s look like Wal-mart. But things there also cost an arm and a leg (good thing I upped my accidental death and dismemberment insurance (AD&D)). So I go there for quick and inexpensive things, like bananas or other produce, or when I really need something bad (like tofu). Also, PCC doesn’t sell anything that’s not “natural,” so I can’t get goldfish crackers or Drain-o there.

There is a Trader Joe’s in Ballard that’s pretty nearby that I’m hitting often. I also just discovered a Fred Meyer (I dunno if there’s a relation to Meijer) that has a Chase bank in it (bonus points, just like my old Meijer!). The Fred Meyer is gigantic and pretty close to Wal-mart vibe. I’ve also gone to Safeway for my unnatural foods. When I shop at the University Village, I can hit up the QFC (which is like Kroger/Smith’s) on the way. I haven’t been to Whole Foods yet, but I don’t see a reason to with the Whole Foods-ish PCC taking care of my overpriced grocery needs. There’s also apparently a place in Ballard called Ballard Market (appropriately) that’s supposed to be pretty decent. I’ve also gone to the Asian market, Uwajimaya, in the International District, but that’s more of a specialty case. Also, I don’t eat enough food to shop at Costco (orange juice excluded from this statement).

As you can see, I am a bit obsessive about grocery shopping. I haven’t found a store that has all the stuff I need/want in one location at the price I’d like to pay. So for now I think I’ll forage around multiple stores, which is inconvenient but somewhat necessary. Ever since I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I feel like I should be a bit more careful in the purchasing and preparation of my food. I don’t feel too bad spending a chunk of change on something at PCC. Unless, of course, there’s a random markup and I can get the same thing somewhere else for 40% less. Oh, and I just got a hold for In Defense of Food at the library, so hopefully that will make me a bit less picky.

It’s because I traveled from Ann Arbor, MI to Seattle, Wa. All by myself! My car actually helped a lot, too.

I haven’t written much, yet I have much to write about. You might see a post here soon. Besides this post, telling you that I’ll be posting again soon…

Here, enjoy a picture of a Salmon mosaic art thing I took at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks:

One girl contacted me about my coffee table almost immediately after I listed it. Her roommate picked it up and he told me she’s kind of a hawk on craigslist. Many people contacted me about stuff and never replied after I replied to them. Some people just didn’t show up. Lots of people are bad about calling before showing up. Actually, no one so far has called before showing up. This is bad, because what if the thing already sold?

The most interesting thing about craigslist interactions is that they consist of two parties who don’t really trust each other, except that they recognize they’re both just normal humans who are probably okay. There’s a lot of implicit trust set in.

Like, for example, the dude who picked up my table left his wallet in my apartment for some reason. Maybe that’s like a form of escrow. Then he paid me after the entire table was ready to be driven away. The person who took my couch paid me upfront, before I helped her husband move the couch into their truck. Either way is fine, I guess, if you believe that people are inherently trustworthy. Or at least trustworthy enough to not drive away with your table if you go back into your apartment to get him some tape to hold down the drawers. Also, it would be much easier to just steal from people than set up an elaborate craigslist scam.

I wonder if anyone has done research on the psychology of craigslist. There’s certainly a lot of risk/reward built into the system, along with not knowing people, whether they’re trustworthy, etc. There’s also just a mad adrenaline rush when you get a wad of money and someone takes your couch for you! I have a few more things to get rid of, so hopefully the rest of my transactions go as well as my previous ones!

I sat down at a table whose occupants were librarians. Pretty much everyone there was an LIS (library and information services) specialist. This wasn’t really a great first impression, since I applied under the HCI (human-computer interaction) specialization, and to be honest, libraries aren’t really my thing.

What, exactly, did I have against librarians and libraries? I think I mostly felt that, from the school’s website (or the parts of the website that I studied), the program was more for people who were generally interested in information from a more technology-oriented viewpoint. So I was hoping to see more technological-minded folks at my table.

I still, however, decided to enroll. And I’m glad I did. Slowly, I think I started to understand what libraries are all about. I started using the local library. A lot. It probably also helped that I worked at a library my entire time at the school. I wasn’t studying to be a librarian, but I was exposed to the culture. Computer nerds and librarians make a good team.

So did library school actually change me? Or was I somehow intrinsically drawn to the program where computer nerds and book nerds collide? Maybe a little of both. I’ve always had a secret love for organizing and archiving things.

For example, pretty much no one in my family seems to care much about backing up files. I, on the hand, am a bit obsessed about it. I still have files from middle school preserved in their original file formats and directory structure in place. Who knows, some day I might want to look back on that stuff. I’m also kind of a nut when it comes to properly organizing and applying metadata (and preserving said metadata) from photos. Oh, and also backing everything up, both on-site and off-site (using multiple online services).

I also get really irritated when I go to the library and see something like this:

Is that a Drama and Horror blu-ray disc I see mixed in with the Action ones!? Usually I will take the offending discs and put them in the right place. There was also that one time I saw Harry Potter in Comedy when it should have gone in Fantasy. The worst is when a DVD gets mixed in with blu-ray. That’s like the same as a book being in the CD section! Oh man, now I’m rambling.

The point is, I think I already had some Librarian/Archivist in me before coming to library school. Hanging out with like-minded people probably reinforced the behavior mentioned above. And probably for the better. If you’re a computer nerd, I suggest you check out libraries (and librarians!). If you’re a library nerd, I suggest you check out computer nerd stuff (and computer nerds!). Together, we can make the world a more information-y place.

I’ve become kind of a Vitamin Water fan. Not because I think it’s actually healthy or anything (the second most common “vitamin” (ingredient) is sugar), but because I like the taste. I’ve actually been drinking the stuff for like a year now. Anyway, I recently noticed (like a month ago) that there was a new flavor available called “Sync.” The cool thing about this flavor is that it includes a code on the cap that you can redeem at AmazonMP3 (for some reason it says the music comes from MySpace) for a free song. By “a free song,” they really mean $1.29 of credit, since some songs cost that much, but others actually cost less.

Because of this added value of this flavor (the other ones don’t have free songs), I’ve been kind of loading up on Sync. This also leads me to a semi-interesting economics problem. If I regularly bought MP3s from Amazon.com, I’d be doing myself a favor by getting $1.29 worth of “music” for ~$1, along with a free sugary, sorta-vitamin-y drink. This price difference was even greater when I went to Kroger and got 10 Vitamins-Water for $5!

But I don’t regularly buy music online. If I like an artist and want to support him/her/them, I’ll buy a CD, because then at least I have a physical representation of something that I can “own.” Not just bits. But what about Sync versus other flavors? While I like the other flavors (and variety is good), I’ve kind of been giving Sync an 8:2 split. So for every ten Vitamin Waters I get, about eight of them are Sync. I mean, I like to have some kind of variety! The Sync flavor is actually pretty good, too. It’s probably just about equal with any other Vitamin Water flavor.

One positive about the whole free music thing is that I’ve actually bought a lot of music. Here’s what I’ve gotten thanks to glacéau:

• Ingrid Michaelson – Maybe
• Warsaw – Rude Girl
• Jonathan Coulton – Joco Looks Back (Album)
• Ingrid Michaelson – Turn to Stone
• Ingrid Michaelson – When the Leaves
• Ingrid Michaelson – All Love

I basically got a bunch of Ingrid Michaelson singles, a ska song I liked that I didn’t have on my computer and a Jonathan Coulton “best of” album. All artists who I like and want to support. I mean, Jonathan Coulton kinda offers all of his music free anyway, so I saw this AmazonMP3 thing as a good way to send him some money (I also went to one of his concerts, which I assume helped support him (or maybe TicketMaster just pocketed it all!!!)).

Sadly, my free ride is nearing its end. The last time I went to Kroger, I bought some more Sync. When I got home and drank one, I realized the caps had changed. No more free songs! The wording on the bottle even changed to reflect the fact that there’s no song in there. I assumed the flavor would have free songs forever, but apparently not. I’ll keep an eye out for the bottles with songs, but I fear they will eventually dry out. Pun intended.

The last economics question for this blog post: If Vitamin Water presents an extra incentive with the drink, then removes that incentive later, does it hurt its sales? I used to buy the drink because I liked it. I may have replaced the reason for buying it with free songs. Now that there are no more free songs, will I continue to buy? Or will I feel robbed because I am now paying the same amount for less?