Hi!
Just to make things clear right off the bat for you speed-readers, "irresponsible chocolatier" is not meant to allude to the chocolate quality. I don't put anything weird in your chocolate.
Now that we have things cleared up, please allow me to update you on my life. On Zimt's life. =)
This has been a busy since I last posted, but I have been dedicating my time to some other stellar ventures some of which I will tell you about. For example- surprise visit from one of my best buddies on the planet earth- Karl! This is how it happened...
Two years ago, I went to study for a year in Germany. In the building I lived in, also lived Karl, with whom I have had the honour and pleasure of being friends. Many good memories with Karl- it started with him helping me with technology but eventually, I ended up having the best Valentine's Day ever with him and our friend, Alicia, watching Austin Powers 2 and eating an excessive amount of vegan baked goods, and I got on a sugar high and could not sleep. This was his second visit to Vancouver this year (I owe you a visit to Taipei, Karl!) and we had a blast! However, this was truly a surprise visit- we Skyped on Friday after not having Skyped for quite some time and, on Sunday morning before even getting out of bed, I looked at e-mails and text messages I had received while I was asleep. Anyway, I usually just look at the messages- smile or frown, depending, and then answer them at some point in the near future. But then I saw one from Karl that said "plane ticket to Vancouver". I thought this was for March, when he originally planned on visiting, but no! It was for the very next day- Monday (to be clear).
How does this relate to Zimt? Well- it relates in a number of ways:
1. I made very little chocolate that week.
2. We did end up making some chocolate on Saturday- Karl was my Kitchen Angel and gave his input on how to make Zimt more efficient wrt the production process. Apparently, I need to hire people who work faster than me.
3. I got away with a very flexible work schedule- just as any otherunself-employed person would. It is a tricky thing, really. On the one hand, I don't want to be a slacker, at all. And I don't think that I am- I just have a different sort of project than most and work weird hours and things. But these weird hours allow for me to make time for friends (...especially if they travel 19 hours to see me! Or not- you're all valuable!) and then cram everything in when people don't want to see me. No stress. =) This is kind of tricky, because I am blessed to know a lot of nice people.
On the other hand, I do believe, and I don't mean this to be braggy or pretentious or anything of the sort, I do believe I have worked really quite a lot for this flexibility. I will use the summer as a recent example- worked sooooo hard! And I was a bit jealous of my 9-5ers, bless them.
Also, there has been a recent wave of vegan entrepreneurship in Vancouver and that is great, of course! I also noticed that some of these vegan entrepreneurs have gone on vacay for a bit, which is also great. This also made me think that I could stand to take a vacation... and maybe one day I will, when my nerves look like my November prediction, as illustrated below:
I think this is an inaccurate prediction, however, as the customized bags will be arriving shortly (I am down to 26!), as will the candy cup samples, cacao butter arrived today, and I... I filed my HST summary (!!!!). I am not sure if it is accurate, but it is filed.
All I need to do, in terms of packaging, is work on truffle boxes (get stoked!) and have my logo put on the bags I bought, either as stickers (less great), or as screen printing (preferable).
Anyway. This past week was kind of a vacation, even though I did make Karl run some Zimt errands with me (xiexie!). But a real-travelling-somewhere-perhaps-on-a-plane-or-train-or-cruise-ship vacation it was not. I was thinking about going to Germany and Austria and Switzerland and Scotland (why not?) to see some family and friends and drop off chocolate samples at a few veg places on that continent. I think the ROI on such a business venture would be above industry standard, as well. But I may just stay in Vancouver. It is just really strange not to be in Europe this year at all... yet. Who knows!
Other news: I got an iPhone 4S. So relevant! The picture quality of Zimt bars etc on my site will improve by 3 megapixels. But I feel completely terrible about getting it. I feel really, really badly. So baldy, in fact, that I have not started to use it, purely because I feel guilty about the resources used to make it, not because I don't really know how. That's mostly true. But here- please read this article and write to Apple, as I did yesterday:
Apple & Congo
Are things improving anyway??? better days ahead?
Or perhaps you prefer video: Short Video
I am thinking, too- and maybe making excuses, in all honesty, that this iPhone may be a good idea for me for several reasons (not trying to justify anything, but am trying to make myself feel less horrible. This is an honest blog!).
1. My BB is a disgrace. I got it off Amazon.com, used, and... just- it was not worth $350. It is worth $130, though- my friend is buying it off of me! You will love it, Dan! .... =)
2. Cost-Benefit Analysis. The ratio is >1, because, at least for me personally, I will be able to get a lot (a lot) more work done and will not be so frustrated with the electronics I purchase simply because I read the Social Responsibility section of HP's website and found it impressive. And then I won't get fed up and buy two sets of electronics, with only the latter set being useful. Two vs One.
3. No need to avoid buying a camera (at least a point and shoot.), nor iPod, nor other electronics- fewer electronics I probably would not have purchased anyway.
4. Angry Birds- just looks better on that screen.
I need to get going, but to close:
1. Zimt will be at The Yoga Conference in Vancouver. Yogis heart Chocolate.
2. Whole Foods application is going well, apparently- it is quite literally out of my hands!
3. Today is World Vegan Day! Please eat something vegan for a compassionate dinner. Make sure it tastes good, so you don't get discouraged and only eat vegan dinner once this year. See happycow.net.
Emma
Just to make things clear right off the bat for you speed-readers, "irresponsible chocolatier" is not meant to allude to the chocolate quality. I don't put anything weird in your chocolate.
Now that we have things cleared up, please allow me to update you on my life. On Zimt's life. =)
This has been a busy since I last posted, but I have been dedicating my time to some other stellar ventures some of which I will tell you about. For example- surprise visit from one of my best buddies on the planet earth- Karl! This is how it happened...
Two years ago, I went to study for a year in Germany. In the building I lived in, also lived Karl, with whom I have had the honour and pleasure of being friends. Many good memories with Karl- it started with him helping me with technology but eventually, I ended up having the best Valentine's Day ever with him and our friend, Alicia, watching Austin Powers 2 and eating an excessive amount of vegan baked goods, and I got on a sugar high and could not sleep. This was his second visit to Vancouver this year (I owe you a visit to Taipei, Karl!) and we had a blast! However, this was truly a surprise visit- we Skyped on Friday after not having Skyped for quite some time and, on Sunday morning before even getting out of bed, I looked at e-mails and text messages I had received while I was asleep. Anyway, I usually just look at the messages- smile or frown, depending, and then answer them at some point in the near future. But then I saw one from Karl that said "plane ticket to Vancouver". I thought this was for March, when he originally planned on visiting, but no! It was for the very next day- Monday (to be clear).
How does this relate to Zimt? Well- it relates in a number of ways:
1. I made very little chocolate that week.
2. We did end up making some chocolate on Saturday- Karl was my Kitchen Angel and gave his input on how to make Zimt more efficient wrt the production process. Apparently, I need to hire people who work faster than me.
3. I got away with a very flexible work schedule- just as any other
On the other hand, I do believe, and I don't mean this to be braggy or pretentious or anything of the sort, I do believe I have worked really quite a lot for this flexibility. I will use the summer as a recent example- worked sooooo hard! And I was a bit jealous of my 9-5ers, bless them.
Also, there has been a recent wave of vegan entrepreneurship in Vancouver and that is great, of course! I also noticed that some of these vegan entrepreneurs have gone on vacay for a bit, which is also great. This also made me think that I could stand to take a vacation... and maybe one day I will, when my nerves look like my November prediction, as illustrated below:
I think this is an inaccurate prediction, however, as the customized bags will be arriving shortly (I am down to 26!), as will the candy cup samples, cacao butter arrived today, and I... I filed my HST summary (!!!!). I am not sure if it is accurate, but it is filed.
All I need to do, in terms of packaging, is work on truffle boxes (get stoked!) and have my logo put on the bags I bought, either as stickers (less great), or as screen printing (preferable).
Anyway. This past week was kind of a vacation, even though I did make Karl run some Zimt errands with me (xiexie!). But a real-travelling-somewhere-perhaps-on-a-plane-or-train-or-cruise-ship vacation it was not. I was thinking about going to Germany and Austria and Switzerland and Scotland (why not?) to see some family and friends and drop off chocolate samples at a few veg places on that continent. I think the ROI on such a business venture would be above industry standard, as well. But I may just stay in Vancouver. It is just really strange not to be in Europe this year at all... yet. Who knows!
Other news: I got an iPhone 4S. So relevant! The picture quality of Zimt bars etc on my site will improve by 3 megapixels. But I feel completely terrible about getting it. I feel really, really badly. So baldy, in fact, that I have not started to use it, purely because I feel guilty about the resources used to make it, not because I don't really know how. That's mostly true. But here- please read this article and write to Apple, as I did yesterday:
Apple & Congo
Are things improving anyway??? better days ahead?
Or perhaps you prefer video: Short Video
I am thinking, too- and maybe making excuses, in all honesty, that this iPhone may be a good idea for me for several reasons (not trying to justify anything, but am trying to make myself feel less horrible. This is an honest blog!).
1. My BB is a disgrace. I got it off Amazon.com, used, and... just- it was not worth $350. It is worth $130, though- my friend is buying it off of me! You will love it, Dan! .... =)
2. Cost-Benefit Analysis. The ratio is >1, because, at least for me personally, I will be able to get a lot (a lot) more work done and will not be so frustrated with the electronics I purchase simply because I read the Social Responsibility section of HP's website and found it impressive. And then I won't get fed up and buy two sets of electronics, with only the latter set being useful. Two vs One.
3. No need to avoid buying a camera (at least a point and shoot.), nor iPod, nor other electronics- fewer electronics I probably would not have purchased anyway.
4. Angry Birds- just looks better on that screen.
I need to get going, but to close:
1. Zimt will be at The Yoga Conference in Vancouver. Yogis heart Chocolate.
2. Whole Foods application is going well, apparently- it is quite literally out of my hands!
3. Today is World Vegan Day! Please eat something vegan for a compassionate dinner. Make sure it tastes good, so you don't get discouraged and only eat vegan dinner once this year. See happycow.net.
Emma
love the chart! can relate to it :)
ReplyDeleteI know! This week especially. I think my predictions may have been too accurate =S
ReplyDelete